Buzz
Real fairies were far from the tiny, delicate, and charming creatures often depicted. While they could be beneficial, they were equally notorious for causing household chaos and even driving people out of their homes. They were blamed for almost any misfortune affecting families, crops, or livestock, much like witches or vampires in other cultures. In 17th-century England, fairies were thought to have the power to terrify people to death. Even into the 20th century, in areas where fairy lore thrived, ‘fairy places’ weren’t just remote, magical spots—fairies were believed to be omnipresent and universally feared.
10. Fairies Were Believed to Be Descendants of Fallen Angels
In the late 19th century, people in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and the Isle of Man shared tales of the fairies’ grand biblical origins. According to legend, the Proud Angel incited a rebellion among heaven’s angels, leading many to follow him. When the Son cried out, ‘Father! Father! the city is being emptied!’ the Father ordered the gates of heaven and hell to be sealed. Those caught outside heaven but not yet in hell were forced to take refuge in the earth’s crevices, becoming the Fairy Folk. Condemned to live underground, they could only surface when permitted by their King.
This origin story explained the fairies’ immense power, with some believing they could annihilate the world if they wished. It also highlighted their ambiguous nature—neither wholly good nor evil, not entirely of this world or the next, and not quite human or animal. This duality earned them the title ‘The Middle Kingdom’ in traditional fairy lore.
9. Encounters with Fairies
When I began my research on fairies, I never anticipated grappling with the fundamental question: ‘Do fairies truly exist?’ However, as scholar Simon Young has demonstrated, there is an astonishing volume of fairy sightings reported from nearly every nation and by all kinds of witnesses. Between 1900 and 1901, during the Boer War, a five-year-old boy witnessed nightly processions of miniature soldiers marching across his bed, accompanied by majestic military tunes. Recounting this in 1951, he firmly declared he would testify to its truth ‘in any court of law.’ This witness was Victor Purcell, a Cambridge History lecturer who remained at the university until 1963.
In 20th-century Wales, a solitary fisherman was startled when a small, elderly male figure suddenly appeared in the stream beside him, chattering excitedly, ‘Catch him, Tommy, I like to eat trouts, Tommy!’ Annoyed, the fisherman turned away to untangle his line from some weeds, only to turn back and find the fairy man had vanished into thin air in the open countryside. This matter-of-fact witness was Commander T.A. Powell, who later asked in disbelief, ‘How did he know my name?’
8. The Leprechaun Chase in West Limerick
Near the fairy hill of Knockfierna, a schoolboy named John Keely rushed to the Mulqueens’ home, breathlessly claiming he had seen a fairy. The Mulqueens sent him back to question it. The fairy replied, ‘I am from the mountains, and my business is none of your concern.’ The next day, two fairies appeared at a crossroads between Ballingarry and Kilfinney, six miles from Rathkeale, in broad daylight. They carried skipping ropes and ‘could leap the height of a man,’ according to eyewitnesses Robert and John Mulligan. Crowds soon gathered at the crossroads, with people traveling from across Limerick to catch a glimpse of the leprechauns. Witnesses described them as roughly two feet tall, with ‘hard, hairy faces like men and no ears.’ They wore red outfits, one with a white cape, knee-breeches, and ‘vamps’ instead of shoes.
This leprechaun chase reportedly took place around late August or early September in 1938. Locals pursued the leprechauns because, as Diarmuid Ó Giolláin notes, these beings are said to possess hidden treasure. Capturing one would require keeping it confined for a year and a day, after which it would disclose the location of its riches. Any Health and Safety considerations on this matter would be intriguing.
7. The Enchanting Sounds of Fairy Music
On the mystical Isle of Man, particularly on Dalby Mountain, the elderly Manx residents would press their ears to the ground to listen to the ‘Sounds of Infinity’ (Sheean-ny-Feaynid). While these sounds were likely caused by tides rolling over pebbles, something more enigmatic occurred in another part of the island. W.W. Gill recounts a secluded area of hills and a river valley, where locals gathered to hear an eerie chorus resembling distant human voices. This haunting melody seemed to emanate from a steep slope known as the Granane on quiet evenings.
In 1922, Dr. Thomas Wood, a composer and former Oxford fellow, was vacationing on Dartmoor with friends when he heard ‘music in the air! It was faint, like a whisper, fading in and out for about 20 minutes.’ At the time, portable radios were nonexistent, and his binoculars confirmed no nearby picnickers. Wood transcribed the melody on the spot, claiming, ‘I would swear under oath that my transcription is so accurate that even the original composers wouldn’t notice a difference.’ Recently, American author Chris Woodyard brought this fairy music to life using an electronic organ. Performing Wood’s original score for two violins remains an unexplored musical opportunity.
6. Fairy Poltergeists
Do fairies truly exist? Poltergeists, on the other hand, are undeniably real, and in regions steeped in fairy lore, a disruptive or noisy spirit in a home is often attributed to an angry fairy. While poltergeists are typically chaotic and menacing, there are numerous instances where they have performed household chores or even left gifts for residents. This duality aligns perfectly with the nature of fairies—powerful beings capable of shifting swiftly from benevolence to mischief.
Katharine Briggs, a renowned fairy scholar, had a friend who, as a child in the 1890s, frequently visited the elderly ladies of Denton Hall near Newcastle. These ladies claimed to have a ‘silkie’ (described by Briggs as a Northumbrian brownie) residing with them. While the silkie made it challenging to retain servants, it often assisted with tasks like cleaning grates and laying fires. The silkie, dressed in grey silk, was occasionally spotted on the stairs. During World War Two, the friend revisited the Hall and discovered that the new residents, though they never saw the silkie, were disturbed by loud banging noises in the son’s room, prompting them to leave shortly after. A current staff member at the Hall confirmed that the property remains mildly haunted to this day.
5. Enchanted Fairy Landscapes
In Ireland, the landscape bore deep imprints of fairy influence. Fairy forts and hills were prominent features, and in 1911-12, councillors in Athlone, Westmeath, struggled to find occupants for a house built near a local fairy hill. Fairy trees, often hawthorns, were equally sacred, and roads were rerouted to avoid them. A farmer in County Antrim, who drunkenly cut down one such tree, allegedly woke the next morning with his head twisted backward.
Fairy paths were the most perilous, primarily because they were invisible. Unsuspecting villagers might construct a new home, only to be informed by a local Fairy Expert that their house obstructed a daily fairy route. One remedy was to leave both front and back doors open at specific times, allowing the fairies to pass through unseen. However, fairy poltergeists posed unique challenges. Before 1959, Paddy Baine and his new bride endured such violent disturbances in their home that they feared a wall might collapse. A local wisewoman, Mairead ni Heine, identified the issue: one corner of the house blocked the fairies’ path. A stonemason removed the offending corner, and tranquility was restored.
4. The Changelings
In regions steeped in fairy lore, the concept of changeling children was far from mere whimsy. Throughout the 19th century, parents who believed their child had been swapped by fairies subjected the supposed changeling to horrific treatments to force the fairies to return their real child. Infants were bathed in toxic foxglove extract, exposed to freezing temperatures, placed on hot shovels near fires, or abandoned on the shore at the tide’s edge. Many did not survive. In Ireland, one child, upon hearing he was suspected of being a changeling, reportedly died of sheer terror, fully aware of the grim fate awaiting him.
Scholar Susan Schoon Eberly has revealed that many of these suspected changelings likely suffered from specific medical conditions. For instance, phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder affecting metabolism and development, often goes unnoticed at birth. Parents in cramped, impoverished homes would initially welcome a seemingly healthy baby, only to later notice the child appeared prematurely aged, failed to speak, and demanded excessive food, crying incessantly if not fed. While it made some sense to blame fairies for the sudden change, there may also have been an unconscious wish to rid themselves of such a burdensome child.
3. Biddy Early
‘Biddy Early surpassed all women. No one could rival her.’ Born in 1798 and orphaned early, Biddy Early became Ireland’s most renowned folk healer and Fairy Doctor. The true origin of her powers—widely believed to stem from her connection with fairies—remains a mystery. While she was undoubtedly skilled in herbalism, her healing abilities extended far beyond this. One man seeking help for his ailing son arrived at Biddy’s Feakle cottage to find around fifty others ahead of him. Biddy accepted only gifts like meat and whiskey as payment and often admitted when a condition was beyond her capabilities.
Biddy Early was also believed to possess clairvoyant abilities. When a group of affluent visitors brought her a bottle of inexpensive whiskey, she scolded them for concealing a finer one in their bags. She won over a skeptical priest by revealing private details of his life and immobilized another, along with his horse, on a bridge until he pleaded for her to release him. Among her countless visitors, rumors swirled that a member of the English royal family journeyed to County Clare specifically to meet her. Despite long-standing opposition from the Church, twenty-seven priests attended her funeral in 1874.
2. Fairy Animals
For those deeply immersed in fairy beliefs, the countryside held yet another layer of danger: fairy animals. In County Cavan, a farmer’s chickens were slain by fairy foxes, while in County Clare, a rabbit hunter fled in terror upon realizing his prey were fairies in disguise. Fairy dogs, however, could be benevolent. In Wales, they were white with red ears, and in the Isle of Man, they wore red hats. On the Scottish island of Lewis in 1899, a fierce dispute arose between two women over a fairy dog’s tooth. Kate MacCaskill threatened her neighbor, Mrs. Mackay, vowing to drop the tooth down her chimney to set her house ablaze.
Seals also played a significant role in fairy lore. Many believed that during the Fallen Angels’ descent, some of Lucifer’s followers transformed into water fairies. The selkie myth tells of enchanting seal women who became human wives, provided their sealskin remained hidden. Those who have observed seals up close or heard their eerie songs might agree these creatures possess an otherworldly quality. In 1839, seal hunting was halted along the Mayo coast from Downpatrick Head to Kilcummin after two boys claimed a white seal pleaded, ‘Spare your old grandfather, Daniel O’Dowd!’ The seal convinced them he was a relative, condemned to live as a seal for his past sins.
1. Bridget Cleary
The victims of changeling rituals were typically infants or young children. However, as Angela Bourke recounts, in March 1895, Michael Cleary of Ballyvadlea, Tipperary, became convinced his wife Bridget had been replaced by a fairy. Bridget was battling a fever and possibly experiencing mental instability. Influenced by Jack Dunne, a staunch believer in fairy lore, Michael subjected his 26-year-old wife to brutal and humiliating ‘fairy tests.’ Bridget was stripped, manhandled, threatened, force-fed, and had a chamber pot thrown at her. Michael allegedly claimed, ‘She was not my wife … she was two inches taller than my wife.’
On March 15, Michael threatened Bridget with a burning stick from the fire, causing her clothes to ignite. He then doused her in lamp oil, resulting in her death. Her hastily buried body was soon discovered, sparking outrage in the English press, which condemned the act as a ‘medieval witch burning’ and used it as evidence to argue the Irish were unfit for self-governance. Many of Cleary’s neighbors openly jeered during his trial. While he could have faced execution, the jury, believing Michael genuinely thought his wife was a fairy (he had visited a nearby Fairy Hill at night, hoping to retrieve his real wife), convicted him of manslaughter. Cleary was sentenced to 20 years in prison and later moved to Canada.
