The Brocken Spectre: Angel in the Clouds

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Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: The Brocken Spectre: Angel in the Clouds

Welcome on this Weird Wednesday! Today, we’re chasing our shadows.

A Brocken spectre or Brocken bow is a type of atmospheric phenomenon called a glory. A person stands in front of a light source and their shadow is thrown onto mist, fog, or clouds. When this happens, the person’s shadow is surrounded by what seems to be a halo: rainbow-colored concentric rings, caused by light refracting off water droplets in the air.

A Brocken spectre specifically is formed when a person stands in front of a light source (usually the sun) while at a great height, casting a shadow onto clouds below themselves. Not only is there a glory visible, but the shadow appears to be enormous. The size is an optical illusion caused by the person’s inability to gauge how close their shadow actually is: it seems to be quite far away, and thus looks huge compared to objects on the horizon. But in reality, the shadow is cast onto water droplets that are very close.

The phenomenon is named after the Brocken, the tallest mountain in the Harz range in Germany, which often has clouds below its summit. But the Brocken spectre can be seen from any suitably high place under the right conditions, including tall buildings and even airplanes.

To make the phenomenon even cooler, when the mist and clouds shift with the wind, the Brocken spectre often seems to dance or move. You can see a video of a Brocken spectre moving here.

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

Anointed leader. Let’s say your fictional society uses the Brocken spectre as a way of choosing political or military leaders. That is, folks march up to the top of the hill one by one, and when a candidate is seen in glory, that’s assumed to be the choice of the Mountain God or other deity. It would be spectacular to see one’s future leader illuminated in a rainbow glow. But is the phenomenon actually a divine decision or the randomness of weather? And could it possibly be faked?

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