Fairies of New England: The Little People of the Hills and Forests

In May 2023, I traveled to Sherman, Connecticut, to research the story of a man called Perry Boney who for many years was depicted in local folklore as a “fairy man” or “fairy seer” who communicated with fairies.

When I went to Sherman, I was half-convinced Perry didn’t exist, that his story and its fairy associations were pure fiction, perhaps invented and embellished over many years. In Sherman, I met local historians John Cilio and Ann Price who assured me that Perry was a real man who’d lived in Sherman in the early twentieth century. They even showed me photographs of Perry and his wife taken before Perry died in 1921.

It turns out that Perry’s association with fairies accrued over many years. Various folklorists embellished his story until the Perry Boney of folklore became a strange figure indeed. In fact, Perry was an eccentric whose story deserves to be told, and I was determined to tell it in my forthcoming book.

I wrote up Perry’s story in May 2023, separating the fairy folklore from the facts of his life, and this telling will appear in New England Fairies: A History of the Little People of the Hills and Forests.

Ann Price is the real authority on Perry (she even lives on the spot of his former home), and nobody owns Perry’s story except Perry himself, but I must admit, I was pretty excited to break the story in my book. Unfortunately, the journalist Andrew DaRosa went to Sherman after me, interviewed the same people, and has just broken the story online. You can read DaRosa’s story here.

My take on the folklore and life of Perry Boney (real name: James Perry Wanzer) will feature in my book published on August 5, 2024.

James Perry Wanzer (“Perry Boney”) photographed with his wife Martha.