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Do you believe you understand fairies? The glittering, tiny beings often shown on television are primarily a modern creation, heavily influenced by Disney. During the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, fairies were perceived and discussed in a manner similar to how Bigfoot is today. Even with today's skepticism about fairies, strange and baffling encounters and sightings are still being reported.
10. Perilous Fascination
On a midsummer day in approximately 1853 in County Donegal, Ireland, a boy named Neil Colton was out behind his house with his brother and a female cousin picking berries when the three of them heard music playing nearby. As they moved around some large rocks, the group spotted six to eight small figures dancing in a circle a few hundred feet away.
The moment the children noticed the dancers, a petite woman clad in red detached herself from the group and charged at them, striking Colton’s cousin across the face with what appeared to be a green rush. Unsurprisingly, the children bolted toward the house. However, upon reaching it, Colton’s cousin collapsed and died.
Colton’s father immediately summoned a priest. By reciting psalms and striking the girl with his stole, the priest succeeded in reviving her from her lifeless condition. The priest explained that if she hadn’t clung to Colton’s brother during the attack, she would have been taken by the fairies forever.
9. Masters of the Dance
On an August day in 1862, David Evans and Evan Lewis were returning from Brecon, Wales, hauling timber to New Quay. They paused to rest near a farm named Cwmdwr. While observing reapers working in the fields, Evans noticed a line of about 50 figures ascending a hillside roughly 370 meters (1,200 ft) away. As Evans pointed out the group to Lewis, the first figure reached the hilltop and began to dance.
Soon, all the figures had reached the summit and were dancing together in a large circle. As Evans and Lewis watched, the figures danced closer and closer to the center of their circle in a spiral motion.
Each figure disappeared into the ground as they reached the center of the circle. After all had vanished in this manner, they reappeared one by one, danced another round, and then vanished back into the hill in the same way. This time, they did not return.
Evans and Lewis recounted their experience to the first person they met on the road—an elderly man—and inquired if he knew who the dancers might have been. He had no idea but mentioned that his grandfather once claimed fairies used to dance in that area.
8. The Mail Must Go Through
In 1887, folklorist William Martin was vacationing on the Isle of Man (located in the Irish Sea near Great Britain and Ireland) when he encountered a mail-cart driver who shared a frustrating experience from the summer of 1884.
One evening, the mail-cart driver had begun his rounds to collect mailbags from nearby areas and deliver them to the central collection point. After gathering the mail, he was just 10 kilometers (6 mi) from completing his journey when he came across a group of fairies dressed in red and carrying lanterns.
The fairies halted the cart’s horse, threw the mailbags onto the road, and began dancing around them. The driver, evidently a determined individual, attempted to reload the bags onto the cart. However, each time he succeeded, the red-clad fairies would toss them back onto the road. This continued until dawn, when the fairies finally departed, leaving the driver to reach his destination hours late and thoroughly exasperated.
7. Mischievous Pixies
In a 1928 edition of the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, a letter penned by Mrs. G. Herbert recounted two peculiar incidents she believed were proof of fairies.
In 1897, when Herbert was just seven years old, she was on an afternoon stroll in Dartmoor, England, when she noticed a tiny man—no taller than 45 centimeters (18 inches)—standing beneath an overhanging rock. His face was wrinkled, and he wore a pointed hat that tilted forward slightly, a doublet, and “short knicker-like garments.” Suddenly, he disappeared. Frightened, the young girl rushed home and told her mother about the encounter, only to be met with laughter.
Twenty-eight years later, in 1925, a now 35-year-old Mrs. Herbert was horseback riding on the Dartmoor moors on a sunny day. Familiar with the area, she found herself in a well-known spot but inexplicably lost her way. Despite recognizing the landmarks around her, she was completely disoriented and unable to determine the correct path.
Understanding that pixies were likely causing her confusion, Herbert decided to act. She turned her pockets inside out, a potent charm believed to counteract fairy magic. This worked instantly. Her surroundings became familiar once more, and she safely rode home.
6. A Tragic End for a Small Being
It was an undeniably peculiar morning. One May day in 1913, young brothers Silbie, Sid, and Clyde Latham were working on their family’s farm near Farmersville, Texas, cutting cotton when their dogs began barking wildly at something unseen.
The boys went to check and discovered their two dogs barking aggressively at a small figure, roughly 45 centimeters (18 inches) tall, entirely green and seemingly wearing a green sombrero. His arms dangled limply at his sides, and the green hue appeared to be part of a rubbery suit covering his entire body.
That was all the boys observed before the two dogs lunged at the little man, ripping him apart and scattering red blood and human-like organs everywhere. Shocked and unsure what to make of the situation, the boys returned to their work. The dogs stayed close to them for the rest of the day, seemingly frightened.
The brothers checked a few times to confirm the body was real, and it was. However, when they told their parents, their story was dismissed as unbelievable. By the following day, all traces of the little man’s existence and death had vanished, as if he had never been there.
5. Findings from the Fairy Investigation Society
Around 1937, the Fairy Investigation Society of England—yes, such a group truly existed!—received a letter from a young woman detailing a bizarre encounter she had while staying at an old house in Gloucester. The property featured a garden that extended into the Birdlip Beeches forest.
One day, after washing her hair, the young woman walked to a secluded sunny spot away from the house to let her hair dry while enjoying the view. Suddenly, she felt an unusual tugging in her hair.
Turning to investigate, she spotted a tiny man—only 23 centimeters (9 inches) tall, with an extremely wrinkled and unattractive appearance—entangled in her hair. His skin resembled the color of dead leaves, and he squeaked in a high-pitched voice, protesting her presence as he wrestled with her hair. The moment he freed himself, he vanished.
4. A Hairy Fairy
In 1948, a 10-year-old Mr. E.J.A. Reynolds was spending his summer school holiday in Horsham, England. One moonlit night, he went out to set rabbit traps and waited nearby to see if he’d catch anything. While waiting quietly, a 45-centimeter-tall (18 in) hairy man suddenly emerged from a blackberry bush near him.
The peculiar figure seemed unaware of the boy’s presence, allowing Reynolds to observe him closely. The man’s face was bare and leathery, with a sharp nose, and his arms appeared disproportionately long for his body. After a brief moment, the strange man retreated back into the bush.
When Reynolds shared his experience with the couple he was staying with, they laughed at him. A few days later, while riding on a double-decker bus through Horsham, Reynolds spotted the hairy little man again, this time crossing a garden in broad daylight. He likely chose not to mention this second sighting.
3. An Unforgettable Night
On a summer evening in 2005, a man known only as “J.F.” recounted that he and his girlfriend were among a group visiting a friend’s house in Chicora, Pennsylvania. The house was nestled in a densely wooded area, and they had watched the sunset from the back deck.
As the night grew darker and cooler, they continued chatting and relaxing on the deck, illuminated by a single spotlight. Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise from the potted plants near the light, and everyone turned to see something shoot into the air from the pots.
The creature was approximately 30 centimeters (12 inches) tall. It had a human-like head with long, pointed ears and something wrapped around its body. It hovered momentarily in midair, positioned between the spotlight and the group. Then its wings unfolded, revealing the body of what appeared to be a female figure.
The wings resembled those of a bat, with a thin membrane stretching from her fingers to her toes, and veins were visible where the light shone through. However, the overall shape of the wings was more akin to a butterfly’s. The entire being emitted a faint greenish glow.
After hovering in the air for a moment longer, the tiny being fluttered across the deck like a butterfly, passing over the heads of the group before disappearing into the dark woods. Unsurprisingly, the only term the group could agree on to describe the strange creature was “fairy.”
2. A Genuine Sparkling Fairy?
In the May 1977 issue of FATE, an American magazine focused on unusual occurrences, a letter from Cynthia Montefiore detailed two peculiar sightings at her mother’s home in Somerset, England.
One day, Montefiore was in the garden with her mother, who was teaching her how to take cuttings from a rose tree. They stood on opposite sides of the tree when her mother suddenly raised a finger to her lips, signaling for silence.
She then pointed to one of the blooms. There, clearly visible, was a 15-centimeter-tall (6 in) woman with stunning dragonfly-like wings. She had pale pink skin, long silvery hair, and was holding a small wand with a glowing tip aimed at the center of the flower.
The two women observed the tiny being for about two minutes as her wings fluttered like a hummingbird’s and she continued to point her wand. Then she vanished without a trace. Unsurprisingly, both women forgot to complete the lesson on rose cuttings.
Later, Montefiore was sitting under a tree in the same garden, reading a book, when she noticed movement in front of her. She looked up to see a “sturdily built” figure in a brown one-piece suit running from the lawn to a young fir tree, where it disappeared. The figure was only about 45 centimeters (18 in) tall. Montefiore quickly got up to inspect the fir tree but found nothing unusual.
1. The Workman
Mary Treadgold, a children’s book author from England, was traveling on a bus on the Isle of Mull on April 30, 1973, when the bus pulled over to let an approaching car pass. As Treadgold glanced across the peat by the roadside, she spotted a young man with a shovel digging a hole near a patch of heather.
He stood out for two reasons. First, he was frozen in place with one foot on the shovel, as if trying to remain unnoticed. Second, he was only about 45 centimeters (18 inches) tall.
He wore blue overalls and a white shirt that seemed to glow, with the sleeves rolled up. His hair was tight and curly, brown in color, and a sack lay on the ground beside him. Treadgold stared at him for about four seconds, long enough to confirm he was a living being and not a statue.
As the bus began to move, she tried to look back but wasn’t quick enough. Soon, the spot was out of sight.
