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

If I were to ask you where fairies dwell in New York State, I wouldn’t be surprised if you mentioned natural locations such as the Adirondacks or Catskills. That’s because, in the present day, fairies are often associated with nature, with beautiful locations such as hills and forests.

While completing my research for New York Fairies: A History of the Little People of the Empire State, I found many stories set in the mountains, mainly from Dutch, Scottish and Welsh sources. Fairy stories are found throughout the Catskills and the Hudson Valley (thanks to Washington Irving’s influence) and the southern and southwestern Adirondack foothills (thanks to the Scottish and Welsh immigrants who settled there in the early 1800s).

More surprisingly, I found many stories from urban regions. This includes New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens); Albany, New York; and Paterson, New Jersey. These urban fairies are largely Irish in origin, for the Irish were drawn to the employment opportunities found in cities and mill towns throughout the state. Their stories feature a wide array of fairies from banshees to changelings to Little People to “fairy fires.”

I’ve included two types of Irish fairy stories in the book: stories of New Yorkers who claimed to have encountered fairies on American soil and stories of those who met the fairies on the eve of their departure for America. The latter are surprisingly common, suggesting that Irish fairies may have intervened (unsuccessfully) to stop people leaving their country of birth.

The other hotspot of fairy activity in the state appears to be the Mohawk Valley and Finger Lakes of Upstate New York. Here we find many Indigenous tales about Little People (Haudenosaunee or Iroquois folklore) as well as Irish stories about fairies, will-o’-the-wisps and the Death Light (a type of “light fairy” that announces the death of a community member).

Regarding the types of fairies found throughout New York, Little People and goblins appear to be the most common. People from diverse communities have met these fairies, even in the modern day. I also include stories from the twenty-first century in which people encounter “winged” and “shining-light” fairies—the most commonly seen in New York today.

The map below shows some of the trips I made in search of New York fairies. To read about more fairies, preorder my book before its July 8, 2025, publication date.