Encounters with Fairies

Encounters with Fairies

What are they and why do we keep seeing them?

At our last LAPIS meeting we discussed the ongoing phenomena of encounters with fairies, how they have changed over the years and looked at some modern reports. This is a huge subject and one that deserves at in depth look at. I’ve certainly not done that here, this is only a tiny scratch on the surface, but it’s inspired me to get hold of some books and learn some more.

None of the following is my own research. My main sources are an article by Professor Sam George of the University of Hertfordshire which is published online in The Conversation and Jenny Randles’ Supernatural Isle of Man

So first what do fairies look like? We mostly think of pretty little winged creatures flying around flowers. As I child I had some of the Flower Fairies books. First published in 1923 these are very sweet little books with an illustration of a flower along with a childlike, winged fairy associated with that flower.

But fairies, fey or faeries, whatever we want to call them (and it is possible we shouldn’t be calling them anything at all!) haven’t always been sweet little flying things.

In her article referred to above, which was published in October 2021, Sam George points out that fairies “used to drink human blood and kidnap children”

She says that: “When most people think about fairies, they perhaps picture the sparkling Tinker Bell from Peter Pan or the other heartwarming and cute fairies and fairy god mothers that populate many Disney movies and children’s cartoons. But these creatures have much darker origins-and were once thought to be more like undead blood-sucking vampires.”