thumb|right|Sign at [[Boulia, Queensland]]

The Min Min light is a light phenomenon that has often been reported in outback Australia. it is possible that the event described is a different phenomenon.

thumb|Site of the Min Min Hotel, famous for its connection with the Min Min lights, 2019

The origin of the name Min Min is uncertain. It could be connected to an Australian Aboriginal language from the Cloncurry area, or it could be connected to the Min Min Hotel, located in a small settlement of the same name, where the light was observed by a stockman in 1918. Neither connection has been substantiated. Non-Indigenous folklore and tales of the Min Min lights tend to characterize them as a mysterious phenomenon and fit into understandings of the land which are characterised by the Australian Gothic; Min Min lights are often portrayed as benign, yet frightening and unknowable to those who experience them.

Distribution

Reports of the phenomenon are widespread throughout Australia from as far south as Brewarrina in western New South Wales, to as far north as Boulia in northern Queensland. The majority of sightings are reported to have occurred in Channel Country. They are often described as being white, though some accounts describe them as changing colour from white to red to green and back again. Some accounts describe them as being dim; others describe them as being bright enough to illuminate the ground under them and to cause nearby objects to throw clearly defined shadows. Some witnesses describe the light as appearing to approach them several times before retreating. Others report that the lights were able to keep pace with them when they were in a moving motor vehicle. To date, no one has captured or observed an animal with these characteristics. There is also no known bioluminescent source bright enough. A Fata Morgana is a specific form of mirage caused by a stark temperature difference between air layers, which causes remote lights or objects actually beyond the horizon to appear visible above the horizon, often with considerable distortion. This explanation would also explain how reports of the sightings have changed over the years: The first reports and Aboriginal legends were of stationary lights, which would have been refractions over the horizon of campfires. Later reports are of lights that actively move. With a Fata Morgana mirage, this would be a refraction of car headlights over the horizon being reflected and being seen to move. The area of the Min Min lights are in a desert with known temperature inversions in the atmosphere.

The Min Min lights appear in the first episode of the second season of the Australian web television series Wolf Creek.

The Min Min lights also appear in Episode 16 of Season 3 of the Australian television series McLeod's Daughters.

In 2020, Australian band Custard released a single titled "The Min Min Lights"

See also

  • Abu Fanous
  • Aleya (Ghost light)
  • Atmospheric ghost lights
  • Aurora
  • Ball lightning
  • Chir Batti
  • Hessdalen lights
  • Longdendale lights
  • Marfa lights
  • The Spooklight
  • Unidentified flying object
  • Will-o'-the-wisp

References

  • W. Fearn-Wannan, "Lights of the Outback", in A Dictionary of Australian Folklore, 1981 ()