English Musician, Benson Taylor performs under the name Atmospheric Ghost Lights.
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At night, an unexplained strange dancing light phenomenon known locally as Chir Batti (ghost lights) occurs in the Rann, the adjoining Banni grasslands, and the seasonal wetlands.
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Many theaters forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic have renewed the tradition of ghost lights as a way of indicating the theaters will re-open. The Sydney Opera House left ghost lights on the stages of the Joan Sutherland Theatre, the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse and the Studio. Other theaters have followed suit including Sydney Theatre Company’s Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay, to the Seymour Centre in Chippendale, to the Merrigong Theatre at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in Wollongong. Ghost lights were kept burning in theaters in Florida including Artis—Naples and Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Florida Repertory Theatre, Sugden Theater and at the Broadway Palm, Cultural Park Theater.
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In the past, in Toyoshima in Edo (now Toshima, Kita ward, Tokyo, and Ouji, of the same ward), for atmospheric ghost lights to continuously appear and quiver and shake around in the darkness is called "kitsune no yomeiri," and is counted as one of the "seven mysteries of Toshima" told about in this village. In Kirinzan, Niigata Prefecture, there lived many foxes, and it is said that there was a wedding procession at night that hanged paper lanterns. In Niigata as well as Shiki District, Nara Prefecture, a fox's wedding is thought to be connected to agriculture, and it is said that for many atmospheric ghost lights to appear means that it is a plentiful year, and for few of them to appear means it is year of poor crops. Depending on the area, there are legends including not only the sighting of atmospheric ghost lights but purported sightings of actual weddings as well.
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In addition to the onibi and hitodama, there are other examples of atmospheric ghost lights in legend, such as the kitsunebi and the shiranui: ; :In the Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture area, atmospheric ghost lights were described in first-hand accounts until the middle of the Meiji period. Two balls of fire would appear side by side on rainy nights at a pond known as the Misuma pond (Misumaike). It was said that a woman lent an osa (a guide for yarn on a loom) to another woman; when she returned to retrieve it, the two argued and fell into the pond. Their dispute became an atmospheric ghost fire, still said to be burning.
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"Ayakashi" from the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Sekien Toriyama is the collective name for yōkai that appear above the surface of some body of water. In Nagasaki Prefecture, the atmospheric ghost lights that appear above water are called ayakashi, and the funayūrei in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Saga Prefecture are also called this. In western Japan, ayakashi are said to be the vengeful spirits of those who died at sea and are attempting to capture more people to join them. On Tsushima Island, they are also called "atmospheric ghost lights of ayakashi (ayakashi no kaika)", and appear on beaches in the evening, and appear as if a child were walking in the middle of a fire.
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Atmospheric ghost lights are lights (or fires) that appear in the atmosphere without an obvious cause. Examples include the onibi, hitodama and will-o'-wisp. They are often seen in humid climates.Tsunoda 1979, pages 11-53 According to legend, some lights are wandering spirits of the dead, the work of devils (or yōkai), or the pranks of fairies.
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Some ghost lights such as St. Elmo's fire or the shiranui have been explained as optical phenomena of light emitted through electrical activity. Other types may be due to combustion of flammable gases, ball lightning, meteors, torches and other human-made fires, the misperception of human objects, and pranks. Almost all such fires have received such naturalistic explanations.
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There are 11 a cappella groups on WashU's campus, specializing in everything from contemporary rock and pop music to jazz standards and Disney songs. A cappella groups on campus include After Dark, The Stereotypes, The Amateurs, The Pikers, The Aristocats, More Fools Than Wise, The Ghost Lights, The Mosaic Whispers, The Sensasians, Staam, and the Greenleafs.
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Yōkai considered to be chōchin in the legends are often told to be atmospheric ghost lights like chōchinbi rather than as the tool itself. In an old story from the Yamagata Prefecture, at a shrine with an aged chōchin, a chōchin-obake would appear and frighten humans, and the obake would no longer appear after the chōchin was put away.
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Chir Batti, Chhir Batti or Cheer batti is a ghost light reported in the Banni grasslands, a seasonal marshy wetlandsGhost lights that dance on Banni grasslands when it’s very dark ; by D V Maheshwari; August 28, 2007; The Indian Express Newspaper and adjoining desert of the marshy salt flats of the Rann of Kutch"I read somewhere that on dark nights there are strange lights that dance on the Rann. The locals call them cheer batti or ghost lights. It’s a phenomenon widely documented but not explained." SOURCE: Stark beauty (Rann of Kutch); Bharati Motwani; September 23, 2008; India Today Magazine, Cached: Page 2 of 3 page article with these search terms highlighted: cheer batti ghost lights rann kutch , Cached: Complete View - 3 page article seen as a single page near the India–Pakistan border in Kutch district, Gujarat State, India.
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A Japanese rendition of a Russian will-o'-the-wisp Chir batti (ghost-light), also spelled chhir batti or cheer batti, is a strange dancing light phenomenon occurring on dark nights reported from the Banni grasslands, its seasonal marshy wetlands and the adjoining desert of the marshy salt flats of the Rann of Kutch"I read somewhere that on dark nights there are strange lights that dance on the Rann. The locals call them cheer batti or ghost lights. It's a phenomenon widely documented but not explained." SOURCE: Stark beauty (Rann of Kutch); Bharati Motwani; September 23, 2008; India Today Magazine, Cached: Page 2 of 3 page article with these search terms highlighted: cheer batti ghost lights rann kutch , Cached: Complete View - 3 page article seen as a single page near Indo-Pakistani border in Kutch district, Gujarat State, India.
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They are feared by some people as a portent of death. In other parts of the world, there are folk beliefs that supernatural fires appear where treasure is buried; these fires are said to be the spirits of the treasure or the spirits of humans buried with grave goods. Atmospheric ghost lights are also sometimes thought to be related to UFOs.Kanda 1992, pages 275-278.
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It is said that after that, every night on this land there would appear atmospheric ghost lights that were called "buraribi" or "sayuribi", and if one calls out to this fire saying "Sayuri, Sayuri", a woman's severed head with disheveled hair would appear with a bitter expression. The fact that the Sassashi family lost to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in battle is also told to be the deed of Sayuri's vengeful spirit.
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The "Marfa Lights" label within this image shows where Marfa lights can be seen. Marfa, Texas is located at . The Marfa lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights, have been observed near U.S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of Marfa, Texas, in the United States. They have gained some fame as onlookers have attributed them to paranormal phenomena such as ghosts, UFOs, or will-o'-the-wisp.
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In Gyōda, Saitama Prefecture, it is said that kitsune no yomeiri frequently appears in the Kasuga Shrine in Tanigou, and it is reported that here and there along the road, fox feces can be found after one such reported event. In Horado, Mugi District, Gifu Prefecture (now Seki), it is said that it was not merely atmospheric ghost lights that were seen, but the sound of bamboo burning and tearing was also heard continuing for several days, but that there were no traces found even when an attempt was made to check what it was. In the Tokushima Prefecture, they were not considered fox's weddings, but rather fox's funerals, and were an omen that someone was about to die. Concerning the true identity of these atmospheric ghost lights, it is thought that perhaps people mistook it for lights that were actually there, or possibly the illusion from an unusual refraction of light.
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Superstition is the way by Louise Finn from The Stage 2007 Similar superstitions hold that ghost lights provide opportunities for ghosts to perform onstage, thus appeasing them and preventing them from cursing the theater or sabotaging the set or production. This is also used to explain the traditional one day a week that theaters are closed. Some superstitions claim that the ghost light is in place to scare away ghosts, not to appease them.
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The National Insitiute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Australia held a digital theatre festival which included a show called Ghost Lights where famous theater characters perform on the empty stages of the world. On 22 May 2020,while the theater was closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Finish National Theater presented an installation called Ghost Light "in which observations of interconnectedness of species are shared through the undulating light on an empty theatre stage".
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The tracks of two Naga fireballs (at left) rising vertically into the sky before petering out near the top of the photo. The other tracks are of sky lanterns or fireworks. Naga fireballs (; ), also known as bung fai phaya nak or "Mekong lights" and, formerly, "ghost lights" are a phenomenon said to be seen annually on the Mekong River. Glowing balls are alleged to naturally rise from the water high into the air.
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East of Marfa are views of Twin Mountains (6681 and 6910 ft), Goat Mountain (6642 ft), Cathedral Peak (6867 ft), and Cienega Mountain (6565 ft). The Puertacitas Mountains (6350 ft) and the Davis Mountains (8371 ft) can be seen from the Marfa Ghost Lights observatory to the north. The Davis Mountains are the highest elevation near US 67. Thirty miles south of Marfa, US 67 reaches its highest point at 5428 ft, with Chinatti Peak (7732 ft) seen to the southwest.
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Light reflecting off dust particles According to University of Westminster professor Annette Hill, unusual light sources were often interpreted as "ghost lights" in spirit photography. Hill says that with the advent of digital photography, "the ghost light is re-imagined as an orb", and many paranormal-themed websites show pictures containing visual artifacts they refer to as "orbs" that are claimed and debated as evidence of spirit presence, especially among ghost hunters.Annette Hill. Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits and Magic in Popular Culture.
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Similarly, on Ryūgūjima, Tamatsu village, Oku District, the atmospheric ghost lights that appear at night with signs of coming rain that are about as big as paper lanterns are called chūko. Sometimes they would fall to the earth and illuminate the surroundings, and then finally disappear without a trace. Enryō Inoue, a yōkai researcher from the Meiji period, applied the characters 中狐 to it, indicating the ones that fly high as "tenko" (天狐), and the ones that fly low as chūko.
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Aside from its obvious practical purpose, there are a number of superstitions associated with the origin and purpose of ghost lights. The superstitious have various justifications for the ghost light in relation to the supernatural. A popular theatrical superstition holds that every theater has a ghost, and some theaters have traditions to appease ghosts that reach far back into their history. For example, the Palace Theatre, London keeps two seats in their balcony permanently bolted open to provide seating for the theater ghosts.
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On the evening of moonlight nights around the time of Bon, they appear as sailboats at sea. It is said that atmospheric ghost lights would appear and people's voices could be heard. ;Mouren Yassa (亡霊ヤッサ) :Kaijō District, Chōshi city, Chiba Prefecture (now Asahi). On days of deep fog and stormy days, it is a funayurei that would appear to fishing boats, and it is said that a spirit of someone who died in a shipwreck is attempting to increase their fellows.
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The Brown Mountain Lights are a series of ghost lights reported near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. The lights can be seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile posts 310 (Brown Mountain Light overlook) and 301 (Green Mountain overlook) and from the Brown Mountain Overlook along North Carolina Highway 181 (NC 181), near Jonas Ridge, North Carolina. Additionally, good sightings of the lights have been reported from the top of Table Rock and Wiseman's View, both located in the Linville Gorge Wilderness.
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The swampy area of Massachusetts known as the Bridgewater Triangle has folklore of ghostly orbs of light, and there have been modern observations of these ghost-lights in this area as well. The fi follet (or feu-follet) of Louisiana derives from the French. The legend says that the fi follet is a soul sent back from the dead to do God's penance, but instead attacks people for vengeance. While it mostly takes part in harmless mischievous acts, the fi follet sometimes sucked the blood of children.
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The fireballs are most often reported around the night of Wan Ok Phansa at the end of Buddhist Lent in late-October. Naga fireballs have been reported over an approximately 250 kilometre-long section of the Mekong River centered approximately on Phon Phisai in the Phon Phisai District. Fireballs have also been reported rising from smaller rivers, lakes and ponds in the region. The fireballs were called "ghost lights" by locals until the mid-1980s, when the local council officially named them "phaya nak lights".
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In coastal Japan, atmospheric ghost lights appear as mountains and obstruct one's path, and are said to disappear if one does not avoid the mountain and tries to bump into it intently. There is also the folk belief that if a live sharksucker gets stuck to the bottom of a boat, it would not be able to move, so ayakashi is a synonym for this type of fish. In the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Sekien Toriyama, the ayakashi are represented by a large sea snake, but this may actually be an ikuchi.
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In the Dewa Province in Yamagata Prefecture and in Akita Prefecture, kitsunebi are called "kitsune taimatsu" (狐松明, "fox torch"). As its name implies, it is said to be a torchlight to provide lighting for a fox's marriage, and is said to be a good omen. In Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, and the Tottori Prefecture, these atmospheric ghost lights are called "chūko" (宙狐). Different from the average kitsunebi, they float at relatively low altitudes, and thus in Toyohara village, Oku District of Okayama, it is said that an old fox shapeshifted into a chūko.
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The Jenny's Lantern area is a small south-facing hill or promontory rising to above the Aln valley's floor, north-east of Bolton and south of Eglingham, villages in north Northumberland. Confusingly, the site is north- east of a completely distinct Jenny's Lantern Hill. The site is immediately south of the boundary of Bewick and Beanley Moors SSSI. Jenny's Lantern, or Jenny of the Lantern, is the reputed Northumbrian name for Will-o'-the-wisp, a form of atmospheric ghost lights associated with leading travellers to dangerous places.
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Situation immediately after a sunshower In the Kantō region, Chūbu region, Kansai region, Chūgoku region, Shikoku, Kyushu, among other places, sunshowers are called "kitsune no yomeiri." Like atmospheric ghost lights, this phenomenon is called various names depending on area. In the Nanbu Region, Aomori Prefecture, it is called "kitsune no yometori" (狐の嫁取り, the fox's wife-taking), and in Serizawa, Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture and the mountainous areas of Oe District, Tokushima Prefecture, it is called "kitsune-ame" (狐雨, fox rain),. In the eastern Isumi District, Chiba Prefecture, it is called "kitsune no shūgen" (狐の祝言).
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40 (1993), 32 Another early account of the Joe Baldwin legend was given by Robert Scott, editor of the Atlantic Coast Line News, to the journal Railway Age in 1932."Phantom Lights", Railway Age, v. 92 (1932), p. 741 Similar "headless brakeman" stories have been found associated with other "ghost lights" in the United States, such as the Bragg Road ghost light and Gurdon light: from a folklore perspective the story connected with the Maco light, being substantially the oldest and best-known and having received some national coverage, may have served as the point of origin for the others.
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Aleya (or marsh ghost-light) is the name given to a strange light phenomena occurring over the marshes as observed by Bengalis, especially the fishermen of West Bengal and Bangladesh. This marsh light is attributed to some kind of marsh gas apparitions that confuse fishermen, make them lose their bearings, and may even lead to drowning if one decided to follow them moving over the marshes. Local communities in the region believe that these strange hovering marsh-lights are in fact Ghost-lights representing the ghosts of fisherman who died fishing. Sometimes they confuse the fishermen, and sometimes they help them avoid future dangers.
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According to Judith Brueske, "The 'Marfa Lights' of west Texas have been called many names over the years, such as ghost lights, weird lights, mystery lights, or Chinati lights. The favorite place from which to view the lights is a widened shoulder on Highway 90 about nine miles east of Marfa. The lights are most often reported as distant spots of brightness, distinguishable from ranch lights and automobile headlights on Highway 67 (between Marfa and Presidio, to the south) primarily by their aberrant movements." Robert and Judy Wagers define "Classic Marfa Lights" as being seen south-southwest of the Marfa Lights Viewing Center (MLVC).
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Since atmospheric ghost lights that extend in a line can look like lanterns and torches from a wedding ceremony, and since paper lanterns were known to be used during a fox's wedding ceremony, they were thus called such names. There are several theories as to why the bride and groom are seen as foxes. One such theory says that although the lights appeared to be signifying a wedding, there was actually no wedding anywhere and the entire thing was an elaborate trick played by foxes. Because the mysterious lights looked like paper lanterns from afar but disappeared once one got close, it was almost as if one was being fooled by a fox.
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The Kitsune no Yomeiri (, "the fox's wedding"), which is similar to "monkey's wedding" in English, is a strange event told about in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The "kitsune no yomeiri" can refer to several things: atmospheric ghost lights, a phenomenon during which it appears as if paper lanterns from a wedding procession are floating through the dark; what is commonly referred to as a sunshower; and various strange wedding processions that can be seen in classical Japanese kaidan, essays, and legends. The "kitsune no yomeiri" is always closely related to foxes, or kitsune (who often play tricks on humans in Japanese legend) and various Shinto rituals and festive rights relating to the "kitsune no yomeiri" have been developed in various parts of Japan.
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In television, Willo the Wisp appeared as a short cartoon series on BBC TV in the 1980s, voiced by Kenneth Williams. In Lost Girl season one episode two, Bo and Kenzi meet a Will of the wisp who appears as a shaggy hobo and uses blue fire (foxfire) to confuse trespassers in his forest home. "Will O' The Wisp" is also the name of the 13th episode in season one of Disney channel's So Weird in which one of the main characters, Jack, is possessed by a will-o'-the-wisp while visiting the ghost lights festival in Marfa, Texas. The Disney/Pixar short Mater and the Ghostlight features a Will-o'-the-wisp aptly named "the Ghostlight", described as a glowing orb of blue light.
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Local villagers refer to the light as Chir Batti in their Kutchhi- Sindhi language, with Chir meaning ghost and Batti meaning light. It is described as an unexplained light occurring on dark nights as bright as a mercury lamp that changes its colour to blue, red and yellow and resembles a moving ball (reported also pear shaped form) of fire, which may move as fast as an arrow but may also stop. As per local folklore, these lights have been a part of life in the Banni grasslands and the adjoining Rann of Kutch for centuries, but are little known beyond the immediate area and people continue to call them "ghost lights". Witnesses claim the lights at times appear to be playing hide and seek or following them.
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There are cases where the wandering ikiryō appear as a floating "soul flame", known in Japan as the hitodama or hidama.A hidama, the Japanese equivalent to the will-o'-the-wisp (or generically "atmospheric ghost lights") However, a "soul flame" from a person who is near death is not considered unusual, with the traditional conception among Japanese being that the soul escapes the body within a short phase (several days) either before or after death. Therefore, pre-death soul flames may not be treated as cases of ikiryō in works on the subject of ghosts, but filed under chapters on the hitodama phenomenon.) describes cases of floating balloon-like objects of yellow color (iridescent colored, according to Konno) an omen of death. The locals in the Shimokita District, Aomori refer to the object as , the same term in common usage by locals in Komena hamlet, in the town of Ōhata.
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There is also a theory that when old trees are cut, blood could come forth from them. Kodama is also seen as something that can be understood as mountain gods, and a tree god from the 712 CE Kojiki, Kukunochi no Kami, has been interpreted as a kodama, and in the Heian period dictionary, the Wamyō Ruijushō, there is a statement on tree gods under the Japanese name "Kodama" (古多万). In The Tale of Genji, there are statements such as "is it an oni, a god (kami), a fox (kitsune), or a tree spirit (kodama)" and "the oni of a kodama", and thus, it can be seen that kodama are seen to be close to yōkai. They are said to take on the appearance of atmospheric ghost lights, of beasts, and of humans, and there is also a story where a kodama who, in order to meet a human it fell in love with, took on the appearance of a human itself.
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Due to the fox's wedding precession in Kirinzan in the Niigata Prefecture written about previously, the Kitsune no Yomeiri Gyōretsu is performed in the Tsugawa region, Aga, Higashikanbara in the same prefecture. Originally a place famous for kitsunebi, an event related to kitsunebi was performed starting from Shōwa 27, and it ceased once, in 1990 the sightseeing event with the wedding precession (yomeiri gyōretsu) as its core was revived, and every year, it flourishes with about 40 thousand sightseers. Also in the Hanaoka Tokufuku Inari-sha in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in the Inari festival held in November 3 every year, the "kitsune no yomeiri" is performed. This is not related to either atmospheric ghost lights or sunshowers, but is rather a re-enactment of a wedding between foxes, and is due to the efforts of volunteers after the old practice of praying for good harvest at the Inari festival at that shrine ceased in the chaos of the postwar period, and the re-enactment refers to the fact a white fox couple at that shrine was looking for something lost, and was deified as a god of good harvest and thriving business.
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In an essay titled Isetsu Machimachi (異説まちまち) by Wada Masamichi, a warrior of the Sekiyado Domain, there are statements about ushi-oni as atmospheric ghost lights. According to this essay, in Izumo Province (now the northern parts of Shimane Prefecture), at a damp time of continual rain, if one goes to a place where there appears to be a bridge across a mountain stream where some white lights would fly about and stick to the body and not come off, one would say "I have encountered ushi- oni," and it is said to disappear by warming oneself at a hearth. This is thought to be similar to the atmospheric ghost light called minobi in Niigata Prefecture and Shiga Prefecture. Also, in legends of Inaba Province (now the eastern part of Tottori Prefecture), on snowy evenings, countless small firefly-like lights would collect on one's mino, and if one tries to shake them off, they'd fall to the floor and then whirl up again and stick on, and it is said that eventually, the mino and umbrella would all be covered with a green light.
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