The Folklore of Belemnites

Taken from : 

" 'Formed Stones', Folklore and Fossils."  Michael G. Bassett. 

Thunderbolts, Bat Stones and Gnomes' Candles

The pointed, internal guards of fossil belemnites which occur commonly in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks have long been referred to in folklore as Thunderbolts.  Belemnites are an extinct group of cephalopods related to the modern cuttlefish, but with their cylindrical, pointed or arrow-shaped outline they have been interpreted widely as having been flung down as darts from heaven during thunderstorms.  Pot described them as having 'the form of arrow heads, and thought by the vulgar to be indeed the darts of Heaven: which . . . . I have placed among the stones related to the Heavens'.  In some regions the same fossils are known also as Devil's Fingers or St. Peter's Fingers, while in parts of south-east England they are sometimes called bullets.  The widespread notion that belemnites were related in some way to lightening seems to have been heightened by the translucent nature and pale yellowish to bluish colour of many specimens, perhaps resembling the colour produced during a lightening flash.  Even the word belemnite itself, derived from the Greek belemnon, meaning dart, is an allusion to the derivation of these fossils as bolts from the heavens.  The Chinese term Jien-shih, meaning sword stone, possibly refers to the same belief.

Specimens of belemnites from the Jurassic rocks of Whitby are known locally as scaur pencils.  The pencil refers to the obvious shape, while the Scaur is the name of the inter-tidal platform of shales that extends for about a mile to the east of the town, and from these relatively soft shales the belemnites are often weathered out to be easily collected.

Perhaps more than any other group of fossils in Britain belemnites have been thought to have medicinal powers.  In parts of western Scotland, where they were once known as Bat Stones, they were believed to cure horses of worms which caused distemper, the remedy being to give the horses water to drink in which specimens had been soaked for some time.  In southern England they have been soaked variously regarded as cures for rheumatism and sore eyes in both men and horses; in the latter case the treatment involved the crushing of the fossils to produce a dust which was then blown into the eyes.

In Scandinavia, belemnites were once regarded as candles belonging to elves, pixies, or gnomes, and in many areas they are still named popularly as vätteljus (Swedish - literally gnomes' lights or candles).

Taken from : 

" 'Formed Stones', Folklore and Fossils."  Michael G. Bassett.  Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.  Geological Series No. 1.  Cardiff, October 1982. 

© National Museum of Wales 1982.