A man walking through the hills of England has managed to videotape the so-called Brocken Ghost. Chris Randall, who describes himself as an ultramarathon runner and snowboarder, shared the footage with his Twitter audience, describing the encounter as “creepy” and saying he initially “thought he was standing in front of someone else”. In the responses, people shared their similar experiences.
Seen this once on a mountaintop, with much brighter and bigger rainbow around it. Unforgettable experience.
It looked something like this: pic.twitter.com/ARHpOr52S1
— Sasha Sukhovey (@alex_sukhovey) November 14, 2022
So what is the phenomenon called the Brocken Ghost?
Fortunately, there’s a logical explanation for this event that doesn’t involve the spooky ghost clouds.
These “ghosts” have been seen for thousands of years and also explain the sightings of “Dark Watchers” in California that have been reported for centuries. It can even happen on airplanes.
Named after the Brocken mountain, where it was first described by German scientist Johann Silberschlag, the Brocken Ghosts appear on hazy days. When the sun is low and there are favorable conditions, the observer’s shadow falls on the fog, making it appear as if a tall, shadowy figure is watching him from close up. The water droplets that make up the fog can sometimes change direction towards the observer and move as if the shadow is moving. So when people are afraid of the Brocken Ghost, they are literally afraid of their own shadow.
Dark Watchers
Hikers in California’s Santa Lucia Mountains have reported encounters with “Dark Watches” for centuries. Since the 1700s, there has been talk of tall, featureless silhouettes appearing on the horizon, and beings watching them motionless throughout their journey. Walkers in Big Sur talk about an unknown figure who disappeared shortly after being spotted as they turned around after feeling like they were being watched.
They were also mentioned in a poem by Robinson Jeffers in 1937 and in John Steinbeck’s short story Flight the following year. In Steinbeck’s story, the hero flees to the mountains after killing a man in a fight. Before she leaves, her mother warns her that “when you go up in the mountains, if you see any of the men watching in the dark, don’t approach them and try to talk to them.” As you can imagine, when he reached the top of the mountains, he “seemed a black figure for a moment, but he immediately turned his head, for he was one of the dark watchmen.”
In Jeffer’s poetry, however, the figures are described as almost human-like but not quite human.
At Ben Macdui’s apex, a similar figure has been seen since 1891. Am Fear Liath Mòr (meaning “The Great Gray Man” in Scottish Gaelic) has appeared in several dramatic narratives over the centuries. In the first recorded statement, the poet James Hogg described it as “at least thirty feet (about 9 meters) high, and evenly proportioned, and very close to me. I was truly paralyzed by surprise and horror.”
While many different explanations have been suggested for this narrative, the Brocken Ghost, emerging from people’s own shadows, seems the most likely option.
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