Ask the New Merriam Webster Dictionary what a will-o’-the-wisp is and you’ll get the following definition: “a delusive or elusive goal.” You’ll also get an origin of the phrase. “The will-o'-the-wisp is a flame-like phosphorescence caused by gases from decaying plants in marshy areas.” Historically, it was personified as "Will with the wisp," a sprite who carried a fleeting "wisp" of light. “Foolish travelers were said to try to follow the light and were then led astray into the marsh. (An 18th-century fairy tale described Will as one "who bears the wispy fire to trail the swains among the mire.") The light was first known, and still also is, as ignis fatuus, which in Latin means "foolish fire." Eventually, the name will-o’-the-wisp was extended to any impractical or unattainable goal.”
If anyone has seen The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, this will sound familiar. As Frodo and Sam traverse the Dead Marshes, Gollum tells them not to follow the lights, or they’ll soon end up joining the dead ones. But this is a common story told among people who have lived near marshes or bogs for centuries. In fact, one Polk County man experienced his own will-o’-the-wisp!
Worthy Prentice, in his book Reminiscences of Early Pioneer Days in Polk County tells about a mysterious fire around 1862. “A man by the name of Joseph Corey lived on the west bank of East Lake, the Soo R.R. ran through the farm between Nye and Dresser Junction. This mysterious fire would spring up at intervals on the place. The fire would come up out of the ground in a round blaze and about three or four inches of the top of the blaze would resemble the blaze of a candle, the rest of the blaze would be as blue as Indigo. It looked very queer to me as I saw it myself.'“
The fire got to be bad enough that Joseph had to relocate due to it burning all of the buildings on his farm and a large amount of his family’s clothes. Joseph moved to the farm adjacent to Prentice’s father.
In addition, the same year of the fires, a large number of fish died in East Lake and would drift ashore in rows. This led to speculation of a gas leak of some kind being the cause.
Prentice closes by wishing that one of his neighbors had undertaken an experiment to see if coal oil or another combustible substance could have been found nearby. “I only wish that I could stay long enough to see if thoroughly investigated. It was a wonderful phenomenon.”
