Moment in Oddity - Crown Shyness
Suggested by: Jenny Raines
Black mangrove trees do something really weird. So do eucalyptus trees and camphor trees. In the 1920s, this weird phenomenon was first documented and scientists have studied it ever since and tried to figure out why it happens. This phenomenon is known as crown shyness. You've probably seen it for yourself. Next time you are in a dark forest looking for Bigfoot or fairies, look up and see if you notice a network of cracks between the canopies of trees. This almost looks like tiles laid next to each other with grout in between or jigsaw pieces nearly connected together. One of the reasons why scientists can't figure out the "why" is because it doesn't happen all the time. Some have theorized that crown shyness is the result of abrasion. This is a fancy way to say that branches brushing against each other cause twigs to break. And it's a good theory until scientists surveyed trees in high wind areas and found no increase in crown shyness. Other scientists think that maybe light has something to do with it. This hypothesis basically states that the tips of trees can detect light levels and this will cause the tips to stop growing. Whatever the cause, it does help prevent the spread of damaging insect larvae. Looking up at crown shyness is breathtaking, but is also a phenomenon that certainly is odd!
This Month in History - Cicero Beheaded
In the month of December, on the 7th, in 43 BC, Cicero is beheaded. The year before his death, lawyer Marcus Tullius Cicero became one of the most powerful men in Rome when Julius Caesar was murdered. He was an outspoken critic of Octavian, who was Caesar's heir, and Mark Antony. Two men, Popilius and Herennius, were sent to take care of Cicero and they caught up with him as he went out to find a ship to take to the coast. When Cicero was approached by the men, he knew what they had come to do and he basically put up no fight and asked that they give him a quick and clean death. And they did. Herennius drew his sword and cut off Cicero's head. He then cut off his hands and brought the head and hands back to Antony who hung them in the Forum. Antony felt like he was vindicated by taking the hands that had written mocking speeches about him, but the Roman people saw it more as a symbol of the darkness in Antony's soul.
The Legend of Elementals
Our lives are touched nearly everyday by the four elements. We breathe air, drink water, eat things fed by the Earth and cook or warm ourselves with fire. There are stories of ancient creatures that are one with these elements and we have come to know them as Elementals. Elementals show up in a variety of places from books to comics to legends of old. Is there any possibility that these mythic beings did actually or could actually exist? On this episode, we explore the history, stories and possibilities of Elementals.
I mentioned comics and Elementals in the intro because for me, that's where I first learned about Elementals. I was a DC comic girl and for the most part I still am (sure wish they could get their movies right like Marvel) and my favorite hero and comic was Firestorm. I own nearly all of them. I remember keenly about the time I started college, in the early 1990s, Firestorm underwent a huge change and he became the Fire Elemental. I also followed Swamp Thing a bit and he was the Earth Elemental. So this was my introduction. Later though, as I got more into the paranormal and legends, I started to learn more about the Elementals and their connection to the four main elements. Kelly and I both have a real connection to nature and so for us, it's easy to be connected to the elements.
We all know the four basic elements: air, water, land and fire. Theophrastus von Hohenheim, more commonly known as Paracelsus, was born around 1493 and he was a physicist and alchemist nicknamed the "Father of Toxicology." He studied ancient beings in his works and it was his conclusions and writings that separated various mythical beings into the four classes of elements. His archetypes were Gnome or Pygmy for Earth (North), Undine or Nymph for Water (West) *Blur of color*, Vulcanus or Salamander for Fire (South) and Sylvestris or Sylph for Air (East). Paracelsus described these creatures as not being spirits, but also not being creatures. He emphasized that they were something between. For me, this is a hard concept to understand because as we study the stories about them, they can both appear as human in human clothing or be invisible. Paracelsus also did not call them Elementals, but Sagani. These are nature spirits. Each Elemental seems to have its own body type. Gnomes are short and pudgy, sylphs are similar to humans, but stronger, longer and rougher, undines are basically human in appearance and size and salamanders are long, narrow and lean. Since these beings are part of a particular element, they can move freely through that element. But this is all according to Paracelsus. We know that the belief in these creatures goes back long before this time.
Ancient cultures in the Middle East and East referred to four elements, sometimes calling them something else like wind instead of air. Many cultures, especially in places like China and Japan, would refer to a fifth element that was described as void. China would even press that elements were not physical, but more transitional and they include metal and wood as elements. Perhaps this is where the idea of elements as spirits got its start? And I find that fifth classification, the void or ether, very interesting. This was a basic way to say that we have four types of matter, but there is a fifth beyond material. This fifth element is said to not have a spirit connected to it. And what are we when we die? This energy or matter, but we are beyond the physical world. Hinduism also has their void, which they call akash, and that the human body dissolves into all of these elements upon death. Plato was believed to be the first to use the term element and Aristotle took it further breaking the elements down into qualities. Earth is cold and dry, air is hot and wet, water is both cold and wet and fire is hot and dry. Native Americans break Elementals into different classes like tree spirits, rock spirits, etc.
As we move down through history, we come to alchemy. The science of alchemy has always been tied to Elementals. After all, alchemy is about changing matter and in order to do this, elements must be used. Alchemy basically shows up during medieval times and it was Arab alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān who not only laid out the four elements, but added mercury and sulfur into the mix. Alchemy is not just a physical science, but also philosophical. And as we look at Elementals, there is more philosophy and spirituality there than basic science. And speaking of basic science, we know we have scientists out there screaming that there are more than four elements. Clearly, we have a periodical chart with lots of elements on it and these are broken down into four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Although, we could argue that those are basically the four elements too.
In our episode about the Legend of Faeries, we mentioned Elementals and that people sometimes classify them together, but traditionally they are different beings. Elementals are thought to not be as developed, but rather true energy and so they do not have personality. Faeries have an affinity for elements, but are not those elements. We listened to several people talking about Elementals, but many just threw them in a mix with Skinwalkers, the Fae, Daemons and etc. One point that we heard is that the Quran mentions the Djinn and that they are described as being Elementals. We did an episode on the Djinn (Ep. 157) and they were created from fire, but does this make them the Fire Elemental?
When it comes to hauntings, we experience many different types of
spirits. There are those who were human at one time and then there are
those who could be called unborn. This is something that is not human
and never was. Obviously, Elementals fall under this. Many claim that we cannot experience Elementals or actually meet one. And we are taught from a young age that they are not real. But are they? There are so many stories of these ancient beings and Pagans say that these beings are on a different plane or dimension and that is why we may not experience them.
Malignant magick conjures Elementals. Disturbances can cause Elementals to rise up or come forth. Like mining or construction or even building a dam can cause an Elemental to be disturbed. They give off EVPs with very gruff and deep voices. They don't like metal objects and so these may have a tendancy to disappear. They can be attached to crystals, so if you bring one home, they might come with it. Earth Elementals will cause animals to behave strangely, cause a person to have fear of being buried alive or fear of leaving their home and cause earthquakes. Water Elementals cause plumbing problems, they might cause someone to commit suicide by drowning and cause floods. Fire Elementals can cause spontaneous fires, a human that develops an obsession with fire might be touched by one or if you see tongues of flame or balls of flame and spontaneous combustion. Air Elementals can throw or break objects, cause sexual assaults and cause agitation and fighting in their locale and people commit suicide through the air by jumping from high places and cause tornadoes and gales. Obviously, ley lines are deeply connected to Elementals.
A person going by username Sylunedarkchylde from the Philippines wrote of encounters with Elementals, "I'm not sure how other countries perceive Elementals to be, but here in the Philippines, they are called "Engkantos", "Anitos" and so on. These Engkantos and Anitos used to be worshiped by ancient Filipinos until Spain decided to force Christianity on us a few hundred years ago, and only then were they thought of as evil entities. Personally, I think Elementals are a part of nature, too; but were made differently - just like when someone would be born with an extra toe, no arms, no legs, etc. To me, they're like nature's "special" brothers and sisters. But of course, please do enlighten me if my understanding is wrong - because that was just an uneducated opinion formed based on what I have seen. The first story was when my family and I were on a 3-day vacation in Baguio City. I was around 16 or 17 at the time. Baguio City is famous for its many hauntings, especially after the 1990 (or was it 1991?) earthquake that pretty much reduced the city to rubble. But I honestly don't think what I saw was a ghost - somehow it had a different "feel" to it. The house that we stayed in was a vacation home owned by my mom's boss, and she was nice enough to let us use the place for free. The house was situated at the middle of the mountain, so you would need to drive up from the foot and you can drive all the way up to the top as well. The house only had one private room, and two semi-private rooms; because the rooms on the second floor may be separated by walls and two different doors, but both rooms are mezzanine types, so I can see the living room from where I was. On the first night, we were still tired as hell because of the eight-hour drive to the city and spending the rest of the day shopping for trinkets to bring home to our friends. But since I just ate, I cannot go to sleep yet because of my acid reflux - so I decided to grab the book I brought from my bag. While I was reading, I noticed something flicker, like a quick flash of light in my peripheral vision. I looked up from the book and to the window where I think I saw the light, but nothing was there. So I went on reading, and it happened again - but this time, when I looked up, I was in for a surprise. There was a bluish-white ball of light. It wasn't very bright, but luminescent. I'm guessing it's as big as a volleyball, or maybe slightly smaller. And if I were to estimate my distance from it, I'd say around ten feet--far enough to see it clearly. I was scared at first, but for a person who's easily attracted to shiny things and sometimes too curious for my own good, I continued to watch in awe. It looked almost magical. It bobbed up and down very slightly as it glided, and it left some sort of translucent, almost transparent "tail" like a comet as it moved. Then it passed behind a tree. Again, to my surprise, it emerged on the other side of the tree, but no longer as one white ball, but hundreds of tiny little swirling balls of light. It was awesome! I admit I still felt a little scared, but it was too pretty to ignore. I had this feeling that whatever it was, it was playing with me. Then, it passed behind another tree, and then when it emerged, it was one big ball again. By the third time it emerged, the window only had enough space so I had to stand up and walk towards the window to continue watching it. It kept doing the same thing - compressed into a ball, scattering, then compressing every time it passes behind a tree - until it got so far up the mountain that I couldn't see it anymore. I don't know, but to me it was awesome. I've never seen something so unnaturally pretty in my life. Of course, just like any person would do, I told everyone about it. My sister was asking why I wasn't scared, and I admitted I was at first, but when I looked at it long enough it looked so pretty and it didn't seem to mean any harm. My stepfather said it might have been "St. Elmo's Fire", but after researching about it, St. Elmo's Fire behaved differently, so I didn't really think it was what he said it might be. Then I learned about swamp lights. Of course, there isn't a swamp anywhere near there, but I needed to find out what it was. But swamp lights are chemical reactions in the swamp that causes it to light (like methane mixing with something and it burns a white, sometimes blue light) but again, it didn't look like fire. Besides, fire doesn't glide the way the mysterious white light did. Not to mention the shape, then scattering, then reshaping again. I left the city without any answers, but memories of the pretty lights. I even remember making a painting of it (it was sold already) because it just looked so pretty and mysterious that I needed to show everyone how it looked like. I have friends with different beliefs - Christians, Muslims, Satanists, Atheists, Wiccans - and when my Wiccan friend saw the painting she asked me what it was. I told her the story, and she said I might have encountered an Elemental; and it might have been the Wind - a manifestation of the Sylph. I researched online right after she said it, but none of the images I saw were the same. However, what made me think that it really was an Elemental was what she said that they are neither alive nor dead; that they have taken a different evolutionary turn from most things, and the wind elemental is most commonly seen as a white or yellow light. To be honest, I am really not sure what it was, but all I know is that I didn't feel the same fear I did when I experienced ghostly stuff. Of course, I was afraid at first, but after a while I just felt like I was drawn to it. I could just imagine how the ancient Filipinos would see this as, and no wonder they worshiped them."
Famous hauntings in history include one at the Leap Castle. Short skeletal monster with sharp claws, a decayed face and smells like sulfur. People describe it as looking like Gollum. Some believe it was conjured by Druids before the castle was there, while others claim that a fighting force conjured it in some way to bring fire to destroy the castle. Gerald Fitgerald is said to be the one who conjured it because he was adept at magick and tried to take over castle several times. That would be malignant magick. Others claim he is the spirit of an O'Carroll family, but that is not possible because it were never human. This entity is dark and sinister. Mildred Darby's account, "Suddenly, two hands were laid on my shoulders. I turned round sharply and saw, as clearly as Isee you now-a grey ‘Thing’, standing a couple of feet from me, with it’s bent arms raised as if it were cursing me. I cannot describe in words how utterly aweful the ‘Thing’ was, it’s very undefinableness rendering the horrible shadow more gruesome. Human in shape, a little shorter than I am, I could just make out the shape of big black holes like great eyes and sharp features, but the whole figure-head, face, hands and all-was grey-unclean, blueish grey, something of the colour and appearance of common cotton wool. But, oh! so sinister, repulsive and devilish. My friends who are clever about occult things say it is what they call an “Elemental”. The thing was about the size of a sheep, thin, gaunt and shadowy in parts. It’s face was human, or to be more accurate, inhuman, in it’s vileness, with large holes of blackness for eyes, loose slobbery lips, and a thick saliva-dripping jaw, sloping back suddenly into its neck! Nose it had none, only spreading, cancerous cavities, the whole face being a uniform tint of grey. This too, was the colour of the dark coarse hair covering its head, neck and body. It’s forearms were thickly coated with the same hair, so were its paws, large, loose and hand-shaped; and it sat on it’s hind legs, one hand or paw was raised, and a claw-like finger was extended ready to scratch the paint. It’s lustreless eyes, which seemed half decomposed, and looked incredibly foul, stared into mine, and the horrible smell which had before offended my nostrils, only a hundred times intensified, came up to my face, filling me with a deadly nausea. I noticed the lower half of the creature was indefinite and seemed semi-transparent-at least, I could see the framework of the door that led into the gallery through its body." The last time she saw the thing was in 1915.
The Felixstowe Fire Demon. In the fall of 1965, a group of British men were hanging out in Felixstowe, which is on the coast of the North Sea in Suffolk, England. They were driving and pulled their car over near a forested area. One of the young men, Michael Johnson, jumped out of the car and ran into the forest. His friends thought he was relieving himself, but he didn't return and then they thought they saw an UFO. It flew away and their friend stumbled out into the road and collapsed. Later at the hospital he told his friends that he had been compelled to enter the forest and he met a weird creature there that was some kind of humanoid with large sloping eyes that were glowing in the darkness and the thing was completely engulfed by orange flames. He blacked out and then woke up in hospital. The doctors found burn marks on his neck.
In Railbach Germany in 1125, a group of people described seeing a burning man who had fire coming from his nose and mouth and they said they could see his burning ribs. And the Black Forest in Germany is said to be crawling with them.
How do you get rid of an Elemental? You can't destroy them or completely banish them, but you can release them to their realm. You can make peace and coexist too. A shaman would be the best person to get help with this.
Elementals are something to explore connecting to and perhaps you will find a class you are drawn to. For me, I've always been drawn more to water. The undines help not only to cleanse water, but also the emotional and subconscious world. Gnomes clean up discord and negativity on a spiritual level. Sylphs purify the mental plane of negative thoughts like hatred, anger, resentment, pride, greed and jealousy. Salamanders are agents of bringing fire to mankind through electricity, firelight or candle flame and they are responsible for the spark of life and they keep it from decaying or disintegrating. So perhaps explore one. And see if you find that Elementals do exist. Because, that is for you to decide!
Showing posts with label fairies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairies. Show all posts
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Friday, March 31, 2017
HGB Ep. 193 - Legend of the Faeries
Moment in Oddity - Mother Ludlam's Cave
(Suggested by: Rachel Thomson)
There is a small grotto in Surrey, England that has many local legends told about it. This grotto is known as Mother Ludlam's Cave. Early stories claim that monks found the cave and the spring inside, which was used for drinking water. It was thought that the spring had healing properties and was named Lud after the Celtic god of healing. The most interesting story related to the cave is the legend of Mother Ludlam. Mother Ludlam was a white witch who would help out the local townspeople. She would lend them whatever they needed, but it was always with the stipulation that it had to be returned in two days. Villagers would approach the cave and ask Mother Ludlam for what they needed and when they returned home, that item would be sitting on their front stoop. One man borrowed a cauldron. He forgot to return in within the two days and Mother Ludlam flew into a rage. She went seeking him and when he found out, he took the cauldron and hid in Frensham Church. That is one version of the story. The most told tale is that it was not a man who came to borrow the cauldron, but the Devil himself. Mother Ludlam saw the Devil's hoofprint and she refused to give him the cauldron, so he stole it. It is said that as he ran, he leapt over the ground forming hills that are known as the Devil’s Jumps near Churt. He finally dropped the cauldron (or kettle) on the last one which is called “Kettlebury Hill” today. Mother Ludlam retrieved the dropped cauldron and hid it in the Frensham Church where the Devil wouldn't look for it. These sound like fun legends about a real cave, but the cauldron actually can be seen to this very day at Frensham Church and that, certainly is odd!
This Month in History - Johann Sebastian Bach is Born
In the month of March, on the 31st day, in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. Bach began school at the age of seven. He studied Latin and received religious studies in the Lutheran faith. His faith would influence his future musical career. Tragedy struck for him at the tender age of ten when both his parents died and he found himself an orphan. There would be a silver lining as his older brother, Johann Christoph, took him in and raised him. Christoph was a church organist in Ohrdruf and he taught Bach how to play. Bach lived with him until he was fifteen. He went away to a school in Lüneburg where he had won a spot because of his beautiful soprano singing voice. His voice changed later and Bach decided to switch to playing instruments. He chose the violin and the harpsichord. Bach became a composer, but during his lifetime, he was more known for his organ playing than his composing. Some of his famous compositions include "Toccata and Fugue in D minor," "Mass in B Minor," the "Brandenburg Concertos" and "The Well-Tempered Clavier." He died in Leipzig on July 28, 1750. Today, he is considered one of the greatest Western composers of all time.
Legend of the Faeries (Suggested by Vicki Luther and Amy Harris Martinez)
A belief in Faeries has existed for centuries and stretches all around the world. Early stories of faeries originate in medieval Western Europe and this is where we get the term "Fairy Tales." The roots of the oldest tale of fairy creatures comes from a folktale named “The Smith and the Devil.” Some fairy tales are thought to be up to 6,000 years old. Stories of faeries traveled with the colonists to America and are still strong in Appalachian and Ozark lore. There are many theories as to what faeries may be and because of this, they take many forms in folklore. And while most people believe that faeries are not real, the belief in these creatures is very real. And there are tales that go beyond superstition and leave open the possibility that faeries may just exist. Join us as we explore the folklore about these fascinating beings and examine some of the tales that are told about them!
When it comes to appearances, most of us grew up with the image of a cute little winged pixie that was little more than a human butterfly. Ask someone what a fairy looks like and they most likely will describe Tinker Bell from "Peter Pan." But faeries come in a variety of forms and are generally much larger than the six inch image most of us have. The smallest faeries are described as little more than balls of light, similar to fireflies, but these orbs of light can be as large as two to three inches in diameter. They are referred to as Will o' Wisps many times. Then there are the "gnome-sized" faeries, equated with little people, that run between two and three feet tall and they like to wear the color red and green. Human-sized faeries are not as common and usually appear more shadowy in somber colors, occasionally wearing cloaks. All sizes have been described as winged, but faeries do not necessarily all have wings. They have fair skin, which can come in a variety of pastel coloring. All faeries are thought to be magical creatures.
There are many theories as to the origins of faeries. There are beliefs that they have descended from the ancient race of elves and so they have a similar look, but with the upgrade of being able to fly. Elementals are spirit creatures of air, water, fire and earth and there are some that believe that faeries are really elementals. It's important to note that some spiritual practices see elementals as branching out into pixies, sprites, devas, elves, brownies, leprechauns, gnomes, merfolk, kelpies, hobgoblins and faeries. Even more interesting is that there are those who classify faeries as these individual creatures, making faeries the top classification. So pixies are really a race of faeries, as are leprechauns and so on. Perhaps because of the wings, faeries are thought to be a type of angel. Early Christian beliefs held that if someone died without being baptized, then they would become a faery creature. It was taught that the fallen angels that went with Lucifer became faeries when God stopped them in mid-flight on their way to Hell. They were told to stay right where they were, which is why some are in the air, some are in the water and some are in the earth. These accounts are found in Irish, Scottish and Scandinavian folklore. Others think they are souls caught between heaven and Hell in some kind of limbo. And still other tales claim that faeries are the offspring of demons and angels coming together.
These beliefs in early Christianity were adapted from pagan beliefs, which is where faeries have their true origins. All branches of the Celtic families adopted stories of faeries and those beliefs spread to the British Isles and on to France and Germany. The Welsh had a matriarchal society and they called faeries "The Mothers" coming down from the Mother Goddess they worshipped. Faeries in their lore were always depicted as females living in Fairyland, which was also known as the Land of Women. An interesting incorporation of faeries in the pagan pentagram, makes faeries seem to be a spirit type elemental. The five points of the pentagram are air, water, fire, earth and spirit, with faeries being the spirit incarnate. One of the reasons why it is rare to see a faery is because of this spirit nature and the idea that they live in a different world or what we might term in our modern language, a different dimension. This dimension is sometimes referred to as the land of Tir na nog which is the Land of Eternal Youth. The veil between these worlds seems to be thinner at twilight and this is when these creatures are most likely to be seen. If a human tries to pass into Tir na nog and actually accomplishes this feat, they will never return, at least not alive.
As we covered on our episode about Icelandic folklore, Icelanders are superstitious about elf rocks where they believe elves live. Those rocks are not to be moved. Other countries have similar beliefs about faery domiciles, which makes sense when considering that elves and faeries may be one and the same. The Irish have burial mounds they call sidhe, which means fairy mound, because they believe faeries live in these mounds. Hundreds of these still dot the Irish landscape. So the Irish believe that faeries are connected to the deadlands and that they can go back and forth from earth to heaven to the underworld. This is interesting when thinking of faeries as spirit beings. At Samhain, faeries leave their fairy hills according to Irish lore.
The purpose of faeries really depends on the faery. Some are mischievous imps leading travelers astray in the woods, while others are helpful and bring food for those lost in the woods. If you awaken with tangled hair, those could be elf-locks that a faery has twisted into your hair as you slept. They occasionally help themselves to small items. Consumption was blamed on faeries in some places as it was thought that they were keeping these people awake all night, mostly dancing and such, and the lack of sleep was wasting them away. Most faeries were thought to be hard workers, but shy and diminutive in stature. It is thought they raised animals to be of smaller stature as well. Brownies, for example, were welcome around farms and the house because they were happy to help with chores. There is historical evidence of little people races in Europe and the British Isle, which could be what spawned stories of faeries.
There is a sinister side to faeries though, that involves changelings. Many of you have probably heard of changelings. These are faery babies that have been substituted for human babies. You may not know; however, why faeries exchange babies. Female faeries have great difficulty in carrying babies and even more difficulty giving birth. If they manage to carry a baby to full term, it is generally deformed in some way. There is actually a genetic reason for this because faery races are small in number and so inbreeding is common. They bring these sickly and deformed faery babies into the human world and exchange them for a healthy human baby. They are then taught the faery ways and strengthen the blood lines. Adult humans can be exchanged with a changeling too. It is rare, but has happened according to lore. These humans are trapped with faery magic for a length of time to help them forget their former lives. Then they are used to produce healthy faery babies. (This seems similar to tales of aliens using humans for breeding purposes.) The changeling left behind usually gives itself away because of its ill tempered nature.
There are things that humans can use to keep faeries away. Faeries do not like iron, particularly if it is cold iron that has yet to be heated for shaping. Steel is an alloy of iron and is said to weaken faeries, although it is not toxic to them like iron. Charms made from salt, herbs like rosemary, St. John's Wort and dill, gravesoil and rowan wood weakens faeries. Planting a rowan tree near the door works best. Newfoundland folklore claims that bread can keep the beings away. Holy water can make them ill and if you know the faeries real name, you have power over them, which is similar to a belief that knowing a demons name gives one power over them. Horseshoes are not just a symbol of good luck, they apparently are a faery deterrent, particularly if made from iron. A row of iron nails would be hammered into the headboard of a bed where a new mother would lie down with her baby and Scotland held the belief that if the father's pants were hung at the foot of the bed, it would frighten the faeries. Wrapping the baby in the father's shirt would have the same effect. And remember that a faery is like a vampire in that it cannot enter your home without being invited.
In Thailand, they have a fairy-like creatures that they call Naree Pon. They are said to be a combination of plant and animal. They stand less than three feet tall and have female bodies with a camouflage coloring to their skin. Locals sometimes refer to them as the Thai Flower Pod Women. In Buddhist folklore, the Naree Pon come to Buddha as he meditates and they distract him. This happens mostly during the day, as they hide in the trees at night. The legends also describe the Naree Pon as fruit on trees that become alive after falling from the trees and live for a week. After the week is over, their bodies whither into little carcasses that can be held in the hand. A temple outside of Bangkok has a couple of them on display. They have unusually long arms and a plant-like structure on their heads. Syfy’s Destination Truth went out in search of them on an episode, but did not find any.
Now, we have referred to these photos as a hoax, but Harold Snelling, who was a fellow spiritualist and also an expert on photographic retouching, said, "These dancing figures are not made of paper nor any fabric; they are not painted on a photographic background — but what gets me most is that all these figures have moved during the exposure." Snelling reprinted and retouched the negatives to get crisper images. Those images looked even more real than the originals. He and Doyle agreed that the girls were too young to pull off such a hoax. The two girls grew into women and they were hounded several times in iradult lives to tell the truth. They were always very evasive with their answers until they were older women in their 70s and 80s. They professed that "the fairies in the photographs were actually drawings Elsie had made, cut out and set in place with hatpins." They traced them from "Princess Mary's Gift Book" and placed cardboard behind them that was fastened with zinc oxide bandage tape. Frances wrote in 1983, "I'm fed up with all these stories... I hated those photographs and cringe every time I see them. I thought it was a joke, but everyone else kept it going. It should have died a natural death 60 years ago." What is fascinating about this story is that although the women admitted the pictures were a hoax, they maintained that they really saw faeries and interacted with them. And this, they both maintained until their deaths. In the 1980’s, Ronnie Bennett, a forester in Cottingley Woods, came forward with a fairy encounter he had while working there: "When they showed themselves about nine years ago there was a slight drizzle around. I saw three fairies in the woods and I have never seen them since. They were just about ten inches tall and just stared at me. There is no way the Cottingley Fairies is a hoax."
William Blake was a poet and an artist and apparently, a believer in faeries. It is said that he had the following conversation with a woman:
"Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, madam?" said Blake to a lady who happened to sit next to him.The Fairy Flag of Dunvegan Castle is a very interesting story. Dunvegan Castle, on the isle of Skye, is the ancestral home of the MacLeod clan. The family came into possession of the flag, when the Fae wrapped the infant MacLeod in it when he was at the point of death. The family was told that they could wave the flag two more times when they were in distress and the Fae would come to help. The second time it was waved was at a battle in Waternish in 1520 and it was used to rally MacLeod's men. The flag was later cut into small pieces and carried by the MacLeod Warriors during World War II. The soldiers believed the flag would give them magical protection. Those who carried a piece of the flag were said to have come home alive. What is left of the Fairy Flag is preserved under glass on a wall at Dunvegan Castle. There is still one more wave of the flag left.
"Never, Sir!" said the lady.
"I have," said Blake, "but not before last night."
And he went on to tell how, in his garden, he had seen "a procession of creatures of the size and colour of green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose-leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared".
William Butterfield was the keeper of Ilkley Wells in West Yorkshire, England and he claimed to have a fairy encounter in 1815, “As he drew near the wells he took out of his pocket the massive iron key, and placed it in the lock; but there was something “canny’ about it, and instead of the key lifting the lever it only turned round and round in the lock. He drew the key back to see that it was alright, and declared, “It was the same that he had on the previous night hung up behind his own door down at home. Then he endeavored to push the door open, and no sooner did he push it slightly ajar than it was as quickly pushed back again. At last, with one supreme effort, he forced it perfectly open, and back it flew with a great bang! Then ‘whirr, whirr, whirr’, such a noise and sight! All over the water and dipping into it was a lot of little creatures, all dressed in green from head to foot, none of them more than eighteen inches high, and making a chatter and jabber thoroughly unintelligible. They seemed to be taking a bath, only they bathed with all their clothes on. Soon, however, one or two of them began to make off, bounding over the walls like squirrels. Finding they were all making ready for decamping, and wanting to have a word with them, he shouted at the top of his voice—indeed, he declared afterwards, he couldn’t find anything else to say or do—”Hallo there!” Then away the whole tribe went, helter skelter, toppling and tumbling, heads over heels, heels over heads, and all the while making a noise not unlike a disturbed nest of young partridges. The sight was so unusual that he declared he either couldn’t or daren’t attempt to rush after them. He stood as still and confounded, he said, as old Jeremiah Lister down there at Wheatley did, half a century previous, when a witch from Ilkley put an ash riddle upon the side of the River Wharfe, and sailed across in it to where he was standing."
Janet Bord wrote "Fairies: Real Encounters with Little People." She reported that in 1968, contractors in Donegal would not cut down a gnarled tree that stood in the way of a new road they were building because it was believed that the tree was a fairy tree. One of the contractors said, "There is something uncanny about it.The roots are not more than a couple of feet below ground - yet it defied a hurricane seven years ago." There are multiple stories of people getting sick after cutting fairy thorns and putting up buildings across fairy paths. People living in homes blocking a fairy path would open their windows at night so that the faeries could pass through and then the occupants would not become ill. A girl became lost in 1935 on Lis Ard, which was a fairy fort in County Mayo. There was a gap to the outer bank that she should have been able to pass through, but some kind of external force kept her from passing. This force turned her round so that she was walking back into the fort. She tried again and again, but it was as if there was an invisible wall and it felt hostile to her. Later, the barrier disappeared and she was able to leave. Bord also writes of an impossibly tiny shoe found in Ireland and a large group of tiny people seen playing in a Fairy Bog in Wales.
A Somerset farmer's wife claimed in 1962 that she had lost her way at Berkshire Downs and was put on the right track by a small man in green who appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared after pointing her in the right direction. A woman in Cornwall also claimed to see a small green man with a pointed hood and pointed ears as she was making her way to the ferry. Her daughter saw the same creature and they made a mad dash for the ferry, totally terrified.
Danica wrote, "I do believe in fairies. My daughters and I rented a trailer in El Cajon, California in 2010. One morning we were all eating breakfast in the kitchen, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a fairy floating in the air. It was a female about three feet in height sprinkling gold dust all around her. At the same time, my oldest daughter said, 'Mommy , mommy, there is a fairy sprinkling gold dust everywhere over by the window.' My daughters and I also experienced some other unexplained phenomena in that trailer. It was getting a little too scary for us. We only stayed living in that trailer for 10 days and moved out as quickly as we could. I think my daughters and I somehow attract the unexplained, paranormal, whatever you want to call it, because we have encountered several more experiences with the paranormal that were scary. Thankfully, it has been almost a year that we have not encountered anything. We have seen things that no one would believe. Prayer and faith have kept us safe."
Did faeries actually exist? Is it possible that they still exist today? Most of the former Celtic nations of Brittany, Germany, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have people who believe that faeries still exist. There is a theory that they are rarely seen because they are a dying breed. Still others reason that the creatures are disappearing because we fail to believe in them. Do you believe in faeries? That is for you to decide!
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