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Usually there is only a single ball of light, but on rare occasions as many as five lights have been observed at the same time. Some witnesses have reported lights that look like the headlights of a car or lights that come down the road and then just stop and hang in midair. Several people claim that the light will chase after a car. It was thought that the Oviedo Lights were caused by swamp gas. If not for the strange behavior of the lights, the swamp gas theory would seem likely since the lights are seen mainly in the warmer months when vegetation decomposes and releases bio-gasses. These gasses under certain conditions can ignite to produce a glowing effect that rises with the warm air. With all the new development in the area, the lights are now being seen by a brand new audience of newcomers. People are now proposing that something other than decaying bio-mass is causing the strange lights. A Historian’s Recollection That’s My Story and I’m Sticking With It! Some nights would be very clear and other nights it would be very foggy and the fog would roll down the Econ and make a sort of swamp gas effect which would give off an eerie sight and with the phosphate in the water it would reflect any kind of light including moon light, car lights, flashlight, etc. Back then you know any armadillo traveling through the palmettos sounded like a bear, and red reflection in raccoon and deer eyes in the darkness all made for interesting sights and sounds. And if you’ve ever heard two coons fighting in the middle of the night, it sounds like somebody is getting killed, or a Florida panther’s scream sounds just like a woman getting murdered. Local young men would help the Oviedo Lights episodes along by making cat calls, owl hoots, or flashes from headlights worn on their heads. But then the Oviedo Lights caused a terrible accident to happen, this is true. Two boys, who will remain unnamed, were out there driving with their lights off and one killed the other one with the car. Both were from Oviedo High School. It was a terrible accident and after that the Oviedo Lights died down for a long time and started back up again in the 1970s & ‘80s, and has been going on strong ever since. For those of us in the know, we feel sad when the lights are brought up and try to play them down at Halloween. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.” –Karen Jacobs, Oviedo-Chuluota Historian |