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Looking For People Who've Seen Fairies

catseye said:
I've been doing some reading up about fairies (writing new book) and all evidence seems to concur that fairies were wilful, self-interested beings that looked very much like humans only some a little smaller...
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Have you read this? (Quoting myself from another thread):

I don't recall many fairy stories, though - and it's a subject I've not had much interest in until recently, having lately read The Middle Kingdom by Dermot Mac Manus (whose name appears to be spelled three different ways - depending on the edition).

It's quite old-school, now - but I think still held in some regard. I found the section on 'hostile spirits' particularly compelling - and the féar gortach ('hungry grass') thing is really quite bizarre.
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Originally published in 1959, the author set out three basic rules for publication of an account:

The witness was still living at the time of publication.​
​
The author could vouch for a witness’s reliability (most were personal acquaintances).​
​
The witness would be willing – if asked - to publicly attest to the truth of their story.​

It’s a while since I’ve read it, but I recall that there are some quite unsettling tales – one which sticks in my mind from a pre-independence Spike Island. There’s also a truly bizarre account of something which to a modern ear sounds very much like a UFO/alien encounter.

…The Victorians tweed the hell out of the fairy folk, added wings and, ahem, diaphenous clothing, plus the 'baby' look…
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I wonder though if it was a sort of two-tier cultural phenomenon. MacManus makes the point that belief in Ireland was different to that in England, but I sometimes wonder if this is not the whole story.

Some time back while trying to find some local history connected to a particular cave in the Peak District I fell down a rabbit hole reading online copies of the venerable Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. The ones I found were from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and fairies do get mentioned, especially in relation to ancient sites.

One writer expresses his own surprise when it turns out that the fairy lore he has assumed is dead in England, is actually alive and kicking among rural communities (this is in an article about Hob Thirst's Cave, in Deepdale, near Kings Sterndale):

...A little higher up, I spoke of the days of faith in fairies as passed. I have just received a letter from Mr. Salt, in which it appears to be about as strong as ever in the district. A local farmer told Mr. Salt, three years ago, that he frequently found small tobacco pipes when ploughing his fields, and he accounted for them by the tradition that Deepdale had been a noted place for fairies in past times. He further stated that a workman crossing the dale, on his way to Chelmorton, caught one of them, and put it into his bag, and took it part way home, but it shrieked so pitifully that he let it go, whereupon it ran back to the dale!
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The article was published in 1895, referencing a story from three years previously. The Middle Kingdom was published in 1959, I think – but quoted stories that were, in some cases, decades old. So, it seems to me, that although maybe less to the fore in English culture, belief in the old-school fairy was not uncommon to either culture. (And I feel in this case it is the old-school fairy, rather than its diaphanous usurper, that the English subjects are talking about.)

In the area of the Peak District in question ‘Hob’ is also a common name for an entity which has so much in common with the old idea of the fairy that I don't think there's much doubt that it is one. The word is very common in placenames, especially those associated with landscape features, and could quite easily be passed off as a relic. However, even as late as the 1970s my aunt – who lived in a tiny cottage in an equally tiny hamlet in the rural Peak – would tell me that if her shoes were broken, all she had to do was leave them outside overnight and that Hob (or a hob) would mend them, but that she never did, because to catch them at it – even accidentally – would be an extremely dangerous thing indeed.

This had the unforeseen consequence of making the trip to her outside toilet, situated at the far end of the garden, even more stressful. A fearful thing in the first place, especially in the dark of a late autumn or winter afternoon - the structure hunched in the leaf blown gloom like a freezing cold and slightly malevolent Tardis. It did not help that added to the general fearsomeness of the prospect I also had to confirm that no shoes had been left outside before I thought of making the journey – just in case I might catch one of them at it, and be made to take the consequences!
 
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Spookdaddy said:
Have you read this? (Quoting myself from another thread):



Originally published in 1959, the author set out three basic rules for publication of an account:

The witness was still living at the time of publication.​
​
The author could vouch for a witness’s reliability (most were personal acquaintances).​
​
The witness would be willing – if asked - to publicly attest to the truth of their story.​

It’s a while since I’ve read it, but I recall that there are some quite unsettling tales – one which sticks in my mind from a pre-independence Spike Island. There’s also a truly bizarre account of something which to a modern ear sounds very much like a UFO/alien encounter.



I wonder though if it was a sort of two-tier cultural phenomenon. MacManus makes the point that belief in Ireland was different to that in England, but I sometimes wonder if this is not the whole story.

Some time back while trying to find some local history connected to a particular cave in the Peak District I fell down a rabbit hole reading online copies of the venerable Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. The ones I found were from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and fairies do get mentioned, especially in relation to ancient sites.

One writer expresses his own surprise when it turns out that the fairy lore he has assumed is dead in England, is actually alive and kicking among rural communities (this is in an article about Hob Thirst's Cave, in Deepdale, near Kings Sterndale):



The article was published in 1895, referencing a story from three years previously. The Middle Kingdom was published in 1959, I think – but quoted stories that were, in some cases, decades old. So, it seems to me, that although maybe less to the fore in English culture, belief in the old-school fairy was bot uncommon to either culture. (And I feel in this case it is the old-school fairy, rather than its diaphanous usurper, that the English subjects are talking about.)

In the area of the Peak District in question ‘Hob’ is also a common name for an entity which has so much in common with the old idea of the fairy that I don't think there's much doubt that it is one. The word is very common in placenames, especially those associated with landscape features, and could quite easily be passed off as a relic. However, even as late as the 1970s my aunt – who lived in a tiny cottage in an equally tiny hamlet in the rural Peak – would tell me that if her shoes were broken, all she had to do was leave them outside overnight and that Hob (or a hob) would mend them, but that she never did, because to catch them at it – even accidentally – would be an extremely dangerous thing indeed.

This had the unforeseen consequence of making the trip to her outside toilet, situated at the far end of the garden, even more stressful. A fearful thing in the first place, especially in the dark of a late autumn or winter afternoon - the structure hunched in the leaf blown gloom like a freezing cold and slightly malevolent Tardis. It did not help that added to the general fearsomeness of the prospect I also had to confirm that no shoes had been left outside before I thought of making the journey – just in case I might catch one of them at it, and be made to take the consequences!
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Another decent book is The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz. Also Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland by Eddie Lenihan.
 
I've seen Australian bush creatures that behave much similar to the faeries of legend. There are a ton of experiences out here in nature world that would never make it into the biological calendar of describable stuff. I commune with the local beasts irregularly, but it is always significant when it happens. Always at least as wholesome as family confession.
 
'The questions put to Joan of Arc on the subject of fairies appear to the modern reader to be entirely irrelevant, though much importance was evidently attached to her answers by the Court. She could not disprove, though she denied, the popular rumour that 'Joan received her mission at the tree of the Fairy-ladies', and she was finally forced to admit that she had first met the 'Voices' near that spot. Connection with the fairies was as damning in the eyes of the Bishop of Beauvais and his colleagues as it was later in the eyes of the judges who tried John Walsh and Aleson Peirson.'

(The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology by Margaret Murray)
 
As for appearance, the tale of the Irish guy that met a Fairy who was a lot bigger than he expected, when asked about his appearance the Fairy replied that they can appear as anything they want to, which to me is very telling
 
SimonBurchell said:
Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist and Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett.
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enjoyed them both and re read every couple of years.

I grew up on Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer (as well as Sawney Bean!) and the sugar plum variety of fairy was always seen as the soft english version :rollingw:
 
Frideswide said:
enjoyed them both and re read every couple of years.

I grew up on Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer (as well as Sawney Bean!) and the sugar plum variety of fairy was always seen as the soft english version :rollingw:
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Don't blame us! We've got plenty of the mean, vengeful variety.
 
SimonBurchell said:
It occurs to me that two works of fiction I have read picked up the sinister nature of fairies quite well - Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist and Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett.
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I like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for the same reason. It's all pretty well straight out of those old Ruth L. Tongue folklore books... The fairies are horrifying, sinister, the stuff of nightmares. Love it.
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
I like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for the same reason. It's all pretty well straight out of those old Ruth L. Tongue folklore books... The fairies are horrifying, sinister, the stuff of nightmares. Love it.
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Ah yes, I had forgotten that one! With the poor lady who was stolen away by the fairies for years, and her husband had no idea what had happened...
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
I like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for the same reason. It's all pretty well straight out of those old Ruth L. Tongue folklore books... The fairies are horrifying, sinister, the stuff of nightmares. Love it.
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I was an extra in that show I was one of the French Soilders at the start of the first episode defending the castle ( Bamburgh) against the Ghost Ships.
 
Sabresonic said:
I wonder why the BBC never did another series as I noticed 2 other books or did they fit them all in one season ?
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I don't think she has written a sequel yet - I read Piranesi, which I loved but was a stand alone novel.
 
Sabresonic said:
I wonder why the BBC never did another series as I noticed 2 other books or did they fit them all in one season ?
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Think her two other books are unrelated and I'm sure I read somewhere that the writer had a serious illness, which maybe has slowed down/stopped her writing for some time since? One of the books is a collection of short stories in a similar vein. Jonathan Strange is crying out for a sequel. It was so well written.
ETA: Forgot to mention "Seeing Fairies: From the Lost Archives of the Fairy Investigation Society, Authentic Reports of Fairies in Modern Times' by Marjorie T. Johnson. I have it on Kindle - it's bloody brilliant if you like mid-late 20thC eccentric ladies (probably in tweed), dedicating decades of their lives to gathering accounts of fairies. Been reading it on and off for ages (no attention span any more) and it's really good. Most of the accounts are... delusional. But one or two might have something to them and they're all cracking good tales.
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
ETA: Forgot to mention "Seeing Fairies: From the Lost Archives of the Fairy Investigation Society, Authentic Reports of Fairies in Modern Times' by Marjorie T. Johnson. I have it on Kindle - it's bloody brilliant if you like mid-late 20thC eccentric ladies (probably in tweed), dedicating decades of their lives to gathering accounts of fairies. Been reading it on and off for ages (no attention span any more) and it's really good. Most of the accounts are... delusional. But one or two might have something to them and they're all cracking good tales.
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I have this and it's excellent. Recommended to anyone with even a cursory interest in the subject.
 
'Do you believe in fairies? Poet W.B. Yeats had a robust answer for the scoffers. "Imagination!" he would say with a withering contempt. "There wasn't much imagination when Farmer Hogan was dragged out of bed and thrashed like a sack of potatoes. That they did... they had 'um out, and thumped 'um, and that's not the sort of thing a man wants to imagine."'

W.B. Yeats on fairies: ‘At Howth, a great colony of otherworld creatures travel nightly’ ~

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/...otherworld-creatures-travel-nightly-1.2263062
 
Having recommended the play, and this particular recording of it, more than once - most recently in the last few weeks I think - I'm aware that I may be slipping into fanboy territory, but for an example of how I imagine the mood and tone of a 'real' fairy story should be, I would recommend the first story in Conor MacPherson's play, The Weir.

It's not so much about the content (there's not a whole lot of meat to the tale) but the tone of the telling I think is perfect: awe, respect, little bit of banter, little bit of fear.

Anyone interested, jump on to the Brendan Coyle Fansite, here. (Yes, I know - and this from someone who has never watched an episode of Downton Abbey in their life.)

Scroll down the page to the Radio and Stage Plays section. Find The Weir. The story referred to takes place roughly19:00 to 26:36.

Personally, I think the subsequent tales - steadily darkening in tone - could almost fit into a modern reworking of the older, darker fairy ethos – but that’s just my own opinion, my having become somewhat convinced over recent years that little actually separates pre-Victorian fairy lore and a lot of what passes for modern ghost lore.

(You may have to cleanse your mental palate of any residue of Bishop Brennan before listening – for it is he. In another guise of course.)
 
I've always intended to listen to The Weir but, after reading so much about it I'm afraid it can't possibly live up to the brilliance I've imagined it to be. I even wrote a short story along the same themes (alas, it is terrible), I was so captivated by the whole (imagined) atmosphere of The Weir.
 
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