One of the most beautiful and amazing phenomena nature - the so-called fires of St. Elmo, which can sometimes be observed on the tops of pointed objects.


The top branches of trees, the spiers of towers, the tops of masts on the sea, and other similar places are sometimes illuminated with a shimmering bluish glow. It can look different: like a smooth flickering glow in the form of a crown or a halo, like dancing flames, like fireworks scattering sparks.

Why are St. Elmo's fires so called?

In medieval Europe, dancing lights were associated with the image of the Catholic Saint Elmo (Erasmus), who patronized sailors. Legend has it that the saint died during a storm on the deck of a ship. Before his death, he promised that from the next world he would pray for the sailors and give signs about their future fate, and these signs would be dancing magic lights.

The saint kept his word: since then, the lights that arose on the masts of the ship during a storm predicted the imminent end of bad weather and served as a good sign for sailors. But if the fire descended from the mast to the deck or shone over a person, this was considered a warning of impending misfortune or even death.

Most often, the fires of St. Elmo can be seen in mountainous areas, sometimes it is found in the steppe zone or at sea. In our latitudes, wandering lights appear extremely rarely - this is due to the physical nature of the phenomenon, the appearance of which requires special circumstances.

How are Saint Elmo's fires formed?

The hypothesis that the fires of St. Elmo are associated with appeared in the eighteenth century: it was expressed by the famous researcher Benjamin Franklin, who was one of the first to set up experiments to study electrical discharges. However, scientists were able to fully describe the physical nature of the phenomenon only in the twentieth century.

The appearance of luminescence is associated with the presence in the air a large number ionized particles. Usually their presence in the air mass is extremely small, but during a thunderstorm their number increases dramatically - to such an extent that they can generate a fairly strong electromagnetic field.


The collision of an ion with an ordinary gas molecule leads to the appearance of a charge in the particle that was previously neutral. The field strength grows rapidly, and the ionization process in this case resembles a descent snow avalanche. This phenomenon is called impact ionization and is described in detail by N. Tesla.

At a certain stage, collisions of particles lead to the formation of a glow in places where the field has a particularly high intensity.

This usually occurs around sharp protruding objects, which most often turn out to be ship masts, tower spiers or tops. tall trees. These places serve as a kind of lightning rods, through which atmospheric electricity "flows" into the ground, accompanying the process with a characteristic crackle and the smell of ozone.

Pilots see St. Elmo's fire most often: they form at the ends of the wings or propeller blades if the aircraft has to cross the front of thunderclouds. Electric discharges often reach such strength that they interfere with radio communications.

Until now, cases of aircraft death due to loss of controllability are possible, although today every aircraft is necessarily equipped with devices for neutralizing atmospheric discharges.

Why can't you see the fires of St. Elmo here?

In our country, the fires of St. Elmo are an extremely rare occurrence, they don’t even have their own name, so we use the European one.

The fact is that for the formation of luminescence, ionized air mass should descend low enough, and we have a minimum height of a thundercloud of at least half a kilometer.

In the highlands of the Alps or the Pyrenees, this height is significantly reduced. The hurricane-force winds raging over the surface of the sea can also push the ionized air low enough to cause the ship's masts to glow.


The appearance of discharges of atmospheric electricity can disable electronics: Cell phones, computers and other equipment. Therefore, one should not regret the absence of the fires of St. Elmo - although they are very beautiful, contemplation of this beauty can be quite expensive for ordinary people.

I got on the royal ship. Everywhere there from bow to stern. On deck and in the hold, and in the cabins I sowed terror; soared like a flame On the mast, on the bowsprit and on the yards.

These lines, taken as an epigraph, are not poetic fiction. There are many eyewitness accounts who observed luminous plumes on masts, topmasts, yards. Ancient sailors called them "the fires of St. Elmo."

Two thousand years ago, the Roman philosopher Seneca said that during a thunderstorm, "the stars seem to descend from the sky and sit on the masts of ships." He had in mind the discharges in the form of a flame, which occur not only on the spars of ships, but also on the domes of churches, the tops of towers, spiers and high in the mountains. However, most often "holy fires" are observed in the ocean. Occasionally, when thunderclouds pass over a ship, a glow can be seen on the masts, usually accompanied by a slight crackle. In daylight, the lights are not visible, but at night they present a spectacular, sometimes eerie picture.

The appearance of "Elmo's lights" was perceived by sailors as a sign announcing the end of the storm and the hard work on the ship. One of the legends about the voyage of Christopher Columbus to America says: “It seemed that the storm would never subside. Exhausted by hard work, frightened by the sparkling lightning and the ferocious ocean, the sailors began to grumble. Columbus was blamed for everything, who started this dangerous voyage, which seemed to have no end. Then the Great Navigator ordered everyone to go up on deck and look at the masts. On their tops were lights of a bluish color. The sailors rejoiced, considering the fires scattered on the masts as a messenger of St. Elmo's mercy towards them.

Magellan's satellites observed in amazement in the Atlantic Ocean the appearance of lights. One of them, the knight Pigafetta, made the following entry in his diary: “During storms, we often saw a glow that is called the fires of St. Elmo. Somehow, on a dark night, it appeared to us like a kind light. The lights remained at the top of the mainmast for two hours. In the midst of a fierce storm, this was a great comfort to us. Before disappearing, the glow flashed so brightly that we could almost be stunned. Everyone thought that now death would come. However, at the same moment the wind died down ... "

Indeed, strong winds and high waves precede a thunderstorm. But when a thunderstorm is overhead and the fires of Elmo are lit, the worst is over.

It happens that the glow of the sultans continues long time. Cases have been recorded when a fireball, having descended to the base of the mast, then rolls along the deck. Sometimes the lights run on the waves. Homer and Horace wrote about such phenomena. Then people also considered these lights a happy omen and deified them, calling them the names of Castor and Pollux, the demigods who patronize sailors. English sailors called the "fires of St. Elmo" the body of the saint.

"Holy fires" often appeared in large numbers. In 1622, after bad weather, all the galleys of the island of Malta suddenly lit up with these lights. They seemed to jump from mast to mast, greeted by three whistles and exclamations of sailors.

On June 11, 1686, a French warship, while abeam Madagascar, was subjected to a real attack of "holy fire". Abbé Chauzy, who was on board the ship, wrote: “A terrible wind was blowing, lightning was pouring rain, the whole sea was on fire. Suddenly I saw on all our masts the fires of "Saint Elmo", which descended to the deck. They were the size of a fist, sparkled, jumped and did not burn at all. Everyone smelled sulfur, but there was no thunder. The will-o'-wisps behaved on the ship as if they were at home. This went on until dawn."

On December 30, 1902, the Moravia steamer was near the Cape Verde Islands. The whole team then witnessed an amazing spectacle. Here is an entry in the ship's log made by Captain A. Simpson: “For a whole hour, lightning flashed in the sky. The steel ropes, the tops of the masts, the butts of the yardarms and cargo arrows - everything shone. It seemed that on all the stays every four feet they hung lighted lanterns ... ". Speaking further about the strange noise accompanying the glow, the captain wrote: “It was as if myriads of cicadas settled in a rig, or deadwood and dry grass burned with a crash.”

This interesting phenomenon is often observed by modern navigators.

“In July 1960, I participated in the passage of the ship Dvina from the port of Providence to the port of Nakhodka,” reports V. Alekseev from Primorsky Krai, “and between Cape Olyutorsky and the Commander Islands I witnessed a strange, mysterious natural phenomenon. When at two o'clock in the morning I took over the watch, the sky was covered with black-violet clouds. We were in tow at the Pugachev steamer. After about 30 minutes, I suddenly saw that the contours of its masts, shrouds and superstructure became somehow unusually clearly visible. A few minutes later, a glow appeared on all the protruding parts of the ship, and like luminous brushes appeared on the masts of the mast. Soon, it seemed, the entire surface of the vessel was covered with a luminous bluish fringe. I did not notice any special sounds or smells. "Pugachev" was observed as a continuous luminous spot. All this lasted two and a half hours.

What are Elmo lights? What is the reason for such a seemingly mysterious natural phenomenon?

They look like flames, but in reality they have nothing to do with fire. These are the so-called silent discharges of atmospheric electricity, which are most often observed during thunderstorms, snow storms, and squalls.

Fireworks of atmospheric electricity are not always accompanied by thunderstorms. During a thunderstorm, sometimes even long before its development, the electric field strength in the atmosphere increases many hundreds and even thousands of times. It is then that quite often a special kind of luminous discharges appear on the points and sharp corners of objects towering above earth's surface. The potential of the electric field on them can reach such a critical value that it turns out to be sufficient for an electrical breakdown of air. This phenomenon is accompanied by the flow of electric charges, causing the formation of a luminous "crown". A similar glow can be observed in fluorescent lamps.

"Elm's Lights" were reproduced for the first time in the laboratory of Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences BV Voitsekhovsky. With regard to this phenomenon, Bogdan Vyacheslavovich then expressed his own point of view, which was different from the generally accepted one: “Like most of the phenomena associated with atmospheric electricity,“ Elm’s fires ”occur in clouds - in a mass of charged particles that usually carry a negative charge. In bad weather, clouds can drop very low and touch earthly objects with their lower part: spiers, towers, trees, ship masts. Drops of water with a negative charge meet these positively charged objects, and there are endless discharges, a kind of micro-lightning. It is they who make the spiers and masts glow.

"Holy lights" create interference and hinder radio communications. And although they are safe, they should still be avoided, as they indicate places where large charges of atmospheric electricity can be concentrated.

Sometimes in stormy weather you can observe the most interesting a natural phenomenon: a bright glow appears on the tops of spiers, towers and even trunks of individual trees. This interesting phenomenon has long been known to sailors. The ancient Romans called it the fires of Pollux and Castor (mythological twins). When there is a thunderstorm on the sea, such lights usually appear not at the top of the masts. Historian ancient rome Lucius Seneca wrote on this occasion: "It seems that the stars descend from the sky and sit on the masts of ships."

In medieval Europe, the lights on the masts began to be associated with the name of St. Elmo. In Christian tradition, he was considered the patron saint of sailors. Here is what sailors wrote about mysterious fires in the 17th century: “A thunderstorm began and a fire appeared on the weather vane of a large mast, reaching a height of 1.5 meters. The captain ordered the sailor to put it out. He climbed up and shouted that the fire was hissing like raw gunpowder. They shouted to the sailor to take it down along with the weather vane and bring it down. But the fire jumped to the end of the mast, and it became impossible to get to it.

The fires of St. Elmo can be seen not only in the sea. American farmers have repeatedly told how, during a thunderstorm, the horns of cows on the ranch glowed. An unprepared person may associate such a phenomenon with something supernatural.

How are the fires of St. Elmo created?

Modern physics knows almost everything about the fires of St. Elmo. These are electric corona discharges, and the essence of this phenomenon is explained quite simply: any gas has a certain amount of charged particles or ions. They arise due to the detachment of electrons from atoms. The number of such ions under normal conditions is negligible, so the gas does not conduct electricity. But during a thunderstorm, the intensity of the electromagnetic field increases dramatically.

As a result, gas ions begin to move more intensively, as they receive additional energy. They begin to bombard neutral gas molecules, and they break up into positively and negatively charged particles. This process is called impact ionization. It goes like an avalanche, and as a result of this, the gas has the ability to conduct electricity.

This phenomenon was first studied by the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla. He proved that in an alternating electromagnetic field, the intensity is more intense around sharp protrusions of buildings and objects. It is in such places that regions of ionized gas arise. Outwardly, they look like crowns. Hence the name - corona discharge.

The effect of impact ionization is used in Geiger counters, that is, it measures the level of radiation with its help. And corona discharges obediently serve people in laser printers and copiers.

The fires of St. Elmo are directly related to the attempt to photograph the human aura. What is an aura? These are the seven energy layers surrounding the human body. The first is associated with pleasure and pain, the second with emotions, the third with thinking. The fourth is associated with the energy of love, the fifth with the human will, the sixth with the manifestation of divine love, and the seventh with the higher mind.

Official science denies the aura. However, there are people who offer to photograph the aura and determine possible health problems from the picture. The possibility of photographing the aura was discussed as a result of the research of the Kirlian spouses. They created a kind of laboratory at home, where they used a resonant transformer as a source of high-voltage voltage.

Initially, it was only about the photographic fixation of corona discharges. However, soon everyone was talking about Kirlian effect. It was said that the luminosity of the tips of human fingers noticeably increases after reading the prayer. They also wrote that if the tip is cut off from a sheet of paper and the cut sheet is photographed using the Kirlian method, then a luminous intact sheet will be reflected in the photograph.

As for science, it was indifferent to this effect. Physicists have stated that such an effect does not exist in nature. They motivated this by the fact that when a high-frequency field is repeatedly exposed to, say, human skin, its electrical conductivity increases. This happens due to the release of sweat, which contains the ions necessary for electrical conductivity. That's the whole effect.

Kirlian effect, photo #1 (left) and photo #2

From this it is clear why the second shot of the glow is brighter. After the first photographing, we tried not to read prayers, but to utter abusive expressions. The second photo still turned out brighter, as if good words were spoken.

If we talk about the glow of the entire sheet after cutting off part of it, then the experts figured it out very quickly. It turned out that the sheet was placed on the same substrate that was before. And it contained those substances that the leaf managed to isolate during the first study. It was worth wiping the substrate with alcohol or putting on it Blank sheet paper, as the effect disappeared.

But what about the human aura? Does she exist or not? It depends on what is meant by this term. Human skin releases a wide variety of substances. The electrical conductivity of the skin of a healthy and sick person differs markedly. Almost every protein molecule that is part of the cells of living organisms carries positive and negative charges on its surface. Therefore, any organism creates a weak electric field. This aura is very real.

Ancient artists decorated the heads of saints on icons with halos. They were considered a symbolic image of holiness. It is difficult to argue anything here, since a person who has devoted himself to charitable deeds really, as it were, glows from within.

On the other hand, everyone can see a halo around their head. To do this, you need to stand early in the morning on the dewy grass with your back to the sun and look at the shadow from your head. There will be a slight glow around it. This is not a sign of holiness at all, but only optical effect sun reflections from dew drops.

Text by Sergei Borisov, magazine version

Lights WITH ninth Elma

Saint Elmo" s lights

Even the Roman philosopher Seneca said that sometimes "stars seem to descend from heaven and sit on the masts of ships."

The ancient Greeks called them the fires of the Dioscuri twin brothers - Castor and Polideucus, the patrons of sailors, and their sister, the beautiful Elena, lit the fires. Later, in the writings of Titus Livius, it was noted that when Lysander's fleet went to sea to fight the Athenians, lights flared up on the masts of the commander's galley, and all the soldiers took this as a good omen.

Much later, the fires of the Dioscuri were called the fires of St. Elmo, because they often appeared on the spiers of St. Elmo's Cathedral in Italy. But no matter what they were called, these lights were always a symbol of hope, their appearance meant that the worst was over.

During the voyage of Christopher Columbus to America, a storm broke out. What happened next, the legend says: “Exhausted by hard work, frightened by lightning and the ferocious ocean, the sailors began to grumble. For all their troubles, they blamed Columbus, who started this crazy voyage, which has no and will not end. Then Columbus ordered everyone to go up on deck and look at the masts. Lights shone at their ends. And the sailors rejoiced, for they realized that Saint Elm was merciful to them, and the voyage would end happily, and everyone would remain alive.

The fires of St. Elmo were also perceived by the companions of Magellan as a good sign. The chronicler of the first round-the-world voyage, the knight Pythagetta, left the following entry in his diary: “During bad weather, we often saw a glow that is called the fires of St. Elmo. One night it appeared to us as a kind of beacon. The lights remained at the top of the mainmast for two hours. In the midst of a fierce storm, this was a great comfort to us. Before disappearing, the glow flashed so brightly that we were delighted and stunned. Someone in his disbelief exclaimed that now we will perish, but at the same moment the wind died down.

In 1622, thousands of "holy fires" littered the Maltese galleys returning to their native island, and 64 years later, the "holy fire" literally captured a French ship heading for Madagascar. Abbé Chausi, who was on board, wrote: “A terrible wind blew, it rained, lightning flashed, all the waves of the sea were in flames. Suddenly I saw the fires of Saint Elmo on the masts of our ship. They were the size of a fist and jumped on the yards, and some went down to the deck. They sparkled and did not burn, because their holiness did not allow them to do evil. They behaved like at home on the ship. They had fun themselves and made us laugh. And this went on until dawn.

And another testimony - the captain of the steamer "Moravia" A. Simpson, relating to "the incident that took place near the Cape Verde Islands" on December 30, 1902: "For an hour, lightning flashed in the sky. The ropes, the mastheads and the yardarms all glowed. It seemed that lit lanterns were hung on all the stays four feet away.

As a rule, the fires of St. Elmo are luminous balls, less often they resemble bunches or tassels, and even more rarely torches. But whatever these lights may look like, they have nothing to do with... fire.

These are electrical discharges that occur when the electric field strength in the atmosphere is high, which most often happens during a thunderstorm. Ordinary lightning is accompanied by deafening thunder, because lightning is a strong and fast electrical discharge. However, under certain conditions, it is not a discharge that occurs, but an outflow of charges. This is the same discharge, but only “quiet”, it is also called a crown, that is, crowning an object like a crown. With such a discharge from various sharp protrusions - the same ship's masts - electric sparks begin to jump out one after another. If there are many sparks and the process lasts more or less long, a radiance arises.

In general, if your yacht suddenly shines like Christmas tree, don't grab the fire extinguisher. You are lucky - these are the fires of St. Elmo, which always bring good luck to sailors. The only trouble that threatens you is radio interference. But it can be experienced, the spectacle is worth it!

Ball lightning

Ball- lightning

Nobody knows what it is - ball lightning. The greatest minds of mankind fought over the solution, trying to create a physical theory of the occurrence and course of this phenomenon, but they were forced to confine themselves to hypotheses that are in the mouth common man sound like this: "Perhaps ... it is impossible to exclude ... if we assume ..." There are more than two hundred such hypotheses today, and among them there are completely exotic ones, such as: "messengers from a parallel world" and "sublimated unity of quasiparticles." And this despite the fact that it has long been known what ball lightning consists of: nitrogen, oxygen, ozone, water vapor, etc. Perhaps ball lightning is a clot of supercaloric fuel with an energy of up to 1 million J and an explosion power equal to the explosion of several tens of kilograms of TNT. At the same time, the low density of ball lightning allows it to soar in the air, and its own energy source - to move at a very decent speed.

But these are all theories, but practice shows that ball lightning is dangerous for both people and ships, because they often occur above the water surface.

Here is what happened in 1726 to the sloop "Katherine and Mary", according to the report of her captain John Howell: "We were off the coast of Florida. Suddenly, a fireball appeared in the air, which hit our mast and blew it into 1000 pieces. Then he killed one person, wounded another and tried to burn our sails, but he was prevented by a downpour.

In 1749, ball lightning attacked the Montego, the ship of the English Admiral Chambers. Dr. Gregory, who was on the ship, testifies: “About noon, we noticed a large fireball about three miles from the ship. The admiral ordered to change course, but the balloon caught up with us. He was flying forty or fifty yards over the sea. Once above the ship, it exploded with a roar. The top of the mainmast was demolished. Five people on deck were knocked off their feet. The ball left behind a strong smell of sulfur. The Lord has saved us from the devil."

In 1809, the English warship Warren Hastings was attacked by three fireballs at once. Here are the lines from the account of what happened: “One of the balls dived and killed the sailor. His comrade, who rushed to his aid, knocked down the second ball, singing it with flames and leaving severe burns. The third ball killed another person."

Finally, a case from our time. In 1984, ball lightning almost sent the yacht of Wilfred Derry, a resident of Chicago, to the bottom of Lake Erie. She appeared after the rain, as if out of nowhere. They noticed her too late, and when Wilfred tried to start the engine, he could not do it, because microwave radiation disrupted the electrical system. For a minute or two, the lightning hung over the ship, then dropped a little ... and exploded. A shell-shocked Derry fell to the deck. The explosion damaged his eardrums, and the flash "in a thousand suns" deprived him of his sight. Derry also received thermal burns. Fortunately, he was not alone on board; his wife was sleeping in the cabin. She brought the yacht, whose motor suddenly magically “came to life”, to the shore. Hearing and vision returned to the victim of ball lightning only a few weeks later.

It should be noted that Wilfred Derry was still lucky - both in terms of health and regarding his property. His ship could burst into flames like a candle! But the lightning exploded over the yacht, not on contact with it. The substance of ball lightning has the property, firstly, to crumble into thousands of small fireballs, and secondly, as if to stick to the surface. Then the tree lights up, because of the sharp temperature difference, the glass cracks and the plastic warps. Finally, lightning could burn through the side or glass of the porthole, and explode in the cabin. In short, it could be worse.

Observations show that ball lightning usually moves towards polluted air, such as smoke from a chimney or from a fire. Exhaust gases are also attracted to them, which explains why fireballs sometimes haunt ships.

However, sailing yachts cannot feel safe either, especially those sailing at a decent speed. Behind a fast moving ship, an area of ​​low pressure is formed in warmer air, and this is like a “guiding thread” for ball lightning.

So what to do when meeting with ball lightning? First of all, you must try to avoid a head-on collision, and then you have a choice. Option number 1. You turn off the engine (if it was running), take cover in the cabin, closing the door and batten down the windows, and wait for the intruder to leave you behind, because her life is short. Option number 2. If you are confident in the speed capabilities of your boat, you take to your heels; ball lightning energy reserves are enough for two or three minutes of pursuit, after which it will either explode behind your stern, or, having used up its energy resources, it will rise up and ... disappear. Which is required...
St. Elmo's fires and ball lightning are phenomena with a "+" sign and a "-" sign. Don't be afraid of the first and beware of the second. We have warned you, and whoever is warned is protected.

In the very "temechko"

A lightning strike on a mast can disable a ship. Of particular danger in this case are ungrounded masts passing to the keel - a lightning discharge passes through the mast with almost no resistance and breaks through the keel and skin.

A lightning rod on a mast, one end of which is in contact with water, can be considered reliable protection if there is a sufficiently large transitional area under water with a resistance in the range of 0.5 - 1 ohm. With a small transition area in the water, a “voltage funnel” is formed - a giant potential difference between the end of the wire and the water. This difference can cause the boat to be hit by a second blow that comes out of the water and is stronger than the first, due to the so-called "cascading" effect. Therefore, metal plates made of stainless steel, brass, bronze or copper must be attached to the keel. In general, the more metal parts on the ship that ensure the transfer of charge from the atmosphere to water, the better. True, the abundance of metal often adversely affects radio communications, provoking interference.

The lightning rod is mounted in such a way that it rises approximately 10 cm above the mast. As a lightning rod itself, an insulated copper cable with a cross section of 35 mm2 or an aluminum cable with a cross section of 50 mm2 is usually used. Inside the mast or fixed along it, the lightning rod descends to the deck, passes through it, goes under the floorboards and is fixed on the keel bolts. The negative pole of the battery and the antenna are grounded by the main wire; rudder stock, fuel tanks, engine - side outlets.

It should be borne in mind that even with good lightning protection, lightning can cause trouble. For example, a compass deviation table needs to be corrected after a lightning strike as the ship's magnetism changes.

The ship of the Russian navigator Alexei Ilyich Chirikov sailed through northern waters in late autumn Pacific Ocean. The sailors were returning home after a wonderful voyage - they discovered the shores of Alaska.

The return journey was very difficult. Autumn has come with frequent storms and storms. Ships in those days, about two hundred years ago, were sailing, fragile - not like the current giants, ocean ships - and the winds carried sailboats along the waves, threw them, twisted as they wanted!

And then such a storm broke out, which even experienced, old sailors did not remember. Death seemed inevitable. The forces of the sailors were exhausted, they were no longer able to resist the frantic pressure of the raging elements.

And suddenly long tongues of flame flared up on the masts! Seeing them, exhausted people fell to their knees, thanking fate for the happy deliverance from death. Because these lights are good heralds, and they meant that the bad weather was subsiding!

Sailors of all countries and all times have seen these flames on the masts. Sailors remember them Ancient Greece, they are spoken about by the sailors of Christopher Columbus, who discovered America, and the satellites of the famous Fernand Magellan, who made the first circumnavigation of the world and proved that our Earth is a ball.

“Before disappearing,” says one of Magellan’s comrades, “the glow flashed so brightly that we, one might say, were blinded. We thought that now we would die, but the wind died down at the same moment.

It happened that the lights flashed on all the masts, then rolled down, ran along the deck, jumped, galloped, while, although they made a desperate mess, they did not offend anyone. They just behaved like naughty children on the ship.

These lights are also discharges of atmospheric electricity, but only quiet, harmless. They really foreshadowed the end of the storm, so it was not for nothing that the sailors rejoiced at their appearance.

Lights light up not only in the sea, but also on land, during storms and snowstorms. They always flare up on high objects - on the spiers of buildings, on the tops of trees. They are called the fires of St. Elmo. This name comes from medieval Italy, where lights often flashed on the high spiers of the church of St. Elmo, the patron saint of sailors.