The Northern Lights

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is a fascinating natural occurrence that has people travelling from all over the world to try and catch a glimpse. Most often the best country appears to be Norway however with the right night’s sky views they can be seen in other countries fairly clearly too.

Cruises for Norway can also be booked and thanks to websites you can sign up for alerts to tell you when they can be seen, or even if they are going to be seen in areas as far reaching as Scotland and sometimes parts of England.

Electrically charged particles from the sun, caught in the earth’s magnetism that slowly filter down and collide with oxygen particles that make them glow. Solar flares produce more of these events and the largest Aurora was recorded 2nd September 1859, it also coincided with magnetic and electrical storms.

I could go on and on about how stunning they are but instead, if you have been you can tell us here in the comments!

 

Caleuche

As regular readers may already know, I love ships, and with it comes a love of ghost ships. So the Chilean legend of Caleuche has gone on to my list of weird and wonderful. Here’s a little tale for a Friday read.

The Caleuche is supposedly a ghost ship seen around a small island of Chiloé at night, it is claimed she appears every night. She is said to be sentient, a bright white sailing shop with three masts, she is always full of lights and the sounds of a party. She also is said to go underwater and can navigate whilst under it, similar to the flying Dutchman. Sources I found also seem to state that the ship is sentient.

In Chilote mythology the dead/drowned are brought to the ship by three siblings – Sirena Chilota, Pincoya, and their brother Pincoy. When aboard the ship the dead are able to carry on their existence there as if they were alive.

There are two types of spirits on the ship, those that drowned at sea who can enjoy the above aforementioned carry on of their lives, these spirits may also go home once a year to visit their families. Those who are more unfortunate who are kidnapped fishermen, they are used to serve the ship performing the various duties of the crew.

Another thing that is claimed is that the ship can summon a magical water horse, this horse can the  gallop upon the surface of the ocean.

 

The Door To Hell

Located in Derweze, Turkmenistan, it is a natural gas field that has been burning for some time. The Door to Hell, as it’s alternatively known, has been burning since it was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists back in 1971. It is fed by the rich, natural gas deposits in the area and the pungent smell of burning sulfur can be detected for some distance around it.

Locals gave it the name because of the fire, the boiling mud and the rich orange flames in the 70ft diameter. When it was identified by the Soviet scientists they set up camp there and began to build a drilling rig, it proved pretty successful however the ground beneath it collapsed and the drilling rig and camp disappeared into it. Fortunately no lives where lost but large amounts of methane were released into the area and caused a potential danger for the nearby villagers. Fearing more releases they decided to burn it off but it is still burning today.

It has become somewhat of a tourist destination and no doubt will carry on being one as long as it continues to burn.