Will-O'-The-Wisp

[BS3]

Here's another couple of accounts - generally what you would call low quality but better than nothing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HighStrangeness/s/sSM9J6AJDW

https://www.reddit.com/r/Thetruthishere/s/39VEn9Y4p8

https://www.reddit.com/r/spirituality/s/B7vNuvP1CE

 

[BS3]

Another short academic paper on will-o-the-wisps, this time from Brazil;

https://www.scielo.br/j/qn/a/tTNjphQgpHw8TPHx5XPt6DB/

In this case the researcher, Antonio Pavao, focuses on the blue colour often reported, suggesting that this is down to the emission of excited formaldehyde as part of the slow, cool combustion of methane. However, in opposition to the spontaneous combustion claimed by Prof Zychowski, Pavao uses chemistry to argue that an extra source of energy is needed to ignite in the first place - accordingly the reason that will-o-the-wisps are nearly extinct is that people no longer use burning torches, candle lanterns and the like to light their way.

I'm not 100% convinced by this (thanks to Zychowski's paper and evidence of older accounts, as well as the fact that will-o-the-wisps aren't uniformly blue as Pavao claims) but it's interesting to have another perspective.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/s/AyN8IXrTtT

Another promising-sounding account, this time from Silent Pool, Guildford, though with the usual caveat about anonymous accounts on the internet.

I remember a nighttime account from a woodland or forest here in the UK of the "carriage lights" of a "train" moving across the wooded hillside opposite (over a river) yet there was never a railway there. Reading this account it does sound more like these lights moving along in a line together.

 

[BS3]

There is a reasonably good possible will-o-the-wisp sighting in an IHTM thread on this board courtesy of @Gloucestrian

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/will-o-the-wisp.6351/post-1788454

This matches the old descriptions in several ways: seen in 'unimproved' marshland; a pale, blue-white light with a somewhat candle-like appearance; seems to move away from the viewer on approach; seen in autumn (October, in this case).

 

[BS3]

More early 19th century accounts of the will-o-the-wisp, courtesy of the Worcestershire folklorist Jabez Allies, in one of his books. These are mostly from around Alfrick, in the Malvern Hills. Allies later used one of these reports to track down the ignis fatuus himself, at Powick (see earlier in the thread).

What seems notable is that most of his informants describe seeing the phenomenon only a few times in their lives, which to me suggests the importance of particular weather conditions in producing it. This might be one reason it's rarely seen now: even if you lived next to a marsh with the right conditions present, it might only appear on a few nights a year.

Having read through more recent papers on the subject, however, I think the other main reason is probably down to the requirement for certain bacteria to be present in producing the necessary chemistry, specifically bacteria that originate in the human digestive tract. Two of the most recent reports from England (Mill Hill and Wherwell) are associated with sewage and with an old churchyard. I suspect that the near disappearance of the will-o-the-wisp is not just because marshes have been drained and improved, but because in general people are no longer sh*tting in (or at least emptying their chamber pots in) ponds, streams, and marshes.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

More early 19th century accounts of the will-o-the-wisp, courtesy of the Worcestershire folklorist Jabez Allies, in one of his books. These are mostly from around Alfrick, in the Malvern Hills. Allies later used one of these reports to track down the ignis fatuus himself, at Powick (see earlier in the thread).

What seems notable is that most of his informants describe seeing the phenomenon only a few times in their lives, which to me suggests the importance of particular weather conditions in producing it. This might be one reason it's rarely seen now: even if you lived next to a marsh with the right conditions present, it might only appear on a few nights a year.

Having read through more recent papers on the subject, however, I think the other main reason is probably down to the requirement for certain bacteria to be present in producing the necessary chemistry, specifically bacteria that originate in the human digestive tract. Two of the most recent reports from England (Mill Hill and Wherwell) are associated with sewage and with an old churchyard. I suspect that the near disappearance of the will-o-the-wisp is not just because marshes have been drained and improved, but because in general people are no longer sh*tting in (or at least emptying their chamber pots in) ponds, streams, and marshes.

Interesting suggestion re human sewage. Although we have lost so much of our marshland and fenland there are still places where it has been protected but who is likely to be hanging around these late at night? I imagine in the past people used to cross marshes via footpaths as the most direct way home, but nowadays we drive along roads and then sit ourselves down in front of the tv.

 

[BS3]

Interesting suggestion re human sewage. Although we have lost so much of our marshland and fenland there are still places where it has been protected but who is likely to be hanging around these late at night? I imagine in the past people used to cross marshes via footpaths as the most direct way home, but nowadays we drive along roads and then sit ourselves down in front of the tv.

Well, quite. @Gloucestrian 's account shows the kind of place you might have to seek it out, and then only on certain nights at the right time of year. With fewer agricultural workers trudging around the countryside on foot the odds of seeing it would be very small.