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Moors are full of fabled horrors, and the bogs of eastern England are no exception.
The phantom light of Wisp’s will. Black Shuck, the devil’s dog, lurks in the fog. Stories of this region are fraught with supernatural danger: dancing fairies, magic, and strange circles where only fools can enter.
Even now, the region’s 1,500 square miles of wetland, which stretches from the cold shores of the North Sea to the spiers of Cambridge, is a lonely place when the sun goes down. It’s easy to drown in foul-smelling water or get sucked into thick black mud.
The Fens, as they are known locally, are not alone. Similar wetlands exist all over the world, each with names that have slightly different meanings. Swamps and bogs (swamps are highly acidic) were formed in lake basins by retreating glaciers during the last ice age and are now filled with decaying plant material called peat.This is often covered with sphagnum moss Moss grows and the ground becomes soft and dangerous. A wetland, on the other hand, is a flooded area near a river or coast, the surface of which is dotted with reeds and soft-stemmed shrubs. Swamps are created when these herbaceous plants are used as tree stumps or in place of trees.
Whatever the name, these realms are fertile ground for our ghostly folklore.
mysterious light in the fog
Fog is one of the most formidable dangers in the swamp.
“When there is sufficient relative humidity, meaning there is moisture in the air, condensation forms on aerosol particles,” said Nadine Borduas Dedekind, an atmospheric chemist at the University of British Columbia in Canada. “If you go to the North Pole, you’ll never see fog because there are very few particles in the air. But biogenic material and water droplets are present in the swamps.”
This fog is primarily caused by volatile organic compounds, small particles released by plants that quickly evaporate. These oxidize in the air, forming larger molecules that easily absorb water and form clouds, Borduas Dedekind explains.
The time of day this occurs is also key to the wetland illusion.
When the sun sets, the Earth’s surface cools. This thickens the air, increases relative humidity, and condenses more water vapor, resulting in a phenomenon known as radiation fog. This type of thick, low cloud usually appears late at night or before dawn. This is precisely the moment when our tired minds begin to recognize shapes in the darkness. No wonder Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective in the history of fiction, came face to face with the ferocious Hound of the Baskervilles in the mire of night fog.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that another of the swamp’s supernatural enemies is toying with our anxieties in the dark.Will-o-the-wisp – also known as Ignis Fattus, the jack-o-lantern, or fool’s light, is a ghostly torch said to lure travelers from a safe path through the swamp, drawing them into the swamp from which they can never return. Although explanations for these lights have faded in modern times, stories of such ghostly lights still permeate our culture and inspired both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Swamps of Death . Lord of the Ringpumpkins served at Halloween.
There are many scientific explanations for these lights. The most likely is phosphine gas produced from the fermentation of plant material within the hypoxic environment of the soil. Chemists at Italy’s University of Pavia observed in 2013 that the phosphine bubbled to the surface, where it came into contact with nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, causing a reaction that produced a faint glow known as chemiluminescence.
This pale light is only visible in total darkness, which explains why it is no longer visible in modern society, full of streetlights and distant houses.
Home of fairy rings and swamp corpses
There are still places in these British wetlands that will send chills down your spine, even during the day.
Anyone who has ever set foot in a swamp has likely encountered fairy rings. A fairy ring is a strange land where the plant life is markedly different, often for no apparent reason. These are said to mark the realm of the fey, and areas that should not be disturbed.
Science supports our instinct to avoid these glades, even if fairies aren’t to blame. In fact, it may be a place where secret burials are being held.
“Decomposition completely changes the chemistry of the soil,” said Amy Rattenbury, a forensic scientist at Wrexham University in the UK. “We call this the ‘decomposition island’.” The liquid leaks into the soil and initially kills the plant, but then the body becomes a source of nutrients. Previously, you might have had several different plants competing for the same space. Then all of a sudden you have conditions that are perfect for a particular species. ”
This effect creates a unique pattern on the ground. “You can see the outline of what’s buried. We noticed that nettles seemed to grow better where there was rot compared to where there was no rot.”
There are also much older bodies in the quagmire.
Peat is acidic and low in oxygen, which prevents decay and creates an environment free of microorganisms. The surface sphagnum moss also helps preserve carcasses, deactivating digestive enzymes in the body’s intestines, draining water from cells, and releasing humic acids that crosslink collagen fibers in the skin with each other. Over time, this effectively tans the carcass’ flesh into leather. As a result, bodies in bogs are sometimes discovered centuries or even thousands of years after they fell into the peat. The oldest known person was Kerbjaumman from Denmark, who died around 8,000 BC.
Like all good ghost stories, there seems to be a kernel of truth about something lurking beneath the surface of our swamps.
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