Fairies and Elementals
Fairies
Fairies are magical beings, which can be found in all places. There are many different kinds of fairies, domestic, wild, water fairies that live in the rivers, lakes and the sea, tree fairies and earth fairies.
Fairies dance in circles and where they dance a fairy ring (mushrooms) will grow. You should not step inside a fairy ring, as you may not be able to escape. The only way out from a fairy ring once trapped is for a human chain to be formed outside the ring and for them to pull you out.
Fairies are tricksters and will play tricks on humans, animals and even each other.
Some fairies steal human babies and leave changelings in their place, usually an elderly fairy or a sick fairy baby. Babies thought to have been changelings were beaten and even burnt in an attempt to get the fairies to change it back.
Some humans with changeling babies treated the baby well in the hope that the fairies would in turn treat their baby well.
Fairy codes
Fairies do not like to be spied on or like to have their fairy treasure stolen. They also do not like lack of generosity and will punish anyone who does any of these things
Fairies do not like untidiness or disorder and will avoid places like this
Fairies dislike lack of manners and bad tempers
You should never eat with a fairy or you will forget that you are human
If you spend the night in a fairy camp, you can return to this world but will no longer be human
You should not touch the water within fairyland
Fairies don’t like to be seen or to have their names spoken.
Types of fairies
Asrais – a small female fairy, if exposed to sunlight it melts into a pool of rainbow water
Banshee – woman fairy, which attaches herself to a certain family and cries before a member of that family dies. Although portrayed as scary they are not always.
Bogles – goblins, which punish bad people
Brownies or Bwbachod (welsh brownies) – helpful domestic fairies, they do housework in return for a bowl of milk but if they are offered a reward for their help they are driven away
Buggane – a vicious goblin, which changes form and undoes the work of humans
Cluricauns – similar to leprechauns but they are almost always drunk and cheerful! They do not have any treasure and any they do have is stolen
Dwarfs – little stocky fairies that are very powerful, if exposed to sunlight they turn to stone
Dryads – tree fairies, they are born to protect a certain tree and their life is connected to the life of the tree, if the tree dies so does the fairy. If a human does harm to the tree the dryads will punish them
Elves – another name for trooping fairies
Fir Darrig – Irish fairies, similar to leprechauns, they are jokers and changelings. They often protect a family from danger and have the ability to grant wishes
Gnomes – earth fairies, they live underground and guard the treasures of the earth
Goblins – small and malicious, tend to stay in groups
Gwragedd Annwn – welsh water fairies, they live in lakes and rivers, have been known to take human husbands, possibly the result of god punishing people who argued with St. Patrick, the males where turned to fish and the females turned to fairies
Gwyllion – welsh water fairies, seen as hairy men or hideous women, they mislead travelers. It is said that you should always invite a gwyllion into your home and treat them well as denying them can lead to destruction
Hobgoblins – small grotesque brownies
Knockers – mine spirits; help miners by knocking where they will find ore
Leprechauns – sly, tricksters who are especially active on St. Patrick’s Day but can be seen all year round. They are antisocial and solitary. They are protectors of fairy treasure and will be generous to anyone who does them a good turn
Mer-people – water fairies, they are half human half fish, they are enchanters who lure fishermen
Pixies – mischievous fairies who play tricks on anyone or anything
Phouka – can be dangerous, they appear in animal form. They are helpful if treated well especially to farmers
Redcap – an evil goblin that wears iron boots, has sharp talons and a red cap. The cap is red as it is dyed in the blood of his human victims. They are found in old buildings especially if the building has an evil history
The Tooth Fairy – When a tooth falls out, if you leave it under your pillow the tooth fairy will visit in the night and exchange it for money.
Sidhee – Irish earth fairies, lives underground
Sluagh – Irish, spirits of sinners and the unforgiven dead. They tend to travel in groups and try to steal the souls of people who are dying
Spriggans – ugly and small with the ability to make themselves giant. They are destructive and dangerous and steal babies and leave baby spiggans in their place
Trolls or Trows – ugly fairies, do not like the daylight
Trooping fairies – fallen angels, not good enough to be saved or bad enough to be lost
Urisk – solitary fairies, who haunt lonely pools. They are part man, part goat. They seek out human company but their appearance often scares the human
Water fairies – they give life and take it away, can be either good or bad
The Cottingly Fairies
In 1917 in Cottingly, England, two cousins sixteen-year-old Elsie Wright and ten year old Frances Griffiths, took pictures of fairies in an attempt to prove to Elsie’s parents that they had seen them.
They borrowed Elsie’s dad’s camera and went to the creek behind the house where they claimed they had seen them and took photos.
On returning home, Elsie’s father developed them in his darkroom and was surprised to see fairies on the photos.
He was still not convinced however and the photos were left for two years before they came to public attention.
Elsie’s mother developed an interest in the paranormal and attended a meeting, which was also attended by sir Arthur Conan Doyle. She had taken the photos along to the meeting and showed them to him and him believing them to be genuine printed them in the strand in 1920.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also gave them a camera and asked them to take more pictures, which they did.
Elsie and Frances moved away from each other shortly after and stopped seeing the fairies.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle printed the pictures in his book The Coming of Fairies in 1922.
Although many claim the pictures are faked and the girls many years on also said they had just started out as fun, there are many who believe that they cannot have been faked as they fairies are claimed to be cut outs but in some of the pictures you can see through the fairies and also others that believe that one picture shows one of the girls producing ectoplasm.
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