A curious tale from down under concerning an Antipodean ignis fatuus in human form.
It appears that in Christchuch, New Zealand something strange was stalking the lands in the Australasian Winter of 1905, as revealed in two articles from The Lyttelton Times.
The first from 31st July names the phenomenon as “Phosphorus Jack” and reports on several sightings of the phantom of the night. The first sighting was by a young girl who disturbed a masked intruder wearing a coat laced with phosphorus.
Another sighting saw a woman spooked by the same phosphorus flasher villain with the words “are you prepared to die” written in phosphorus in the coat. The police were involved in the reports but dismissed them as imagination.
But the sightings persisted into October of that year and the 7th day of that month revealed that more disturbing visitations had been made.
So were these sightings real, or just the hallucinations of a bunch of ugly face pulling fat tongue wagglers on the grog? We will never know, but I think that the phenom may be still out there somewhere.
Of course, Rattlechain lagoon has its very own phosphorus jack, or Willy Peter as he prefers to call himself. If the tramp is disturbed, he will get very agitated and spontaneously combust. I feel a John Houseman story narration coming on.