1
00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:08,640
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi.

2
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:11,760
Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact,

3
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,520
Speaker 1: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

4
00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:19,200
Speaker 1: focusing in on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time.

5
00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,240
Speaker 1: Once upon a time, a rice dealer of Shaozing Province

6
00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,120
Speaker 1: of Zijan had to cross a yellow muddy canal in

7
00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,559
Speaker 1: which many persons had been suffocated. As he rode across

8
00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,879
Speaker 1: it on his buffalo, a black hand rose from the

9
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,360
Speaker 1: mud to grasp his foot. As he drew up his legs,

10
00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:44,320
Speaker 1: the hand seized the hoof of the buffalo and held

11
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,159
Speaker 1: it fast. The rider called for help, and after much effort,

12
00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,760
Speaker 1: the buffalo was dragged out. An old broom was found

13
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,120
Speaker 1: attached to its body. The broom was so putrid and

14
00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,960
Speaker 1: offensive that it was hardly possible to approach it. When

15
00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,080
Speaker 1: it was struck with dicks, it made a moaning sound,

16
00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,679
Speaker 1: and black blood trickled from it. Knives were brought and

17
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,280
Speaker 1: the thing was cut off and burnt, but it left

18
00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,720
Speaker 1: an evil stench for some time. Since then, no more

19
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:17,760
Speaker 1: people were suffocated in the yellow mud canal. These are

20
00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,640
Speaker 1: the words of folklorist Gerald Willoughby. Meade from his nineteen

21
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,240
Speaker 1: twenty five book Ghosts and Vampire Tales of China. In it,

22
00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:31,400
Speaker 1: he writes of various superstitions and traditions involving wooden utensils,

23
00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,160
Speaker 1: mainly in Chinese traditions, but he also compares them to

24
00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,679
Speaker 1: various Western superstitions as well. He writes of a Chinese

25
00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 1: tale concerning a length of rotten rope so haunted that

26
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,880
Speaker 1: it bled when shopped. He also writes of a haunted

27
00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,880
Speaker 1: wooden pillow that takes on a shadowy humanoid form. Their

28
00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,720
Speaker 1: tradition also includes tales of tree and plant ghosts, but

29
00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 1: inanimate objects of organic origin are especially noteworthy. This connection,

30
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,000
Speaker 1: he contends, may be due to the fact that quote

31
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:06,960
Speaker 1: at certain stages of putrification, wood is slightly phosphorescent in

32
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,640
Speaker 1: the dark. When such wooden objects are associated with the dead,

33
00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:17,120
Speaker 1: he contends, supernatural powers may be inferred. Indeed, Sir Isaac

34
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,400
Speaker 1: Newton once wrote a phosphorescence in rotten wood and residue

35
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,520
Speaker 1: of rotting wood or fungus on an owl's wings have

36
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,640
Speaker 1: been discussed as one possible explanation for some sightings of

37
00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,880
Speaker 1: the legendary willow the Wisp, and indeed this also calls

38
00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:38,040
Speaker 1: to mind the words of Tongue dynasty poet Lehu quote

39
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:42,160
Speaker 1: owls that have lived a hundred years turned forest demons

40
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:48,160
Speaker 1: laugh wildly as an emerald fire leaps from their nests. Certainly,

41
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:52,120
Speaker 1: mushrooms and decaying wood go hand in hand, and many

42
00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,960
Speaker 1: varieties of fungi glow in the dark, including jack o'

43
00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:59,280
Speaker 1: lantern mushrooms and honey mushrooms. But trees do not need

44
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:04,600
Speaker 1: fungus to low Necessarily. Lignan polymers that are especially important

45
00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,320
Speaker 1: to the cell walls of wood and bark, as it

46
00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,800
Speaker 1: turns out, have naturally phosphorescent properties, as explored in the

47
00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,720
Speaker 1: two twenty one paper Sustainable after Glow Materials from lignan

48
00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:22,160
Speaker 1: inspired by wood phosphorescence, a joint Chinese British study published

49
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 1: in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, quote basswood naturally

50
00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,560
Speaker 1: and weakly phosphorescens, releasing light for a few milliseconds due

51
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 1: to lignan being trapped within a three D matrix of cellulose.

52
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:41,280
Speaker 1: This bioluminescence, like some fungi, bioluminescence, is often indistinct to

53
00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:45,520
Speaker 1: the naked eye, but the researchers here discuss how immobilizing

54
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,480
Speaker 1: the lignan in an acrylic polymer could intensify the glow,

55
00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,840
Speaker 1: potentially opening the door for a new generation of non

56
00:03:53,960 --> 00:04:00,320
Speaker 1: toxic phosphorescent materials for use in various enterprises. So the

57
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,720
Speaker 1: faint green light of haunted utensils and ghost trees may

58
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,600
Speaker 1: someday enter the world of medical imaging, glowing paints, and

59
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:18,520
Speaker 1: luminous textiles. Tune in for additional episodes of The Artifact

60
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,080
Speaker 1: or the Monster Fact each week. As always, you can

61
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,559
Speaker 1: email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind

62
00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:36,599
Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production

63
00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,839
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

64
00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,840
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

65
00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:43,720
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.