Mysterious nighttime lights aglow at annual Texas festival

Postmark Pursuit by Linn’s Staff

In celebration of the annual Marfa Lights Festival, the Marfa Chamber of Commerce is offering a pictorial postmark depicting a lone pickup truck traveling along a road beside a water tower amid the rural landscape of Marfa, Texas, with several mysterious lights aglow in the sky.

Marfa, a high desert city in west Texas, has become known for the appearance of mysterious lights that infrequently appear in the southern nighttime sky about 30 times per year.

First documented by rancher Robert Ellison in 1883, there are many theories about the source of these curious lights, ranging from swamp gas, phosphorescent mineral displays, UFO’s, secret chemicals left by the United States Army, and spirits of Apache ancestors.

Marfa was founded in 1883 when the wife of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad president named the small west Texas railroad water stop after a character in a novel she was reading at the time.

The town’s military history dates to 1917, when Fort D.A. Russell served as headquarters for the Big Bend Military District during the Mexican Revolution. The fort housed a cavalry regiment, later replaced by a motorized division, and was decommissioned after World War II.

Organized by the Marfa Chamber of Commerce, the annual Marfa Lights Festival is held over Labor Day weekend in celebration of the region’s culture and community, and features a parade, live music performances, food vendors, local crafts and art exhibitions.

To obtain the postmark, address your request to:

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