This is one of those curious and interesting atmospheric phenomena, or
deceptions, which proceed from one common cause, an irregularity in the
tenuity of the atmospheric fluid. This fluid is commonly of an
homogeneous or equable tenuity, and consequently suffers the rays of the
sun to penetrate it without any obstruction or change; but is at times
irregular, and composed of parts of bodies of a denser medium than its
general texture and constitution. Under these circumstances, the fluent
ray, if it do not enter the denser medium in a direct or perpendicular
line, will be either reflected, or refracted, or both; and the object
surveyed through it, will assume a new, and, not unfrequently, a
grotesque or highly magnified appearance.
The specter of the Brocken is an aerial figure which is sometimes seen
among the Hartz mountains in Hanover. The phenomenon has been witnessed
by various travelers, and among them by M. Haue, from whose relation the
following particulars are extracted. “Having ascended the Brocken
[mountain] for the thirtieth time, I was at length so fortunate as to
have the pleasure of seeing this phenomenon. The sun rose about four
o’clock, and the atmosphere being quite serene toward the east, its rays
could pass without any obstruction over the Heinrichshohe mountain. In
the south-west, however, toward the mountain Achtermannshohe, a brisk
west wind carried before it thin transparent vapors. About a quarter
past four, I looked round, to see whether the atmosphere would permit me
to have a free prospect to the south-west, when I observed, at a very
great distance toward the Achtermannshohe, a human figure of monstrous
size! A violent gust of wind having almost carried away my hat, I
clapped my hand to it; and in moving my hand toward my head, the
colossal figure did the same.
“The pleasure which I felt at this discovery can hardly be described;
for I had already walked many a weary step in the hope of seeing this
shadowy image, without being able to gratify my curiosity. I immediately
made another movement, by bending my body, and the colossal figure
before me repeated it. I was desirous of doing the same once more, but
my colossus had vanished. I remained in the same position, waiting to
see whether it would return; and in a few minutes it again made its
appearance on the Achtermannshohe. I then called the landlord of the
neighboring inn, and having both taken the position which I had taken
alone, we looked toward the Achtermannshohe, but did not perceive
anything. We had not, however, stood long, when two such colossal
figures were formed over the above eminence, [as represented in the
cut,] which repeated their compliments by bending their bodies as we
did, after which they vanished. We retained our position, kept our eyes
fixed on the spot, and in a little time the two figures again stood
before us, and were joined by a third, [that of a traveler who then came
up and joined the party.] Every movement made by us, these figures
imitated; but with this difference, that the phenomenon was sometimes
weak and faint, sometimes strong and well defined.”
[Illustration: SPECTER OF THE BROCKEN.]
In Clarke’s “Survey of the Lakes,” a phenomenon similar to that of the
specter of the Brocken, is recorded to have been observed in the years
1743 and 1744, on Souter-Fell, a mountain in Cumberland. It excited much
conversation and alarm at the time, and exposed to great ridicule those
who asserted they had witnessed it. It is, however, too well attested
not to deserve a short notice here, and may be referred to the same
causes by which the above aerial images on the Brocken mountain were
produced. The relation is as follows. Souter-Fell is a mountain about
half a mile in hight, inclosed on the north and west sides by
precipitous rocks, but somewhat more open on the east, and easier of
access. At Wilton Hall, within half a mile of this mountain, on a
summer’s evening, in the year 1743, a farmer and his servant, sitting at
the door, saw the figure of a man with a dog, pursuing some horses along
Souter-Fell side, a place so steep that a horse could scarcely travel on
it. They appeared to run at a very great pace, till they got out of
sight at the lower end of the fell. On the following morning the farmer
and his servant ascended the steep side of the mountain, in full
expectation that they should find the man lying dead, being persuaded
that the swiftness with which he ran must have killed him, and imagining
also that they should pick up some of the shoes which they thought the
horses must have lost, in galloping at so furious a rate. They were,
however, disappointed in these expectations, as not the least vestige of
either man or horses could be discovered, not so much, even, as the mark
of a horse’s hoof on the turf.
On the twenty-third of June, of the following year, 1744, about half
past seven in the evening, the same servant, then residing at
Blakehills, at an equal distance from the mountain, being in a field in
front of the farm-house, saw a troop of horsemen riding on Souter-Fell
side in pretty close ranks, and at a brisk pace. Having observed them
for some time, he called out his young master, who before the spot was
pointed out to him, discovered the aerial troopers; and this phenomenon
was shortly after witnessed by the whole of the family. The visionary
horsemen appeared to come from the lowest part of Souter-Fell, and were
visible at a place called Knott: they then moved in regular troops along
the side of the fell, till they came opposite to Blakehills, when they
went over the mountain. They thus described a kind of curvilinear path,
and their first as well as their last appearance, was bounded by the
foot of the mountain. Their pace was that of a regular swift walk, and
they were seen for upward of two hours, when darkness intervened.
Several troops were seen in succession, and frequently the last, or last
but one in the troop, would quit his position, gallop to the front, and
then observe the same pace with the others. The same change was visible
to all the spectators; and the sight of this phenomenon was not confined
to Blakehills, but was witnessed by the inhabitants of the cottages
within a mile. It was attested before a magistrate by the two
above-cited individuals in the month of July, 1745. Twenty-six persons
are said in the attestation to have witnessed the march of these aerial
travelers.
It should be remarked that these appearances were observed on the eve of
the rebellion, when troops of horsemen might be privately exercising;
and as the imitative powers of the specter of the Brocken demonstrate
that the actions of human beings are sometimes pictured in the clouds,
it seems highly probable, on a consideration of all the circumstances of
this latter phenomenon on Souter-Fell, that certain thin vapors must
have hovered round the summit of the mountain when the appearances were
observed. It is also probable that these vapors may have been impressed
with the shadowy forms which seem to “imitate humanity,” by a particular
operation of the sun’s rays, united with some singular but unknown
refractive combinations then taking place in the atmosphere.