Lismore Glowing Cross was a glowing cross mirage in city of Lismore is located in the region of New South Wales, Australia, and an unusual legend is associated with it. For many years, there was an ordinary tombstone at the local cemetery, but it was known for its strange property - the massive granite cross glowed at night with its own light.
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On September 30, 1907, a tragedy occurred in Lismore, when a local railway worker, William Steenson, lost his life while trying to stop a running train. The man was then buried at the North Lismore Pioneer Cemetery, with a headstone commemorating his tragic death and his courage. Many years passed, when the event was almost forgotten, when in 1978 the locals started telling unusual stories. One evening, a man cleaning the graves noticed that William Steenson's gravestone was emitting an unnatural light. News of the phenomenon quickly made its way into Australian newspapers, and it wasn't long before the cemetery and the town of Lismore began to fill with crowds of onlookers.
The area of the reflection was flooded not only by tourists, but also by scientists, geologists, religious healers and pilgrims who believed that it was a miracle. However, it turns out that the locals have known about the illuminated cross in the cemetery for some 60 years, and the Steenson family themselves were not too happy about such publicity for their late ancestor. So a wild debate ensued as to what could be causing the granite cross to glow like a lamp. Skeptics believed that the cross was merely reflecting light from other sources, which would have been obvious at first glance. However, many witnesses saw the tombstone glowing with their own eyes even during dark nights, and it did not seem to be just a reflection of light. Others claimed that this phenomenon is made possible by the specific properties of granite, or that it is a supernatural phenomenon.
Over the years, people gradually lost interest in this phenomenon, until the tombstone attracted attention again in 1986, when it suddenly disappeared from the cemetery. It was then replaced by a second, identical cross, which, however, no longer had any special properties. Some locals then organized a campaign to find the lost tombstone, but it has been unsuccessful so far. With modern technology, the properties of the glowing cross could be better explored, but that probably won't happen until the cross is found. There have been hypotheses that the luminescence may have been caused by some type of insect or worm, but biologists reject these claims. According to experts, the type of red granite itself, from which the cross was made, also does not have any properties that would cause luminescence.