[music] I'm Alexander Heffner, your host on The Open Mind.

I'm delighted to welcome our guest today, Leigh Ann Henion.

She is author of the new book Night Magic Adventures Among Glow Worms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark.

Welcome.

Thanks so much for having me!

Let me ask you to start.

What motivated you to write this book?

Oh!

So the book was actually inspired by a magazine story that I wrote for the Washington Post magazine.

So I set out, to write a story about synchronous fireflies.

And so I went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to experience these fireflies.

And I think that when I pitched my editor, I think I said something like, you know, this is just post pandemic.

It was, a couple of years in and I said, I want to go search for light rising as a form of hope in dark times or something like that.

So I got there and it really was gorgeous, and it really did feel like a hopeful, you know, nature experience.

But when I was out there wandering around in the dark night after night looking for these fireflies, I realized that it was a very unusual experience for me to walk around in the dark without a source of artificial light.

So there are no flashlights.

Sometimes I was in groups of people, none of us had flashlights, you know, kind of shuffling around together in the dark, to be able to witness this amazing bioluminescent phenomenon.

And so when I went looking for fireflies, I also found glow worms.

I discovered all of these extraordinary things that I had never realized were living in my home region because I am from southern Appalachia.

And so it was really powerful.

And after that piece ran in the magazine, readers started reaching out to me saying things, like, I read this story and it inspired me to turn off my porch lights more often.

And I learned a lot about light pollution and how it affects fireflies and ultimately, how it really affects all of us.

So that was really inspiring.

You know, it's hard to change a habit.

It's hard to inspire someone to take a physical action.

But somehow this story was powerful in that sense.

And I thought, man, I learned so much from spending time with fireflies, about about this ecosystem, about myself, about my relationship to darkness.

What might I learn if I spent time in the company of salamanders and bats and went searching for bioluminescent mushrooms?

So it's really a process of getting to know this parallel universe that existed right outside my door, that I had never really explored fully.

And I think a lot of us don't know night, even as it exists directly around us.

-So that's how -Yeah.

the project started.

I absolutely love the cover art, for our viewers.

And I have to ask you, after all of your due diligence and research in the field, we're recording this in the afternoon.

Are you not yet an insomniac, are you not yet one of these nocturnal creatures yourself?

No, I actually really, I like to go to bed kind of early, like I used to be a little bit more of a night owl.

But, my friends I have so many friends are like, how are you the person writing the night book?

But, I actually like to share that because, you know, it's not necessarily about being someone, who stays up all night, all the time.

I mean, that's really hard for a lot of us.

But, you know, as one of the people that I encountered in the process of researching Night Magic said, you know, all it takes is a little bit of time to get to know what's going on.

So I don't stay up all night all the time.

But the cover art is so gorgeous, illustrator Zoe Color.

I just, I love the cover, and I feel really lucky to have that.

Well, if you go to bed early enough, you get up when it's still dark.

So that's one strategy.

Did you deploy that at all?

Well, you know, it's interesting you bring it up because I think that, you know, the way that we relate to light and dark in an electrified culture, you know, we think of it light on, light off.

But part of the book, one of the things that I really came to understand about my own journey was that I was looking really to just become more comfortable with those natural cycles.

So, you know, so dusk and dawn and that slow rise of light that slow rise of darkness, to experience those as they naturally occur.

Because I think a lot of times, you know, we're indoors, we're in extremely lit spaces, it's midnight and it looks like high noon in my living room, which I started to recognize that's actually what was happening.

So it really actually changed the way that I use lighting in my life.

As much as it did how I venture out into my neighborhood after dark.

Reading your book got me imagining.

Why is there not a night museum?

Maybe this does exist.

I'm sure in some respects, this is something that is realized at zoos around the country.

But I don't think there is a zoo that is like the nocturnal zoo in the US or internationally.

But correct me if I'm wrong.

The premise being, spend a whole night seeing nocturnal creatures, the owls, the bats, others.

You get admission to the museum or the zoo at, 10:00 at night.

And you go home at, you know, 6:00 in the morning or something like that.

It's such an interesting concept and I don't know of any program.

I can't think of any programs that do that specifically to observe animals.

I think that there are some programs where they have elementary kids, you know, come and do camp outs and things like that.

But I think that's more just kind of an experiential, you know, not necessarily focused on the animals, but just to have that experience.

One of the things, you know, in the book I write about moon gardens.

So gardens that are meant to be enjoyed in darkness, and actually, there are shockingly few moon gardens, you know?

So yeah, there's shockingly few night animal experiences in those situations that you're talking about and also, very few moon gardens that are open to the public.

So it's a really interesting and I think it just goes to show there are many opportunities for discovery, that we just are so focused on daylight hours, we forget that there's all this activity taking place at night and all of these, wondrous things happening.

So tell us about the most wondrous in your mind.

Oh...it's so hard to choose.

So again, I did have this amazing journey.

I think one of the, one of the really interesting things that happens for me is I mentioned glow worms, and there are a lot of different species that people refer to as glow worms.

But the glow worms that I'm referring to are a type of fungus species.

And so for years I've heard about these glow worms in New Zealand.

They're fairly famous.

You know, people visit New Zealand, to see these glow worms, neon blue.

You can go into caves, you can wander forests to see them.

And they're like neon blue, you know, it's like stars, just scattered along the ground.

And so I discovered in writing Night Magic, and in exploring the darkness of my own home region, that there's a cousin species to these glow worms that lives in my home region.

And so when I was out looking for synchronous fireflies, I found these glow worms that, you know, are celestial scenes all along road banks.

And that's where I tended to find them, was on road banks.

And spoiler alert, I ended up finding the species of glow worm in my own neighborhood.

-So, I was ready -Wow.

to travel around the globe to find this wonder that was in my own neighborhood, in a spot that I've driven by with my headlights ablaze for 20 years.

So just this concept over and over, I had this experience of, you know, taking a landscape that I thought I knew well and discovering that I don't know it very well at all.

And so I found that really exciting.

And I think, you know, wherever you live, the species, you know, might be a little bit different.

Darkness is a connector, but it's kind of like, if I can do it, so can you, you know?

So wherever you are, you're, the ecosystems around you have fantastic nocturnal activity happening.

And so that's one of the really wow factors for me is that, you know, they were there the whole time.

Well, you do identify a region that is home to nocturnal penguins.

Nocturnal koalas.

You know, some of the better known, nocturnal species bats.

These are obviously the most clear and present that we learn about.

But what confounded you in the process of learning about or re-learning about species, at least the 2 or 3 that we tend to associate with nocturnal life owls, among them, of course.

But, what do we not know about them that we should know about them?

Well, one thing is that, you know, artificial light affects them.

Artificial light really affects, pretty much every life form on Earth is affected by artificial light.

I mean, once you start learning about that, it's really impactful.

And I think that learning about how artificial light affects nocturnal animals, really helped me absorb that.

Humans are also animals.

And, you know, it doesn't matter.

You know, we're not nocturnal animals.

But, you know, again, when you are disrupting natural cycles of light and dark, there are consequences, not only biologic consequences, but, really interestingly, you know, it shapes the way that we interact with, and think about, the world.

Yeah.

And so in terms of species and not really knowing species, I mean, another kind of, wow, marvelous thing that happened is, I live in a region where there are these caterpillars, they're called wooly worms or wooly bears, and they have festivals for these caterpillars.

And, you know, it's just kind of a famous species.

And it wasn't until I was writing this book that I learned what that caterpillar turns into.

And it's an Isabella tiger moth.

And I had never met this moth until I started wondering around at night.

Even though all my life I've seen this caterpillar crawling around.

And that caterpillars lifecycle is disrupted when artificial light confuses its, ancestors and on and on.

How did you grapple with the psychology of nocturnal life?

You say we are animals, indeed we are.

You know, some of our professions require nocturnal existence.

Re-learning our rhythms so that we can actually be fully functional at night.

Do our jobs at night.

Whether that's pilots or security guards.

But I think that it is inaccessible to a swath of people because it's out of fear, out of concern, a loss of control in our agency is incapacitated by the darkness.

Especially when there's not light.

Whether it's a flashlight or a stronger than flashlight.

How did you get into that question of human psychology and intersecting with the darkness?

Well, that's a really good point about shift work.

And how artificial light affects people.

There are actually, there's some really surprising research that is linked to a lot of ailments, human ailments that are created.

Not necessarily by the change in sleep patterns, but actually the type of light, the different light exposure.

I think that over time and again, I'm not an expert on this, but the types of light that are used, you know, like blue light versus amber light, things like that can be used.

You know, we can use different types of lighting that are not as disruptive in situations.

And then the psychology of kind of becoming more comfortable with darkness, which I think is maybe what you're getting up, you know, because darkness is something that, I think it's not, a far stretch to say, you know, we don't love the dark.

You know, we're afraid of the dark.

If I say I'm going to tell you a dark story now.

You know, it feels like I'm going to a dark place, which isn't a good place.

So I think that valuing darkness is really almost countercultural.

And I think kind of tracing back to the beginning with, you know, spending time with those fireflies.

We are able to see their light only because we embrace being in the dark.

And, you know, we think of darkness.

I think often our storylines, our cultural storylines tell us that darkness is a void.

It equates to death, you know, light is knowledge.

To be in the dark is to be ignorant.

So it just so many different associations.

It really, you know, so this wasn't the easiest thing, I'm really, like, a PR agent for the dark.

But, really, you know, embracing darkness, actually, you know, it is something that can help life on earth thrive.

And so I think that, you know, exploring darkness and starting to think about darkness not as a void, but rather as a place that is full of, you know, living riches, it really starts to change.

The way that we think about darkness and, we think of scary things in the shadows, which there are scary things in the shadows.

But, you know, the concept that there might also be wonders unimaginable in the shadows.

That's kind of the counterpoint that I've tried to make just in, you know, thinking about how to balance our relationship to artificial light and embrace natural darkness.

You said you learned about yourself writing this book.

What did you learn about yourself?

Oh...well, I started noticing that I keep too many lights on in my house.

That's something.

You know, I also, I didn't know that I kind of thought and I think a lot of people do have this conception that it takes maybe 20 to 30 minutes for my eyes to adjust to darkness.

And I kind of just generally had that concept.

And that is true.

We gain the most night vision pretty early on when we, you know, go into the dark, but we actually gain night vision for hours, incremental night vision for hours.

So this concept that, by not allowing myself to spend time in darkness, as humans have up until just a few generations ago.

I didn't know my own powers, so to embrace my night vision, I learned that we think of sleep as being associated with circadian rhythm, but also our sense of smell.

I mean, we have so many things are associated with circadian rhythm, and our sense of smell actually rises, as darkness falls, which makes a lot of sense to think about, you know, again, like, historically, like navigating, so that was a fantastic realization.

So really kind of like, knowing myself as a creature who could explore darkness with ancestral knowledge and bodily knowledge, that I didn't know that I had that I'd always had assumptions or I'd never really fully attempted to explore.

Like, when you're walking at night, you want to really lock heel toe to make sure that you're not tripping over roots or things.

And your feet almost become like another set of hands.

And so to really just know myself and know my place, I think that was really an exciting experience.

And to those who would point out that not only the danger lurks at night in terms of the greater frequency of crime, but also animals that possess, at least our perception is, disease.

I mean, we think of bats and rodents in particular as harboring, some of the most dangerous diseases.

How do we overcome that?

Is it maybe a distortion, or is it a fair representation that there are threats posed by, nocturnal animals?

More than, you know, the animals that we would see during the day.

Well, I think nocturnal animals in general really just get a bad rap.

I really do.

You know, bats, I will say, you know, starting out, I was like, bats made me nervous, and they still make me a little nervous.

But now that, you know, I attended in the book, the event called Bat Blitz where I was, you know, with bat biologist.

I had some close encounters.

But, you know, now that I have a better understanding of bats.

You know, in relation to ecology, in relation to just how cool they are.

Bats are really cool.

And so now that I have a better understanding of how, of that interplay, and I've done some research on their relationship to human communities around the world, it's not so much at bats versus humans.

It's really about habitat, and how, you know, when bats have habitat, it's helpful for human communities and their safety and habitat.

So, you know, I think that not an us versus them.

I mean, you know, moths and butterflies, moths versus butterflies.

I mean, you know, it's not this binary thing, but I think people love butterflies generally.

You know, it's like, who likes butterflies?

Everybody.

And who likes moths?

You know, it's a little bit more of a hard sell.

I'm not I think it's because, you know, we haven't had those nostalgic, fantastic experiences with moths, but moths vastly outnumber butterflies.

In terms of diversity, and they are absolutely gorgeous.

I mean, in eastern North Carolina, we have moths that are the size of my two hands put together, -with brilliant colors.

-No, it's funny if you did if you simply did watercolors on moths, you know they would be the most beautiful creatures.

Even without the watercolors.

I mean, if you look at them, do a double take.

They do possess a lot of the characteristics of butterflies.

Yeah, and I think that, you know Luna moths people are like.

Oh, they kind of look like butterflies, you know?

But, in the book, I do have a couple of encounters where I'm like, why does this happen?

And I was sort of thinking that maybe it's because they're associated with the dark, you know, creatures of the dark.

But actually, as pointed out to me by one of the great guides that I had in the journey of Night Magic.

He said that he actually thinks it's because of light, because when we encounter moths, they are almost always in a situation where they are being disturbed by a bright light.

So, butterflies, we see them going about their business in a field of flowers.

But often when we encounter moths, you know, they're banging themselves against our porch lights.

So they're confused and they're acting erratically.

So we see that and we're, like, confused and we start feeling nervous.

So it's really because I had not had an encounter with a moth in darkness where I was pointedly observing a moth in darkness, in a garden with flowers until I wrote this book.

And it's an absolutely serene experience.

It's a beautiful experience.

I had a hawk moth which is the size of a hummingbird, going flower to flower with these nocturnal blooming flowers.

And it was just a really beautiful, relaxing experience.

There was no banging against lights.

-So, I think that, yeah.

-But you, look you're.

It's a tough argument to make.

You talked about, respect for the human species.

And, you know, these are called pests sometimes or invasive species because they disturb our domiciles in our homes.

You know, in the same way mosquitoes.

I mean, that would be the toughest sell of all.

Yes!

But, there is that reality of these animals is that they're perceived this way because, homes are not naturally insulated against their invasion.

It's true.

I think that, there aren't in the, you know, statistically, there aren't that many of these moths that are trying to get into your closet to eat your clothes in larval form.

You know, statistically, that's a really small.

But I think that we do associate with that.

And a lot of times, you know, when we think about these creatures as pests.

I mean, a lot of times there's an invasive situation, there's some human disturbance that's happened along the line.

So, in the couple minutes we have left.

What's the story of an owl?

Owl is maybe the most beloved, night creature.

Tell me, Mist the owl, tell us about the owl.

Oh, the owl in the book.

The owl.

Yeah.

That was a fantastic, experience.

So I had some friends who who they live in this neighborhood, and their neighbor had put out an owl box.

Had been waiting for these owls to nest in his owl box.

And as soon as this owl family came to explore and decide if this is where they were going to live, a light went on in the neighborhood.

And, you know, generally that's thought to be a positive thing.

Light, more light, positive.

But in this situation, you know, we're not absolutely positive.

That's why the owls left.

But the owls did flee.

So, they fled to a darker spot in the neighborhood, a natural cavity in a tree that did happen to be in my friend's yard.

And so I got to really bear witness to this burgeoning owl family, and spend time with these screech owls to really learn, about how owls relate to darkness and about how, you know, owls are, throughout time have been, you know, associated with so many different things and our thoughts on darkness and wisdom and it was really a wonderful, serendipitous thing that happened.

Well, I want to encourage our viewers to check out this book.

It is really a respite from not dark times.

But you know what I mean.

Leigh Ann Henion, thank you so much for insight today.

Thank you so much for having me on.

[music] Please visit the Open Mind website at thirteen.org/openmind Download the podcast on Apple and Spotify and check us out on X, Instagram and Facebook.

Continuing production of The Open Mind has been made possible by grants from Vital Projects Fund, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, Angelson Family Foundation, Robert and Kate Niehaus Foundation, Grateful American Foundation, and Draper Foundation.