The will-o’-the-wisp, also known as jack-o’-lantern or ghost lights, is a natural light phenomenon seen rarely on swamps. It has been referenced since the Middle Ages and is believed to be caused by the oxidation of methane gases or piezoelectric materials. Folktales suggest it is a lost spirit using light to mislead travellers or an indication of buried treasure.
The will-o’-the-wisp, also known as will-o’-the-wisp, is sometimes called a jack-o’-lantern, “ghost lights” or “ghost lights.” It is a phenomenon of anomalous natural lights, often, when they are seen (which is rarely) they are found floating on a swamp. References to the will-o’-the-wisp date back at least to the Middle Ages.
An early poem on the subject reads:
It was in every cavity
A hundred tufts from the crooked mouth.
– Dafydd ap Gwilym (trad. Wirt Sikes), 1340
A common Latin name for the phenomena, ignis fatuus, meaning “foolish fire,” also suggests that people have been seeing it for at least a thousand years. Wisps are small, floating lights, sometimes seen in groups, that display a variety of patterns of movement. These include stationary, slow movements or the most famous: erratic, darting movements that some say resemble intelligence. The flickering motion has inspired many folktales, told across Europe and Russia, that a will-o’-the-wisp is actually a small lump of burning coal held by the lost spirit of a man who has been denied access to both heaven and earth. to hell. The doomed spirit uses light to mislead travellers.
The traditional jack-o’-lantern carved from a pumpkin on Halloween gets its name from the myth of the will-o’-the-wisp. One version of the story says that the spirit placed the lump of burning coal into a carved pumpkin. Other cultures see the will-o’-the-wisp as an indication of the location of buried treasure. Anyone looking for such a treasure would have had a hard time excavating the swamp. The phenomenon appears to be worldwide, with traditional names for will-of-the-wisps in places as diverse as the Philippines, Thailand, Norway, Utah, Lithuania, and Japan.
Scientists have come up with at least a couple of possible explanations for the wisp phenomenon, but none of them have been extensively tested. The most common explanation put forward is that the will-o’-the-wisp is generated by the oxidation of methane gases and hydrogen phosphide produced by the decay of organic material in swamps. These chemicals have been shown to provide light when combined under laboratory conditions. Experiments by Italian chemists Luigi Garlaschelli and Paolo Boschetti have been cited, although independent confirmation has so far been lacking.
Another possible explanation is that wisps are synonymous with “earth lights,” lights thought to be generated by piezoelectric materials (which convert pressure into electricity), such as quartz, subjected to tectonic stresses. This would partly explain the occasionally erratic movement of the will-o’-the-wisp. However, extensive testing to confirm this hypothesis has not yet been seriously conducted.
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