Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century debate as to whether the apparent sound of the aurora, recorded by residents of northern latitudes and a small number of auroral researchers alike, was imagined, illusory, or objective.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses heightened interest in the potential audibility of the aurora borealis during the First and Second International Polar Years (IPYs) of 1882–3 and 1932–3. Galvanized by a growing volume of local accounts expressing belief in the elusive noises, written by the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands, northern Canada, and Norway, auroral researchers of each era were determined to establish the objectivity of auroral sound. There was considerable speculation within the auroral research community as to whether the apparent noises were imagined or illusory, connected to discussions about the possibility of low-altitude aurorae. The anglophone auroral sound debate primarily played out within the official reports of IPY expeditions, the journal Nature, and a Shetland Island newspaper. I argue that the embodied senses were used exclusively to register the liminal sounds of the aurora across the two periods, adding an experiential element to the study of the phenomenon and the atmosphere, despite developments in sound recording technologies, the primacy of mechanical objectivity, and instruments transported to the polar regions for the investigation of visual features of the aurora. This overlooked episode complicates our understanding of the modes of knowledge creation in open, outdoor ‘wild’ spaces in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by revealing a faith in the corporeal senses, interactions with folklore and poetry, and the significant role of lived experience.