# Glowing Red Eyes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2002, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818 "2002-05-08T00:25:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/1 "2002-05-08T00:25:20Z")
I would guess that anybody who’s spent any time in the woods at night–or has a cat or dog–has seen highly reflective “glowing” eyes staring at them. I know I have, and I’ve seen these eyes come in all kinds of colors–white, green, yellow, and so forth. But I don’t think I ever, until recently, saw a pair of glowing red eyes. At least not outside of horror movies. My question–what animal has eyes that appear to glow red in the nighttime. I first saw these eyes staring at me from the weeds and bushes at the side of the road I run on most every night. This is in a semi-rural area a few miles outside a medium-sized city in Northeast Arkansas. The uncultivated land is a mix of open fields and woods; there are nearby cotton, rice, and soybean farms. There are also now a few pretty big factories scattered around out there, screwing up the local eco-system (my county has sold land to a several big companies from up north over the last couple years). I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, but still . . . it’s kind of creepy, and I have enough problems with wild dogs and the psychotic bats. Could it be a rat? I’ve encountered them at night before, but I can’t recall what there eyes looked like. I’m almost certain it’s not a possum (there’s no “O” in that word where I live), cat, racoon, wild dog, skunk, deer, armadillo, or any other animal I’ve encountered around here. I know we’ve got a couple coyotes on the loose, and I’ve seen wolves (escaped pets illegally bred); people tell me that we have “panthers” or “wild cats,” but I’ve never seen any animal like that in Arkansas. I know we’ve got bears, but those are too big to be the animal(s) giving me the evil eye on my nightly run is much too small for that. And yes I’ve done drugs, and yes I’m a horror novel/movie addict, and yes I have a very active imagination–and no, I’m not hallucinating. What kind of animal has lambent red eyes at night? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/2 "2002-05-08T00:30:53Z")
Hmmm, interesting . . . ALL of our pets, cats and dogs, have had eyes that glow red in the dark – **except** for Scout, our shepherd/lab mix, whose eyes glow **Kryptonite green.** Wild-critter eyes alwats look white, yellow, or red to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/3 "2002-05-08T00:36:03Z")
I have seen red eyes and I’m fairly sure that they belonged to a rat. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/4 "2002-05-08T00:47:10Z")
Any animal with a tapetum lucidem - a layer behind the sensitive areas of the retina which reflects light - will appear to have glowing eyes at night since the light is being reflected back towards you. In my experience, animals of the same species and even the same animal will reflect back different colors of light depending on the type of illumination and the flow of blood through their eye. I wouldn’t think a red reflection is limited to a specific type of nocturnal animal. Of course, I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/5 "2002-05-08T01:52:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mephisto \* > **. . . but those are too big to be the animal(s) giving me the evil eye on my nightly run is much too small for that.** :mad: Ugh. And that’s not the only one. _sigh_ :rolleyes: What can I say. I had a wife, a baby, and a dog all competing for my attention at the same time. Anyway, I figured that the eyes of each individual animal would always glow the same, unless the light reflected off the tapetum lucidem\* wasn’t from some weird source of illumination (like a black light or something). I made this assumption (I know, you’re not supposed to assume) based on my experience with my pets, whose eyes always reflect the same–Pugsley the Dog’s eyes always look green when the light hits them at night, regardless of the light source’s color or intensity; Evil Stupid Cat’s eyes always look amber. I also thought that the range of eye color tended to be the same within each species. Again, this is based on experience (and I may have just experienced a lot of coincidences) and memory (which is far from perfect). One thing I’m pretty sure of, though, is that I haven’t been stared at by many glowing red eyes at night before (if I were **Scarlett67** , all but **Scout** would be lapping up holy from their bowls 🙂 ). If I ever have noticed an animal with glowing red eyes at night, I can’t remember. That’s what made me start this thread. I thought that red was outside the range of most animals, and certainly outside the range of every American Midwest and American South animal I’ve ever encountered–although the above posts now lead me to suspect that I might be wrong. Hopefully some biologist or vetrinary opthamologist type will come along and shed some more light (no pun intended) on this subject. I wouldn’t want to try to Google this, and I’m having a dispute about some late fees with my friendly neighborhood librarian (on whom a pair of glowing red eyes wouldn’t look so out of place), so the library’s out as well. Thanks for the responses so far. And now it’s off to face the . . . whatever it is. \*My new favorite word of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/6 "2002-05-08T01:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mephisto \* > \*\*(if I were **Scarlett67** , all but **Scout** would be lapping up holy from their bowls 🙂 \*\* Holy water. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/7 "2002-05-08T02:37:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > \*\*Hmmm, interesting . . . ALL of our pets, cats and dogs, have had eyes that glow red in the dark – **except** for Scout, our shepherd/lab mix, whose eyes glow **Kryptonite green.** \*\* Is that in Crayola’s next batch? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/8 "2002-05-08T05:22:44Z")
This [animal](http://www.mcseinfo.com/sean/chupacabra.html) is closest to the one you describe. > [@](#): > > Others say that it is a panther-like creature with a long, forked, snake tongue and **gleaming red eyes** ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/9 "2002-05-08T05:38:17Z")
Darn…astro beat me to it. I was going to say that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/10 "2002-05-08T05:46:12Z")
This has absolutely no relevance, but someone named **Mephisto** is asking about glowing red eyes? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/11 "2002-05-08T05:51:38Z")
I saw once a _man’s_ eyes turning red for a brief instant. It was similar to the eye’s color one can see on some pictures taken with a flashlight, except that he was seating in front of me. And he definitely doesn’t have red eyes. I don’t think he’s a vampire, either, or he’s been fooling me for many years. So, either it was a hallucination, either a naturally non-red eye can glow red under appropriate though rare light conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/12 "2002-05-08T06:09:10Z")
Maybe it was the [Mothman](http://www.prairieghosts.com/moth.html). **clairobscur** , back when I used to listen to Art Bell, there was a caller who told a story about seeing that same thing. Some guy in line behind him at the register in a truck stop, or something. Guy got belligerent, and suddenly his eyes (the entire sclera, not just the iris) turned red. The caller thought the guy was going to kill him, or something. It was on Art Bell, so it had to be true. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/13 "2002-05-08T06:15:29Z")
Well…in my case, it wasn’t all the eye but only the iris. Also, the guy wasn’t mad or belligerent, we were just talking with some other friends around the table. It seemed so weird to me that I didn’t mention what I saw. And I wasn’t drunk or stoned, I thought I should mention that. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/14 "2002-05-08T06:36:30Z")
My cats’ and dog’s eyes always glowed green. And horror of horrors - I once walked downstairs without my contact lenses and saw a flash of green. Putting them in and returning - it turned out to be a **MASSIVE HELL SPIDER** with **FLASHING GREEN EYES**. My parents were away at the time, I nearly died of terror and fright. Luckily my friend staying with me wasn’t quite so arachnophobic, so she killed/trapped it, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/15 "2002-05-08T07:19:44Z")
I would guess it was a possum. My cats eyes “glow” their natural color and a possums eyes are already red so I would think they would “glow” red. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/16 "2002-05-08T07:52:27Z")
I have it from good authority that Mr. Ashcroft’s eyes glow red when illuminated by a beam or flash of light. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glowing-red-eyes/107818/17 "2002-05-08T11:09:42Z")
A beam is enough?