Min Min Lights

After reading alot of threads here recently on hovering and high speed red/orange lights in the sky/near the ground, I thought I might introduce you to the Australian Equivalent. The Phenomenon has been around for over a century here, so I thought it deserved its own thread( I couldnt find any others on it)

The Min Min Light. The history of sightings goes back into the 1800's and was first attributed to ghost activity in many circles. Its best described as a close range red/orange light, often curious and likely to follow the observer. There have been reports of them following trains, cars and the like on occasion(Even the occasional rider on horseback!).

The Lights were apparently named after a pub in Queensland, it is said the sightings started soon after the pub burnt to the ground, however there are alot of accounts that preceed this event by decades, and have continued not only in that location, but in many areas of outback Australia until the present day.

Min Min Lights @ the Oz Files

There are those who have tried to explain it like, Professor Jack Pettigrew however i dont find the explanation 100% convincing in many cases. Many of the places where these sightings have taken place are in the deep outback, where there simply arent the secondary light sources he offers as the explanation, especially in the 1800's. The theory also doesnt explain the movements attributed to the lights by many accounts.

Happy Reading.
Gaderel

Yeah I have heard of the Min Min lights. When I went back to my homeland, Australia for four years, I used to visit Brewarina, Engonia along the NSW and Queensland border alot. I heard all kinds of stories about those Min Min lights from my friends and other locals.

A person told me that one night he was driving (alone) in his car and was headed back home when suddenly a set of what appeared to be headlights came up behind him. He slowed down and pulled over a bit to let them pass by but the lights disappeared right when it looked like they were going to rear-end his car. He shook his head and continued driving. Next a set of headlights were coming towards him from ahead. When the lights neared his car they vanished. Shortly afterwards a set of lights were coming towards him from the driver's side yet there was no road out there. They disappeared too just like the other lights did. This happened all in one trip. He was so shook up by it that as soon as he got home he got stuck into a bottle of Brown Dog right away.

reply to post by BindareDundat


I work in a regional australian area, and there are many accounts from many varied people, salt of the earth types, but not alot of value is seen in reporting them. Its just "One of those things that happens" and they are happy to live with it in most cases it seems.

reply to post by BindareDundat



Gee, it might have been my brother who told you this, because he and a friend had an almost identical experience some years ago.

Both live on the Gold Coast and were heading home after a couple of weeks in the bush. I'm not sure where they were exactly, but they were making their way towards the South Burnett region I think, coming in from roughly the north-west.

As you describe, my brother (who was driving) noticed what he believed was a motor-bike behind, with its high-beam on and coming up fast. When it didn't overtake, it began to annoy. His under-breath comments alerted his mate (who was asleep until then) who also looked to the rear.

The light would come up very fast, as if to overtake. But didn't. Then would drop back a bit and hang there. This went on for miles. As you'd know, you rarely see another vehicle out in the bush at night and those you do see don't hang around behind you with their high beam on.

This light would come so close up behind that it lit up the interior of my brother's vehicle. At that point, it was apparent it couldn't be a motor-bike, because the light was too high off the road surface. They couldn't work it out .. was it a truck with only one light ? Was it a 'monster truck' with only one headlight ? Whatever it was, it was really getting the better of my brother and his mate's patience (both of whom were in their mid to late 30s at the time, both married with families).

My brother accelerated to try to get rid of it. The light easily kept pace.

At the end of his tether, he slowed down to a crawl. The light slowed down ... stayed behind them .. circled out wide (hundred or more metres) to the side and now way off the road .. then would appear behind them again.

Finally, my brother stopped dead. The light went over his car. That's when my brother's mate began to be freaked out.

The light then appeared ahead of them and facing them.

My brother drove straight at it. It disappeared and reappeared behind them again.

So, my brother took off and drove fast for several miles, trying to shake it. The light stayed behind, lighting up the inside of the car as before.

Intrigued more than angry now, my brother took the first turn-off he came upon and was now driving up a dirt road at roughly right angles to the road he'd been on before. The track led uphill, surrounded by tall grass with what looked like thick trees at the top of the hill. He looked behind to see if the light was still hanging behind, because if so, it would be getting a load of dust.

Then, his mate pointed to the left. The light was flying up the hill, easily keeping pace with the car -- except the light wasn't travelling along any road and seemed to be flying over the tops of the tall grass or crops or whatever it was.

My brother's mate, who had post-traumatic stress from experiences in Papua New Guinea was by now screaming at my brother to 'Just let it go! Let it go ! '

Instead, my brother stopped the car and went into the boot for his rifle.
I think he let go a few shots in the direction of the light. Which promptly 'went out'. His mate was still screaming, saying 'Don't attract it ! Don't annoy it ! '

When my brother was back on the road and heading towards home again, the light again appeared behind them. By this time, my brother's mate was a nervous wreck and almost out of his mind. When the lights of a small town began showing ahead, the mate begged my brother to stop as soon as they reached the town.

They stopped at a little country pub. It was almost closing time. My brother and his mate went in and at first they were refused a drink because of the time. Then, after seeing how much distress my brother's mate was in, the barman relented. The barman at first thought my brother must have had an accident. When my brother mentioned they'd had problems with a 'bloody persistent light', a few of the old timers at the bar looked at him, then looked away. The barman asked a few questions about 'the light' and then nodded as if to say, 'Oh, is that all .. '

My brother's mate wouldn't travel any further that night so they both slept in the car outside the pub and waited until it opened again in the morning so they could get something to eat. There was no-one there that early, apart from the publican's wife who was cleaning up. She told my brother and his mate that 'the light' was taken for granted in the area and had been around for as long as anyone could remember .. although it accounted for a lot of frightened travellers.

Later, my brother said the only conclusion he'd been able to reach re: the experience was either the min-min lights story was fact .. or there was a brilliant motor-cyclist in that area who'd nearly copped a bullet that night. Then he said he knew it couldn't have been a motor-bike .. no-one, no matter how good a rider they were, could have maneuvred the way that light did. He's had some hair-raising experiences but ranked that in his top ten.

reply to post by Dock6


Is your brother's name Graham by any chance? That's who told me.

But I have also heard of someone having an experience where the lights went over the top of the car far behind too. So there must be many drivers out there who have experienced this.

Unfortunately I never got a chance to drive the back roads too much myself at night. By the time night rolled around we were all 'happily pickled' shall we say enjoying the cool night air. LOL I can remember it being so dang hot that by noon everything sought the shade as it was too hot. Including ourselves.

Oh wait, we did travel one night (from one home to the next) but all I can remember from that trip was that a great big wild boar ran across the road in front of our car (right smack in front of the grill) and we nearly filled out pants because of the sheer size of that boar. It was longer than the car was wide and the height of it was well over the hood of our car. We all looked at one another and said we needed bigger guns! (because we had our rifles in the boot.) So we turned around and went back to Splinter's house.