Devil’s Nose Mountain

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The peak of Devil’s Nose Mountain in Rogersville, Tennessee is said to be a location where many unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have been seen, but Native North American Cherokee Indians witnessed this same phenomenon and believed the lights were elementary/nature spirits.

Native North American Cherokee Indians believed these spirits were spheres covered in brilliant, radiant white fur and called them Atsi'la-Wa'ĭ (AH-jee-WAH-e) or “fire’s relative”; they believed they slept in caves during the day.

Certainly it has been observed that wherever Native American Indians believed to the residence of nature spirits was given the title of belonging to the Devil my Caucasian settlers, but some propose the lights are neither extraterrestrial nor spiritual, but geological. Cognitive neuroscientist Michael A. Persinger hypothesizes that when seismic tension occurs in a location where quartz crystal is present that triboluminescence is created. This is “luminescence produced by friction, such as the emission of light when certain crystals are crushed” (Dictionary.com) and takes the form of balls of light.

Whatever the lights are, the experience of seeing the luminescent balls is unforgettable.

Bibliography:

Mooney, James. James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees: Containing the Full Texts of Myths of the Cherokee (1900) and The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (1891) as Published by the Bureau of American Ethnology: with a New Biographical Introduction, James Mooney and the Eastern Cherokees. Asheville, NC: Historical Images, 1992.

"Triboluminescence." Dictionary.com. 09/03/2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/triboluminescence>.