DR. O. C. J.
WITHROW, Toronto (Globe, April 7):
For many years I lived in Fort William, Ont., and there one sees the
aurora in all its brilliancy and grandeur In the silent midnight hours I
have been frequently called from my bed in the practice of my profession,
and have many times seen the heavens swept by the majesty of this
manifestation of nature's handiwork. Many a time I have heard a swishing
sound, which I have always felt came from the aurora.
MISS ROSE DUNCAN, Forest, Ont. (Globe, April 7):
I lived on St. Joseph's Island a great many years,
in a very quiet place, where I could account for
every sound, especially on a winter's night, and
have on several occasions heard sounds I could
attribute to nothing else but the northern lights
which were very bright. Sometimes the sounds would
be quite plain. I do not recall hearing sounds
unless the lights were plain.
MARY D. KENNEDY, Toronto (Globe, April 8):
I was brought up in the country, in Nova Scotia, and
have known all my life that sometimes during certain
display, a soft, slithering whisper can be heard. My
father used to tell us to "listen and you will hear them
change". At such times they seem very near, and move quickly.
F. G. HORNER, Bracebridge, Ont. (Globe, April 13):
Having spent several years in the Yukon, three winters
being dog-team work that kept me in the wilds, where a
tent was our chief habitation, I have had a very good
opportunity to observe the aurora in all its grandeur
near the Arctic circle. The sounds were very plainly
heard in the very cold, dry atmosphere when the aurora
was most active and showed the colours of the rainbow.
A. J. WOODWARD, Mimico, Ont. (based on many years of daily
meteorological observations (Globe, April 22):
There is a distinctly audible noise from the aurora, but only
from general displays that produce running waves from horizon
to zenith in about one second. If these waves are wide, and
consequently nearer, a rustling sound is produced, and the
narrower the wave, the sharper the noise, almost to a crackling
sound.
MRS. H. F. NASH, Toronto (Globe, April 25):
We were staying at the Kootenay Hotel, on the Arrow Lakes, B.C. A
party of us took a trip to the Minnie Mack mine and the summit of Silver
Mountain, 11,000 feet above sea level. While there we had a wonderful
view of the northern lights. Great long shafts of light spread out
in the shape of huge fans, waving from side to side like powerful searchlights.
We heard a gentle swish, faint but still audible. We watched them for a long
time.
E. A. COLLYER, Toronto (Globe, April 4):
Coming up the St. Lawrence in September, 1907, I witnessed a
great display. The whole northern sky was aglow with shifting
lights the greatest auroral exhibit in my experience. I heard
unquestionably a distinct crackling, rustling sound. The vessel
was the S.S. Parisian. There was an entertainment in the saloon
below, and the deck was almost deserted. Critics will, of course,
say it was sounds from the saloon which I mistook for the aurora.
But they will be wrong — it came from the heavens and
nowhere else.
MRS. ISABEL DAVIDS, Toronto (Globe, April 10):
One very cold night many years ago I was walking along College St.,
when was attracted to a magnificent display of northern lights,
which took on different shapes, at once resembling a huge fan
spreading wide, then part way, then closing, and other designs
after the manner of a kaleidoscope. The colours were delicate
blue, pink and corn colour. While gating upward I distinctly
heard coming from the sky a sound resembling the rustling of silk.
"OBSERVER", Arnprior, Ont. (Globe, March 31):
I know for a fact that a sound sometimes accompanies the
northern lights, having heard it on at least two occasions
in northern Minnesota about the year 1892. During the fall
very brilliant displays were seen, and on at least two occasions
a faint but unmistakable crisp, rustling sound was heard by myself
and others.
REUBEN BUTCHART, Toronto (Globe, April 18). Mr. Butchart's letter
deals chiefly with the journey of Sir John Franklin to the Polar Sea
in 1819-22, and, though rather long, is very interesting. It is given
in full:
Based on the recollection of a vivid boyhood experience and conclusion,
I had for years assumed that I had heard the Aurora. But now I am not
so sure. Nor is it likely that occasional observers in this latitude
have any ground but imagination for their beliefs. The "suggestion" of
sound is so obvious. My revised opinion is gained from a re-reading of
portions of the old classic on the Arctic, Sir John Franklin's Journey
to the Polar Sea in 1819-20-21-22. It is apparent that more than one
hundred years ago the question of the Aurora being audible was a live
one, since the British Government included it in their list of
objectives for Capt. Franklin. I quote from the Everyman edition,
introduction:
"That I should take particular notice whether any and what kind of
degree or influence the Aurora Borealis might appear to exert on the
magnetic needle; and to notice whether that phenomenon were attended
with any noise."
There are frequent references, and that on page 241 of the same edition
is to the point:
"The night was fine and the Aurora Borealis so vivid that we imagined,
more than once, that we heard a rustling noise like that of autumna
leaves stirred by the wind; but after two hours of attentive listening
we were not entirely convinced of the fact. The coruscations were not
so bright, nor the transitions from one shape and colour to another
so rapid, as they sometimes are; otherwise, I have no doubt from the
midnight silence which prevailed, that we should have ascertained this
yet undecided point."
On page 253 the following good story occurs:
"One of the partners or the North West Company related to me the
following singular story: 'He was travelling in a canoe in the English
River, and had landed near the Kettle Fall, when the coruscations of
the Aurora Borealis were so vivid and low that the Canadians fell on
their faces, and began praying and crying, fearing they should be killed;
he himself threw away his gun and knife that they might not attract the
flashes, for they were within two feet of the earth, flitting along with
incredible swiftness and moving parallel to its surface. They continued
for upwards of five
minutes, as near as he could judge, and made a loud rustling noise,
like the waving of a flag in a strong breeze.'"
The reader is now referred to the same book (quarto edition) found
in our Reference Library, where, in the appendix devoted to scientific
observation, occurs the following:
From Lieut. Robert Hood: "The delicate electrometer suspended at the
height of fifty feet from the ground was never perceptibly affected by
the Aurora, nor could we distinguish its rustling noise, to which,
however, such strong testimony has been given that no doubt can remain
of the fact."
Captain Franklin writes: "I have not heard the noise ascribed to the
Aurora, but the uniform testimony of the natives, and of the residents of
this country, induces me to believe that it is occasionally audible. The
circumstances, however, must be of rare occurrence, as is evidenced by
our having witnessed the Aurora upwards of 200 times without being able to
attest the fact."
Dr. Richardson states: "I have never heard any sound that could be
unequivocally considered as originating in the Aurora, but the uniform
testimony of the natives, both Crees, Copper Indians and Esquimaux, and
that of older residents of the country, induces me to believe that its
motions are sometimes audible. These circumstances are very rare, as
will appear when I state that I have now had an opportunity of observing
that meteor for upwards of two hundred different nights."
Lieut. E. F. Kane of the U.S. Navy, who headed two "Grinnell" expeditions
for the relief of Franklin and who reported his findings in several volumes,
with scientific notes on the Aurora to the Smithsonian Institution, says
nothing of the emanation of sound from it.
Note that the scientific observers heard it not, but that they accepted the
testimony of unscientific men, some of whom were under the influence of fear
when they "heard." I give it up.
MISS MARIETTA L. DINGLE, Toronto:
While living in Winnipeg with others of my family, and while enjoying some
very brilliant displays of the aurora, more than once I have distinctly heard
an accompanying sound like a rustle of silk or tissue paper, which certainly
was allied to the aurora very closely, and appeared to follow its waves of
light as it travelled across the heavens.
Many times during three winters I spent in Winnipeg, 1891-2, 1892-3, and 1904-5,
and occasionally in the autumn I saw wonderfully beautiful displays spread out
upon the sky softly, like colour on a map, but having no audible accompaniment.
When the sound was noticeable the aurora seemed to travel rapidly, in waves of
light. The sound was not at all loud, but was decidedly arresting to music-loving
ears, and is difficult to describe as it is so distinctive — neither
rustling, nor crackling, nor swishing, but a mingling of all three sounds,
faint and distant.
JOHN F. HENRY, Owen Sound:
About twenty-five years ago I was farming in the Township of Holland
near the village of Strathaven. As I was coming home from the village
one night I noticed that the sky was bright with northern lights, very
bright and changing every few minutes. I could hear at times a long
drawn out noise, faint but perfectly distinct, and a few high musical
notes very sweet and clear. The night was perfectly still.
DR. GEO. A. FRASER, Park Hill:
About September 10, 1908, Mrs. Fraser and I were visiting in Miami,
Manitoba, and one evening were coming home at about 10 o'clock in
company with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Munro, when we saw one of the
grandest displays of the aurora we ever witnessed. The whole northern
sky, clear to the zenith, was one mass of shooting rays. The evening
was beautiful and mild. Our attention was drawn to the "sound" by Mr.
Munro, and on listening one could hear light swishing sound mentioned
by various correspondents. The Manitoba people spoke as if it was a
matter of course to hear the sound.
GLENN A. GREEN, Hamilton:
In 1897 I crossed the Rocky Mountains near the Arctic circle and
was near the summit for three or four months. Everything was still
and the air clear. Late in the fall the northern lights were
certainly quite audible. The sound is like one heard in an electric
power house, and by the Indians it is said to be The Great Spirit
whispering. I was within the Arctic circle for four years and never
tired going out of the tent to see and to listen to the lights. There
were six in our party and they all said they distinctly heard the sound.
MRS. JOHN MYERS, Brantford;
In 1870 the writer, then a young woman of 22, lived in Ingersoll. It was
the time of the Franco-Prussian war and all that summer there were the
most wonderful displays of the aurora. Often I had to be going home
very late, probably 11 or 12 o'clock and the nights were quiet. The
colour was all a beautiful crimson. Generally there were two broad
bands right across the sky, with shoots of crimson darting from one band
to the other, and certainly there was a faint crackling sound whenever
the lights moved. It was a very solemn and impressive scene and has
remained with me all these years.
LUTA MUNDAY, Niagara Falls, Ont.:
I resided many years in the vicinity of Cumberland House, northern
Saskatchewan, and while there I heard the northern lights many, many
times. Words of mine are inadequate to describe their marvellous beauty,
and the sound of them was always audible when they were vivid. I would
describe the sound as a soft swishing and crackling sound, similar to that of
a woman walking in a stiff silk dress. The last display I saw before leaving
that truly wonderful country was in February, 1919, and it lasted over an hour.
The heavens seemed to be divided into four sections: on one side, pure white rays;
on the opposite side, rays of all colours; and joining the two, a vivid
flame of the very brightest; and all meeting. I lay for an hour on my back
on the snow watching the display and all that time I heard the same low
swishing sound.
PROFESSOR WILL C. BAKER, Queen's University, Kingston:
I distinctly recollect a great auroral display seen here in Kingston in
1884 or 1885. l well remember, that it was mid-winter (I think February)
for I cannot forget the three mile drive to the farm, with its short-cut
over the ice in Little Cataraqui Bay, while we observed and wondered at the
marvellous sight. From sundown until 10 o'clock — and I do not know
for how long afterwards — the whole sky was full of bright auroral
light, so that the stars were paled by it. It seemed to issue from a
radiant point at or near our zenith and to mark out the whole dome of the
sky, south, east, west and north, into wedge shaped bands of light. It
looked like a striped jockey cap with its segments of coloured cloth. The
wedges all centred in the zenith and reached to the horizon in all directions
in about equal intensities, as far as one could judge, around the whole
horizon. The colours were red, yellow and green and they shifted with the
motion peculiar to the aurora. I remember noticing here and there the
brighter stars shining through it, but at times none of the smaller ones
could be seen through the screen of light. One of the men in the sleigh
with me called attention to the curious crackling noise that often, though
not always, accompanied the flash of a new band of light across the sky. The
sound seemed to follow very closely (within a second or so at most) of the
appearance, and was like the crumpling of stiff paper. It reminds one of the
noise heard when discharging the glass jar in that famous but misused
experiment of Franklin's, that is supposed to prove that "the energy in a
Leyden jar resides in the glass." The sound is heard often when observing
other forms of brush discharge. Next day the papers were full of headings
which read, "Auroral display puts telegraph systems out of commission," etc.
Now, bearing in mind the following facts:
(1) The sound apparently followed close on the appearance, within a second
or two at most.
(2} The night was cold and the air clear — perfect conditions for strong
electrostatic effects.
(3) The accompanying severe, magnetic storm. And
(4) The obvious objectivity of the sound — for it was heard at the same
time by all in the sleigh and its connections with the streamers was discussed;
I think it clear that the sound did not come from the aurora itself, that is,
not through the air from the streamers to us, for in that case there would have
been a lag of more than the one or two seconds observed. Next, it seems most
probable that both the aurora and the sound came from the same source —
possibly the electric impulse or Hertzian or other waves, or the incidence of
the cloud of electrons, or whatever it is that really causes the aurora. Might
not the sound come from the discharge of static electrification — remember
the state of the atmosphere — in the immediate neighbourhood of the
hearers? Could it be a discharge released in some way by the electric impulse
accompanying the flash — a sort of photoelectric effect due not to the
visible light but to the impact of an electrical disturbance that set up the
aurora itself? The nature of the sound (Franklin's jar) makes this suggestion
worth thinking over.
I have "heard the aurora" on other nights much more recently, but never on a
scale comparable to the occasion I have referred to. I think, however, it was
always on dry, frosty weather. I am sorry that I did not know enough at the
time to look for brush discharges — a sort of St. Elmo's Fire — on
neighbouring objects, but doubt if it would have been visible in the glare of
the unusual illumination. I distinctly remember a light that spread over the
snow-covered ground that was noticed and discussed at the time. We put it down
to a reflection of the light from the snow surface. What a pity that we did
not look to see whether this light accompanied the flash or whether it lagged
with the sound.
CHARLES HARVEY, Hamilton, Ont:
I have on several occasions heard quite distinctly a sound (which may
be described as a subdued swishing sound) accompanying very brilliant
displays of the aurora. The first time I noticed this phenomenon was
in January, 1888. The place was three miles east and one mile north
of Saskatchewan. I was fourteen years old and was on my way home from
a neighbour's place. I was very much impressed and considerably
frightened and have never forgotten it. A few times since then I have
observed the same phenomenon, always on the prairie where I lived from
1883 to 1898.
In the year 1919 while surveying for the Dominion Government, in company
with Mr. G. A. Bennett, another Dominion Land Surveyor, while we were
camped about nine miles southeast of Broadview, Sask., we noticed the
same phenomenon. The atmospheric and other conditions were almost exactly
the same in every instance, and so a description of the one which took
place about October 15, 1919, will serve for all; and I might here state
that these displays seem to be more or less local, as people living a few
miles away, while noticing that there was a brilliant aurora did not notice
the accompanying sound.
The hour was about 9 o'clock p.m., not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of
air stirring, and the temperature, I should judge, not lower than zero
Fahrenheit. We were called out of our tents by one of our men to see the
unusually brilliant display of the aurora. It certainly was a sight well
worth watching, but would require a much more able pen than mine to do it
justice. Some distance to the north appeared a long, wavy, brilliantly
luminous belt stretching roughly in a horizontal line from east to west
seemingly at a height of only a few hundred feet above the ground, and
moving southward. This brilliant belt, while seeming to fold and unfold
on itself, like a bright ribbon which is continually doubling up and
straightening out, seemed to keep about the same distance above the
ground in its progress southward.
Behind this oncoming wave of brilliance, streamers of light, more or
less intense but never so brilliant as the lowest belt, kept shooting
up towards the zenith, and the display seemed to fill the whole northern
sky. We watched this display approaching from the north. At first there
was no sound, but as it got nearer, we heard a subdued swishing sound,
which grew more distinct as it approached, and was loudest when the
ribbon or belt of light was right overhead.
The sound was at no time loud but was quite distinct for several minutes
and seemed to vary in intensity with the brilliance and the wavy motion
of the luminous belt. It passed on to the south, and in a few minutes the
whole sky was full of auroral streamers which seemed to culminate at a
point in the zenith. A few minutes after the first display had passed
over our heads, however, we could not hear the sound. It appeared as if the
display was too distant for the sound to reach us, and an hour after our
attention was first drawn to it the display had faded to quite an ordinary
one.
JOHN R. CRAIG, St. Thomas, Ont.:
About the 15th August, 1882, after a day's journey, I with three cowboys,
camped on the prairie some 20 miles east of the N.W.M.P. headquarters at
Fort McLeod. We built our camp fire and had supper and soon after retired
to rest. The night was calm and bright. Lying awake in the tent, I heard
a mild crackling noise which brought me outside quickly, fearing that our
fire had not been thoroughly extinguished. The fire was dead, but the
heavens to the north were showing a greater display than I had ever seen.
The aurora was shooting upwards and receding with almost lightning rapidity
and with varying colours. A broad yellowish splash of flame spread across
from the west to the east, ascending from the horizon and proceeding with
what I can best describe as a swishing noise, while at the same time a
crackling noise accompanied the darting and shooting of the aurora.
The whole display seemed near. Its immanency impressed me and
together with the very clear audibility inspired something bordering on
fear. I have been near to pine forest fires and the flames running through
the branches made a crackling noise which impressed me as similar to that
accompanying the aurora which I am endeavouring to describe.
I was "brought up" on a farm in Toronto Township and often witnessed and
admired the aurora, but there never was anything approaching the display
I saw and heard in Alberta on or about the 15th August, 1882. There was no
settlement. Lethbridge was not born and Calgary had three log buildings.
Our camp was about 3,000 feet above sea-level. There was no one in the
vicinity but ourselves, and our horses were picketed at a distance. The
sound from the aurora was clear, distinct, impressive and so indelible
that the forty years which have elapsed have left the audibility or this
grand display fresh and clear. There is no exaggeration but on the other
hand my description is weak in comparison with the reality.
O. S. FINNIE, Department of the Interior, Ottawa:
My recollection of the auroral displays in the Klondyke is that the "crackling"
sound was not present, but I distinctly remember hearing a "swishing" sound
when the aurora was at its greatest intensity and waving in the sky like
a blanket or a sheet.
MAJOR L. T. BURWASH, Ottawa:
During the years I have spent in the Canadian Northland I have, on
many occasions, been greatly interested in the aurora borealis and
have observed it closely.
There is absolutely no doubt as to its audibility. I have heard it
most distinctly and have discussed this phenomenon with many persons
at the time of its occurrence when all noted identically similar
hissing or crackling sounds. That these were directly caused by the
aurora, there can be no doubt as they coincided with it as to time,
commencing as the light of the aurora began to intensify, following
it in its course across the sky and dying as the light faded.
These sounds are very similar to those known to wireless operators as
"static disturbances", which so frequently interfere with the receiving
of aerial messages. The effect of these disturbances when intensified
or concentrated by the ordinary wireless instruments may be divided
into several divisions.
(1) The more or less constant sounds, much like those made by an
effervescing fluid.
(2) The sharp staccato sounds which come at more or less regular
intervals.
(3) The heavier and duller sound coming at somewhat irregular
intervals and resembling the "knock" which is heard in a
defective engine.
The sounds accompanying the aurora are identical with the first two
of the above divisions, the first not being as intense as I have
heard from a wireless instrument, and the second, while distinctly
present, being much subdued. The third and heaviest disturbing sound
I have not heard from the aurora.
MR. W. W. CORY, Deputy Minister of the Interior, states that his
experience in the Yukon and in Manitoba corroborates Major Burwash's
comparison of the auroral sounds to the first two kinds of wireless
disturbance mentioned above.
C. B. BURNS, Ottawa:
While I was in the Yukon I observed the aurora many times with great
interest. We used to have "aurora parties", at which times we would
sit up for hours paying great attention to the skies. There certainly
was a distinct crackling sound, varying in sharpness apparently
according to the state of the atmosphere. On my drive in 1903 with
you [Mr. Cory], we heard the same sound, I remember.
