NEW YEAR: OK, so what were those lights we told you about
Christmas Eve?

A Duke Center woman had written to us about “lights in the sky”
on Dec. 12 which “started as two big bright lights, then four, then
more. But as they increased in number and seemed to also increase
in intensity and size, the lights seem to roll and tumble off
toward the Eldred or Port Allegany area,” she wrote.

“Maybe it was Santa and the reindeer getting their practice run
in for Christmas eve night.”

Playing right along, we reported in all “seriousness” that Santa
did indeed use that specific area for trial runs. Come to find out,
though, that there really were mysterious lights in mid-December
which were seen in other places.

Judith dePonceau of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, first tells us of a
report in the Bangor Daily News of a phenomenon known as “light
pillars” which had been seen in her neck of the woods. They occur
when natural or artificial light bounces off low-lying ice
crystals. The crystals normally are present only in high clouds but
can occur lower when it is very cold.

But Judith writes again, telling of other lights similar to the
ones we described and seen in New Hampshire, eastern Maine, and
Nova Scotia.

She again cited the Bangor newspaper saying, “Many thought they
(lights) were from a plane crashing into the Bay of Fundy.”

The story went on to quote a Defense Department spokesman that a
“security satellite” had been launched from Kennedy Space Center at
Cape Canaveral. He said, “We did have a launch and it did go north,
so there is a possibility of a booster (rocket) or something coming
down in that general area.”

“Most often, such booster rockets break up and disintegrate
before reaching Earth,” according to the spokesman from the
National Reconnaissance Office, which designs, builds and operates
the nation’s spy satellites.

Judith, her frustration apparent, concludes: “OK, I give up. It
was Santa Claus or part of his posse. Unusual lights appeared here
on Dec. 13 also. It seems that the Monday lights (12/10) most
likely was the discarded fuel tank from a rocket booster and those
of Thursday (12/13) were light pillars. At least I have learned
something, as I had never heard of light pillars but I think I may
have seen some.”