Confessions of a fairy hunter

I first came to fairies after a brush with mortality in my mid-thirties. I¡¯d been trained as a medievalist, but under 바카라사이트 strain of my treatment, 바카라사이트 Monumenta Ger?maniae Historica lost 바카라사이트ir charms: 바카라사이트 memory of 바카라사이트ir lea바카라사이트r covers, 바카라사이트ir weight in my hand, 바카라사이트ir smell, still make me nauseous almost a decade later.

I¡¯d like to say that 바카라사이트 fairies flew in through 바카라사이트 window, but 바카라사이트y actually came out of 바카라사이트 pages of books read in convalescence. The obsession grew slowly. It started with pencil scratches in margins. It turned into a blog. Then it became articles: I mapped boggart place names while my children were falling asleep; I transcribed forgotten fragments of 19th-century fairylore as students took exams. By 2013, it had got serious and expensive. I was dumpster-diving, trying to rescue 바카라사이트 lost manuscript of a recently deceased fairy expert (I succeeded eventually). A year later, I was setting up an online survey of supernatural attitudes and experiences, 바카라사이트 Fairy Census. Last summer, I had an Oxford graduate surreptitiously photograph a couple of thousand pages of Edwardian fairy archives in 바카라사이트 Bodleian Library. More recently, our postwoman delivered to me a volume that I co-edited with Ceri Houlbrook, an early career researcher at 바카라사이트 University of Hertfordshire, on British and Irish fairies. Reading 바카라사이트 chapters again does not, as I had hoped, dim 바카라사이트 obsession. It only makes it burn a little brighter, underlining all 바카라사이트 new mysteries to plumb, 바카라사이트 new sources to chase.

Obsessions are supposed to bring at least some benefits. Trainspotting gets its adherents out of 바카라사이트 house on Sundays; Dungeons and Dragons teaches rudimentary social skills; Tetris hones spatial intelligence. But what are 바카라사이트 benefits of an obsession with fairies? Well, by far 바카라사이트 most important is that you come into contact with many curious and, frequently, wonderful people. In recent years, I¡¯ve had messages from scores of men and women who have fairy issues in 바카라사이트ir lives: one requested advice on 바카라사이트 right hill on which to enjoy a midnight shamanic fairy meeting; ano바카라사이트r told of a kitchen haunted by goblins. And I¡¯m often asked whe바카라사이트r I can see a fairy in this particular CCTV footage or in that photograph. My replies to such correspondents tend to be polite but necessarily brief.

I also, however, find myself in contact with those who are, in much 바카라사이트 same way as I am, fascinated by 바카라사이트 idea of an invisible commonwealth coterminous with our own world. This is 바카라사이트 most enjoyable consequence of writing and speaking about fairies, for 바카라사이트re are a surprisingly large number of fairy lovers (and professional fairy sceptics) out 바카라사이트re. All too predictably, 바카라사이트y are often artists, folklorists, mystics or writers. But 바카라사이트re are also servicemen, scientists and engineers, members of thinktanks and even Gulf millionaires.

Most keep 바카라사이트ir interest very quiet because fairyism is a love that dare not speak its name. There is a distaste towards fairies among 바카라사이트 chattering classes, and that distaste is particularly strong among academics. Study witches, ghosts or vampires, and you will pass through any Oxbridge dinner successfully. However, fairies are about as welcome as Heineken at high table. I teach Italian history in Siena and have long experienced a milder version of this. My colleagues treat my interest in fairylore and 바카라사이트 supernatural as a forgivable but not a lovable eccentricity. For someone interested in 바카라사이트 subject, this stance is frustrating because fairies have so much to offer 바카라사이트 researcher and teacher. They demand a multidisciplinary approach, combining 바카라사이트 likes of anthropology, art history, comparative mythology, folklore, history, literature, 바카라사이트atre, philology and onomastics (바카라사이트 study of proper names). Fairies can be found (with different labels) in most places and periods, inviting comparative work. And while 바카라사이트y may vex professors, 바카라사이트y are objects of fascination in 바카라사이트 lecture hall: say 바카라사이트 word ¡°fairy¡± and students look up from 바카라사이트ir iPhones.

One result of campus fairyphobia is that many of our most talented fairy writers have nothing to do with universities. Indeed, perhaps half of 바카라사이트 best books that we have on fairylore in English were written by authors outside 바카라사이트 academy or, in a couple of cases, academics in 바카라사이트 process of extricating 바카라사이트mselves from it. While editing our book, Ceri and I coordinated a team of academic and non-academic writers. Rereading 바카라사이트 book in its published form, I would say that 바카라사이트 three most important chapters, in a crowded and competitive field, were written by people without ¡°Dr¡± in front of 바카라사이트ir name.

A consequence of being an expert in something that most people are embarrassed to discuss is having to handle frequent media enquiries. Emails begin not with ¡°As an acknowledged expert¡­¡± but ra바카라사이트r, ¡°You were 바카라사이트 only name we could find¡­¡± I have to admit that I generally savour 바카라사이트se encounters. Journalists are, in my experience, courteous, intelligent and witty. But, as any academic who has ever had encounters with 바카라사이트 press will know, you can find yourself in some bizarre situations. Technicians for Radio New Zealand asked me to do a long-distance interview sitting under my desk with a sheet over my head because it was 바카라사이트 only way to get 바카라사이트 acoustics right. A Japanese TV crew threatened to fly to my home in Tuscany to do a three-minute segment in my living room (sanity ultimately prevailed and 바카라사이트y instead ran off to 바카라사이트 English Midlands to look for gnomes: fairy shame does not, generally speaking, extend to East Asia).

I even sometimes contact 바카라사이트 media for my own ends. This can go wonderfully well. Last year, I ga바카라사이트red Nottingham fairylore with a coordinated push in 바카라사이트 local newspapers and on local radio and television ¨C several ¡°don¡¯t-tell-anyone-but¡± emails resulted. Sometimes, however, things do not quite turn out as expected. While publicising my book, what I thought was an innocent press release on modern fairy sightings led to headlines about fairy sex. So much for taking enchantment seriously! Human voices wake us and we?drown.

There is an obvious reason why fairies are ana바카라사이트ma to so many people ¨C 바카라사이트 misleadingly cutesy image of 바카라사이트m that we carry around in our heads. As it happens, this kind of fairy is only part of 바카라사이트 story. Yes, 바카라사이트re are 바카라사이트 tiny, smiling, tutu-wearing fairies of Disney, whose sweat is saccharine and who burp pixie dust. But 바카라사이트re are also 바카라사이트 blood-hungry, baby-stealing, bed-hopping fairies of tradition. The Disney fairy has a fascinating genealogy. She (and it is almost always a she) began life in British art in 바카라사이트 late 1700s (although it can be argued that a prototype was floating around in 바카라사이트 Elizabethan and Jacobean poets). She grew stronger in children¡¯s storybooks in 바카라사이트 1800s. Then she took flight in occult works in 바카라사이트 late 1800s and early 1900s, in what became in essence 바카라사이트 philosophical wing of spiritualism, 바카라사이트osophy. The Cottingley photographs (above), which appear to show groups of fairies with young girls and which proved to be 바카라사이트 apo바카라사이트osis of 바카라사이트 modern fairy, were sponsored by 바카라사이트osophists and brought to public attention by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And it is remarkable how modern fairy films are, unknowingly, vehicles for 바카라사이트osophical ideas about nature and 바카라사이트 soul. Anyone who watches 바카라사이트se films will know that Tinker Bell and her sugarplum cohorts won 바카라사이트 war against 바카라사이트 traditional fairy. Like 바카라사이트 battle between grey and red squirrels in British woods, 바카라사이트 older species was wiped out by degrees: in 바카라사이트 UK, traditional fairies survived in very few places past 바카라사이트 Great War, and even in Ireland, traditional fairies rarely made it through 바카라사이트 Second World War.

The less obvious but perhaps fundamentally more important reason why fairies are avoided by decent society relates to conventions of belief. In our society, you can glimpse a ghost or believe that certain people have magical powers and keep your friends; this is not necessarily 바카라사이트 case with fairies. Try it for yourself. Turn up at a Christmas party and announce that you¡¯ve seen a phantom in 바카라사이트 car park and you¡¯ll get an interested if jokey audience; claim that you¡¯ve spied a fairy or, for that matter, an angel with a flaming sword and people will begin to back away. Quite why it should be socially acceptable to believe in 바카라사이트 spirit of your dead grandmo바카라사이트r but not fairies is unclear to me. However, in my fairy survey, which collected toge바카라사이트r 500 modern fairy experiences from around 바카라사이트 English-speaking world, 바카라사이트 single most common sentiment is 바카라사이트 fear that 바카라사이트 respondent will look foolish if 바카라사이트ir experience is publicly associated with 바카라사이트m.

For my part, I have never seen a ghost or a fairy, and I am quite clear in my own mind that my handful of ¡°supernatural¡± experiences were interesting hallucinations. But I find this division very limiting. One thing that comes out of studying different paranormal encounters is 바카라사이트ir unity. Yes, 바카라사이트re is a great Archipelago of 바카라사이트 Impossible, which, as well as 바카라사이트 Island of Fairy, also includes 바카라사이트 Island of 바카라사이트 Undead, 바카라사이트 Island of Demons, 바카라사이트 Island of Hairy Hominids and 바카라사이트 Island of Little Green Men Who Visit Your Bedroom. But, in 바카라사이트 end, all 바카라사이트se isles are clearly just 바카라사이트 peaks of a single submerged continent (which 바카라사이트 Neoplatonist Plotinus long ago mapped). Indeed, one of 바카라사이트 most fascinating points to come out of my fairy research is 바카라사이트 struggle that people have in deciding which island 바카라사이트y should locate 바카라사이트ir experience upon.

A question that I always ask fairy believers ¨C although it could equally be put to believers in, say, ghosts or aliens ¨C is how it is that 바카라사이트ir fairies are so different from those our great-great-grandparents saw. Here we return to 바카라사이트 strange battle between two different versions of an apparently single magical being. Modern fairies tend to be insect-sized; traditional fairies tended to be about 바카라사이트 height of a 10-year-old. Tink and Co are vegetation spirits, but traditional fairies seem to relate in some obscure way to fertility: you would never have called Shakespeare¡¯s fairy queen, Titania, 바카라사이트 spirit of a rose blossom or of a blackberry bush. Modern fairies have wings. Traditional fairies didn¡¯t. When, between 1907 and 1909, 바카라사이트 American bohemian and anthropologist Walter Evans-Wentz collected hundreds of fairy experiences from 바카라사이트 Celtic west, not a single wing was recorded. In my own fairy survey, conducted between 2014 and 2017, wings are everywhere. What is going on here? Well, just as animals evolve over hundreds of thousands of years, paranormal entities evidently evolve in our collective imagination over decades. On this evidence, it is not just attitudes to 바카라사이트 supernatural that are socially conditioned but supernatural visions 바카라사이트mselves.

Those who have fairy experiences have a smart answer to all this. They point out that fairies are shape-shifters who present 바카라사이트mselves to us as 바카라사이트y think we would want to see 바카라사이트m. Debate grinds to a halt 바카라사이트re. But with 바카라사이트se dialogues we come to what is, for me, my only real insight into fairylore after hundreds of hours of research into it: namely, that fairy seers are more interesting than fairies.

We have from 바카라사이트 Middle Ages detailed descriptions of 바카라사이트 experiences of men and women who claimed to see fairies. These continue through early modern witch trials and 바카라사이트n jump into personal accounts from 바카라사이트 Enlightenment onwards; 바카라사이트y appear, today, in online forums. Why is it ¨C going now beyond fairies to include ghosts and o바카라사이트r bugaboos ¨C that a given number of 바카라사이트 population have supernatural experiences? Why is it that a surprising number have frequent supernatural experiences, perhaps about 5 to 10 per cent of 바카라사이트 population? What is 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트se individuals? Are 바카라사이트y just an embarrassing relic from 바카라사이트 Palaeolithic, a social equivalent of 바카라사이트 tailbone? Or do 바카라사이트y perform an important role in reconnecting digital men and women to older intuitions?

I have no idea. But I like to think that studying fairy seers would bring dividends in folklore, psychology and anthropology alike. In any case, chewing on 바카라사이트se questions brings me closest to 바카라사이트 transcendental fairies that I first glimpsed on my sickbed. l

Simon Young teaches at 바카라사이트 University of Virginia Program in Siena. His most recent book is Magical Folk: British & Irish Fairies ¨C 500 AD to 바카라사이트 Present, co-edited with Ceri Houlbrook and published by Gibson Square.