As those of you who follow my work know, I can often be found down at the beach around sunset and evening time, making use of the beautiful light and just enjoying my surroundings. Tonight was another of those summer nights; warm, with a cool breeze coming off Lake Huron, just a few wispy clouds overhead and on the horizon. I was at the north side beach. The sun set. I took photos. The afterglow deepened. I left the beach, and threw my backpack on a bench near my car, packing up my camera. I turned one last time to take in the view of sky and water. Am I ever glad I did. 
  Far out over the lake, southwest and just off the end of the pier to my view, I spotted some wavering pillars of light.
Mirage off Kincardine

  "No way. Don't even get your hopes up", I thought. You see, I've heard of the phenomenon of seeing cities that are actually over in Michigan, (which is miles and miles away from us here in Kincardine, Ontario, across one of the largest lakes on the planet!), on the horizon as if they were only a couple of miles away. My father in law once saw a mirage city in broad daylight from the roof of the huge nuclear plant nearby, and I've heard tales of sailors seeing mirage cities after sunset from various spots on Lake Huron. I have always wanted to see this myself, but I know it must be a rare sight, requiring certain conditions I do not pretend to know anything about. Alas, after many, many evenings at the lake, I have been disappointed. Until tonight.
  Sure enough, the more I watched this strange appearance of lights, the more it revealed itself to be a city. I could see the tall skyscrapers and towers of a brightly-lit city core, complete with antennae and red blinking lights on the tops. I made out the passing by of headlights and taillights of cars traveling quickly to and from the downtown. It was getting well on to dusk at this point, and I didn't have my tripod. I began to worry no one would believe me, and that it would disappear as soon as it had presented itself. Where was everyone? There was no one around. I began to walk very quickly toward the pier. 
Distant Mirage in the Dark
  When I got to the end of the pier a few minutes later, the light pillars and towers and city bustle were still visible. A couple of young people came to the end to ask me what they were seeing out there... was that... Michigan?! Yes, indeed! They could see the city too. We watched as the horizon to the left of the downtown became dotted with red blinking lights and racing white lights; perhaps an airport, or windmills? The horizon was alive with light and movement in one spot, which should have been completely dark - miles and miles and miles of deep, empty lake. 
  I called my in-laws and they came to the pier and watched the ghostly city for a while. That's two lake city mirages for my father-in-law! It had been at least half an hour since I first saw the shimmering city, and it was still there, although it was quickly fading as full dark set in. The towers became just dots of light like the rest. I went home, and grabbed my tripod, hoping against hope that the strange apparition was still there when I returned. 
  It was! 

  With a long exposure photograph and a steady tripod, we can finally see a bit of detail here. The lights to the very left of the photo are the street lights along Boiler Beach Road, which runs along the shore of the lake south of Kincardine. The land point ends almost right after that line of lights. Now we are supposed to have dark lake with no possibility of seeing any civilization out there. But in the middle of the photo, you can see the glow from the city, and right on the horizon, several red dots from the windmills or airport, then the brighter lights of the city core, and just to the right of that, the glow from cars coming and going on a freeway, I think. All of the lights in the centre of this photo should absolutely not be there, and they are not boats. This was a writhing, living, breathing city, visible out on the lake.  

  Here's a close-up crop of the red blinking lights stretching far across the horizon, and the bright city centre with glowing red taillights.   
  Again, we see the lights from Kincardine on the far left, and over the lake, the apparition lights of a mirage city. I watched it in the dark for quite some time, and I could again make out cars moving, lights blinking, the occasional bright flash, and other movement and shimmering. This was by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen over the lake. Upon further research, I found out this is what's called a "superior mirage", and it's not common. It's absolutely "impossible" to see any cities across the lake because of distance, but there it is. I am just grinning. I hope you got a chance to see the lights as well if you are in the area, and if this is the first you've heard of the phenomenon, be sure to keep your eyes open from now on, especially after sunset.
  Make a wish! Thanks for reading. (Please excuse the poor quality photos this time! Copyright ©Sarah Chisholm; do not use without permission)
Sarah