Will-o'-the-Wisp

    The term Will-o'-the-wisp (Latin ignus fatuus= "fire" + "foolish") refers to ghostly lights seen floating at night or twilight-often around bogs or wooded locales. Though science now offers a logical reason for their appearance, centuries of folklore provide more mythical explanations for this phenomenon.
 

   The folk stories vary by location. Since Alice! is set in England, we will focus on myths from surrounding areas, perhaps the ones Lewis Carroll would have been most familiar with. One is told in varying versions across the British Isles, the other is distinctly Irish.

     The first tells of Will the wicked blacksmith, who, upon his death, is given a second chance by Saint Peter. He squanders his second chance by leading a terrible life once again-- he is so bad the devil will not even admit him into Hell. Will is doomed to wander the Earth. The devil, out of pity, provides him a single coal to arm himself. Will uses the light to lure lost travelers into marshes.
 
    Thus the origin of the term Will-o'-the-wisp, short for William of the wisp (a word that means a bundle of sticks or paper used as a torch).

      Another term for the phenomenon is Jack o'lantern. The origin of that name is from the following tale:
      A bum named Drunk/Stingy Jack makes a deal with the devil, offering his soul for the price of his bar tab. When the Devil comes to take his soul, Jack tricks the Devil by making him climb a tree. Jack then draws a cross at the foot of the tree, so that the Devil cannot get down. Jack exchanges the erasure of the cross for forgiveness of his debt. When Jack dies, the Devil denies him entrance to Hell out of revenge. As a kindness, the Devil provides Jack with an ember to light his way through the twilight world to which his wandering soul is condemned for eternity. Jack places the ember in a turnip that he uses as a lantern.   

    Other myths say the lights are fairies, or spirits of the dead, meant to mislead travelers. Where they have appeared in literature around the United Kingdom, their intentions are often malicious. The Will-o'-the-wisp is not to be trusted.
1. http://www.reference.com/browse/Will-o'-the-wisp?s=t
2. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/willowisp.html#goodrich