(TW: Faeries, Fantasy Worlds, Real Life Death & Murder of Bridget Cleary, Kidnapping, Neraidaphobia)
Can I just start out by telling you how much I absolutely love writing this series? Getting to share my world with all of you… has been amazing. It makes me feel like all of the years I poured into researching folklore and mythology has been put to good, and it’s really helping me to bring Something Wicked alive. Last time, I loved telling you all more about the ways to keep yourself and your loved ones protected from the Fae, their Magickks, and some of the other preternatural beings found in my world. And I am just as excited to bring you this post too which will be admittedly equal parts satire and seriousness.
You see, today when I went to go pick up my leg braces (for mobility and stabilization) I was sitting in the waiting room when I saw a pretty girl in her late twenties, wearing a tank top with a punk looking Tinkerbell on it that said, “don’t grow up it’s a trap.”
(I’m not assuming anyone’s pronouns, the girl was wearing a she/her button on her bag. I want a pronouns button, too.)
It was probably the coolest (and most accurate) Disney shirt that I’d seen in a while. Now, coming from someone like me- a complete and total Disney nerd, that’s saying a lot. And no, if you’re wondering, I do not care how “cringey” some people might find Disney adults. I grew up in the 90’s watching Disney movies with my family. I’ve watched Disney movies my whole life with my mom, and my friends, and my brother. Hell, Angel and I just watched Turning Red. And my whole family just sat down to watch the brand new Hocus Pocus 2 when it came out on September 30th. (Thank you Disney+)
However, it did get me thinking about something. There is an entire generation of people out there who seem to think of the Fair Folk as sweet, friendly, and full of whimsy. These poor, deluded souls seem to think that the Fair Folk, Good Neighbors, and other names that we’ve given to the Fae, are some variants of angel or a symbol of protection and childlike wonder. Too many times on TikTok in the past week have I seen people talking about fairies as if they’re all just fun and games. Now, I get it, it’s kind of easy to get confused with all of the different kinds of preternatural creatures that have wings and insist upon flitting about on the edges of our reality. However, it really is important to learn and understand how to tell the difference.
Pro Tip: Angels typically believe in people; in some cultures and religions they are the protectors and overseers of mankind. Faeries… not so much.
After all, what are they supposed to think when, like me, they’ve grown up on Disney and fairytales. Maybe they even grew up putting their teeth under their pillows, like a lot of us did, in hopes that the tooth fairy would come and bring us a dollar. (Personally speaking, I don’t think it’s a great idea to teach children to barter away their body parts to any entity for any reason, especially not money.)
Because the Fae are not always our friends.
I think the problem might be that most of the real information is shared in old verse or embedded in obscure folklore and songs. All the better to appease the diminutive race that lives on the fringes of the world. Right? Such as:
Up the airy mountain
Down the rushy glen
We dare not go a-hunting
For fear of little men.
–The Fairies, William Allingham; 1883
And whilst this might make it easy for the tech-worshiping generation of today’s world to shrug off these warnings and say, “That’s all fine and great but, it clearly doesn’t apply to today’s world.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. There are stories of the little people all over the world, and although the details differ, all of them share common traits: they are ruled by an incomprehensible sense of ethics, dignity, and some have an unyielding interest in human agony.
So, here is an attempt at modernizing the information that we do have on the Fae so that, even in the age of social media, smartphones, TikTok, and constant connectivity, we do not fall foul to the rage of the Fair Folk. Because as fun as it might be to joke about stepping into a mushroom circle and letting the Fae take you away to what some might call a “better place” the truth of the matter is- none of us really knows what might be waiting for us on the other side.
Reason #1: Unauthorized Human Testing?
Now, I know exactly what you’re thinking, “what’s the worst Tinkerbell is really going to do to me?” Right? Wrong. Magick, time travel, deep sleep, charms, torture- it’s not entirely clear what the Fae really want from us. We also don’t know for sure what access they have to science and technology. So, while it’s thought that iron, technology, and machines might weaken certain types of Fae- who really knows? But, there are regular reports of “lost time” reported by their human test subjects that make it clear that there’s something that happens to these poor people. Although, what that something is, is entirely unclear.
Not many people make it out of Faeryland once they’re taken, nor do they often escape the Wee Ones.
That means that we have verry little information on the matter. However, it’s pretty clear that the results of these tests have varied. After all, all across the world there are stories and reports of people who have woken up from prolonged sleeps just to take one single step and crumble into nothingness. Men who have spent their time drinking too much liquor only to fall asleep, and not wake again for twenty years, to a world completely and entirely changed. Child stealing imps that can spin straw into gold. And at least two reported incidents of the subject returning to consciousness and waking up to long dead families over a hundred years later, to the confusion of all those around them.
And while I understand that this may sound like the stuff of ancient myths, folklore, and legend, there is still plenty of evidence that it’s still happening today. In fact, there are many, many locations, some of which that include Florida, Costa del Sol, Ibiza, Tijuana, and of course Ireland, where previously young people have gotten together for events such as the spring equinox (also called “spring break” or “the Easter holiday”) and then end up experiencing these periods of lost time. Some people have reported going out for only “a few drinks” and then wake up in the grace, or on a park bench in a foreign place with no recollection of where the time had gone.
It does make you wonder though- what are they doing to people during this lost time?
Reason #2: Fair Folk Stealing Our Children.
One of the most common themes when it comes to stories about Faeries involve Changelings. This is a phenomenon that has been recorded since… well, the beginning of recorded time. Also referred to as an auf or an oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. It was believed that these changelings were a fairy that had been left in the place of a human (most often a child or an infant) stolen by other fairies.
There are a number of identifiable traits often associated with Changelings; in Irish legend, a fairy child may appear sickly and will not grow in size like a typical child would. Many also might have notable physical characteristics such as a beard or long teeth, and display intelligence or insight far beyond their apparent years. In all of the lore I’ve read, a common way that a Changeling can identify itself is through displaying unusual behaviors when it believes that it’s alone. Doing things such as jumping about, dancing or playing an instrument- although this last example is only found within Irish and Scottish legends.
(It kind of makes me think of different types of neurodivergence though, such as ADHD and Autism because, I know that most neurodivergent people often relate to feeling like they’re from another world.)
So, what are some of the reasons that the Fair Folk might want a human child? To act as a servant, love, malice? Most often it was thought that Faeries exchanged the children. In rare cases, it was even thought that the elderly Fae people would be exchanged in the place of a human baby, so that the old fairy could live out the rest of its life in comfort, being coddled by its human parents. I touched base on this a bit in the last post but, simple charms such as an inverted coat or open iron scissors left where the child sleeps, were thought to ward off the Fae; other measures also included constantly watching over the child.
And while it’s thought that most Changelings are babies, that isn’t always the case. Fairies would also take adult humans too, especially the newly married, and new mothers. Young adults were taken to marry fairies instead, while new mothers were often taken to use as wet nurses for fairy babies. In the place of the taken adult objects would be left such as a log, enchanted to look like the person. To the untrained eye this object would seem to sicken and die, to be buried by the human family, while the living human was kept among the Fae.
Bridget Cleary is one of the most well-known cases of an adult who was thought to be a Changeling by her family. Although unfortunately killed by her husband, who thought that he could somehow force the fairies to return his ‘real’ wife. At the time, the gruesome nature of this case prompted extensive press coverage, and the trial was very closely followed by newspapers all across Ireland. -I spent hours reading up on everything that I could find on this case, and if you’re interested, I can do a whole post about it. But, aside from that I’ll leave the Wikipedia page linked right here.
(Please remember that Bridget Cleary was a real person, and her death was an unwelcome and horrible tragedy.)
Reason #3: They’re Very Knotty Creatures.
Puns aside, the Fae are very well-known for tangling the hair (or manes) of people and animals during nighttime. Now, maybe that doesn’t sound so bad at first but, by all accounts the knots and tangles caused by the Fae are incredibly personal.
If one of the little people have turned their attention to your hair, you’ll never find a comb in the world that can help you. You’ll have to cut the knot out- you won’t have any other choice. But it gets worse; modern day Faeries don’t just settle for tangling hair, manes, and pulling out your cat’s whiskers. Instead, they turn their attention to stealing and knotting cables, chargers, and headphones.
“She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone…….
That plaits the manes of horses in the night
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes.”
–Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
Reason #4: They Don’t Think or Feel Things Like We Do.
Now, I’m pretty sure this one may just be a given considering that the Fae are not human; they’ve never been human, and they never will be. This means that they have their own set of morals, belief systems, and a hierarchy of rules and societal norms that they carry out and follow. All of these things may seem foreign, strange, and even alien to us humans. Naturally so, I think because, it is hard for humans to accept the things that they do not understand. Especially when these “things” are a race of sentient beings who sometimes tend to look human but, couldn’t be further from it.
Most, if not all Faeries that you run into may be incredibly old, also. Meaning that they could have grown up, been raised, or have existed in a completely different and foreign time. Therefore, you should always be mindful of what you say and do because, they can be easily offended. Fae run on politeness for the most part- and that should be remembered when dealing with any Faerie because, any and all curses you may incur could stick around for generations. You are not immortal but, the Fae are.
Reason #5: Magick.
I think that this one also goes without saying because, whether or not you believe in magick, it is there. Magick is all around us, even when we cannot see it- it is in the trees, the ground, the air, and in every living thing. The Fair Folk are born of it and can harness that magick into carrying out their will. And while not all Fae share the same abilities, or have the same access to magicks, they are still magick.
That being said, the Fae deal in things like curses, spells, and charms as well as more powerful and mysterious magicks that you and I could not possibly begin to understand. After all, I’m sure you’ve all heard the stories and rumors of Faeries kidnapping children, and even sometimes adults for reasons that are mostly unknown to us. However, it is most often thought that they do this in order to acquire servants, wet nurses for fairy children, or even the love of a human child. Sometimes, it is also thought that the Fae steal our people out of malice- and for those reasons, I think it best that we do not anger the Wee Folk because, they are unpredictable.
The Fair Folk are wild, and unpredictable, and magick. And what can we simple humans possibly do to protect ourselves from such creatures, beings that in some cultures were once worshipped as Gods. The answer to that one can be found here in my last post, in which I tell you about all of the things that you can do in order to keep yourself, your family, and your livestock safe from the Fae and all of their wicked, tricksy ways. In my next installment in this series, I’m hoping to get a little more in-depth on the topic of True Names, their meaning, and the power that they hold over us.
Until next time,
-Sky
Skyla N. Lambert
Author | Blogger | Bookworm
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