Wills of the Wisp
Our last category of faery being is the will of the wisp, a sprite that appears as lights at night and leads travellers astray in the dark. The will often lacks any solid body at all. Whilst the true faeries can often be seen as points of light or glowing, in its classic form, the will of the wisp is nothing but a moving flame. Antiquarian Jabez Allies witnessed a will of the wisp at Powick, near the city of Worcester, in 1839. He described a blue light, as bright as an electric spark, that either rose and fell or moved quickly horizontally.493
Fear of the Dark
To fully appreciate the threat of the will of the wisp, it helps to understand our ancestors’ attitudes to nighttime. In the pitch darkness of the hours before dawn, without any artificial light other than the torch or lantern you carried yourself, moonless nights would be potentially perilous and fearsome. John Fletcher, in his 1611 play The Night Walker, captures these terrors in the defiant words of his character Frank Hartlove:
“The night, and all the evil the night covers,
The Goblins, Haggs, and the black spawn of darkness,
Cannot fright me”494
Hartlove may have felt brave, but another character, Wildbraine, was not ashamed to admit how vulnerable he felt walking the streets of London at night, where he might be mistaken for a thief or other wrongdoer, whilst “in the country, / I should be taken for William o’ the Wispe, / Or Robin Goodfellow.” The lone light moving in the darkness ought to be an indication of a friendly fellow traveller, or of the refuge of a cottage, but it might often turn out to be false and could betray the wanderer.495
The will of the wisp was most memorably described by Milton in Paradise Lost as:
“As when a wandering fire,
Compact of unctuous vapor, 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 the amazed night-wanderer from his way,
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool;
There swallowed up and lost, from succour far”496
Another significance is given to wills of the wisp in parts of Somerset. There they are called “spunkies,” and they are believed to be the wandering souls of children who died unbaptised. They assemble at certain churches on Midsummer’s Eve to gather together that year’s new ghosts and, at Halloween, they guide these spirits to their funeral services. Interestingly, further southwest into Devon and Cornwall, it is the pixies who are thought to be the souls of newborn infants and who are sometimes seen as moths. Tiny size and a flickering, flittering nature appear to be the common features that may have given rise to this idea.497
Types of Sprites
The name of this phenomenon varies from region to region. In some parts of Norfolk, for example, the flitting lights are called “hyter” or “hikey sprites” (hyte having the meaning of crazy). The hyter sprites are widely regarded as rather more beneficent beings than some of their kind. There is considerable doubt within the county whether to call the sprites faeries, bogies, or wills of the wisp, but they are well known to be connected with the perils of the night. More and more, it seems, they have been co-opted by parents as another sort of bugbear (see Chapter 9) that will scare naughty children inside when it’s dark and away from marshy areas and streams. They may appear as tiny men or as flickering blue flames.498
Other East Anglian names included Lantern Men, Jenny Burnt Arse, and Syleham Lamps (from a place where they were especially notorious, appearing like balls of light over the Broads). Other names used around Britain include Friar Rush, Mad Crisp, Dicke a Tuesday, Jacky Lantern, Kitty with a Wisp, Kit with the Canstick, and Gyl Burnt-Tayle. In this latter case it’s likely that the name “Jill” is derogatory, denoting a loose woman—very much as with the lascivious Jilli Ffrwtan faery of Wales. A very common name is Hobby Lanterns, Hob o’Lantern, or Hoberdy’s Lantern, all of which clearly associate the lights with hobs and hobthrusts (see the discussion of Puck later). The Welsh form of the sprite was known as the ellylldan, which simply means “elf fire.” In Lancashire the apparition was known as Peg o’ Lantern, and a well-known example was regularly sighted hovering over the marshland of Edge Lane, east of Manchester city centre.499
Mention should be made of the similar, but unrelated, phenomenon called the “corpse-candle” (canwyll corph in Welsh). This is another moving light, but it has a single purpose, to predict a death, and it may be seen on or near the body of a dying person, or with their spectre, as well as separately, perhaps at the place where the person will die.500
The Hinky Punk of the Somerset-Devon border behaves like a will of the wisp, even though it is said to be corporeal—a strange one-legged and one-eyed creature with a lantern, luring the unwary into morasses or over abysses. The “punk” element of the name might appear to link this modern sprite to Shakespeare’s famous character, but in fact the word is an abbreviation of “spunk” or “spunkie” as used in Scotland (the pinket of Worcestershire is likely to be related as well). The term “spunky” denotes a kindling substance—tinder or touchwood—and has the sense of sparky. As for “hinky,” this word may be related to “hike” (to swing) and “hikey” (a swing) or to “hite,” to run up and down aimlessly. In Somerset, a “hity-tity” is a seesaw, all of these dialect words being suggestive of the constant dancing motion characteristic of these lights (and reminding us, too, of the “hyter” or “hikey” sprites of Norfolk).
Leading Astray
The main point of the will of the wisp is a very faery one—it is to mislead people, almost invariably those travelling during the hours of darkness. Most particularly in summer (although the Hobby Lanterns of Dunwich were seen only in the last quarter of the year, between September 29 and December 24), they appear in meadows and marshes—or flying along rivers and hedges—looking like wisps of straw alight. Sometimes the light is the colour of a bright candle, sometimes it might be red. Using the best comparators he had available to him, a rural witness from Suffolk in late Victorian times described the local Hobby Lanterns as being as “bright as two candles.” The lights called Jack o’ Lantern at Alderfen Broad in Norfolk are often seen “rising up and falling, and twistering about, and then up again. It looked exactly like a candle in a lantern.”501
Wills of the wisp draw those who are travelling towards them so that they stray from their route and end up lost and wandering desperately through bogs and brakes. Then the light they have been following suddenly disappears, and the person finds themselves abandoned—exhausted, wet, and scratched. Mostly this is pure mischief, but sometimes these incidents end fatally, with people drowned in rivers and pools. Because of this risk, at Aymestrey in Herefordshire the custom up to the late eighteenth century was to ring the church bell at dusk as a guide to late travellers. Nearby Pokehouse Wood on the River Lugg was allegedly infested with faeries and wills of the wisp, and the man who paid for the bell ringing had himself apparently spent a whole night led astray amongst the trees. It is significant to note that the wood’s name may be linked to Puck, another name for Robin Goodfellow, and a sprite who is renowned for his malicious pranks—such as leading travellers astray (see later).502
In the east of England, it was believed that these sprites would be drawn to any human carrying a lantern for their protection and would maliciously smash it and extinguish the light. Rather like the knockers in tin and coal mines, they also objected to whistling and generally took reprisals against those who offended, mocked, or insulted them. They demanded respect and were violent to any whom they felt withheld it or who underestimated their powers. In such situations, the only thing to do was to lie prostrate and hold your breath.503
The spunkie or Willy the Wisp of the Scottish Lowlands would appear as sparks at a person’s feet and then race ahead of them like a candle, or else would seem like a light in a window near at hand—but then continually recede as the traveller advanced. The spunkie has been known to be seen at sea, too, often leading boats onto rocks: at Buckhaven in Fife, a will of the wisp seen along the coast would lure walkers into marshes and boats offshore onto the beach. In the Scottish Highlands, the idea of the will of the wisp doesn’t seem to have been so clearly identified and the so-called “ghost lights” tended to be ascribed to other beings such as the bodach, the cailleach, and even the dulan, what we might translate as an “elemental.”504
The nuisance and terror caused by wills of the wisp were considerable. Humans disliked them—and so did livestock. They could make horses shy and overturn the carts they were pulling. Draught animals were particularly harassed if their owner doubted or mocked the existence of the will of the wisp. In such cases, further revenge might be exacted by following the victim home and then dancing around his home, shining in at the windows and adding a sleepless night to the miseries already inflicted. The Jack o’ Lantern known in the Horning district of Norfolk would try to knock riders from their mounts. Such is the terror inspired by the “Shiners” of the fen region near Methwold that people will refuse to go out at night except in the direst necessity.505
Helpful Sprites
These sprites are not solely associated with tricks and inconvenience, nonetheless. In Cornwall, there are pisky-like beings called Jacky Lantern and Joan the Wad, who will tickle her victims but, if invoked correctly, can also guide them home with her straw torch during bad weather. Their assistance also seems to bring good luck, and charms and door knockers in the shape of Joan (a naked woman) used to be popular in the county.
The same was the case over the border in Devon: Dartmoor miners believed that digging wherever a will of the wisp was seen would lead you to a profitable mineral lode. In the same county it is possible to summon a will of the wisp to you by repeating the prescribed charm:
“Jack o’ the lantern, Joan the wad,
Who tickled the maid and made her mad,
Light me home the weather’s bad.”506
In another version of this rhyme, Jack and Joan are offered a “crub” for their help and protection. For this promise of a crumb, the will of the wisp will come to your aid and guide you home, although the experience might admittedly prove to be pretty alarming and leave you ill for weeks. In some other cases, the sprites would volunteer their guidance out of pure goodwill. One Devon man, from the days of his youth, was always guided home in the dark by the Jack o’ Lanterns, never being led astray nor scared. His only precaution was that he always thanked them for their trouble.507
In the Yorkshire Dales there’s a story of a will-of-the-wisp-type sprite called Peg o’ Lanthorn. She is, unusually, visible as a beautiful but very sad young woman, rather than merely being seen as the flame of the candle within her lantern, and she has been credited with at least one good deed. A man who had been seized by the Hellen-Pot Boggart and was being dragged towards the mouth of the bogie’s pothole was released when Peg passed between them and the opening. The boggart sank into his lair, and the light from the lantern passed on. Perhaps, of course, her plan was to lure the traveller to a doom of her own designing, because she then led the man across the open moorland for some distance. Luckily—or perhaps purposely—they passed a lonely farmhouse where he was able to find shelter.508
Puck
Pucks—and for that matter, the piskies of the southwest—will from time to time behave like wills of the wisp, emphasising yet again the fact that it’s hard to draw hard and fast boundaries between supernatural entities. The activities of wills of the wisp are very evidently a form of “pixy-leading,” and it’s also clear from early texts that in this activity Puck, Robin Goodfellow, and the ignis fatuus (the fool’s fire) are very much indistinguishable. In Worcestershire, a person who follows a will of the wisp is said to be “pook-led,” and The Life of Robin Goodfellow of 1628 invokes:509
“All those that news desire
How you saw a walking fire.
Wenches, that doe smile and lispe,
Use to call me Willy Wispe.”510
The Ballad of Robin Goodfellow similarly has Robin tricking those out late on the roads:
“Sometimes he’d counterfeit a voice and travellers call astray,
Sometimes a walking fire he’d be, and lead them from their way.
Some call him Robin Goodfellow, Hobgoblin or mad crisp;
And some again doe term him oft, by name of Will the Wispe.”511
Puck may mislead by calling out with false voices or by mysterious lights. He appears as an “idle” or “false” fire, which, as Milton described, would be seen “Hovering and blazing with delusive Light.” Victims will stray from the road; lose their bearings; blunder through hedges, clumps of bushes, and bogs; and end up in ponds and water-furrows, stuck in mire and clay, at which point, Puck will desert them with derisive laughter.512
In Wales, pwca is a tiny figure with a lantern who will lead walkers toward cliff edges at night. As soon as victims realise their danger, Pwca blows out his candle and disappears with a laugh.513
Whether Puck is the will of the wisp or merely impersonates it, is very hard to determine. Given his predilection for shape-shifting, it may be best to conclude that he has temporarily taken on this sprite’s guise for his amusement.
Getting Rid of Wills of the Wisp
If you are led astray by a will of the wisp, you will need to escape from its influence to return to safety and to find the right path again. If the Hobby Lanterns of Dunwich in Suffolk have misled you into the marshes behind the beach, you are said to be “will-led,” and the remedy (exactly as with pixy-leading) is to turn a garment. Taking off a sock and turning it inside out, or reversing a jacket or hat, is sure to undo the will of the wisp’s spell.514
The Jack o’ Lantern at Alderfen in Norfolk was considered to be the ghost of a drowned criminal and was, accordingly, the subject of an attempted laying by three gentlemen. The spirit was “read down” by reciting biblical verses until it had shrunk sufficiently to be caught in a bottle and bound.515
In many parts of Britain, simple environmental change has reduced the nuisance caused by wills of the wisp by reducing or eliminating the conditions they preferred. Readers may recall land reclamation has had very much the same effect upon the water bull of the Isle of Man (see Chapter 4 earlier).
Conclusions
Wills of the wisp are a fascinating and awe-inspiring phenomenon. Nor should the will of the wisp be thought of as entirely a being of the past. Despite much agricultural improvement and drainage, there is still plenty of marshy moorland in Britain, and sightings can still occur in these places. Ella Leather recorded that there were many seen on the Black Mountains in the early 1900s and, during the mid-1960s, people confessed that they were afraid to venture onto the moors near Warleggan in Cornwall because of the dancing red, white, and blue lights that would lead them into peril. As recently as January 2010, at Shingle Street on the north Norfolk coast, a couple reported seeing a greenish glowing ball dancing over the marshland there.516
Although their appearance is generally mischievous and there are risks involved, approached correctly, with suitable respect, the wills of the wisp may be prepared to grant you a safe journey and even good fortune.
493. Jabez Allies, On the Ancient British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-lore of Worcestershire (Worcester: J. Grainger, 1840), 409.
494. John Fletcher, The Night Walker, Or, The Little Thief, in Beaumont and Fletcher, ed. A. R. Waller (Cambridge: University Press, 1909), act 3.
495. Fletcher, Night Walker, Act 3.
496. John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667, book 9, lines 634–642.
497. Tongue, Somerset Folklore, 122.
498. Ray Loveday, Hikey Sprites: The Twilight of a Norfolk Tradition (Norwich: R. Loveday, 2009), 12–27.
499. Harland and Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-lore, 53; John Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities: chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions, vol. 3 (London, G. Bell, 1900), 395.
500. Sikes, British Goblins, Book 2, chapter 9.
501. Camilla Gurdon, “Folklore from South-East Suffolk,” Folklore 3 (1892): 558; Westwood and Simpson, The Lore of the Land, 488; Day, Here Are Ghosts and Witches, 153; “Marshland Between Alderfen and Neatishead, Known as Heard’s Holde—Heard’s Lantern,” Paranormal Database, May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/m/detail.php?address=7702.
502. Ella Mary Leather, Folklore of Herefordshire (Hereford: Jakeman & Carver, 1912), 48.
503. Day, Here Are Ghosts and Witches, 156–157.
504. Stewart, Popular Superstitions, part 5; County Folk-lore 7, 34; James Cargill Guthrie, The Vale of Strathmore; Its Scenes and Legends (Edinburgh: William Patterson, 1875), 100.
505. Day, Here Are Ghosts and Witches, chapter 9; Kent, The Land of the, 111; Rye, Eastern Counties Collectanea, 3.
506. Jonathan Couch, The History of Polperro, A Fishing Town […] (Truro: W. Lake, 1871), 134.
507. William Crossing, Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies: Glimpses of Elfin Haunts and Antics (Newcastle upon Tyne: F. Graham, 1890), chapter 4; Rosalind Northcote, “Devonshire Folklore, Collected Among the People Near Exeter Within the Last Five or Six Years,” Folklore 11 (1900): 212.
508. Baring-Gould, Yorkshire Oddities, 332.
509. See Spence, The Fairy Tradition in Britain, 17: “poake-ledden.”
510. Halliwell, Life of Robin Goodfellow, “How Robin Goodfellow led a company of fellows out of their way,” in Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology, chapter 6, 120.
511. Ballad of Robin Goodfellow, chapter 7, in Halliwell, Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology, chapter 7, 155.
512. The Pranks of Puck, verse 3 in Halliwell, Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology, chapter 8, 165; Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess, 1608, Act 1, 1, Act 3, 1, https://emed.folger.edu/sites/default/files/folger_encodings/pdf/EMED-FS-reg-3.pdf; Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, lines 634–9; Drayton, Nymphidia, lines 291–7, in Halliwell, Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology, chapter 13, 195.
513. Sikes, British Goblins, 20–24.
514. Grace Haddow and Ruth Anderson, “Scraps of English Folklore,” IX (Suffolk), Folklore 35 (1924): 355.
515. Westwood and Simpson, Lore of the Land, 488.
516. Tony Deane and Tony Shaw, The Folklore of Cornwall (Stroud: The History Press, 2009), 90; see, too, Charlotte Dacre’s poem, “Will of Wisp.”