Ridge Runner Chronicles – April 19, 2023
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Weirdness and Solar Eclipses
By Bill Hoagland
For centuries, total solar eclipses have triggered a variety of weird responses among the humans and animals who witness them. In the Mayan culture, for example, the Mayans believed that the sun was suddenly disappearing in the middle of the day because the gods were mad at the Mayans, so to solve the problem and appease the gods, the Mayans immediately sacrificed a human at the altar and guess what –the sun reappeared, the gods were apparently pleased and the Mayan beliefs were reaffirmed. Aren’t we modern-day humans lucky that the astronomers figured out centuries ago what was causing total solar eclipses?
But even today, total solar eclipses still trigger myths and flat-out weird beliefs. One of those beliefs is that a total solar eclipse will result in the reappearance of vampires and zombies. I think this myth was spawned because during a total solar eclipse, nocturnal animals such as bats do sometimes reappear—hence, the belief that vampires also come out during an eclipse. And the animals normally awake during the day stumble around in a daze in an eclipse because their daily cycles have been interrupted by sudden darkness, leading to the belief that there are also zombies out there lurching among the living during an eclipse.
But still, there is something unsettling about witnessing a total solar eclipse even if you understand what is happening. In August 2017, we had a nearly total solar eclipse in the St. Louis area and it piqued my interest. I wanted to see, first-hand, how a forest full of lively critters would react during an eclipse, so I parked myself in a nearby woods and settled in for the show. It was a show that I will never forget. No, the coyotes did not start howling and the sky did not fill up with bats, but the woods did become very still as those shadow bands marched in synchronized steps toward my first-row seat. But what I remember most was the ashen appearance of the trees around me, leading to a feeling that I was somehow briefly stuck between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
I mention this because there will be another total solar eclipse that will be visible to persons living in southern Missouri and southern Illinois on April 8, 2024. And the projected trail of this eclipse will again go directly through Carbondale, Illinois, as it did in 2017, when it went from the southeast part of the US to the northwest part of the US. This time, however, the trail goes from the southwest part of the US to the northwest part of the US and in so doing, it comes close to a certain remote and seldom-visited family cemetery in Shelby County, Illinois where many of my ancestors are buried. Judging from the information on those faded tombstones, there were many of those relatives who died way too early. I know very little about these folks other than the fact that all of them have the same DNA as me but I would love to know more. And if a total eclipse of the sun makes it seem as though I am temporarily between the world of the living and the world of the dead, I am seriously thinking about visiting that remote cemetery during this next eclipse. I am sure it will be memorable even if I encounter no one there–living or dead.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].
