North Dakota Lights
On a recent early morning drive across North Dakota, we saw strange flickering orange lights in the sky. Did we finally see the infamous North Dakota Lights?
———- from Rick Neff of Missoula MT
No. What you perceived as a strange, flickering orange light was probably the result of visual sensory deprivation, something North Dakotans have grappled with ever since the lonely treeless prairie achieved statehood. Native Americans who lived there long ago used to travel southward every winter, not so much to escape the cold but to see something other than a seemingly never-ending stretch of flat brown land meeting a gray sky. Contrary to popular belief, there is a tree in North Dakota. This lonesome Elm, known as “Oscar”, is housed under maximum security at the state capitol. If you’d like to experience North Dakota without going there, visit an isolation tank.
No. What you perceived as a strange, flickering orange light was probably the result of visual sensory deprivation, something North Dakotans have grappled with ever since the lonely treeless prairie achieved statehood. Native Americans who lived there long ago used to travel southward every winter, not so much to escape the cold but to see something other than a seemingly never-ending stretch of flat brown land meeting a gray sky. Contrary to popular belief, there is a tree in North Dakota. This lonesome Elm, known as “Oscar”, is housed under maximum security at the state capitol. If you’d like to experience North Dakota without going there, visit an isolation tank. 