Spend Some Time with Fairies | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark and there's Charles W Chuck. Bryant and there's Jerry Who's just. flitting around us sprinkling us with. fairy dust so we can fly around with her. too uh and of course all that makes the. stuff you should know that's right the. fairy addition yeah I'm I'm excited. about this one I uh asked for this I.

think fairies are cool and uh we're. going to talk about them. because I realized I had a very limited. understanding of what fairies are what. qualifies as fairies where they came. from what they can do what they do do. all that stuff so we're going to get. into it Chuck when we talk today about. fairies that's right and uh I think it. can be summed up best by saying fairies. have existed in many forms.

and lore throughout parts of Europe for. a long long time M and sometimes they're. good fairies sometimes they're bad. fairies sometimes they're evil sometimes. they're fun there you go that's all you. need to know and now we're going to talk. about all of that over and over for the. next 40 minutes well what's really weird. that the first thing I didn't know is. that fairies as we understand them today. are a relatively recent concept and that. because like you said they pop up and.

lore all over the place uh and different. times going back a very long time um. there's it's not like some group said. hey these are what fairies are and it. just spread instead groups around Europe. in particular um came up with these. concepts of things that had fairy traits. but they didn't they didn't put the. whole thing together as fairies until. much later so no one can really agree on. what.

exactly a definition of theories are. aside from something that they're kind. of humanlike usually and they're. associated with magical powers some way. or another yeah because if you tried to. do that it would be like well here are. Irish fairies from this period and. they're like this and here are Scottish. fairies from this period and they're. like this and these come from. Scandinavia in this period and they're. completely different and here's their. stories uh which is what folklore is. it's different.

everywhere uh the actual word um fairy. is much more recent than the lore of the. fairy um it didn't come around in the. language until late medieval period um. but the Lura of fairy goes back much. much much further and from the beginning. uh I guess we need to talk a little bit. about elves uh because they are sort of. in locked up with fairies in that lore. in a way uh one way is is that elves.

were not you know the kind of fun lovely. elves they're not making cookies in a. tree back in the early days they were. usually associated in the early days. with illness with rash with health. problems if your if your cows all died. it could have been the work of elves uh. kind of an impy kind of. creature yeah but that was that. demonstrates like the idea that they. brought say disease or illness. especially mysterious suddenly onsetting.

disease or illness like that's. associated with fairies or elves in this. case um and that also pops up in other. places too but they just didn't call. them elves they called them other things. but you just kind of see some like. underpinnings of things that came to to. be part of fairy lore um and eventually. they were like all this stuff is so. different we're just going to have to. chop the fairies up into different camps. and categories which they eventually did. and we'll talk about that later but one. of the um.

one of the things that they figured out. there's a guy named Ronald Hutton who is. a um folklore scholar from the Anglo. Saxon period he didn't live in that time. that's his his um his Focus I guess and. he said um there's like Clues here or. there because nobody sat down for at at. the very earliest periods and said. here's what fairies are future history. and go tell everybody about it they just. pop up here there and they seem to pop. up not just in folklore but in actual.

like scholarly works from the early. medieval period where people are like oh. yeah this this guy ran into a fery and. here's his story that's right uh he did. um you know if you look at the name as. far as like elves always being like. impish or bad or monstrous even uh. that's not necessarily true because. there is a name. AE l f w i n e I guess would that be. pronounced Al elf wine. alwine yeah I think so that's a great. band name yeah not too bad actually it's.

an Anglo-Saxon name but it means elf. friend so that's an indication uh that. you know there were friendly elves and. this came from Ronald Hutton and when. Ronald Hutton talks people. listen wow a joke for our Gen X and. Boomer friends yeah for sure um so a lot. of people say well okay what would make. the most sense is that elves fairies. these kind of like supernatural. creatures that live in close proximity. and interact sometimes with humans um. probably came from the early gods and.

the early nature Spirits um and it. wasn't until Christianity came along. that they were kind of wiped out or. demonized literally demonized um and in. Ireland in particular they're like yeah. they're actually related to one of the. last um Native. indigenous magic using people who lived. in Ireland before the Modern Irish. people like us alive today came along um. in particular the Tua de Donna um they.

were like a uh again like a magic using. people they were people of the Goddess. danu uh who was also known as the Morgan. and um they said okay this is what elves. and fairies evolved into from this group. this magic using group as humans kind of. came in and pushed them out into the. rural areas did you just feel the. entirety of our D and audience stirring. in their seat when you said magic user I. think so and you get this one too cleric.

they're all like what did did he just. did Jos say magic user did he say. fighter instead of Knight so those Irish. elves like you said descended from them. and lived um on uh in fairy forts or. fairy Mounds these sort of raised. structures M uh if you were an. archaeologist you will say actually. those were not for fairies uh they were. where ancient humans lived um but that. notion persists uh the magical notion. persists such to.

that still in some places you cannot. build roads where there are these places. because not of the fact that ancient. humans might be buried there uh but. because of the supernatural Menace that. might befall you if you disturb it yeah. and I saw that archaeologists are like. great for whatever reason we're. preserving these archaeological sites. that's fantastic but yeah the most. recent I could find was there was a a. highway being built in County CLA in. 1999 and they were going to they were. going to B basically tear up a fairy.

Bush and people were like you do not. want to do that and they actually built. they moved the road over so they didn't. remove this fairy Bush This is almost in. the 21st century that they did this you. know so there is this idea of you know. fairies do exist to some degree people. believe in it and it's not just from. this ancient um folklore tradition it. actually was revived in the early 20th. century in Ireland became part of like. nationalist Pride which is why it.

survives in such strength today as we'll. see yeah and was not you know kind of. concurrently while it was this was. happening in northern Europe uh the. British Isles like Scandinavia Germany. and the British Isles mainly uh it was. also at the same time um coming out of. uh classic Greek and Roman stories uh. basically this is where the um sort of. the the human appearing uh fery kind of. comes more into play that live these. very lavish lifestyles uh they had kings.

and queens stuff like that um not. necessarily saying they were human cuz. sometimes they were sometimes they were. not but they they seem to always have. some sort of connection to Magic in some. way right yes and didn't like people. didn't like like real regular humans or. at least didn't trust them right uh and. it's from this belief in nymphs and. saders again these are like wood. dwelling Sprites magical people um they. bear a really strong resemblance to. elves in the Bri Isles but again these.

things evolved um in an isolated manner. I think I mean I guess the Romans did. make it all the way to to Britain so I. guess it's possible they brought the. ideas of nymphs and seders with them but. I I don't know I definitely have the. impression that this stuff evolved from. the Kelts yeah same independently so um. but the the name fairy actually comes. from the uh Roman mythology of the Fates. fairy uh well Fates led to fairy in.

English Fay and fairy F AE and F AE r i. e um were Magic Magical or uncanny there. was an adjective that described that and. in fact if you came down with sudden. illness you were considered to be F. struck or fairy struck and get this. Chuck I saw that the word stroke today. for becoming suddenly paralyzed comes. from Elf stroke which was what they used. to call it um in the medeval era when.

somebody suddenly had a stroke that's. what they that's what it came from you. were stricken by elves you were elf. stroke elf stroke's another good band. name I think that that's elf wi's debut. album did you know that uh actor Aubrey. Plaza had a stroke when she was 20 years. old no I didn't wow she fully recovered. huh oh yeah and I mean I think it had. been out before but she recently was on. I think Howard Stern and talked about it. like in depth um not maybe not for the.

first time but I think it has been. Amplified recently but yeah very scary. yeah oh I'm sure man I think it's scary. at any age but especially when you're. younger too you know no absolutely um. all right so we're in the 12th century. now um aubre Plaza is won't be around. for a long long time uh there were a lot. of traditions uh by this point firmly. established about these again human. looking or at least human- shaped little. supernatural creatures uh sometimes they. you know they weren't Angels or devils. kind of danced in between sometimes.

depending on the lore and the story MH. and they lived in a a humanlike society. sort of parallel to us and were a lot. like us they lived a lot longer um it's. now occurring to me that Ruby and I few. years ago read a whole fairy series of. books that was kind of fun about these. children who find these fairies and go. to their magical land and and it's very. now that I know this stuff it's very. much um based on on all this sort of.

traditional lore is it but was it. positive or were those kids in danger or. well they were a little bit of both the. the kids weren't in danger it was kind. of like a Narnia thing like once they. went in there there was like kind of. good and evil to to combat gotcha so. yeah this was that definitely does. follow in the tradition of how um there. was a duality among fairies and it. wasn't even necessarily like in this. world these fairies are good and these. are bad although some some cultures did. um separate them like that but it could.

just be different folk beliefs that the. same fairies depending on where you. encountered them how you treated them. how you spoke around them could go from. good to evil and it's just like the flip. of a switch yeah they did this in these. books too actually okay great yeah a. good example to me Chuck of how just. randomly different fairies can be what. can be considered a fairy is Merlin from. the aruan Legends like he's considered a.

fairy um his dad was either a demon or a. fairy and Merlin was at least half fairy. which would explain his sorcery skills. uh and then Morgan Lefay uh was also. part of the Aran Legends and they think. that she is um descended or based on the. Irish Morgana that we talked about yeah. that's right uh one of the kind of maybe. surprising things to learn is that uh at. the time if you were a writer in.

medieval times you uh you you may write. it as a like a this is a real natural. phenomenon that we just don't haven't. studied yet and don't fully understand. yet um like it's looked upon as lore all. these years later but at the time a lot. of this stuff was kind of put out in. historical accounts of the day even not. just like folklore books and stuff as. like hey this is a thing and we just. don't understand it yet yeah um it that. was very forian in nature you you know.

yeah and then kind of wrapping up the. Medieval Era um in the 13th century. Christianity stepped up and said no. these fairies you're talking about they. are mentioned nowhere in the Bible so. therefore they're evil they're Devils. they're in Disguise they're meant to. lead you astray stop talking about. fairies and if you know a fairy stop. talking to that fairy you're not allowed. to be friends with them any longer. that's right and it led to a great. Schism among some really wonderful fairy.

human friendships but uh eventually it. recovered and when we come back we'll. pick up starting around the 19th century. when things really got hot again. [Music]. [Music].

all right here we go with act two. everybody. fairies the true. story uh we're in the 19th century now. or we're jumping ahead a little bit. we'll probably jump back as well jump. backck that's right but uh interest in. uh the Traditions I think you mentioned. earlier like these sort of old. traditions are being revived because of. national pride all this old folklore is. kind of coming back MH um of.

course Central to a lot of these stories. were the brothers Grim uh yakop and. vilhelm who we did I think a two-parter. on the grandm. brothers uh didn't we yeah we did one on. the fairy tales and I can't remember the. other one I guess it was on the tales. yeah just on the grand Brothers. themselves those are from a while ago. but those are good if you want to check. those out uh but if you look at their. 1812 collection um this is believe. before that they uh they were telling.

sort of oral stories and before they put. them into like real literary Works um. that had a lot more religion and a lot. less of the sexy stuff um a lot of these. were like really really violent tales. and feature you know things you know. like Little Folks living inside of a. mountain um magical creatures help the L. sometimes uh but also really awful like. violence and stuff like that which of. course fairies were a part of yeah and. the fact that they're called fairy Tales. demonstrates what I was talking about.

earlier that fairy was an adjective for. anything magical or uncanny so it. encompassed all sorts of magical stuff. not just flying little humans or imps. that that tried to trick you into stuff. yeah but this stuff is growing via um. previous folklore uh obviously but now. like real literary works are starting to. write about this stuff more and more in. the 19th century right um so people are. like you said they're they're starting. to have kind of a response a reaction to.

modernization and their one of their. first responses was to kind of try to. preserve the original traditional. folklore and it wasn't just the Grims. that did that there was a novelist named. Anna Eliza Bray uh and she W she. collected folk stories from her native. devire England um and she published them. in 1844 and what she found by going out. in the countryside and interviewing the. the rural people there is that basically. everybody believed in pixies fairies.

that kind of thing they were just part. of the fabric of life and in particular. the people of devire um Associated them. with the souls of unbaptized babies who. didn't go on because they hadn't been. baptized but they didn't go to hell or. anything like that they just turned into. fairies which is a pretty Pleasant thing. to think totally I love it uh also late. in the 19th century none other than. William Butler Yates published I don't. know if it was the first one but maybe.

one of the first big guide books almost. uh about fairies it was called fairy and. folktales of the Irish peasantry uh. published in 1888 and you know retold. popular stories reprinted some stories. uh sounds like a pretty easy Gig if you. ask me for Yates yeah well you know what. that reminds me of Chuck is do you. remember that big coffee table gnome. book from the. 70s like Garden Gomes yes it was a it. was an Illustrated guide to gnomes and.

how they lived and where they lived it. was I don't remember that but I bet I. would uh recognize it if you like showed. me that I know we did not own that but. it was probably on a lot of coffee. tables okay well I'll buy it and then. bring it over to you and show you we'll. sit on the couch and go through it. together okay oh that sounds nice um so. okay so like you said WB Yates created. this guy book to the Irish fairies and. it actually became like kind of one of. the um authoritative Toms on the whole. thing um and one of the things that I.

mentioned earlier I think is really. important I didn't realize this but in. the British Isles um in Ireland in. Cornwall in Wales and the Scottish. Highlands um they as in the 19th century. as it kind of wore on they really. grabbed on to that tradition that. folklore of fairies and just absorbed it. into their um modernizing National. belief and pride um I had no idea about. that but it certainly does explain. why still this at least kind of a.

winking belief in fairies in the area. still too which I think is great yeah. cool to to ReDiscover those old. traditions not to specifically like uh. thumb your nose at you know the. modernization and of Science and stuff. like that by the way and in America I'm. kind of jealous because in America we. don't have fairies we just have like. baseball yeah hey baseball's pretty. great though it is but it's no fairies. yeah that's true uh also in 18th century.

literature was when we first saw um. Wings on these things I don't think we. mention yet that up until this point. these were not sort of the Tinker Bells. that you might picture flying around. when you think of fairies right with. their little flitty wings uh that. happened in the early 18th century in. literature uh a little bit but really. the Victorian period is where we get. this idea of these sort of uh tiny. little insect likee things uh usually. looking like women or at least shaped. like women mhm uh and that became more.

common place as what you think of as. fairies as the Victorian era yeah and. the wings are typically done like kind. of like a really beautiful colorful. translucent butterflies Wings sparkly. I've also seen that they um are. sometimes depicted with bird wings or. bat wings which I didn't like that last. one I haven't seen those one of the guys. who uh really kind of advanced our. modern conception of fairies as you know. little beautiful humans with wings was a. painter named John aner Fitzgerald and.

his his paintings are just a joy to look. upon um my favorite so far is rabbit and. fairies and I mean it does what's on the. label it's a rabbit surrounded by. fairies in this cute little grassy area. um and it's just heartwarming stuff it's. like looking at Old Care Bear's. images uh oh wow I'm looking at that now. that a great pain I mean it's Beyond The. Whimsy of it it's it's beautiful mhm.

very very lovely and but not expected. like bright colors it's very beige yeah. but let's not let's not Overlook that. Whimsy because it is. important no it for sure is uh because. these are fairies after all um not all. art depicted them uh depicted them like. that though it wasn't always these. beautiful things uh or at least that. wasn't the reason behind it because. there's a little something in the art. world back then called the fairy. loophole and that is if if you lived in. a place at the time that had pretty bad.

censorship for uh butts and breasts and. paintings little workaround was to just. paint it as a fairy cuz they were. usually not clothed at that point and so. you could say hey censor you can't say. anything this a fairy that's not a woman. see the wings dummy beat. it this is actually what inspired me to. do this episode on fairies Chuck there. was a oh was it great ho yeah. why I just wonder where that came from.

and now it all makes sense we should. have just done this one as a short. stop so uh we're going to do a short. stuff within a larger episode right here. right now we're gonna great talk about. the cottingley fairies hoax which was. arguably the greatest fairy hoax of all. time yeah this was in 1917 uh. photography was a thing uh at the time. and there was a 16-year-old named Elsie. Wright uh and her 9-year-old cousin. Francis Griffith Griffith that's a tough. one m and I even have teeth uh who said.

hey we photographed some fairies by the. stream near our home in cottingley. England everybody look look yeah and so. this was a time we did an episode on. spiritualism and we talked about how it. was a big response to so Much Death. during like the Civil War and the in. World War I and um I think Elsie's mom. Paulie was into the spiritual movement. and she took these pictures to uh the. theosophical society. which is also into spiritualism at the.

time said look at what my daughter. captured here's some fairies in photos. and everybody just went wild like they. just like if something can go viral in. 1917 that is what happened with these. photos they were spectacular photos of. Elsie or Francis interacting with these. beautiful little winged fairies flitting. around in the air around them yeah I had. seen these somewhere I don't know if you. sent these to me or if I just came. across them at some point in my. pretty famous no well yes uh but also.

just like great and like super cool that. this 16-year-old and 9-year-old pulled. this hoax over because it looks pretty. darn good for the time um what they did. was they copied images uh from a. children's book and cut them out uh. added Wings to them and then use hair. pins to hold that paper up and took. pictures and I think it probably helps. it it was 1917 style photography. um pretty pretty fun little tricky thing.

to do for these two young girls yeah and. they were like they you know they didn't. mean for this thing to become like a. national phenomenon but um I think one. of them later said I think it was. Francis who's like I you could see the. hat pins in the picture if you look. closely enough and yet that didn't. matter because the adults who were into. spiritualism wanted so badly for some. evidence that the supernatural existed. some any fairy pictures will do. that they just bought the whole thing.

hookline and sinker and in fact Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle who created Sherlock. Holmes he got into spiritualism toward. the end of his life and because he was. just such a trusted Authority on things. like Mysteries and rationalism and all. that stuff he wrote a paper and when the. paper was released he he was saying. essentially this is real I consulted a. photography expert and the expert said. these pictures show whatever was in. front of the camera when the photo was. taken they haven't been doctored and it.

is true the guy was right no no that's. true but he was saying like they haven't. been doctored they haven't been messed. with like this is a real picture of what. you're seeing and Conan Doyle said okay. they're fairies this guy proved it these. are real deal things and not everybody. believed it I think there was a a. headline in one of the London papers. when Doyle released his uh article that. said has Conan Doyle gone mad like he. was not he it was not necessarily well. received by everybody but in the.

spiritualist movement it was like we. have proof finally yeah I wonder if the. last line of that article said perhaps. it's best if he just sticks to Sherlock. he stays in his Sherlock. Lane and that was the first instance of. people using the word Lane like that. right in a smarmy way so I I I want to. say also Francis and Elsie were I from. what I can tell Elsie went to her grave. never admitting it was a hoax oh really. because Francis didn't admit it until. 1983 oh jeez and she was saying like she.

didn't feel bad because obviously the. adults wanted to believe this very. obvious Hox so you know more power to. him I don't think she said the last part. I'm paraphrasing she was at a Men. Without Hats concert they're all dancing. to Safety Dance and she's like hey guess. what yeah I have something to get off my. chest there have been oh oh good so 1957. there comes another paper from. folklorist named Katherine uh Mary.

bricks um who did another sort of. categorization of fairies uh that. involved uh what is this one two three. four five six 18 92 40 I guess seven uh. categories and we're going to go over. those quickly here uh the first is. heroic trooping fairies okay uh these. are the kinds I was talking about there. were a little more uh aristocratic that. had the king and the queen not to be. confused with the second grouping home. homely trooping fairies uh which were.

you know kind of farm dwellers who can. maybe change in size who might reward a. human for help who might punish a human. for not not helping or being unkind and. might even steal from humans yes um. there's another one solitary fairies. they're usually tied to a place usually. in the countryside say like the Moors or. something like that um and they will. often like pose as something like a a. needy stranger or something like that. and to test the The Travelers kindness.

to strangers and if they pass the test. they might be rewarded with something uh. if they fail they'll probably be. punished by this magical fairy um. Leprechauns are one of them they're. usually tricksters there's one named Tom. tit tot who I read the story of and it's. great it's got a kind of a Rumple stilt. skinny vibe to it but I think I like Tom. tit tots a little more um so I say go. check out Tom TTT in his story yeah and. you know it seems like a lot of this has.

it's occurring to me more and more it. sort of falls into the category of the. uh what's the the story that you tell. when it's uh are you going to do the. good thing or the bad thing is it a fa. or a no uh morality tale yeah Fable I. has a moral yeah I think sort of fables. and morality Tales where they're um. saying well good things will happen to. you or bad things will happen to you. according to your behaviors and whether. or not you're like kind to the stranger. passing through town right actually a. fairy or a leprechaun.

yeah well all be what else we got we got. three more categories uh no we've got. two no we have three you're right you're. right I the three is is a catch all sure. um two delary fairies fun to say but. also include my favorite fairies which. are brownies which are household helpers. and people will still leave out a little. bit of bread a little saucer of milk or. something like that as a thank you gift. to the brownies that live in their house. and help them out with household chores.

the very very famous um fairy tale about. the cobbler who was helped out by. fairies who who made shoes for him every. night and eventually made him a very. wealthy man um those are brownies I. remember that anybody helping out around. the house that's a brownie and I just. think that's the cutest most downto. Earth folksy concept ever that there's. little tiny fairies that help out around. the house and the other thing that they. do which I think is hilarious they. punish lazy servants who aren't doing.

enough work by pinching them while they. sleep that's got to be where brownie. points comes from right I yeah probably. don't you think probably yeah because. you do want to score points with the. brownies to keep them happy because yeah. in addition to helping out if you don't. reward them they will sometimes start. stealing they'll make your milk go bad. they'll make it impossible for butter to. turn into butter um they they can mess. you up you don't want to mess with them. but if you keep them happy like you. definitely want a brownie in your house.

they make your farts hang in the air. long after it's it's fast yeah I know. that kind of brownie uh. so uh finally uh there are nature. fairies uh these are the kind of water. Sprites and River Sprites you were. talking about these Spirits uh that. dwell in nature it's very uh. self-explanatory they protect animals. usually and deal with the animals out. there yeah and then there's the catch. all C that I mentioned which are the. scariest ones like the Giants and the.

hags and the Monsters of the of the. group like yes I get that that that is. part of original fairy lore and like the. widest possible use of the term fairy. but we've evolved so far beyond that. that how are you going to include like a. monster and a giant into the fa the. fairy categories yeah totally Giant's a. giant exactly they're their own thing. don't diminish them yeah um I say we. take our second break Chuck and come. back and wrap this up and talk some more. about get this fairies.

[Music]. [Music]. okay Chuck so by the 19th century early.

20th century like fairies were starting. to congeal all these different threads. were starting to kind of come together. and yeah they were solidifying like so. much um Jello-O pudding yeah remember. the skin on top of that. stuff uh of just like Jello-O or the. pudding the jell. pudding ah I don't remember if it sat. out would it get a little topper as it. sat it would almost invariably like. create like a a skin at the top and it.

was flimsy and rubbery and like you did. not want it but I think some real sickos. liked the skin of the pudding it's right. here that I have to quickly Sidetrack. about a movie I just saw called the. substance okay have you read about this. yet no it's the new movie uh with Demi. Moore and Margaret quali uh that is a uh. body horror film to say the least okay. uh if you're into body horror this is. the the going to go down in history is.

the all-time leader in that category it. is the most foul horrifying disgusting. but great thing that I've ever seen in. my life I got to see this are you into. that kind of thing yeah I mean I like. all kinds of horror body horror is not. my leading type of horror it's usually a. good ghost story but I like body horror. well ghost see the substance it it is. really something I got the strongest. stomach for that kind of thing and I was. literally feet pulled up in the theater.

peeking through eyes like a small child. so are and holding my ears are you into. body. I I like a Cronenberg thing but. this is like Cronenberg on 10 million. milligrams of steroids however much that. is it's beyond the pale of anything that. you could imagine for body horror okay. I'm telling you I'll see that in in the. meantime you see there's a classic body. horror movie called Society from the mid. 80s know that one and it's widely. considered the all-time leader in.

horrible horrific body horror so I will. be I can't wait to see the substance man. yeah and it's got a great message uh I. can't remember the woman who made it but. her first movie is called revenge and it. was great uh total uh sort of I spit up. on your grav style Revenge film that you. can watch now it's out on streaming and. she's just a very unique voice in film. uh making these days and a great message. in this new one about. uh women and aging and youth uh.

obsession with youth culture and stuff. like that from what you described the. message. is it's tough man to see it it's I. cannot get some of this stuff out of my. head okay so let's get back to fairies. shall we yeah that all started with. pudding skin by the way so fairies. congealing let your mind run wild with. that Association okay so by this time uh. fairies have are they're kind of. becoming dual um they can be different. kinds of sizes they can be ugly or. beautiful um and then from that point on.

like they either have one or the other. usually polar extremes right so like. they're either Immortal or they don't. have souls so when they die they just. perish completely or um they're they're. Fallen Angels but they're not demonic or. wait remember they're maybe unbaptized. babies like there's they're as as. disperate and weird as it sounds like. it's still way more put together than. the the Reds used to be before the 19th.

century yeah for sure uh sometimes. they're solo fairies sometimes they are. in little small communities or families. uh we have mentioned that a lot of times. they live out in rural areas and caves. and. Wells uh and hiy holes um other sort of. bucolic rural spots mounds and and holes. in the ground things like that uh. sometimes there is a fairy land like in. these books that I read Ruby where. things are just magical and wonderful or. can go really wrong. um a lot of times the the beauty is an.

illusion so there are some stories like. if a human comes along and and says the. right spell or applies a magic ointment. uh they will be awakened to the true. reality that everything is all the. treasure is garbage and the food is. poison and stuff like that I found that. interesting because the magic ointment. jumped out at me because they also. prescribed a magic ointment for. witchcraft and to become a werewolf and. I don't remember what drug they what. hallucinogen they thought was in that. magic ointment but I suspect they're. referring to the same magic ointment.

that would make you trip balls. right oh that's funny not Tim Walls trip. balls uh they can't cross rivers usually. or any kind of running water yeah that's. a big one um holy water is not great for. them right no and this is where the um. the influence of the Christian Church. came in um they don't like holy water. they don't like cold iron. uh church bells really drive them they.

sound like nails on a chalkboard to them. and in fact like just talking about. religion can set a fairy off um that one. historian from the 50s Katherine Mary. Briggs. said it is tactless in the extreme to. mention Sunday to a fairy that's one of. the best lines I've ever read well you. know the other thing you don't want to. do is if you meet a fairy don't call. that fairy a fairy right they don't want. to hear that no they want to be called. Fair folk people of Peace one thing that.

everybody now agrees on about fairies is. that they really respond to flattery and. that they're very easily upset. right sorry I had a joke I'm not going. to tell okay you can tell me later I'll. tell you later uh one thing uh that you. can do like let's say you've got some. disturbing fairy stories Banning about. that have to deal with human children uh. and maybe a fairy uh you know swapping. them out for a fairy like they become a.

changeling essentially uh if you an. unchristened baby and you think you're. baby is at risk to be carried off by a. fairy you wrap them up in Daddy's. clothes put a Bible under their pillow. that's a good way or if you're live a. little dangerously you can hang some. iron fire tongs or some giant iron. scissors over their cradle which seems. like a really bad idea yeah I'd go with. the Bible under the pillow and that's me. talking you don't want iron scissors to. fall onto your baby's.

crib so uh this is where it gets really. dark um in fact there was a a. long-standing folklore all the way. through the late 19th century that when. a child started to develop um. disabilities or was suddenly struck ill. or I think was also born with like. physical. abnormalities um the folk belief was. that the fairies had stolen the actual. baby the human baby and replaced it with. a fairy changeling right yeah and so you.

would kill the fairy changeling because. you wanted your baby back in hopes that. they this would help get your baby back. and um it was actually one of those. things where probably some people. especially long ago believed that what. they were doing was actually killing a. fairy baby but it also served a really. Grim but kind of necessary for the time. purpose of um removing the the baby that.

was never going to be able to help out. on the farm but was gonna need some of. the food from that farm to stay alive um. from a very poor family to have to take. care of that kid and that is about as. dark as fairies get and there's some. dark parts to fairies yeah for sure uh. and I would also like people to write in. if they like me were singing the Chili's. baby back ribs commercial in their head. the third time you said baby back oh oh. yeah I'll bet I'll bet that happened. nice that's a that's a gift to you.

buddy I think we should close with uh. some famous fairies uh because we. mentioned that they had been uh had had. long been written about in literature. and some have some of that cream Rises. to the top everybody and the wheat is. separated from the chaff and you get. some genuine fairy. celebrities uh Puck is the one I would. love to mention because uh Puck was not. just from the mind of William. Shakespeare uh Puck was a fairy or demon. depending on of course uh various.

factors and medieval folklore and. Shakespeare by the time he got around to. writing A Midsummer Night's Dream uh. Puck was a very mischievous character. who Shakespeare leaned on uh in that. story um Puck as a character would help. with chores around the house uh maybe. get rewarded with some bread and milk. from The Midwives uh but could also uh. play tricks on people like that spoiled. milk again or maybe trip an old lady. walking through the Forest right he also. appeared on the first season of real.

world that's right wasn't the first. season but yes uh so thank you for for. saving me a ton of emails yeah um first. season was London Josh He also had a uh. a great nickname Robin. Goodfellow did not know that yeah I'll. just keep moving on but you said that. Shakespeare uh used him in A Midsummer. Night's Dream Shakespeare was the champ. of using and describing and writing. about fairies and it turns out they. think actually inventing fairies because.

one of the most legendary fairies was. the fairy queen Queen Mab who's. described in Romeo and Juliet and just. kind of spread from there um and they. can't figure out where Shakespeare got. this so they actually think he might. have made up this really definitive. fairy queen MB um which is pretty. impressive and I think we have to close. by talking about the two most famous. fairies of the M who Tinkerbell and that. tooth fairy oh uh Tinkerbell of course.

created by the great and wonderful JM. Barry author of the play and then. eventually the novel Peter Pan um what a. great character and what a great just. thing that JM Barry launched into the. world like all about Peter Pan I've. always loved Peter Pan and all the. stories and iterations from the various. movies and cartoons to the actual books. themselves and that book about JM Barry. or the movie about JM Barry which was. very good um JM Barry also invented the.

concept of fairy dust and there is a. guardian article that describes why I. actually I think I found it on Reddit to. tell you the truth in the article they. say that Barry invented fairy dust so. originally Peter Pan was a play and then. a few years later it became a novel and. the fairy dust appears in the novel. because in the interim between the play. and the novels release kids were trying. to fly like Peter Pan so we introduced. fairy dust to say like you can't fly you. don't have fairy dust you have to have. fairy dust to be able to fly so don't.

jump out of your window for God's sake. exactly because it's not going to work. that's called a Jamberry COA original. and then the Tooth Fairy you said right. yeah of course who everyone loves the. Tooth Fairy of course this is the. tradition of when your child loses their. baby teeth uh they put it under their. pillow or maybe in a little pocket of a. tooth pillow that you might have bought. uh for eight bucks or whatever uh in my. case Varney gave us a tooth fairy pillow. which was very sweet as a gift and you.

get some uh you get something in there. like a little bit of money or a little. treat or something like that and um that. originated in Norse tradition in the. 13th century uh when parents would pay a. tooth fee yeah they would pay a tooth. fee because baby teeth were considered. good luck so they were essentially. buying the lucky tooth from their child. yeah buying it out but the first the. first appearance of the actual tooth. fairy as we understand it today that. didn't come about until 1908 when.

apparently a Chicago Tribune writer just. made it. up yeah but it was around long before. that uh but yeah in print for sure um. and then uh we also can't not name check. all of the Disney fairies including. Tinkerbell there was the Fairy Godmother. in Cinderella yeah there were fairies. and Fantasia all over the place Sleeping. Beauty had three great fairies flora. fauna and Merryweather the greatest uh. and that's all you really need to. mention the list goes on but we're going.

to stop. there yeah oh I wish I could remember. the name of that book series let me see. if I can find it real quick why don't. you talk intelligently for 10 seconds oh. God uh let's see a little more about. fairies fairies are great everybody. typically agrees that was one scholarly. finding um backyard fairies I believe. that is it what was that that was the. series I think I I think it's backyard. fairies okay I might be wrong though you.

sounded like you knew what it was a. second ago well I'm I'm looking yeah. yeah backyard fairies by uh Phoebe wall. Wahl it it's wonderful and uh there are. a lot of books and they're a lot of fun. if you have a a a kid that's you know. like sixish okay great thanks to read to. thanks for that yeah uh well Chuck. recommended a children's book series. which as everyone knows unlocks listener.

mail uh yeah I'm going to mention this a. quick uh mistake we made this is from. Brad a few people have written in and. this is something we've mistak on before. mistaked on I love it uh hey guys I just. finished listening to your history of. glasses episodes and uh noticed a little. mistake and figured you'd love when. people write in to correct you uh when. Josh was listing famous wearer monal you. mentioned Monopoly guy Rich Uncle Penny. bags is apparently his name a great. example of the Mandela effect guys cuz.

he never wore a monacle um pretty sure. you even mentioned this in your episode. about the Mandela effect and probably in. your Monopoly Episode as well so this. may be a three- timer uh anywh who you. guys are the best ever I hope you make. episodes for at least another couple of. decades rock on Brad rock on yourself. Brad that was a great email and we. appreciate it we appreciate you thanks. for pointing that out uh it is so. interesting when that Mandela effect. comes up. I thought he had a monacle too I just.

don't I even don't believe what Brad's. saying right now I'm so convinced he had. a monacle at some point yeah I I looked. it up I double checked and uh there have. been drawings of him with monal but. nothing that's not canon like no. official uh Monopoly stuff and I've been. playing Monopoly we've been playing as a. family so uh I'm surprised it got past. me okay all right great uh you got. anything else got nothing else and that. was from Brad that was from Brad. okay well if you want to be like Brad. and get in touch with us send us an.

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