[Tirned Tinnu]

Tolkien alludes to other fairy stories often in his works. it is known that to walk in marches at night is a perilous thing, even in the real world.
In early times, people believed that the lights that they saw in marshes were spirits, or fairy, waiting to lead you to your death, Indeed many who saw them followed, and were swallowed up by their own mis-step.
The scientific explanations that we have for marsh lights today are varied. Some say it is methane spontaneously combusting, some say it is the acion of quartz rocks under the Earth, rubbing against each other, causing electic balls to rise and float for long distances.
As stated in the above post, peat bogs do preserve the dead, and there were hundreds of thousands of Elves and Men floating in the waters, left from the mighty battle against Sauron.
I find it sad and scary that their faces, some ruined and partly rotted, noble and grim, float under the water. It is also possible that Frodo has some special power to see them along with Gollum. Frodo exhibits the capacity to dream events, perhaps the Ring has also imparted to him the talent for seeing the evidence of the past more clearly. Note that Sam really doesn't notice them. He merely drags Frodo away from his staring at them.

[ September 06, 2002: Message edited by: Tirned Tinnu ]