The Paulding Light — Upper Michigan Orb Approaches and Retreats Along Power Lines

The Paulding Light has been appearing nightly along a stretch of forest road in Watersmeet, Michigan since it was first reported in 1966. The light appears as a glowing orb—usually white or red—that rises above the tree line, hovers, approaches observers, and then retreats. It appears almost every night under the right atmospheric conditions. The US Forest Service has posted an official sign acknowledging the light and explaining it as an optical illusion caused by car headlights on US Highway 45 refracting through temperature inversions. A team from Michigan Tech investigated this explanation in 2010 and provided video analysis supporting the car headlight theory. However, local tradition and long-term observers maintain that the light was present before the highway was built in its current configuration and that it behaves in ways inconsistent with refracted headlights—including appearing when the highway is empty, splitting into multiple lights, and changing color. The light is described by some witnesses as appearing to pause and watch them. The legend associated with the light describes a UP&L brakeman who was killed while working on the tracks that run through the area. His ghost is said to swing his lantern looking for the lost caboose. The Paulding Light is popular with tourists and is listed as an official point of interest by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.