Remarkable still and moving images of unexplained lights that haunt a mountain range in the Colombian Andes have been captured by a Scottish explorer and documentary maker. Within weeks of moving to live in the Tabio valley in 2017 Ashley Cowie heard stories about the ‘dancing lights’ that could be seen on La Pena de Juaica, a 3,232m (10,603ft) peak. Soon the stories were replaced by personal sightings and hard evidence in the form of photographs posted on Cowie’sYouTube channel UAP Colombia.1
The lights appear above the valley between Juaica and the neighbouring peak of El Majuy at 3,115m (10,219 ft). Cowie’s blog says they are “generally seen rising slowly from the tops of hills. Sometimes they manifest in the sky and move rapidly both upwards and downwards.” Much like similar recurrent light phenomena recorded elsewhere, these Colombian UAPs can travel at enormous speeds and at other times appear to hover in mid-air, floating back and forth across the valley. The Juaica lights are most often brilliant white, but yellow, red, blue and green lights have been seen. As at Hessdalen in Norway, they can appear above and below the horizon, lasting from a few seconds to more than one hour.
THE HILL OF DANCING LIGHTS
The valley and its twin settlements ofTabio and Tenjo are about 45km (28 miles) north of the Colombian capitol, Bogota. This area was settled by the Muisca (or Chibcha) civilisation that flourished between 600 and 1600. The Muisca were skilled goldworkers and the source of the legend of the lost city of El Dorado. Their folklore refers to the Juaica lights by a variety of names including lit ranchitos (‘glowing horsemen’), Balon de Oro (‘golden ball’), Lucero (‘searchlights’) and El Encanto (‘the charm’). In Muisca tradition, they are male and female spirits who combine as airborne lovers to produce the rain that gives the mountainous region its lush vegetation. Another legend tells of hundreds of Muiscas who leapt to their death from the mountain upon the arrival of Conquistadors in 1537 – the ghostly lights are their wandering souls.
