There are many legends about wandering, or demonic, fires, many have seen them with their own eyes, but too little is known about them to draw definite conclusions.
Wandering lights were observed at different times on different continents, but, according to Russian legends, most often they can be seen after August 24 in swamps and near cemeteries.
Saint David's Promise
Most often, the o 'o' wisps are considered the souls of drowned people and people who died a violent death, and now are stuck between worlds to lure living people into a quagmire or destroy in another way. In Great Britain, they are also assigned a mournful but noble role: here the will-o-wisps serve as the harbingers of death.
According to an old legend, Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, promised that every resident of this part of Great Britain will be notified of his death in advance and will have time to prepare for a journey to another world. The harbinger of death in the form of a wandering light can not only show the place of death, but also the place of rest, having passed the entire path of the funeral procession.
These superstitions are repeatedly confirmed by eyewitness accounts. In the book "Shadows of Nature at Night" there is a testimony of a certain church dignitary about his relative, who happened to travel, accompanied by her servant, and faced a fortuneteller.
The trip took place in the evening and in an unfamiliar area, so the lady was to be met by a guide from the property where she was heading. But she not only did not meet a servant who was supposed to leave to meet her, but she also lost her own.
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Left alone in the dark, she saw a light moving towards her. The woman froze in fear, the light also stopped, and in such a daze she stood for about half an hour. At the end of this time, the clatter of hooves was heard behind - it was her servant who finally caught up with her. the light turned aside and disappeared.
Having safely reached her destination, the woman told about what she had seen, and a few days later her servant died. The funeral procession was moving along this road, and exactly where the wandering light appeared, the hearse stopped for thirty minutes.
Guide to another world
Beliefs similar to those of Welsh existed in other parts of the kingdom and were highly trusted, as evidenced by the account of a Scottish priest. Once, leaving his house, which was next to the churchyard near the church, he noticed a luminous dot outside the fence of the church cemetery.
Deciding that it was someone walking with a lantern, he followed the light, but did not see a single person. The light flew out of the cemetery and went through a small forest to the house of one farmer, and then, accompanied by another light, turned in the opposite direction. All this time, the priest followed the mysterious lights and noticed that they disappeared into the crypt.
The next day he asked the watchman whose crypt it was. It turned out that this crypt belongs to the family of the very farmer who lives behind the forest. And a day later, the priest was invited to this family to perform the funeral service for a child who had died of scarlet fever. Apparently, it is a superstition that the lights are just that. whose relatives are already buried in the local cemetery has some basis.
A riddle for skeptics
Scientists are much more skeptical of such phenomena, believing that each mysterious phenomenon has a completely scientific explanation. So. swamp or wandering fires are the result of the decomposition of organic matter, which is especially active in swampy soils and in burial places. In the process of decay of plant and animal residues, among other compounds, hydrogen fluoride is formed, which is capable of spontaneous combustion. This gas smells like rotten fish, flares up when it gets into the air, and burns with a light flame.
They also try to explain the phenomenon of wandering lights by the appearance of ball lightning, the nature of which is also not very much known, they are identified with plasma balls or even tiny meteorites. But if we face it, none of these versions explains the connection between wandering lights and the imminent death of the person who saw them. or someone from his entourage.
It also remains a mystery why such phenomena were noticed in houses where nothing should seem to rot, as well as strictly defined dates for the appearance of such balls - mysterious balls flying out right out of the water on Lake Nong Kai in Thailand appear only on the first full moon of the eleventh lunar month. So far, it has not been possible to give an intelligible explanation for this phenomenon.
The killers and saviors
It also remains a mystery why some fires are quite aggressive towards people, or at least carry bad news, while others are even able to help in difficult times. Tourists traveling around the Segezha region of Karelia had a chance to encounter negatively-minded swamp lights.
Despite warnings from local residents, a group of tourists set up camp near the swamp. During the evening nothing suspicious was noticed, but immediately after midnight "devilry" began. At first, several people noticed a mysterious flicker in a nearby swamp: lights appearing there. as if beckoning.
Three travelers, as in a dream, followed this call, the rest, too, gradually seized a strange state of inability to take responsibility for their actions. More and more people got up and followed the lights to the swamp. Everything could have ended very badly if one of the "zombies" did not climb into the fire that was in his way. The pain from the burn brought the man to his senses, and with his cry he brought his comrades out of the strange slumber in which they were moving towards their death. After a fiasco, the lights disappeared.
The famous Martha fires behave quite differently, often appearing near the village of the same name in the Chinati mountains. close to the Mexican border. According to local residents, they did not see any harm from them, except for the feeling of fear, which causes any unexplained phenomenon.
And according to the story of Mrs. Ellen Dickens, these mysterious lights even saved her father when he went astray in a blizzard. Somehow the lights managed to convey to him that he was going in the wrong direction and led him to a small cave where he could wait out the bad weather. In the morning, he discovered that the lights were absolutely right in pointing out his mistake, and thanks to this, he returned home unharmed.
There are many conflicting legends about the origin of the Martha fires. One of them. these are the spirits of the Indians who were deceived and killed in the local mountains. Only their guide, who still walks and tries to find his people, managed to escape. According to another version, in the 1850s, Mexican bandits attacked the ranch of one farmer while the owner was not at home. The surviving family members sent the farmer on the trail of the bandits, whom he managed to catch up with and even deal with several of them. But the looted good was never found, so they believe that the fires are bandits or a master trying to find money.
Pantry perfume
In the Russian tradition, wandering lights are also sometimes associated with stolen treasures. They say that it is the spirits-storekeepers who light the lights over the hidden valuables to show the way to the treasure. Pantry lights can take different shapes - from a ball or candle light to a golden rooster. There are a few rules to keep in mind when hunting for such treasures. First, when you see a light in the forest, you need to say as soon as possible “Chur, chur, holy place, chur, God’s yes mine,” otherwise the “unchured” treasure will go deep into the ground and become inaccessible.
Secondly, it should be understood that, most likely, there will be no good from such a treasure: either you get drunk, or the envious people will rob, or you simply die. Treasures hidden by evil spirits are cursed from the very beginning, and to covet them is to destroy your immortal soul. So, just in case, it is better to stay away from all kinds of wandering lights. The only pity is that if you follow this recommendation, the secret of this phenomenon will never be revealed …
Natalia ZOLOTOVA