The Brockenspectre

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The first record of a placename that resembles the present name of the mountain goes back, however, to the year 1176 when it is referred to as broke in the Saxon World Chronicle ( Sächsische Weltchronik). The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century.

Only in recent geological times, since the tertiary period, did the typical, rounded, spheroidal weathering of granite outcrops and granite boulders of the Brocken take place. On the summit were two large and powerful listening stations, which could capture radio traffic in almost all of Western Europe. When I awoke I realized at once that the figure was a "specter of the Brocken," my own shadow on the swirling mists, brought into being by the little light I was carrying.

Among mountain climbers, there is a superstition that whoever sees a Brocken Spectre will die in the mountains the very next day. Another presumption is based on the reference in a letter written in 1490 by Count Henry of Stolberg-Wernigerode, where he uses the term Brackenberg. The term has been popularly used throughout literature, mentioned in works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll amongst others.

During an air attack by the United States Army Air Forces on 17 April 1945 the Brocken Hotel and the weather station were destroyed by bombing. Mr Donald, 48, was wild camping with his pet dog Buster when he saw the stunning optical illusion in 2018. In 2006, the granite blockfields of the Brocken, together with 76 other interesting geotopes, were designated as a "National Geotope".Now, to the Brocken, the witches ride; The stubble is gold and the corn is green; There is the carnival crew to be seen, And Squire Urianus will come to preside. The climate on the Brocken is like that of the alpine 1,600–2,200-metre (5,200–7,200ft) zone or even that of Iceland. Since the shadow of one's own head appears only in the anti-solar direction, it makes sense that the glory ring will always be in the vicinity of the head's shadow. In 1917 the academic and nature lover George Grobe took over running the observation post, his daughter supporting him until his death in 1935. The angular size of the inner and brightest ring is much smaller than that of a rainbow, about 5° to 20°, depending on the size of the droplets.