In the 1970s and 1980s, we often saw "will-o'-the-wisps" on graveyards and fields at night in rural areas. Why are they no longer there?

This is because "will-o'-the-wisps" are actually caused by the spontaneous combustion of white phosphorus. Nowadays, cremation is mostly recommended and corpses are rarely buried directly, so "will-o'-the-wisps" are almost invisible now. Phenomenon. Whether it is in ancient books or folk written records, we can see that there is often a blue flame floating in the cemetery at night in the countryside. It is flickering and has a very scary feeling. This kind of fire is usually called Make "will-o'-the-wisp".

So some good people made up a bunch of ghost stories to scare people, but everyone found that since entering the 21st century, the occurrence of will-o'-the-wisps seems to have decreased a lot. Could it be that the electric lights have driven away the ghosts? , science defeated superstition? Actually not, this is caused by the formation of will-o'-the-wisp. The reason why will-o'-the-wisps occur is because bones contain white phosphorus, which has a low ignition point and will spontaneously ignite when exposed to the air.

In the 1970s and 1980s and even before that, human corpses were buried directly in the ground. After a long period of exposure to wind and sun, white phosphorus would be exposed. And at that time, because the tools were simple, the burial was not deep. There are also animals that die abnormally in rural areas, such as cats, dogs, and poultry, which will be thrown away directly. After the carcasses of these animals rot, the bones are exposed and the white phosphorus is exposed, and then spontaneous combustion occurs. It's what we call a will-o'-the-wisp.

Now, due to the promotion of cremation, after people die, they are usually taken to the crematorium for cremation, placed in an urn and then buried in the ground, so that no bones are exposed. phenomenon. Those animals that died abnormally will also be disposed of in a non-hazardous manner. In this way, whether it is humans or animals, the white phosphorus component is no longer in the body, and the "will-o'-the-wisp" phenomenon will no longer occur.