Ghost Lights

By Carolyn Radford Echols

Ghost Lights are among the world’s most baffling and fascinating paranormal manifestations. These mysterious, glowing orbs have been reported for centuries throughout the world.Ghost Lights are often spotted rising eerily out of swamps in the dead of night.They glide. across brush-tangled mountainsides and drift through valleys and open meadows as if under intelligent control. Many Ghost Lights have been seen swaying down deserted railroad tracks like lanterns carried by an unseen hand. Still others rise up from graveyards and chase after terrified motorists on lonely country roads. These are the Ghost Lights that haunt the darkened back roads, forests and marshes of our planet. This book examines some of the world’s most chilling and intriguing Ghost Light cases. It explores their many haunts, the myths and legends that surround them and the attempts by modern science to explain them away. Embark with me on a journey into the darkest recesses of the unknown as we investigate one of the world’s greatest paranormal enigmas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carolyn Radford Echols
• Release date: Jun 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310931918

Carolyn Radford Echols

I love animals and I enjoy working with animal rescue groups every chance I get. I wish everybody would treat animals with respect and care. They have feelings just like we do. They get hungry and thirsty, they get cold and tired. They get frightened and sad. They feel pain just like we do and they have a great capacity for love. I believe firmly that they should not be treated as property. They should be treated as friends.I am also involved with environmental concerns. Recycling is very important to me. I believe in conservation and in living "green". It distresses me how developers move into an area and strip it bare of old forest growth just to stick up a bunch of houses on bare lawns...all this while older homes stand empty and unsold. Such a waste of our natural resources. So many animals are losing their habitats. Beautiful wild areas are rapidly disappearing mainly because of greed for the almighty dollar....and it breaks my heart to see it.I consider myself a spiritual person. The most important thing in life to me is my faith.I have always been fascinated by the paranormal and love to research and investigate paranormal phenomena. I love Science Fiction, especially the Star Wars and Star Trek series. And, I am passionate about gardening. I love wild flowers and enjoy going on hikes to observe and identify them.While writing is my favorite hobby,I also enjoy jewelry making and music.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Ghost Lights and Related Paranormal Phenomena

Ghost lights; just thinking about these mysterious, unexplainable orbs glowing and moving eerily about like wraiths in the darkness is enough to cause shivers to run down your spine. Just what are these enigmatic lights of unknown origin that bob along railroad tracks, dance on mountain ranges and glide through dark, dismal swamps?

Ghost lights in one form or another have been reported for thousands of years in just about every country, every nation, even on other planets and the moon and they never fail to captivate and mystify. Some of them seem to follow the same path and repeat the same actions over and over as if in a loop, while others appear to move independently and to be either controlled by some kind of intelligence or intelligent themselves. What are they? How and why do they manifest and what if anything is their motivation or purpose?

In this book, we will take a close look at some of these mystifying lights. Some of the examples included have been scientifically investigated and their sources explained. You may draw your own conclusions about whether or not you agree with the experts. Other lights simply defy any logical explanation.

We will also look at some of the myths handed down through the ages regarding Ghost Lights and at the legends surrounding some of the best-known ghost light cases. In this book, I will not endeavor to include photographic orbs allegedly appearing on pictures taken at haunted sites after the fact. Such orbs are highly controversial and while they could be a source of material for a book other than this one, I do not feel they belong here.

Ghost Lights have been associated with many sacred sites all over the world. Ancient people both feared and worshiped them. Their appearance in certain areas may resulted in these being designated as holy spots and have influenced the building of many ancient shrines and temples. One example is the temple built in China to venerate the mysterious Bodhisattva Lights. The Castlerig Ring, an ancient circle of stones situated near Keswick in Cumbria, North West England is another site allegedly built in honor of ancient, unexplainable lights, as was the great stone circle located in Avebury, England. These are just three of many locations sacred to ancient civilizations that might have been influenced by the appearance of these mysterious lights.

Many who encounter Ghost Lights find them spooky, chilling, and disturbing. They rise eerily out of swamps in the dark of night like ghostly candles. They dance among the tombstones in neglected graveyards, slide down steep mountainsides, glide silently through brush-covered valleys and come swaying down railroad tracks like lanterns carried by an invisible hand. Sometimes they rise up and float along at a leisurely pace or soar away at breathtaking speeds. One light can be seen to divide or conversely, two or more small lights can join to form one big light. Sometimes they flash in a variety of colors; sometimes they fizzle and sparkle like a skyrocket. They can wink out in an instant, shoot off and disappear into the stars at impossible speeds or even explode.

Observers often describe these lights as appearing like old-fashioned lanterns, torches or glowing orbs of varying sizes. Often they behave as if they are aware of their observers; sometimes appearing teasing and playful, at other times threatening. They have been known to follow or even chase after people, but dart skillfully away if they are pursued.

Ghost Lights can seem to be shy in some cases, menacing in others. In rare instances, witnesses believe they have experienced telepathic communication with the lights and sometimes a hypnotic, trance-like effect is reported, as if the lights cast a spell over their observers. What are they? Where do they come from and why are they here?

--SECTION ONE – WHAT WE KNOW

CHAPTER 1 - Ghost Lights in Legends and Myths

Ghost lights are common to just about every country and down through the ages a variety of tall tales and myths have evolved to explain their origin. Each area has its own ghost light tales, but there are striking similarities among them.

When it comes to ghost lights observed near or along railroad tracks, the legends are remarkably similar. In the majority of these cases, the lights are attributed to deceased railroad workers who died in tragic accidents while on the job. Their spirit, usually carrying an old fashioned railroad lantern to light his way, is doomed to forever wander along the tracks looking for his head or reliving the tragic events leading up to his death.

In recent years, a number of ghost light sightings along dark, country roads or in nearby fields have been connected in legend to fatal automobile or motorcycle crashes. Most of these folklores include a forbidden Romeo and Juliet type romance that ended in tragedy. Some of the legends prescribe a formula for calling up the lights. This usually involves parking in a nearby location and flashing the car’s headlights a few times after which the ghost light is expected to appear. Many thrill-seeking teenaged couples across the nation swear that this formula works. It is interesting to note how many similar ghost light legends have sprung up in locations all across North America.

Then, there are the mysterious Will o’ the Wisps, globes of light seen hovering and glowing near marshes and bogs that have captured the imagination of observers since time immemorial. In ancient European legends, the Will o’ the Wisp is often portrayed as a fairy or elf with a penchant for misleading travelers and luring them into dangerous, even deadly situations. Other legends portray Will o’ the Wisps as guardians of treasure or lost souls searching for redemption.

Earth Lights are ghost lights seen on or around mountain peaks, on open plains or in meadows. Many times these lights are detected near faults in the earth’s crust and their appearances often precede earthquakes. Such lights were reported sshortly before the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes in New Madrid, Missouri, and just before the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and before the 1888 earthquake in New Zealand. These are just three examples out of many which have occurred down through the years.

Yes, Ghost Lights are a phenomenon that has long intrigued and confounded witnesses and researchers alike. Many who have witnessed them firmly believe they are of paranormal origin, while many scientific researchers believe they are not paranormal at all, but originate from a variety of natural sources such as those shown in the paragraphs above. Nevertheless, there are those mystery lights that seem to defy all explanation and the scientific world is as a loss to account for them. Let’s get the ball of light rolling by taking a closer look at some possible identifiable causes of ghost lights and also some popular myths and legends connected to them.

CHAPTER 2 - Will o’ the Wisp

Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night

Condenses, and the cold environs round

Kindled through agitation to a flame,

Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,

Hovering and blazing with delusive light,

Misleads th'amaz'd night-wanderer from his way,

To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool,

There swallow'd up and lost, from succour far . . . John Milton Paradise Lost

The first natural source of Ghost Lights which we will examine is one most people have heard of, but few have actually seen; the Will o’ the Wisp. In Medieval Latin, this phenomenon is called ignis fatuus which means, Foolish Fire. Usually described as a flickering blue flame, this light is most often seen floating over swamps, marshes and bogs, and most of the time, not very far off the ground.

It sometimes appears as a round or teardrop shaped orb, but most often closely resembles a flickering torch or lantern. It can appear in a variety of colors ranging from blue to white, to yellow to red and from the size of a thumbnail up to the size of a basketball or even larger. Spooky when seen in the solitary, dark of night, this erratically moving light seems to bounce along as if carried by some other worldly hand. It may appear to avoid obstacles by moving around them, or by vanishing and reappearing behind them. If you walk toward the light it might move away from you or just wink out. If you walk away, it might seem to follow you.

This phenomenon is quite common and known around the globe by many names. The word wisp in Will o’ the Wisp, is an old English term for a bundle of kindling sticks used to ignite a fire; therefore the term could be understood as Will’s kindling. Other names for these phantom lights are Jack o’ Lanterns, hobby lanterns, ghost lanterns, corpse candles, and the list goes on and on.

Will o’ the Wisps have fascinated observers for many hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. The first written mention of Will o’ the Wisps in the English language that we know of was in A Goodly Gallerye: William Fulke's Book of Meteors, published in 1563. Sir Isaac Newton mentioned Will o’ the Wisps in his 1704 opus, Opticks. Shakespeare mentions an ignis fatuus or a ball of wildfire in Henry IV Part I, Act III.

In bygone years, miners believed Will o’ the Wisp lights marked the locations of rich deposits of ore. In 1778, William Pryce wrote in Mineralogia Cornubiensis that tin smiths would search in the proximity of these lights in order to find veins of tin. 18th century mining texts also mention lights hovering over veins of copper ore and this method of finding mineral ore was reportedly used up until the early 1900’s. Not only are Will o’ the Wisps seen to hover in the vicinity of valuable mineral deposits, but some still believe that digging where they are seen to hover can sometimes yield buried treasure.

Different regions of Europe and the United States have their own nicknames for the phenomena as well as their own legends. The lights have been attributed to fairies, ghosts, witches, demons and in modern times, UFOs and aliens, depending on whom you ask.

In Wales, these impish, sometimes malicious spirits are called The Ellylldan or sometimes Pwca, Pooka or Puck. These legendary mischief makers were the inspiration behind the rascally spirit in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . There is an old, oft-told Welsh legend that cautions about these spirits.

In the Welsh legend, a traveler making his way home alone at night sees a small, shadowy figure up ahead, holding a candle or a lamp. Curious, he follows the figure with the light through the forest until suddenly he finds himself on the edge of a deep, dark precipice. At that point, the figure emits an evil laugh, the light abruptly goes out and the traveler finds himself alone in a dark, unfamiliar forest where one false move could send him plunging to his death. Life lesson: beware of shady little men bearing lamps in forest settings.

Another Welsh legend tells of a man named Sion Dafydd who tried to match wits with the devil. Simon, a selfish and greedy man who valued money above all else, bartered with the evil one for a fortune in gold. Of course, this always comes with a price. In return for the gold, the devil wanted Sion’s soul. The greedy, yet clever Sion agreed with the stipulation that if he could manage to hold onto something when the devil came for him, he could not be taken.

One day, when he was working in the fields, the devil decided it was time for Sion to pay up. He snatched Sion away into the air without warning. Sion knew he had no hope of escaping, but he thought quickly and decided to ask the devil for one last favor. All I ask for is just one last bite of an apple. Just let me pluck one from the top of that apple tree, he pleaded. For some unknown reason, the devil agreed, and of course, Sion grabbed onto a tree branch and was saved. The devil was furious that he couldn’t have Sion’s soul, so he turned him into a fairy on the spot. Now, Sion wanders about with a fairy lantern as a warning to others not to make deals with the devil

These bouncing globes of light have sometimes been known to chase after those unlucky enough to encounter them. The best safeguard against these malicious spirits, according to legend, is to wear one’s cap turned inside out when walking alone at night. Tradition also warns never to point at them or they might come after you, so keep all these things in mind the next time you go strolling through the forest after sunset.

In Scotland, the spirits are called Teine Biorach or sharp fire. Legends attribute them to the spirit of a young girl who sneaked out at night with her lantern to gather and selfishly hoard all the galium verum for herself instead of sharing with the community. Galium Verum, commonly known as yellow bedstraw, is a herbaceous plant which was useful to the villagers in many ways. Its yellow flowers were used as food coloring , to curdle milk for cheese making and for fabric dye. Red dye was also made from the roots, and the sweet smelling plant itself was dried and used to stuff mattresses. Because of her selfishness she was cursed by the villagers and is doomed to wander about with her lantern forever.

In another legend common in England and Ireland, A blacksmith named Will died and found himself at the gates of Heaven. Will had lead a sinful life filled with wickedness, cruelty and dishonesty. St. Peter found him far too sinful to cross over into paradise, but Will repented and pleaded so pitifully that St. Peter decided to give him a second chance at redemption.

Of course, Will failed miserably at this and was then fated to wander the earth as his eternal purgatory. St. Peter will never let him get into Heaven and because he once dared to match wits with the devil and won, he has also been denied entry into Hell. He was given only one glowing coal to light his way in the world. Will now takes out his eternal anger and frustration on innocent people by trying to lure them with his glowing coal into dangerous situations.

In the Netherlands, the lights are called, dwaallicht, which translates as wander lights, and are believed to be the souls of unbaptized children. Because of their spiritual state, the children cannot get into Heaven and therefore wander the earth seeking anyone who can baptize them. In one story, a kind hearted man did baptize one of them and suddenly he was confronted by thousands all begging for a chance at baptism. Obviously, he had his hands full all that night. If they appear near a graveyard there is one sure way to get rid of them. A handful of graveyard dirt thrown in their direction will immediately disperse them.

In Denmark, the lights are believed to be the spirits of crooked land measurers who defrauded property owners in their lifetimes. Now, they wander about in the darkness with red hot iron rods, eternally measuring and crying out the correct measurements.

People in Poland share the belief that the Will o’ the Wisp is a mischievous spirit intent on leading travelers astray into the swamp. One story is told of a traveler who, once he realized he was lost, begged the Will o’ the Wisp to lead him home again, offering him two silver coins in payment. The spirit agreed, but once the traveler saw he was at the gate of his home, he reneged on his promise and only gave the spirit one of the promised coins. The spirit asked the man if he believed could find his way home from that spot alone. Of course the man was confident that he could, seeing he was already right there at the gate of the home, so he sent the spirit away. At that moment, the house disappeared and the man found he was back in the forest again. It had all been an illusion and he was left alone to find his own way home.

In one German story, the lights appear to involve a different kind of spirit, the liquid kind. In these legends, the lights are mischievous spirits who enjoy tormenting inebriated men as they stagger their way home from the local watering hole. When the drunkard can go no further and falls to the ground, the light mischievously burns the soles of his feet.

There is another story told in Germany of a peasant who encountered one of the lights in the forest and foolishly decided to chase after it. After going deep into the woods, the peasant finally got a good look at the light and was horrified to see that he was actually pursuing a monstrous spirit with extremely long legs and a head composed of glowing fire. The Ghost Light then disappeared, leaving the peasant to stumble around alone in the dark. . Not leaving the beaten path to chase after strange spirits obviously is good advice in any country.

In some areas of Germany , the lights are believed to be a sprite named Herwisch. In legend, a beautiful young woman was making her way home through the marshy forest alone in the dark. She was understandably nervous, so as she made her way, she began to sing all the songs she knew in a loud voice to give her courage. All went well until she began to sing a song making fun of Herwisch. This angered the sprite who appeared and chased after her. When he caught up with her, he flapped his wings in her face and frightened her so badly that she completely lost her wits and never recovered her sanity. Since that time, people have been careful not to even mention Herwisch’s name after dark in fear of angering him.

In Mexico, the lights are believed to be the spirits of evil witches who lurk about at night. In the swamps of west Bengal, they are called Aleya or marsh ghost lights and are believed to be the souls of fishermen who drowned. The Aleya are very unpredictable. Sometimes, they try to lure hapless fishermen to their deaths, and at other times they rescue them from peril. Dead bodies that wash up on shore are blamed on the Aleya.

In Argentina and Uruguay, the lights are called Luz Mala which translates as evil light. Residents of rural areas especially fear these lights. They are described as glowing balls floating a few inches off the ground. If the ball is white, this means it is a soul is in distress and needs immediate prayers for its salvation. If the ball is red, it is the devil himself and the witness must flee to save his life and his soul.

In Japan, the lights are called hitodama, which means the soul in the form of a ball of energy, or, hinotama which means ball of flame. It is believed these are the spirits of dead people who often use this means to lead others to their mortal remains. A perfect