[Tirned Tinnu]

I have found the legend associated with marshes:

The Will o' the Wisp is the most common name given to the mysterious lights that were said to lead travellers from the well-trodden paths into treacherous marshes. The tradition exists with slight variation throughout Britain, the lights often bearing a regional name.

This is interesting:

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 appearance of mysterious lights above marshland gave scientists a ready explanation during the age of reason. Methane and other marsh gases, they said, created by rotting vegetable and animal matter bubbling up through the bogs, when ignited could produce wispy flames and balls of fire which flit about and, when carried by air currents, startle unsuspecting rustics. Newton connected marsh gas with the 'ignis fatuus' (fools light) in 1730, and the theory held good for a number of centuries."


And this:

Turner, writing in 1901, described a region of marshland near Longnor in the upper part of the River Dove, where at twilight ‘there is a flickering light to be seen moving as one moves . . . it has given rise to many tales of belated travellers having been beguiled by it and led into the swamp, where their bodies remain, and from whence their “boggarts” arise at night to caper and dance all over the countryside, to the terror of the inhabitants.’

But this is extremely interesting:

In the case of the Longdendale Lights on Bleaklow they are the burning torches carried by Roman soldiers who tramp across the moor every year on the night of the first full moon in spring.

So here we have a collection of legends, in each county and country there is a different name for it, each according to the local customs of the area.
"In many places the Will o' the Wisp were associated with spirits of the dead who could not enter either heaven or hell, malignantly wandering the earth leading foolish travellers astray."

Why are the "souls" of the Dagorlad still lurking? I believe they are not. But if they were, if only a small percentage of them were evil in life, I think it would turn the marshes into a malevolent place. The tale of the Battle is full of misery. Many good and noble elves died there! Sadness and tears make up the salty aspect of the marsh. I remember reading that it rained and flooded the place, as if the heavens themselves wept.

Here is the quote from "The Passage of The Marshes":

At last Sam could bear it no longer. 'What's all this, Gollum?' he said in a whisper. 'These lights? They're all around us now. Are we trapped? Who are they?'
Gollum looked up. A dark water was before him, and he was crawling on the ground, this way and that, doubtful of the way.
'Yes, they are all around us,' he whispered. 'The tricksy lights. Candles of corpses, yes, yes. Don't heed them! Don't look! Don't follow them! Where's the master?'

So we have two legends of lights combined, the Will o' the Wisp and Corpse Lights, associated with burials. (Ghosts were seen in graveyards, holding candles.)

There was a faint hiss, a noiseome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled.

That seems to be the exhalation of marsh gas before the lights take effect.

I always wanted to see a 'will o' wisp' as they are called here in the states. The closest I have ever gotten was seeking glow-worms in the forest. Bah.

Do you have a local custom that explains the Marsh Lights? I find this terribly interesting.

[ September 07, 2002: Message edited by: Tirned Tinnu ]