Editing Min Min light (section)

== History ==
Stories about the lights can be found in several [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal Australian]] cultures predating the [[History of Australia (1788–1850)|European colonisation of Australia]], and have since become part of wider [[Australian folklore]].<ref name=pettigrew1/> Some [[Indigenous Australians]] hold that the number of sightings has increased in conjunction with the ingression of Europeans into the [[outback]].<ref name=pettigrew1/> While it has been claimed that the first recorded sighting dates to 1838, in the book ''Six Months in South Australia'',<ref>{{Skeptoid|id=4133|number=133|title=Chasing the Min Min Light|date=13 December 2008}}</ref> it is possible that the event described is a different phenomenon.<ref>{{Skeptoid|id=4564|number=564|title=Into Thin Error|date=28 March 2017 }}</ref> 
[[File:Site of the Min Min Hotel, famous for its connection with the Min Min lights, Min Min, 2019.jpg|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 [[Shire of Cloncurry|Cloncurry area]], or it could be connected to the Min Min Hotel, located in a [[Min Min, Queensland|small settlement of the same name]], where the light was observed by a [[stockman (Australia)|stockman]] in 1918.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.henrythornton.com/article.asp?article_id=2447 | title = The Min Min Light | publisher = henrythornton.com | last = Hayman | first = John | date = 1 February 2004 | accessdate = 20 December 2013 | archive-date = 21 December 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131221115442/http://www.henrythornton.com/article.asp?article_id=2447 | url-status = live }}</ref> Neither connection has been substantiated.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=September 2021|access-date=17 September 2021|location=Oxford|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/245714|archive-date=14 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714065225/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/245714|url-status=live}}</ref> 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;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rosser|first=Elise|date=2013|title=A Place for Monsters: Wolf Creek and the Australian Outback|url=https://www.academia.edu/14417832|journal=Journal of Monsters and the Monstrous|volume=3|pages=73–82|access-date=22 November 2021|archive-date=14 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714065225/https://www.academia.edu/14417832/A_Place_for_Monsters_Wolf_Creek_and_the_Australian_Outback|url-status=live}}</ref> Min Min lights are often portrayed as benign, yet frightening and unknowable to those who experience them.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Moravec|first=Mark|date=2003|title=Strange Illuminations: 'Min Min Lights'--Australian 'Ghost Light' Stories|journal=Fabula|volume=44|pages=2–24 |doi=10.1515/fabl.2003.009 |via=ProQuest Central}}</ref>