We start out again with the gang sitting around the Situation Room going over more videos in order to single out a pair to go after this week. Revenant had earlier pointed out their clothing being the same in this scene in the previous two weeks, so I paid attention to their garb. Once again, they were wearing familiar attire. Very likely that the “pick a pair of videos” scenes were all filmed at the same time.

After they each throw out a candidate and either ooh and aah or quickly shoot it down, they decide upon the Paulding Lights and the San Antonio train crossing videos. So, with no further ado, let’s see what happens when they go to Michigan to investigate the Paulding Lights.

The story of the lights is that almost every night this light appears in a certain location. Should be easy to debunk. Stories seem to be mostly about a brakeman who got crushed between two trains and whose spirit forever roams around with a lantern trying to warn the second train. There is also the story of a mailman and his sled dogs, but they don’t mention that one. Credible story because, as Chi-Lan mentions, she likes the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of witnesses. Wow. Okay.

Jael, Austin, and Bill head off to Michigan. On the car ride up Austin explains that the first actual report of the lights was in 1966, but before that people were seeing these lights from back to the turn of the century. Huh? The first report is in 1966, but other reports go back to the turn of the century? Must be using that New Math.

The team arrives at Paulding Lights. No, not the area where the lights are seen but rather a store selling Lights paraphernalia. Shirts, hats, that sort of stuff. They meet with Ted and Michelle Strong who give them a run down on where the lights are and what the lights could be (the brakeman story)

The Strongs take the team up to the location where you can see the lights from. At least this time they went to the same place where the video was shot from. Maybe there is hope. The US Forest Service has put up a nice sign detailing the lights, telling you where to park and look, and that the lights appear every night.

They park right where they should and compare the scene they see with the video and are satisfied they have the right place. Course we all know how little it takes to satisfy them with this sort of thing, but to me it DID look the same in this case.

The team starts to set up and draws a crowd of onlookers. They go over and talk to a few of them and get their opinions. They hear (after leading the witnesses) the same story about the brakeman or engineer. One witness says it could be a small plane or a reflection off a tower.

They set up a few cameras pointing to where the light should be seen and sure enough the light appears right about 9pm. Jael and Austin head out on the ATV to track down the light but can’t see it. Not surprised, I’m not sure how they can say they were at the place where the light was even if they did have two cameras looking at slightly different angles. I’m pretty sure they did no triangulation to get coordinates to drive to.

They repeat how amazing it is that they are right next to the light but don’t see anything. Come on you guys! They can’t see the light from where they are, but Bill, back at base, still sees it. That tells me that Jael and Austin just might possibly not be where the light is. That possibility escapes them, though, and they haul out a Geiger counter and a gas detection unit and begin sweeping the area. They do this at 9:45pm, which means that the light has been visible now for 45 minutes.

If the light is visible, go toward it keeping it in sight until you get to where it is. No, they seem too in a hurry to start coming up with their own recreations of the light which, quite frankly, consist of only one cheek.

What they saw was a stationary light for at least 45 minutes and what do they come up with to test…flying a plane around while shining a 25,000,000 candlepower light and driving a car down a stretch of highway so that the headlight points at the viewing area. Did I mention that they were looking at a STATIONARY light? And 25 million candlepower? What are they landing at that airport, P-3 Orions with their searchlights on?

The plane doesn’t get low enough (not to mention that it wouldn’t be hovering for at least 45 minutes) and the car headlights couldn’t even be seen from the viewing location. Their two “brilliant” ideas having failed, the team decides to do EVP sessions which turn up nothing.

Still mysterious and unexplained.

Discussion of this episode can be found here: http://www.skepticalviewer.com/forums/other-shows/fof-s01e05blazing-horizon-rollover-12-aug-2010/page-1