In Japan, it’s not uncommon for telegraph communication to be disrupted at sunrise. Telegraph operators tap away at their keys, but the receiving equipment remains silent. What causes this phenomenon?
Any telegraph worker in Japan would simply say, “It’s nothing special; the sun has risen…”
However, the culprit isn’t just the sun—it’s the enormous spiders that weave their webs between the telegraph wires and the ground. In the morning, dew settles on the webs, turning them into conductors of electricity. When electrical signals reach the damp web, they take an unexpected detour and head straight into the ground.
That’s when workers appear on the scene, armed with long-handled brooms. They move from pole to pole, sweeping the webs off the wires and breaking the “paths” that the telegrams have been taking into the earth.