The Lygtemand

In Danish folk belief the lygtemand is a small male being seen at night in bogs, damp meadows, by burial mounds and on forest floors. H.C. Andersen used the figure in his writing. Danes, along with Finns, Swedes, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and the Irish, held that a will-o'-the-wisp marked buried treasure.

What it isA small male being in folk belief

Seen at night inBogs and damp meadows

Also byBurial mounds and on forest floors

Used in writing byH.C. Andersen

Believed to markBuried treasure

Shared belief withFinns, Swedes, Balts and the Irish

What the belief actually was

Not a ghost and not a warning light. In the Danish tradition the lygtemand is a small male figure, and where he appears is precise: standing water, wet ground, burial mounds, the floor of a wood at night. Those are the places where a light with no lantern behind it could be seen, and folk belief put a person inside it rather than a phenomenon.

The treasure

The Danish version of the belief is not only Danish. Danes held it alongside Finns, Swedes, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and the Irish: a will-o'-the-wisp marked where something valuable was buried. That is a belief with a motive attached, which makes it different from most night apparitions, and it explains why people went towards the light instead of away from it.

Andersen and the written record

H.C. Andersen used the lygtemand in his writing, which is how the figure travelled beyond the countryside that produced it. The systematic collecting began in 1817 with Just Mathias Thiele at the Royal Library in Copenhagen, published as Danske Folkesagn from 1819 to 1823, and continued with Svend Grundtvig and Evald Tang Kristensen. Andersen's own Copenhagen is on the Andersen page, and the rest of the folk population is on the folklore creatures page.

The Danish-language folk legends walk covers this world in ninety minutes: the folk legends walk.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a lygtemand?

In Danish folk belief, a small male being seen at night in bogs, damp meadows, by burial mounds and on forest floors.

What does a will-o'-the-wisp mean in Danish folklore?

Buried treasure. Danes shared that belief with Finns, Swedes, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and the Irish.

Did Hans Christian Andersen write about it?

Yes, he used the figure in his writing. See Andersen's Copenhagen.