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Fairies, Pixies, Elves, Sprites & Other Little Folk

I was just explaining the contents of this thread to my mother, and she said those webs were not cobwebs but 'irish lace'. I said that's just a cop out, or as we now know, an attercob out.

And I have now learned of Irish Lace as a term for cobwebs.

Some interesting discussion on the term : http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=28;t=001020;p=1

irishlace.jpg
 
I didn't want to post this in IHTM because it happened to my granddad :D

Anyway his sighting happened back in the early 1980s I believe, at the time he had a huge circus type trailer/mobile home which was parked on my family's field in the New Forest. The trailer backed on to the forest itself, and one day my granddad was sat in his chair by himself when he saw out of the window a little man in a green suit, a funny little hat and classical gnome boots, my granddad told us the little man smiled at him and stayed on the spot then either him/it or my granddad waved at the other, I don't know who waved first but the wave was reciprocal. The gnome then simply disappeared, I want to say he said ''in a puff of smoke'' but I'm not sure now, I know the little man just vanished before my granddad's eyes. Anyway that is the story that I sent in to FT. My nan refused to believe him but he stuck by his account until the day he died.
 
I didn't want to post this in IHTM because it happened to my granddad :D

Anyway his sighting happened back in the early 1980s I believe, at the time he had a huge circus type trailer/mobile home which was parked on my family's field in the New Forest. The trailer backed on to the forest itself, and one day my granddad was sat in his chair by himself when he saw out of the window a little man in a green suit, a funny little hat and classical gnome boots, my granddad told us the little man smiled at him and stayed on the spot then either him/it or my granddad waved at the other, I don't know who waved first but the wave was reciprocal. The gnome then simply disappeared, I want to say he said ''in a puff of smoke'' but I'm not sure now, I know the little man just vanished before my granddad's eyes. Anyway that is the story that I sent in to FT. My nan refused to believe him but he stuck by his account until the day he died.
I love that people still see the fairy folk. I don't know why, but I find it comforting. Such beings are logically so improbable, yet have been consistently observed for centuries. It gives a jaded old sceptic like me a glimmer of hope that the wild places can still contain mysteries. Good story, FrKadash. Thank you for sharing it with us.
 
I love that people still see the fairy folk. I don't know why, but I find it comforting. Such beings are logically so improbable, yet have been consistently observed for centuries. It gives a jaded old sceptic like me a glimmer of hope that the wild places can still contain mysteries. Good story, FrKadash. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Pete, have you read this?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fairies-Re...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1461735901&sr=1-9

I've probably mentioned it before, maybe even on this thread but I recommend it as a fascinating read.
 
I love that people still see the fairy folk. I don't know why, but I find it comforting. Such beings are logically so improbable, yet have been consistently observed for centuries. It gives a jaded old sceptic like me a glimmer of hope that the wild places can still contain mysteries. Good story, FrKadash. Thank you for sharing it with us.

A detail I forgot to add in the original letter was that my grandfather said the little man had a very large leather belt with a large metal or golden belt buckle, and he had his hand in the belt, like when you rest your thumb behind your belt.

Here's the account in the latest FT, thanks for letting me know it was featured Pete, my copy was in today's post :D
Sorry I don't have my proper camera here, so could only take a poor quality photo unfortunately. I edited the pic to try and make it a bit more readable though.

13254252_10153538970496994_4786036387087092198_n.jpg
 
The little man sounds like a stereotypical leprechaun.
What are they? Where do they come from?
 
The little man sounds like a stereotypical leprechaun.
What are they? Where do they come from?
That was my thought, too. I never know what to make of such experiences, except that similar beings are described often enough that the experience should not be dismissed.
 
The little man sounds like a stereotypical leprechaun.
What are they? Where do they come from?

Everyone has a different personal opinion and theory. For me I usually abide by John Keel's Ultraterrestrial theory, in that the majority of fortean encounters with humanoids, fairies, little people, strange Gibbering Insanity type beings (Keel would say Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster too) are played by these Ultraterrestrial entities which are also the same beings behind the Biblical idea of Demons et al,. Ghosts as well, and Ouija board spirits in my own opinion could be the same thing, like the ghosts of deceased humans are forged by these Ultraterrestrial spirits taking on a role like an actor, this could be why Ouija board sessions often draw people in with truthful stuff and then sometimes start to twist it and tell lies or nasty stuff about the deceased person. But I also think these entities are so enclosed in their respective supernatural roles that they are as good as the real thing if you know what I mean, like designated programmed identities. And peoples observation of them, and belief help to keep the roles going and keep them programmed.
 
I really never imagined, in my life, an American voice coming out of a Pixie Queen - My preference for a British pixie queens voice would be either a gently rolling west country accent, or a dancing northern Scottish one.

American? Never.
 
I have friends that are members of the local Native American tribe. The elders have an ongoing project keeping the old legends, culture, and language alive. (The state of Nevada now accepts native language classes as meeting the foreign language requirements for high school and university).
Many of the elders still believe in the mythos, shape shifting animals, Honawewe, Matagami, et al. Not just pretend believe like we do for Santa Claus, but accept the spirits and creatures as fact. Some claim they have recently seen the creatures, with as little concern as we report seeing a deer or raccoon in the yard. These are college educated Christian elders, who simultaneously hold both belief systems without conflict.
 
I really never imagined, in my life, an American voice coming out of a Pixie Queen - My preference for a British pixie queens voice would be either a gently rolling west country accent, or a dancing northern Scottish one.

American? Never.
A lot of facepalm worthy and eye roll worthy stuff on that site. :rolleyes:

Captain-Picard-Facepalm.jpg
 
A lot of facepalm worthy and eye roll worthy stuff on that site.

America seems a font of particularly uncritical, almost quasi-religious paranormal interest.

I have friends that are members of the local Native American tribe. The elders have an ongoing project keeping the old legends, culture, and language alive. (The state of Nevada now accepts native language classes as meeting the foreign language requirements for high school and university).
Many of the elders still believe in the mythos, shape shifting animals, Honawewe, Matagami, et al. Not just pretend believe like we do for Santa Claus, but accept the spirits and creatures as fact. Some claim they have recently seen the creatures, with as little concern as we report seeing a deer or raccoon in the yard. These are college educated Christian elders, who simultaneously hold both belief systems without conflict.

Interesting stuff thanks :)

I actually think, if you did the research, that internationally, those that don't believe in such things would be in the minority when compared with those that do.
 
Just found this interesting little article,

Sunday, 5 March 2017
Tiny Craft, Tiny Pilots

Ever since the days of Tom Thumb and Lemuel Gulliver, shrunken humans, tiny humans, and tiny humanoids have be grist to the mill of science fiction. Unfortunately, as I explained in my sci-fi blog, they are biologically impossible. That is why I find reports of such beings so intriguing. The list of shortest people reveals a number of dwarfs slightly taller and, in some cases, slightly shorter than 2 feet [60 cm]. Nevertheless, many of them had disproportionate body parts, and all of them grew up and lived among people of normal height. A breeding population of such little people might run into problems. What is certain is that any sighting of a normally proportioned adult much shorter than this is unlikely to refer to anything of flesh and blood. So what are we to make of the following reports of tiny pilots of tiny craft?

http://malcolmsanomalies.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/tiny-craft-tiny-pilots.html?m=1
 
Former Anglo Saxon student here, and so far as I'm aware, 'attercop' is simply 'spider'. Nothing more, nothing less.

'Ator' = "poison" from the verb "atrian". "Coppe" = "head" (like the German, "kopf").

The definitive Anglo Saxon dictionary has some interesting entries, like "Ator-craeft" (poison-craft); 'ator-loppe' = "a silkworm, spinner of web, a spider's web".

Can't recall it ever being anything other than a spider, or remember seeing it in any kind of literary context, as some kind of monster (like, say an 'ent' which Tolkien lifted from Anglo Saxon). I've a feeling 'attercop' remained in some dialects as 'spider' as well long after the word was used commonly any more. An old country word like 'dumbledore' for 'bumblebee'.

Anglo Saxon herbariums mention various cures for poisoning. One form of attack/illness they were particularly concerned about, was 'elf shot'.

But anyway the real English word for spider's web was "ator loppe"!

ETA: Am guessing that 'loppe' is 'loop' in Modern English. Web = "spider loops"!
 
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Am I right in thinking that horseshoes hung at the entrance to a house is not about luck, but about keeping out the little folk?
 
That's what I am thinking.
 
Am I right in thinking that horseshoes hung at the entrance to a house is not about luck, but about keeping out the little folk?

My mum came from an old farming family and she often left out 'pobs' (bread soaked in milk) supposedly for the little people. Although we'd look out the window and see hedgehogs eating it. (Nowadays they recommend you give the hedge pigs dog or cat food, I think, milk and bread can't be good for them). I never knew whether she really believed in the little people or she was really just feeding wildlife... But farmers can be highly superstitious.

But there's certainly an element of propitiation there? Not keeping them away but keeping them onside.

Metal was sometimes buried near tree roots/hedge lines supposedly to keep the witches away... I found a massive thing that looked like a very old, hand-forged fence fastening once, in a ploughed field round a very old oak. It is a lone oak, no sign of original hedge line - so maybe the only remaining tree of what was once a hedge.

We also found a large, shire-horse sized shoe in a field I sometimes walk past with the dog. This was one of my great grandad's fields around the 1890s. I brought it home and nailed it to me shed door. I think that's double luck!
 
My mum came from an old farming family and she often left out 'pobs' (bread soaked in milk) supposedly for the little people. Although we'd look out the window and see hedgehogs eating it. (Nowadays they recommend you give the hedge pigs dog or cat food, I think, milk and bread can't be good for them). I never knew whether she really believed in the little people or she was really just feeding wildlife... But farmers can be highly superstitious.

But there's certainly an element of propitiation there? Not keeping them away but keeping them onside.

Always wise to keep the local entities on your side! I know of one country-dwelling Swedish family that still puts out a bowl of porridge for the local tomte on Christmas Eve (more out of tradition than belief, I suspect).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisse_(folklore)#Temperament
 
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