Hovering blue flames that flicker over bogs and marshes have inspired ghostly folktales for centuries. Known as “will-o’-the-wisp,” “jack-o’-lantern,” “corpse candle” and “ignis fatuus” (“foolish fire ...

I t’s just past noon on a Wednesday in North Hollywood, and Wisp only has a few hours left to rehearse before she leaves for a global tour the next morning. Tucked inside an unassuming rehearsal space ...

The researchers captured "microlightning" as they bubbled methane and air through water. Screenshot via Xia, Yu et al., PNAS, 2025 For centuries, stories about will-o’-the-wisps have captured the ...

Under a midnight moon, Luigi Garlaschelli peered out over graves. He was scouting for glowing balls of light known as will-o’-the-wisps. Like a ghostbuster, Garlaschelli, a chemist formerly at the ...

Some call them will-o’-the-wisps; others call them ignis fatuus, Latin for “foolish fire.” Whatever the name, for centuries people have reported seeing these eerie, faint blue flames hovering over ...

Bubbles merging in water can spontaneously generate electric sparks powerful enough to ignite methane, which could explain mysterious flashes of light known as will-o’-the-wisps. In bogs, swamps and ...