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Friday, October 29, 2010

Just in time for Halloween: Michigan Tech Students solve Paulding Light mystery

By Marcia Goodrich

HOUGHTON -- Cue the bats and spooky music. We are about to delve into one of Michigan’s most alluring mysteries. It’s so alluring, in fact, that it draws a steady stream of pilgrims of the paranormal to the dot-in-the-road town of Paulding all summer long, and into the winter too, just to hang out on the edge of the woods to watch and wait.

They come to catch a glimpse of the Paulding Light, and they are rarely disappointed. The light (or lights; sometimes they come in groups) appears in a valley near Robbins Pond Road. It was even featured this year on the SyFy television show "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files."

The lights are definitely not faked, says Jeremy Bos, a PhD candidate student in electrical engineering at Michigan Technological University. But neither are they ghostly lanterns of a railroad brakeman killed trying to stop an oncoming train, as one of the many legends goes.

Bos organized the investigation of the Paulding Light mystery, working with students in the University’s student chapter of SPIE, a professional society devoted to the study of optics and photonics. Last May, the group was looking for a project that would be both fun and educational. "I thought, 'What about the Paulding Light?'" Bos said.

Read more on the Michigan Tech News ...

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