Case file · Folklore / legend
The aurora as the dead at play (Bering Strait)
Inupiaq and Yup'ik people of the Bering Strait region spoke of the northern lights as the spirits of the dead, sometimes playing ball with a walrus skull, and warned children not to whistle at them.
1899 CE · 64.50, -165.40 · status: legend
The account
Nelson recorded aurora beliefs in his 1899 monograph, and later ethnographers found similar ideas across Alaska. In some versions the lights could come down and carry a person off.
The sceptical view
The aurora is caused by charged particles from the Sun striking the upper atmosphere; the stories are about how to live with it.
Connections in the atlas
- Palraiyuk, the creature of the Yukon delta (Yup'ik)
- The aurora as the dead playing ball (Kalaallit lore)