After years of research, including with historian Professor Ronald Hutton, Jersey-born folklorist Jo Hickey-Hall has come to the conclusion that fairies exist and are simply a part of nature that we don’t yet know about. She tells TOM OGG how those who share their experiences on her Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast are “just very ordinary people” whose lives were “interrupted by something very extraordinary”.
PICTURE a fairy and what is the first image that appears in your mind’s eye?
More likely than not, it will be something akin to Tinker Bell, the Fairy Godmother or some other fictional character synonymous with Walt Disney movies.
Such cutesy depictions are misleading, however, as folklorist, researcher and social historian Jo Hickey-Hall points out.
“Fairies aren’t anything like how we imagine from Disney and things like that,” says the Jersey-born mother-of-three, chatting from her home in Bristol.
“They don’t look like that at all, but there do seem to be lots of different types and they look very solid in most cases, very dense.”
A research assistant in anthropology at the University of Bristol, Jo is a firm believer that fairies exist not only in animated motion pictures, but also here in the real world – and, as her Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast reveals, she is far from the only one with such a belief.
“People have absolutely loved the podcast,” she says. “I get lots of really lovely messages and fan letters from people telling me how much it meant for them to hear other people talking about their encounters with fairies because it helped them to process their own experience.”
To date, Jo has recorded well over 100 videos for the Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast, with many episodes focusing on a different interviewee and their story. One particular episode sees Jo and “fairy experience investigator” Dr Neil Rushton offering reflections on the anecdotes depicted in the preceding episodes.
“It’s not make-believe,” says Jo. “As a starting point, I would recommend listening to episode one of the podcast [A Remote Encounter]. I speak to a guy who was out walking in Scotland when he encountered a fairy. This is someone with a really responsible, strait-laced job and very much not the stereotypical kind of person you’d think would see a fairy. He was out in the far-reaches of the Scottish Highlands when he came across this being, which was very clear, and which wasn’t frightening in any way. He described it as like coming face-to-face with a deer – a very natural experience.
“This is what really comes across in almost all of the podcast episodes: regular people who were just getting on with their day, maybe out walking somewhere, and then this experience happened to them, and it was, ‘oh, wow, that’s really amazing’. Much as you would react if you were outside and you saw any kind of wildlife that you weren’t expecting to see. It’s a very special moment.”
Of course, Jo is aware that many will assume the individuals featured on her podcast will have already harboured a belief in otherworldly beings and were thus preconditioned to visualise creatures such as that described above. She is adamant, however, that this is not the case.
“These are not people who were drinking or on drugs or who were already wanting to believe. They’re just very ordinary people detailing how their very ordinary lives were interrupted by something very extraordinary, something they couldn’t explain, something they weren’t expecting.
“There are lots of people who have had an encounter [with a fairy] and who have tentatively got in contact with me but then couldn’t bring themselves to talk about it. After all, if fairies exist then it means there is this whole part of the universe that we don’t really know about. It’s frightening for people because they’re so used to thinking that the idea [of fairies] is ridiculous.”
And it is a mindset with which Jo can readily sympathise, having herself once been a unabashed sceptic.
“I’ve always been into esoteric stuff but, for a long time, I thought the idea of fairies was ridiculous. I remember in my early 20s, this lady used to come over to Jersey and teach a workshop about crystals, astrology, auras and so on, all of which I had no problem believing in. Then one day she told me that she’d seen a fairy and I just thought, ‘oh, come on, why are you saying that?’ Looking back, it’s funny because I was willing to learn about auras and healing and so on, but then as soon as she mentioned fairies, I thought she was taking it a step too far and it was crazy. I thought, ‘nope, sorry, that’s not possible’.”
Jo subsequently changed her attitude after catching sight of a fairy herself at an undisclosed location.
“I can’t reveal whether or not I saw it in Jersey – I never reveal the precise locations of fairy sightings – but I can say that I certainly know of people in Jersey who have seen them. I think there is something about locations, and whether a person has a relationship with a particular location, that can make them more likely to experience an encounter.
“It can also be influenced by a person’s emotional state, particularly if they’re in a semi-altered state, whether because they have just fallen in love or they’ve been meditating or perhaps even because they’re feeling afraid. Fear can put you into slightly altered state.
“But, yes, I can certainly understand why people might think seeing fairies is ridiculous because I’ve been there and I once thought exactly the same thing.”
Born in Jersey, Jo was raised in St Saviour and spent much of her youth exploring the Island’s coastlines, woodlands and historical sites.
“I love the landscape in Jersey, particularly the dolmens, which myself and groups of friends would often visit,” she says. “I love the fact that you can explore luscious woodland rich with wildlife or have midnight swims in warm phosphorescent sea on deserted beaches, but then you can also experience the raw power of the west coast.”
Jo’s fascination with folklore developed at a young age, partly as a result of the tales of “fairy rings and other worlds” which were recounted to her by her father.
“My mum and dad first met in Jersey in the early 1960s. They had both come over with the aim of working the summer season, but then they met on the beach, fell in love and that was that. My mum still lives in the Island but my dear dad sadly passed away in 2014. He was a proud Irishman who was very involved in the local Irish community and was one of the founding members of the Jersey Irish Club.”
Growing up, Jo attended FCJ, Beaulieu Convent and Hautlieu, and then later studied social science as a mature student at Highlands while also working with the States police in a “public engagement position” (“I would collate crime statistics and also go out and speak to people about the relationship between the public and the police”).
It was at this time that she discovered that author and English historian Professor Ronald Hutton – whose fields of expertise include British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary paganism – was looking for individuals to assist with research into witches. As a long-time admirer of the celebrated professor, Jo immediately signed up for a Masters course in order to qualify for a research position.
“I was awarded a scholarship from Jersey to go and work with him,” she says. “Originally I wanted to look at dolmens, but he put me onto looking at fairies, in particular the portrayal of fae in medieval Irish literature.”
Shortly thereafter, Jo – having now permanently relocated to Bristol with her husband and children – would undertake a “pagan studies module” under Professor Hutton, and it was while doing this that she joined the Folklore Society, a UK-based organisation focused on the study of folklore and tradition.
This in turn led to Jo becoming a member of the Newer Researchers group, which is facilitated by the Folklore Society, and which is open to anyone with an interest in folklore research.
“It was while attending events with them that I met Mark Norman, who is a folklorist and whose specialism is black dog folklore. Mark had been invited to contribute to Magical Folk, which is a book detailing British and Irish fairies, and he asked me to co-author a chapter with him centred on fairies in Devon.
“Together, we went down to Devon and conducted research at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, where there is an excellent library, and where we spoke to people about sightings. I thought it would be really interesting to find out if anyone was still having encounters with fairies – and I did speak to people in Devon who had.”
It was this fact-finding expedition which convinced Jo to set up her own Facebook group on the subject of fairies upon returning home – and thus Modern Fairy Sightings was born.
“The group got busy quite quickly, with lots of people coming forward to say they’d seen fairies. They didn’t necessarily believe in fairies or have any interest in them, and yet they’d had this experience for which they couldn’t find answers, and about which they felt they couldn’t speak to people.”
As Jo observes, there are many people who consider fairies to be “woo-woo” and yet have no qualms about publicly expressing a belief in auras, ghosts, gods, healing crystals and other such ethereal ideas.
“At one end of the spectrum you’ve got ghosts, which are kind of considered acceptable. People aren’t afraid to say that they believe in ghosts and, even if they don’t themselves believe in them, then chances are their great Aunt Hilda swore she once saw one. UFOs are a bit more weird, but people can still get their heads around them. They look up at the night sky and they see that there are lots of planets and they know it’s likely that we’re not the only forms of life in the universe. But fairies are so out-there that the idea that they exist just completely blows people’s minds. If they exist then where are they? What are they? Are they in the garden? Are they watching me?
“As children, we learn about the Tooth Fairy and Father Christmas but then, at a certain point in our childhood, we’re told that this isn’t something we can believe in anymore. And [fairies] gets thrown out along with Santa and all of that. If a child is seen to be talking to fairies or imaginary friends then, to a certain point, that’s acceptable, but then they’re told, ‘it’s time to grow up now and leave all that behind’.
“This makes it very difficult for those who then go on to see something which they can’t explain. There is this kind of taboo around seeing a fairy. If you’ve seen one, you don’t really tell people. Either you’re frightened because you know you mustn’t talk about them, which is the case in places like Ireland where the folklore element is strong, or you’re frightened because you don’t want to be ridiculed. People find the idea of seeing fairies funny.”
It was the desire to alter such perceptions that led to Jo launching The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast, which, much like her Facebook group of the same name, enabled people to talk about their experiences in relation to fairies, and which enabled Jo to put her public relations background to good use by encouraging people to speak openly about their encounters.
“I felt it would serve as a way to inform people who were interested in the subject, but also – and perhaps most importantly – it would allow those who’d had such experiences to know they’re not alone. For someone who has that kind of experience, it is really important for them to be witnessed, for their story to be witnessed, for their experience to be witnessed.”
Asked to describe the appearance of a typical fairy, Jo says there are many different varieties, but cites one oft-sighted fairy as being “sort of goblin-y” and akin to the illustrations of British artist Brian Froud, who is most famous for his work with Jim Henson on the classic films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).
“It is clear that Brian Froud has had his own experiences. He’s not very forthcoming about it, but it’s known that he must have had experiences because the beings that people describe are so similar to those he draws. For the most part, the ones that people have spoken to me about have been goblin-looking fairies.”
As with animals and humans, the appearance of fairies can also differ depending on whereabouts they are located geographically.
“There do seem to be slightly different ones in America and Canada. There is a great episode of the podcast called Crossing Paths in which [the interviewee] describes driving home from teaching one night in rural Canada and seeing this being appear in the road just a few minutes from her home. There were corn fields all around, so it was quite an eerie setting, and at first she thought it was a deer and so slowed right down. Then it stepped up out of the dirt track and walked very slowly across the road, holding her gaze the entire time. It was a very intense experience – this eye contact is something that is recounted in a lot of these experiences – but there was no fear. The being was quite tall, at least up to bonnet of her car, with hair all down its back and a snout protruding from its face. These particular fairies are really strange creatures and ones that have been reported quite a lot.
“For me, I’m reaching the conclusion that fairies are just a part of nature that we don’t yet know about,” she continues. “As we have had millennia of evolution, there have been points where we have stepped outside of the box in terms of knowing about other lands or our expeditions into space. As humanity, we’ve always reached points in evolution where we’ve gone, ‘wait, really, is this possible?’, a point where something seems impossible until people bring back tales of new lands or new possibilities. And the more and more people who talk about their encounters with fairies, the more we’re left with no choice but to consider that something is going on that we just don’t yet understand.”
Of course, many reading this will probably scoff at the very suggestion that fairies could ever exist outside the realms of fantasy and fiction books, and it is a reaction to which Jo is familiar. She suggests that those who doubt the legitimacy of the stories recounted on her podcast should first take the time to sit and listen to them.
“If this subject is entirely new to you then it’s good to actually hear people describing their experiences. It really makes all the difference when you’re hearing these stories firsthand.”
And even if a listener can’t bring themselves to believe the stories featured on the Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast, then perhaps they can at least appreciate how such podcasts represent a partial return to the halcyon days when folklore tales were shared around late-night campfires.
“We’ve always loved hearing stories, haven’t we?,” says Jo. “It’s really innate, this love of exchanging stories, and it is where a lot of folklore comes from. It’s almost like we’re going back to square one with the folklore collectors of the 19th century, back when people would go from house to house and document word-for-word what they were told. The podcast is just an extension of that really, isn’t it?
“We’re going back to the drawing board by hearing people’s stories while also bringing it up to date. I really like that.”
*Have you encountered a fairy, whether here in Jersey or elsewhere? If so, and if you would like to recount the experience to Jo, visit scarlettofthefae.com for contact details
*For more details, visit The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast on YouTube
