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

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  • The Little Old Men of the Berkshires

    Some years ago I read about the legend of the “old men of the mountains” who supposedly inhabit the Berkshires in northwestern Connecticut (also called the Litchfield Hills). These little men have apparently been seen since Colonial times and are described as wearing flowing gray robes. Whenever someone lays eyes on them, they immediately disappear.…

  • The “green” fairies of Appalachia

    In my reading of Appalachian fairy tales and stories, I’ve come across a number of fairies or fairy-like beings that are closely associated with the natural world. I would even go so far as to categorize these fairies as “green fairies,” for they all seem to share a number of green traits. These fairies appear…

  • A timeline of fairy-related “elf-shot” in Appalachia

    I put together the following timeline—which shows the history of belief in “elf-shot” in Appalachia—using ChatGPT. For the record, I had to feed all of this into ChatGPT and correct it a lot, because the program invents a lot of folklore (reading between the lines and speculating). It also invents references in books that aren’t…

  • Fairies cause disease in America: A note on a motif

    In English folklore, it’s a well-known fact that fairies (or elves, as they were called) had the ability to cause illness in humans and animals. In Anglo-Saxon medical texts, writers offered remedies such as adding holy water to animal feed to protect livestock from elfin enchantment. Similar themes can be found in Irish and Scottish…

  • New England Fairies now available as an audiobook

    New England Fairies: A History of the Little People of the Hills and Forests is now available as an audiobook by Tantor Media, narrated beautifully by actor Joe Jameson (who trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in my hometown). I couldn’t be happier about the way that Joe brings the book to life!…

  • Conversation About North American Fairies

    This week I appeared on The Witching Hours podcast to talk about North American fairies with hosts Medium Jenny Lea and Frosty. I also got to introduce my research for my forthcoming book Fairies of Northern Appalachia: A History of the Little People of the Mountains. You can listen to our conversation above or on…

  • The Cult of Annabelle (or the experience of evil)

    Last weekend I had the great pleasure of taking part in a panel at the Maine Paranormal and Horror Convention, where I got to see the original Annabelle doll. (For those who aren’t familiar with Annabelle, she’s the demon-infested doll made famous by The Conjuring film series: she’s currently traveling the United States as part…

  • Monsters, witches, and fairies

    I had the good fortune recently of being on a panel at Fan Expo Boston with Sam Baltrusis and Ronny Le Blanc, both well-known authors and television personalities in the field of the paranormal. The panel was called Monsters of New England, which inevitably got me thinking about the question, “What is a monster?” and…

  • Q&A with Melody Rose Paul, Maine author of new fairy book

    Buster and the Little Fairies is a new children’s book written by Melody Rose Paul with illustrations by Tiana Vermette. It features fairies from Mi’kmaq tradition and tells a story about love and family healing. Here is a Q&A with Melody Rose Paul about her inspiration for the book. Paul, who’s from the Eskasoni First…

  • Conversation with The Witching Hours podcast

    I was lucky enough to meet Frosty and medium Jenny Lea of The Witching Hours podcast at ParaConn in Waterbury, Connecticut, last weekend. Not only are they great people but also great interviewers! We talked about the Somerville troll, banshees in New England, New York and Pennsylvania, and what to do if a fairy offers…