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Name: Min Min Encounter
City, State: Boulia, Outback Queensland Australia
What's it like?
On the edge of the Simpson Desert in Queensland's Outback lies a tiny town with a ghostly reputation.
If you are driving through the bush at night around Boulia, 300km south of Mount Isa, and you see a strange light with no apparent source dancing in the gidgee scrub or floating near an isolated highway - you're not the first.
This is the Min Min light - a bizarre, ghostly light that can appear, hover, disappear and reappear with an eerie will of its own. The light has been reported around Boulia, population 300, for more than 70 years.
And no-one has any decent explanation as to what it actually is.
Locals have their own theories as to its origin. Old timers believe the light was first seen in the vicinity of the old Min Min Hotel - about 70km from Boulia on the road to Winton. One story has the light rising from behind a grave at the back of the hotel.
Theories abound on what causes the Min Min light - some ideas are that the light is caused by a will-o'-the wisp which is a phosphorescent light often seen over marshy ground, firefly insects, a bird or even an unidentified flying object.
Others say the Min Min could be a kind of mirage - caused by a distant light refracting off a temperature inversion. Whatever the cause and despite the lack of explanation - or maybe because of it - the Min Min light is a source of fascination for visitors to Boulia.
Boulia local Robert "Bruiser" Cooms has lived in the area all his life and sighted the Min Min at least half a dozen times while driving at night.
"It's an orange glow that hovers around you," Bruiser said. "It doesn't throw a beam. It's just a big lump of ball. It hovers and bobs around. It puts the hairs up on the back of your neck."
Bruiser has his own unique explanation for the mysterious phenomenon. "It's a torch jammed up an emu's arse. It bobs like that. That's how an emu bobs."
Let's face it, if you go to Boulia and talk to the locals, you'll find someone who's seen the light or knows someone who has.
Boulia visitors can explore this phenomenon more fully at the $1.8 million Min Min Encounter in the heart of town. The centre houses a fascinating sound and light display, interactive features and the history of the Min Min light. The best part is that it combines the Outback's dry irony with some spooky special effects.
If you know of a great destination we're missing,
review it for us!!
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