Ghostly swamp will-O'-the-wisps may be explained by science

I first heard of these reading Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus stories. He called them "Wull-er-de-Wust" [1].

[1] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24430/24430-h/24430-h.htm#V

I first heard of them as a card in Magic The Gathering!

Haha me too. Still remember the card graphic also.

My first introduction was from the first edition D&D Monster Manual.

Oh good, here I was thinking they could only be explained by magic.

Can we reflect on that this article starts with an Italian researcher named Luigi wearing a vacuum to try to suck in ghosts/will-o-the-wisps.

science has advanced so far now that it has invented magic

Hmmya hmmhmm hmmhmm hmm hmm...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l_XQoQc24T4

I'm sure the scientists have at least one green deck

It's interesting to me how common will o the wisp was in the past, but the concept seems completely forgotten. Of my grandmother's generation and in her town (which was nowhere near a swamp), everyone reported seeing weird lights floating around during their youth to early adulthood. They were always very clear that the lights were not fireflies, which were also common at the time but very distinct. I'm lucky I at least got to witness fireflies in my youth.

Anyways, an interesting nugget is buried in that article. It says that a reason will o the wisp may have been common in the past is because lantern flames may have ignited the gas, which seems like a decent explanation. People use electric light everywhere now.

I guess another issue could be that there's so much ambient lighting from street lights and light being reflected off clouds that it's simply too bright for us to see anything. People back in the day probably experienced a lot more completely black nights.

It's completely possible that will o the wisp will be a completely forgotten phenomenon in a couple more decades, since I don't know anyone under 80 who's reported seeing it, and kids probably don't even know of it now. And it makes me wonder if there are other phenomenons that ancient people were very aware of but no living person has ever seen.

Multiple factors to think about..

* People spending less time outside at night in general these days, bc indoors is where all the gadgets are

* When you do go outside at night, are your eyes going to be as dark-adapted as someone from say 1850 might have been? Shorter walks between brighter places these days could factor in.

* Swamps aren't as common as they used to be; particularly in the early 20th century in the US, swamps were frequently drained to 'improve' the land. Not as much decaying vegetation near at hand.

* Virtually everyone that dies these days is either chemically preserved, or cremated, so not as much decaying flesh in the cemeteries

I’ve seen similar things. Maybe 15 years ago. Light moving through sky almost like an airplane but no nav lights and erratic vector and speed so it couldn’t be a satellite.

Great catch! Didn’t see that until reading your comment lol.

In the movie Brave (which my kids love), will o the wisps are featured prominently. It was a great nerd dad moment to explain the blue flame / swamp / deep forest connection to methane and peat moss. My wife cared only a little bit but the threenagers had lots of questions.

I've heard fireflies are disappearing because they are sensitive to various human activities. But I live in NYC and somewhat frequently see them all in parks in the summer, even in places as dense as Manhattan.

>And it makes me wonder if there are other phenomenons that ancient people were very aware of but no living person has ever seen.

Having grown up in the last century with camping and middle-of-nowhere road trips, I'm amazed by how many people have never seen the Milky Way (not just stars that are part of the Milky Way, but the splotchy stripe across the sky). The trends for light pollution and time spent away from cities suggest that it could become a forgotten experience just like the will o' the wisp.

Historically, we have also aggressively removed marsh and swamp ecosystems in favor of agricultural land use.

Also if you go to the Midwest US, they're still everywhere in the summers. I assumed the firefly deaths would be easily explainable by chemicals, but they seemed prevalent over soybean fields (which would be treated with pesticides at some point), not just open (no chemical) pastures.

Source: the sad death chamber of a jam jar of fireflies my youngest collected this year at a family get-together on the family farm. So it's pretty anecdotal, but they were everywhere along the highway as we drove there as well for like 2 whole states.

Opeth song for me

I don't think it's been completely forgotten. At least in Germany, most people will probably understand what you mean if you talk about an "Irrlicht" and it's sometimes used as a metaphor. (There is even a verb form "irrlichtern" for going astray in areas that are not helpful for your goal)

Buy what strikes me is how completely it has become a fairy tale/fantasy trope. You'd talk about them the same way you'd talk about dragons or vampires. So the knowledge that there actually is a real underlying phenomenon seems to be vanishing.

Maybe it's simply that the scientific explanation is just so much more boring than all the "causes" people have speculated about in past centuries (spirits of nature, lost souls, etc).

You can tell an engaging story about a girl who was murdered and the corpse hidden in the swamp and who will reappear as a ghostly light to try and lead people to her murderers.

You cannot tell a similar story about self-igniting swamp gas.

This is something I find my fellow Aussies fail to appreciate. There are many dark sky spots an accessible drive from our cities. We have vast areas with almost zero light and air pollution, most of the continent is Bortle class 1. There are some stunning starscapes available for those who care to see them.