31 Days of Ghosts presents a story of mystery. Is it real, urban legend, or complete fabrication? You decide.
Ever driven past a cemetery late at night? Ever glanced into the cemetery and noticed something odd? Say, like dancing lights over the graves.
Dancing lights above graves have been recorded for many, many years. Going into centuries, as a matter of fact.
At one time, it was believed that the lights above graves were the spirits of the dead waking to walk the mortal plane. This was noticed especially around grave sites where there weren’t many lights. Strangely enough, the lights were always seen just outside of the watcher’s peripheral vision. As though the lights were toying with the watcher. Some believed the spirits were moving onto their next life, or even ascending to heaven.
Sadly, there isn’t anything mysterious about the cause of dancing lights above graves. While morbid, there is a scientific explanation for the phenomenon.
As a body decomposes, it releases gases. Those gases will attempt to escape to the surface. They’ll rise and become released once they reach the surface of the earth and float on into the atmosphere. These gases can produce different coloured lights, or what appears to be different coloured lights. This can be noticed particularly around cemeteries that aren’t well lighted. A body can take a long time to decompose, so the effect can last for a long time, and can be seen over a period of several weeks. Unfortunately, the older the cemetery, the fewer the lights that can be seen. This effect can only be witnessed in graveyards where there are recent burials. Often times at newer cemeteries that are within a large population. This often means that the graveyard itself has a good number of lights, so the effect may not be visible. Mind you, there are areas of any cemetery where the lighting is not as good.
I wouldn’t recommend going to a cemetery to witness this effect. Or at least, don’t enter the cemetery. You don’t need to go inside, as you can visit from outside the main gates and sometimes see the lights from there. The closer you get, however, the less chance there is to see them.
At one time dancing lights above graves were thought to be of supernatural occurrences. The real explanation is a lot more mundane, but gives a proper detail of what happens. And there’s really nothing to be afraid of.
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