Chapter

Will-O'-Wisp

Bright green fir trees were everywhere as we left Umeå in the early hours of the morning. We made a short stop and found bog rosemary in full bloom. Soon the mist came creeping down from the mountain. My companion alerted me to a green light among the trees. I felt a sudden urge to follow its glow, which seemed to be moving deeper into the forest. The interpreter advised against it, and when I persisted, he grabbed me hard by the coat until the light had vanished. I grew angry, calling him a muck-eater and a smellfungus. Now I regret my words, wondering whether he somehow saved me from a tragic fate.

— Carl Linnaeus, June 12th, 1732

A person who cheats someone out of a piece of property might one day return from the dead as a will-o' the-wisp. The spirit is doomed to walk the boundary of its stolen land, moving the sticks that mark it. The will-o' the-wisp is a small figure dressed in green or gray who carries a lantern with a strange glow. Some will-o' the-wisps use their light to lead people astray, luring them into marshes and leaving them to drown. Others are kind and can help people find their way home.

Ritual