Originally published in Pearson's Weekly (C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.) vol.1 #40 (25 Apr 1891).
Much of the superstition of the dwellers in mountainous lands has been traditionally fostered by unexplained natural phenomena.
Professor Tyndall on one occasion, while travelling in the Alps, observed the shadow of his body projected at night-time on a mist by a lamp behind him, and a luminous circle surrounded the shadow.
An enthusiastic traveller, Mr. J.A. Fleming, for years endeavoured to realise this phenomenon without the aid of a lamp. At last, on the summit of one of the Welsh hills, he and a friend succeeded.
A gentle breeze thinned away the mists in front of the sun, and a burst of sunshine illumined the hill-tops. Along the valley the wind drove masses of thin mist, and on this they saw, to their surprise, the shadow of the summit of the hill on which they stood, and their own sharply-marked shadows projected on it in giant shape. Surrounding these figures they observed two complete circular rainbows, quite concentric, the centre being the shadow of their heads. During all this time the sun was shining brightly on their backs.
Here are some other instances of the appearances of this phenomenon, as vouched for by authentic and trustworthy authorities. In the Sierra de Nevada in Spain, Mr. Marr, of the Geodetic Survey, was one day confronted by a monster figure of a man standing in mid-air before him, upon the top of a clearly defined mountain-peak, with the mist of the valley for a resting-place. Around it were two circles of rainbow light and colour on its head was a glorious halo, and from its body shot rays of colour.
He was indescribably startled, and threw up his arms at the sight of this awe-striking apparition of gigantic stature. Immediately on this movement the spectre threw out its arms and approached him. When the sun's brightness was obscured the shadow melted away.
Mr. Whymper, in his "Ascent of the Matterhorn," mentions an instance in which the rainbow colours assume the shape of crosses instead of circles. This effect occurring, as it did, soon after a fatal accident in the Alps, filled the minds of the guides With superstitious horror.
To Mr. G.R. Gilbert, of Washington, a distinguished physicist, the phenomenon was also presented, when he was on the plateau of the Table Cliff, in Utah (two miles above the sea level.) The air was moist, and scattering clouds hugged the valley. Standing before sunset on the edge of the cliff, he saw his own shadow distinctly outlined on a cloud, apparently about fifty feet from him. About the head was a bright halo, with a diameter several times greater than the head. Outside the halo there appeared two concentric circles with brilliant rainbow colours.
But the phenomena observed at Adam's Peak, in Ceylon, eclipse all that have been seen of this nature in the whole world. Many travellers have given an account of these remarkable peculiarities, and the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, in his enthusiasm for meteorological research, went there with two scientific friends on purpose to witness the strange appearance.
This mountain rises in an abrupt cone 1,000 feet above the chain and 7,352 feet above the sea level. It lies near an elbow in the main range, while a gorge runs up from the north-east just to the west of it. When, then, the north-east monsoon blows morning mists up the valley, light wreaths of vapour pass to the west of the peak and catch the shadows at sunrise.
The party reached the summit on the night of the 21st of February, 1886, amid rain, mist, and wind. Early next morning the foreglow began to brighten the under surface of the stratus cloud with orange; patches of white mist filled the hollows; and sometimes masses of mist, coming from the valley, enveloped them with condensed vapour. At 6.30 a.m. the sun peeped through a chink in the clouds, and they saw the pointed shadow of the peak lying on the misty land. Soon a complete prismatic circle of about 8 deg. diameter, with red outside, formed round the summit of the peak as a centre.
The meteorologist, knowing that with this bow there ought to be spectral figures, waved his arms about, and immediately saw giant shadowy arms moving in the centre of the rainbow. Two dark rays shot upwards and outwards on either side of the centre, and appeared to be nearly in a prolongatien of the lines of the slope of the peak below. Three times within a quarter of an hour this appearance was repeated as mist drove up in proper quantities, end fitful glimpses of the sun gave sufficient light to throw a shadow and form a circular rainbow.
When the sun rose high the characteristic peculiarity of the shadow was beautifully observed. As a thin wreath of condensed vapour came up the valley at a proper height a resplendent bow formed round the shadows, while both seemed to stand up majestically in front of the observers, and then the shadow fell down on to the land and the bow vanished as the mist passed on. About half an hour later the sun again shone out, but much higher and stronger than before, and then they saw a brighter and sharper shadow of the peak, this time encircled by a double bow; and their own spectral arms were again visible.