Editing Will-o'-the-wisp (section)

===Americas===
{{redirect|Feu follet|other uses|Feu follet (disambiguation)}}

[[Mexico]] has equivalents. Folklore explains the phenomenon to be witches who transformed into these lights.  Another explanation refers to the lights as indicators to places where gold or hidden treasures are buried which can be found only with the help of children. In this one, they are called luces del dinero (money lights) or luces del tesoro (treasure lights).

The swampy area of [[Massachusetts]] known as the [[Bridgewater Triangle]] has folklore of ghostly orbs of light, and there have been modern observations of these ghost-lights in this area as well.

The fifollet (or feu-follet) of [[Louisiana]] derives from the French. The legend says that the fifollet is a soul sent back from the dead to do God's penance, but instead attacks people for vengeance. While it mostly takes part in harmless mischievous acts, the fifollet sometimes sucked the blood of children. Some legends say that it was the soul of a child who died before baptism.<ref name="J._Gordon_Melton">{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|date=1999|title=The Vampire Book|publisher=Visible Ink Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/vampirebookencyc00melt/page/7 7]|isbn=978-1578592814|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/vampirebookencyc00melt/page/7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://vampireunderworld.com/category/types-of-vampires/north-american-vampires/ |title=North American Vampires|website=VampireUnderworld.com|date=2012-03-25}}</ref>

Boi-tatá ({{IPA|pt|bojtaˈta}}) is the [[Brazil]]ian equivalent of the will-o'-the-wisp.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.terrabrasileira.net/folclore/regioes/3contos/boitata.html|title=O Boitatá |trans-title=The Boitatá |website=Terrabrasileira.net|language=pt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218220628/http://www.terrabrasileira.net/folclore/regioes/3contos/boitata.html|archive-date=December 18, 2009|url-status=usurped|access-date=November 18, 2011}}</ref> Regionally it is called ''Boitatá'', ''Baitatá'', ''Batatá'', ''Bitatá'', ''Batatão'', ''Biatatá'', ''M'boiguaçu'', ''Mboitatá'' and ''Mbaê-Tata''. The name comes from the [[Old Tupi language]] and means "fiery serpent" (''mboî tatá''). Its great fiery eyes leave it almost blind by day, but by night, it can see everything. According to legend, Boi-tatá was a big serpent which survived a great [[Flood myth|deluge]]. A "boiguaçu" (cave anaconda) left its cave after the deluge and, in the dark, went through the fields preying on the animals and corpses, eating exclusively its favourite morsel, the eyes. The collected light from the eaten eyes gave "Boitatá" its fiery gaze. Not really a dragon but a giant snake (in the native language, ''boa'' or ''mboi'' or ''mboa'').

In [[Argentina]] and [[Uruguay]], the will-o'-the-wisp phenomenon is known as luz mala (''evil light'') and is one of the most important myths in both countries' folklore. This phenomenon is quite feared and is mostly seen in rural areas. It consists of an extremely shiny ball of light floating a few inches from the ground.

In [[Colombia]], [[la Bolefuego]] or Candileja is the will-o'-the-wisp ghost of a vicious grandmother who raised her grandchildren without morals, and as such they became thieves and murderers. In the afterlife, the grandmother's spirit was condemned to wander the world surrounded in flames. In [[Trinidad and Tobago]], a [[soucouyant]] is a "fireball witch" — an evil spirit that takes on the form of a flame at night. It enters homes through any gap it can find and drinks the blood of its victims.