Glowing wounds

[CoB47thNC]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a71471328/civil-war-wounds-glowed/

I found this article interesting. "Angels Glow" at Shiloh.

 

[huskerblitz]

This has been debunked. Dates back to the mid-1990s.

 

[R. Porter]

This has been debunked. Dates back to the mid-1990s.

Do you have a link to a source that debunks the the above linked article?

 

[huskerblitz]

Do you have a link to a source that debunks the the above linked article?

Here's one: https://www.promegaconnections.com/...el-glow-fact-civil-war-legend-or-modern-myth/

Also, on Shiloh NMP's Facebook page they have a series called Misinformation Monday and they debunked it as a myth as well. Unfortunately, I can't find that particular post.

We've also have discussed this numerous times here on the forum.

 

[huskerblitz]

Snopes article with Timothy B. Smith that also discusses why it likely never happened.

Some Civil War Soldiers' Wounds Glowed in the Dark?

As the story goes, they noticed their wounds emitting a so-called "angel's glow."

www.snopes.com

 

[R. Porter]

Thanks for the references. A lack of evidence for the legend before 2001 is certainly a major red flag. Snopes indicated they couldn't find any evidence of a science fair with a project concerning bioluminescence at Shiloh, which is another red flag. If it happened at Shiloh it would certainly have happened elsewhere, but it didn't; another red flag. However, I can understand the appeal of the phenomenon. When I was in Boy Scouts we used to come across bioluminescent fungi at night in the woods from time to time and some of the scouts whose families had a "place on the river" would see bioluminescent plankton at night when out on the water that fed into the Bay. Of course there were lightning bugs in the summer; I don't see them anymore. All of these sources of glowing light were both a wonder and a mystery growing up and would have been just the thing to tack a legend to.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I have rubbed bioluminescent fungus between my hands & made them glow. So, a wound COULD HAVE GLOWED. .

I am agnostic about glowing wounds. However, anybody who has spent nights in Tennessee woods is familiar with the variety of bioluminescence there is. Fox Fire / will-o-the-wisp / fairy lights is especially eerie.

Link

Fox-fire makes forests glow | CAES Field Report

Rotting wood and fungi combine to make eerie light.

fieldreport.caes.uga.edu

At Pickett State Park there are tours of caves lit by glow worms.

Link

https://reserve.tnstateparks.com/register/glow-worm-hike-05-9-26

Most improbable lights in the night of all are the lightening bugs that all wink on & off at the same time.

This jaw dropping phenomenon only occurs in single cove in Smoky Mountains National Park.

Link

Synchronous Fireflies - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Synchronous Fireflies

www.nps.gov

Decaying human bodies do not emit a glowing gas.

Link

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Note. I am unaware of bioluminescence in fresh water. In the Atlantic Ocean the bow wave & wake of a sailing ship on a moonless night is like traveling through a billion bright lights. Down into the water the circles from the glow of jellyfish add variety. Combined with a canopy of stars makes standing watch mesmerizing.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I am unaware of bioluminescence in fresh water.

A little searching indicates there are almost no bioluminescent freshwater organisms, especially in the Americas.

It can happen in brackish water. Mosquito Lagoon on the Florida East Coast has bioluminescent night kayaking. But certainly more common in the ocean offshore.

 

[huskerblitz]

Thanks for the references. A lack of evidence for the legend before 2001 is certainly a major red flag. Snopes indicated they couldn't find any evidence of a science fair with a project concerning bioluminescence at Shiloh, which is another red flag. If it happened at Shiloh it would certainly have happened elsewhere, but it didn't; another red flag. However, I can understand the appeal of the phenomenon. When I was in Boy Scouts we used to come across bioluminescent fungi at night in the woods from time to time and some of the scouts whose families had a "place on the river" would see bioluminescent plankton at night when out on the water that fed into the Bay. Of course there were lightning bugs in the summer; I don't see them anymore. All of these sources of glowing light were both a wonder and a mystery growing up and would have been just the thing to tack a legend to.

There were a few of us here a few years ago (the thread is here somewhere) where we researched this and we all came up empty as well. Unfortunately, this myth seems to be one that will continue on.

And while it could have happened, the fact there is no mention of this prior to the 1990s, likely means it did not happen at Shiloh.

 

[Rhea Cole]

There were a few of us here a few years ago (the thread is here somewhere) where we researched this and we all came up empty as well. Unfortunately, this myth seems to be one that will continue on.

And while it could have happened, the fact there is no mention of this prior to the 1990s, likely means it did not happen at Shiloh.

In this case the facts only spoil a really good tale. I have read accounts of whispers of blue light rising from fresh graves. There is a bioluminescent fungus explication for that, too.

A doctor wrote that even a scientific mind was chilled at the sight. I like that.

On a moonless night on the Platte River in Nebraska the reflection on the mirrored surface, fire flies & stars mingled in the most magical way imaginable

Makes taking my coffee & blueberry muffin to the screen porch seem very bland.

 

[huskerblitz]

On a moonless night on the Platte River in Nebraska the reflection on the mirrored surface, fire flies & stars mingled in the most magical way imaginable

True, if the Platte had water flowing, sadly.

 

[Rhea Cole]

True, if the Platte had water flowing, sadly.

I was wading, not floating. There had been high water & our skinny dipping hole had silted in… sound familiar?

 

[huskerblitz]

I was wading, not floating. There had been high water & our skinny dipping hole had silted in… sound familiar?

Yeah, also depends on the time of year. At times the Platte almost dries up.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Yeah, also depends on the time of year. At times the Platte almost dries up.

View attachment 586664

My family lived in Grand Island. I also have family at Scott's Bluff. 3" deep & three miles wide isn't a joke.

 

[R. Porter]

When I was a kid in Scouts, a "place on the river" was in the Tidewater, usually near where rivers flowed into the Chesapeake Bay, so there was some degree of saltiness. Also when I was a Scout I went to the Boy Scout camp, Philmont in New Mexico one summer. The journey there caused us to cross the Platte River which I was surprised to find was a wide ribbon of sand with some water that didn't appear to be moving much if at all.

Years later, in my one semester of physics grad school, I actually met someone from Grand Island, Nebraska. She was a grad student in Astronomy who was dismayed at the number of undergraduate students who didn't know the difference between astronomy and astrology. If I remember correctly, I gave her a book on astrology for Christmas. Sometimes I just can't help it.

 

[huskerblitz]

Quick geography lesson here....The Platte is made up of two major rivers, the North Platte that starts in northern Colorado but mostly flows through Wyoming and the South Platte that begins in Colorado. The North Platte is dammed in the west to create Lake McConaughy. The two merge near North Platte, Nebraska. Both Colorado and Wyoming use water for ag purposes before the waters even get to Nebraska. Then farmers in Nebraska also uses for ag purposes. And thus on its entire journey to the Missouri River. The result....the Platte is mostly dry for most of the year.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

A little searching indicates there are almost no bioluminescent freshwater organisms, especially in the Americas.

It can happen in brackish water. Mosquito Lagoon on the Florida East Coast has bioluminescent night kayaking. But certainly more common in the ocean offshore.

I saw that back home in Brevard. Used to happen up by Cocoa Beach too, in the canals. I could have sworn thwt it was from phosphate runoff into the drink.