Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-11-17
Mountain Lish: Seen
A Electric 0isplay.

Western North Carolina have during
the past few summers given up some
OF their much-needed hours Of sleep
to chase what most of them believed
to be nothing more than a phantom.
or the witch fires OF some maker Of
mountain dew, but the Brown Mountain
Light is now coming into its own as
an accredited electrical phenomenon"
says bulletin Of the National Geo.
graphic Society, issued from its Wash
ington, d. c., headquarters.
"Brown Mountain lies II miles from
Blowing Rock in the Blue Ridge Noun
tains in the western part OF the State,
and, though plainly visible from the
resort, is in an uninhabited and sparse
ly wooded section. Suddenly and with
out warning light sometimes blazes
out on the crest Of the mountain, slow
ly moves down its side and then fades
out; sometimes it seems to rise from
the top Of the mountain and hang
suspended in the air, where it fades.
at has as many whims and moods
as a temperamental artist, sometimes
appearing several times during one
night, now stationary, now slow, again
swift in its flight, and sometimes it
cannot be seen for a comparatively
long, period of time, but it usually is
most active when the sky is clearing
for rain. Those who have studied it
in all its guises say that it often is
not unlike the star from a bursting
skyrocket, though much brighter, and
that it is sometimes red and sometimes
yellow, due probably to the condition
of the atmosphere.
Scientists were at first prone to
cavil at the stories which came out of
the mountains with the tourists, think
ing perhaps that locomotive head
lights or willy mountaineers were play
ing tricks on active imaginations, but
today DR.. w. ]. Humphreys, physicist
of the United States Weather Bureau,
and other meteorologists of note be-
lieve that occurs around the mountains
crest a brush discharge Of lightning,
or the St. Elmo's fire, which gave rise
among the ancient Greeks to the myth
OF Castor and Pollux. That glow
which accompanied the slow discharge
OF electricity to the earth from the
atmosphere, in southern climates. dur.
Ing thunder-storms, seen on the tops
OF 'masts, spires or other pointed OBJ
Jects, was named St. Elmo's fire bv
sailors, after one Of their patron saints,
because they felt that when the sign
appeared they had nothing further to
fear from the storm.
Perhaps the most remarkable fea,-
ture OF the electrical discharge which
takes place either from the earth to the
clouds or from the clouds TO the earth
around Brown Mountain is that it is
silent. The same thing is true of the
electrical displays in the Andes, which
have long been known to scientists and
travellers in the South American CONT
nent as the Andes lightning. 1t an.
pears as silent but very luminous
discharge of electricity along the crest
OF the Cordillera Real, in Chile, in a
region where thunder storms are prac.
tically unknown.
Its visibility is sometimes very
marked, having been noted by the for
mer director of the Meteorological and
Geophysical Institute of Chile while
ne was out at sea more than 300 miles
from the head cordillera. The actual
discharge, in which the mountain acts
as lightning rod between the clouds
and the earth, resembles a glimmer.
but sometimes the flashes which take
place at the point of origin are strong
and powerful, then gradually diminish
IN intensity and finally disappear into
the night. The light flashes over the
mountain from late spring to fall, and
the displays grow less brilliant as
one goes farther south.
The same phenomenon has also been
noted IN the Swiss Alps. One obser-
yer, after long period OF hot and
dry weather, reported that he had seen
succession of semi-circular flashes
which shot up from a mountain in the
bernese Overland, occasionally light.
ing inc Jungfrau group. Such dis
plays are notable for their likeness
IN appearance to the aurora, except
mat they do not reach such heights"
Too Kind.