"The Light in the Distance"
(An informative article on the will o' the wisps)
'Tis true that folklore explains what science does not rationalize. If we know that the sky is blue because of the light bending and reflecting color, we also know that light in itself is a substance that goes beyond mere waves and particles. We can't touch light as it flickers in the distance but we can try to come closer and understand what old legends have been telling us for centuries.
Like a shining light in itself the legend of the will o' the wisp is a great mystery. We can never see what a true 'wisp' really is but we can see that it flickers on in the darkness, begging our curiousity to follow.
And what exactly is a 'will o' the wisp?' According to European folktales, the wisp was a mysterious flame seen by travelers in isolated places. The flame would flicker but would never move closer or even dare to be caught. In the British Isles they've been seen as a light that bobs up and down in the distance, attempting to lead travelers off roads and paths into bogs, cliffs, or other dangerous places. Indeed that would seem likely of an Unseelie wisp if there is such a thing.
But does it really exist? There have been accounts of witness sightings of the wisps. In the summer of 1976 a group of students in Bleaklow, New Zealand tell a story:
"Halfway there, we saw a bright and quite distinct light some
hundreds of yards ahead. The visibility was excellent with little
cloud and no mist ... in fact it was a perfect night. The range of the
light was difficult to judge which is the case with any light in such
open country but all three of us saw it clearly as it appeared to
shine in our direction.
"We watched it for a while before turning off our own headlamps,
then we flashed them, repeatedly, in its direction. [Someone]
produced a whistle and blew it because we thought, naturally, that
it was other hikers on the moor or even a rescue team.
"When we realized it wasn't, we decided to investigate in case
someone was in trouble and we set off in its direction. We
covered quite a distance but the light was like a little rainbow in
that we could never catch it. We walked for 10 or 15 minutes to
find it was just as far away.
"This had us baffled because, if someone were in trouble, why run
away and yet still shine the light in our direction? And if it was
someone who didn't want to be found, they could have simply put
the light out and escaped among the groughs of Bleaklow.
"Eventually, the light disappeared and we were never able to
explain it. I was a member of the mountain rescue team and have
spent dozens of nights out on the moors in the dark as a
mountaineer in various countries, but I've never had an
experience like that one on Bleaklow." (Internet Source)
Sightings like this make us well aware of the wisp's existence but does this answer the question of what the wisps really are? In folklore there are many explanations of the fae including that they are spirits of the dead. Writer John Carter says, "Fairies may be the personification of the old animistic spirits. According to this theory, a spirit of the trees would be anthropomorphized into a dryad." Since the wisps often live near bogs or in forests it is easy to deduce they may be spirits of a bog, swamp, or groove of trees.
One thing is for sure, whatever the wisp is science has not done much to rationalize its existence. If they are spirits perhaps they live to trick humans or even better yet serve to keep us in a state of wonder as we try to figure out what the bobbing lights in the distance mean. Are they the signs of a fae ring dancing for eternity or a mysterious lifeforce that can never be touched by human hands? Unless we are able to see through fae glamour, we may never know.
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