Seeing Fairies

This is not a children's book. its accounts of fairy experiences, mostly from the twentieth century, have come from business men and women, housewives, journalists, clergymen, bus drivers, anglers, gypsies, school teachers, university professors, soldiers, artists, authors, poets, musicians, sculptors, actresses, and many others who have seen fairies of various types in houses, churches, and sheds; in gardens, fields, woods, country lanes, and public parks; on moors, hills, and mountains; and even on sewing machines, typewriters, and kitchen stoves. in 1950 marjorie t. johnson became honorary secretary of a resurrected fairy investigation society, which had been founded by capt. quentin c. a. craufurd, and she collected accounts of fairies and also angelic beings from many of the members. in 1955 the scottish author and folklorist alasdair alpin macgregor collaborated with her in sending letters to the national press asking for further true experiences, and many more were received. the result is this book, published here in english for the first time. marjorie johnson's only request was that readers peruse the book with an open mind. "this book is special because it brings together an unprecedented number of fairy sightings... there are here about four hundred sightings from around the world. in short, this is the biggest single collection of fairy experiences ever amassed... whether fairies are out there (author points to wood, hedgerow, and waterfall) or in there (author points to balding head of middle-aged 'witness') then they need to be explained. marjorie gave us, in these pages, the tools to do just that." from the introduction by simon young review "this book truly does open a great many new and exciting doors into fairy research, with hundreds of previously unpublished fairy sightings just waiting to be further researched, and new fairy locations just waiting to be visited. an essential read for all dedicated fairy folklorists!" the fairy folklorist"reading these strange accounts one after another is a disturbing experience. they give the impression that the countryside is heavily populated with little people who live alongside us but are never seen by most of us. can this really be true? common sense tells us that it isn't, and that there must be some other explanation. how can we find out what it is? ...the true value of marjorie's efforts in collecting these reports is that we now have the raw material for a proper, unbiased, study of fairy sightings, and it is to be hoped that someone with the knowledge and ability to tease out all the clues can come up with a plausible explanation. wherever the truth is to be found, this book is essential reading for anyone with the slightest interest in fairies and the little people." janet bord, magonia"it is rare that we can announce the coming of the fairies. but here they are, some thousands of fairy folk, in over 400 reports from around the world...this unique assemblage of fairy sightings is essential reading for forteans, folklorists, fairyists, and, in fact, anyone who researches the unusual or the psychology of those who report the anomalous...whatever we call them, and whatever guise they wear, it is fascinating to see the points at which the worlds of the fairies and other supernatural entities intersect. the reports in seeing fairies add to our knowledge of paranormal patterns, which perhaps may, someday, solve the mystery of fairy sightings." chris woodyard, haunted ohio"i've recently come across a very engaging book-an anthology of four hundred or so individual memorates, first-hand accounts of encounters with the traditional anomalous entities of western, primarily british folklore</br>collected by the late marjorie t. johnson and only recently published. it comes with both a warm and informative introduction...marjorie t. johnson's book as well as chineselanguage memorates on modern sightings of inexplicabl