I had a strange experience as a child & to this day cannot explain it. I'm 60 now & live in Australia but as a child lived in England. My favourite place to go was an old church graveyard. I'd spend all day reading tombstones looking at statues. I would see some that had lots of flowers on (I called them rich graves) & some with no flowers on (I called them poor graves). I used to share out the flowers & give the poor graves some (I was only about 6 or 7yrs old). I also used to collect daisies buttercups & clover for the graves. When my cat got run over by a car we buried him in our garden & made a little headstone for him. One morning really early I woke up to tapping on my bedroom window which overlooked the garden & when I looked out my cats grave was covered in flowers. (not growing flowers but picked & placed ones). I was completely delighted It was a cold morning so I rubbed the inside of the window to see better & there were tiny handprints on the outside of my window. I wanted to tell my mum but everyone was still asleep in the house. I went down to the garden everything was wet & sparkly from frost. My cats grave was just to the side of the only big tree in the garden a pear tree & I could see the flowers all over it but they were not wet like the grass. As I got closer what I think was a butterfly landed on the little headstone then flew away. But now that I'm old & grey I think it would have been too cold for a butterfly!!

As a young teenager I went on a school trip to the Island of Eigg and saw something that I've never shared with anybody even today. However, a few years later an old lady one day spoke to me in the voice that sounded like a twelve-year-old and descried what I saw and told me about what they will do if I get harmed and she told me about everything that will occur in my life and it has. I have no idea why me, I’ve been blessed with extreme luck, fortune and I’m able to see future outcomes. Sounds crazy, but true.

...and how Delightful that the Professor makes himself available to sit for a relaxed, wry chat about faeries --as he sits in a fire-side chair with a blanket tucked around his legs...

When I was a child I was playing in the grass outside the Chapel, and saw a little man about a foot high and dressed in green, running through the grass. I ran after him, wanting to say hello, but as I got near to him he suddenly turned into a big black stag beetle. I'm 72 now, and to this day I swear blind that I definitely saw him saw him for real 🧚‍♂️

Many years ago when I was 18 I was still living with my parents having failed to get into university I took on a very physically demanding job and inevitably seriously damaged my back spending weeks and months bedridden. One late evening whilst in bed in particular pain I saw a light under my curtain, I thought a car had pulled up outside but somehow I managed the strength to open the curtains , there on the garden was a beam of light roughly in the shape of a human figure maybe five or four foot tall , weirdly all I did was return to my bed , fell asleep and in the morning I awoke and my back was miraculously considerably better not totally healed but within a week or so I was back to my old self. I told ppl of this experience at the time and met just ridicule and to this day I have suppressed the telling of this story.

I wasn't much more than a toddler. Us kids were waiting in the car, in front of a store, for my parents to come back. I was in the back seat, standing up to the window, When I saw this couple come out of the store. Dressed in modern suits, hers was a light blue jacket and skirt, and he in a dark suit? She was my focus. An older couple. They couldn't have been any taller than 15 inches. Perfectly proportioned. I don't know if I ever told anyone. They wouldn't have believed me anyway. I remember it almost clear as day. It has been over 65 years. It was all so vivid.

I was going through a bad time ( long story). I became aware of a person sitting beside me in my car. But the 'person' was so blindingly bright I couldn't look. A voice said , 'why are you so worried , you are only in this life a short time . I am with you.' A great peace came over me. Afterwards everything changed for me for the better. I was to find out this appearance was on the other side of a high wall that sheltered an old catholic church where I hadn't attended since a youth. A friend of mine , an atheist , said I was having the beginning of a breakdown. But I was to discover that many people in different parts of the world. have had the same experience . Why would a similar experience be experienced all over the world in different cultures and people if it was a breakdown ? ( which I never had.) I was an academic social scientist which dismissed all metaphysical phenomenon.

It is beginning to dawn on me that the world is much stranger, more uncanny than I could ever imagine.

I was walking along a riverbank in Edinburgh when I stopped a man to ask directions. He looked slightly dazed and told me in a puzzled manner that he'd just heard a womans voice calling for help.He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a "very little woman" ( about 3 feet high) slipping down the steep bank. He grasped her outstretched hand and hauled her up. She thanked him and then disappeared! She was dressed all in black with long black hair, he said. I immediately thought of "The little people", but didn't say anything to the man as I could see the concept was outside his frame of reference.

Even chilling out at home with a blanket on his knees, he’s got his jacket and waistcoat on. Bless Ronald

My family's English/Irish, and it was my English mum who was out walking in the woods in Oxfordshire with my three sisters (before I was born), when they encountered the little people. From some bluebells underfoot flew out three perfectly formed fairies with gossamer wings. My sisters told me many times over the years of their encounter, describing their high pitched tinkling laughter as they flew away. All of this happened within a moment or two, but it left all three of them with a life long conviction in fairy life, and mum too. When they told my dad back at home, there was no hesitation in believing in their encounter. He'd grown up in Ireland with knowledge of all sorts of fairy folk encounters.

As a child in southernmost Illinois, I lived with my family in the country, and behind our tiny home was a pond. When Mother was busy in the house and Dad was at work, I ran out to the pond (I was about 6 or 7 years of age) and for some reason, I set my teddy bear on the shore and it got wet. I was sad and then I felt I was being watched. I remember looking over at a large tree that stood right by the pond and down by its roots stood a little man. He was probably about 7 or 8 inches tall. He had on earth-colored clothing with a slouchy hat. I noticed that he was very old and had rather greyish-colored skin. He had piercing grey eyes and he looked right at me and we stared at each other for a bit. The fairy or elf or whatever then turned on his heels away from me and vanished. I did not feel threatened in any way but I was in awe. I am 73 years of age now and I have never forgotten it. I feel that I was granted a blessing in seeing this tiny creature.

I had an encounter of some sort years ago. I was hiking alone in a forest and came upon a little waterfall, maybe 4' high at most. The sound of the water attracted me to more closer. Staring at the water, i began to see flecks of rainbow colors in it. And then i heard a female voice talking to me. I thought for a moment i saw a face in the water. Next thing i knew, i was on the trail walking home. I had no memory of how i had gotten there. The sun was lower in the sky. I felt id lost time. It took me 8 years before i worked up the courage to go back there. It seemed an ordinary place and i never had any other experiences there.

I was driving in Eliot Maine, USA, back in about 1989. It was a beautiful day in June and I had the windows down. The sky was clear blue, and I did not have the radio on. I was alone and driving slowly on an on ramp to a bridge which would take me to the state of NH. I had noticed, the week before that some person had stuck a sign in the ground which read FOR SALE HERSEY, so I assumed someone was selling their piece of land. On this particular day, standing beside this relatively new sign was a little man. He had his teeth clenched and his lips pulled back, enough so that his clenched teeth were obvious to me. He had his fists clenched also, and he was jumping up and down. What made it unquestionable to me that this little man was not a human short person, was that he had his knees bent, and they never unbent as our knees are won`t to do when we jump. I had no question about why he was so incensed. As quick as a wink I yelled out the window of my car `Don`t worry, the land won`t sell, the economy sucks`. And with that I had rounded the turn up to the bridge and was gone. I have thought often about this encounter, and have to my own satisfaction, decided that the only reason I saw him at all is that his emotion, his anger made him somehow, visible. I also believe my yelling out the window, beyond giving him information, also surprised him greatly, for I believe that he did not believe he could be seen by human people. My intention, seeing his distress was to relieve him of the burden he had just discovered in his heart. How he was able to read English I know not. I truly believe we share this planet with others who are kinder to this blessed earth than we. I am sure that I did nothing that day to have made myself an enemy of any sort, because other beings judge us by our intentions. Thank you for this platform.

When I went to Mauve's Tomb in Sligo County and saw a purple fluorite stone on the rock pile after meditating. I asked her if it was for me. I gave her all the rocks from my pocket and sang for her. I took the fluorite and meditated with it on my forehead before I slept. In the morning I wore from a long dream about my mother dying and the weeks afterward until sitting around the kitchen table with my father. In a panic I called my parents to be sure they were okay. I woke them. But I didn't tell them the dream. A week later when I went home I gave my mom a small gift from Ireland. A few days later the dream unfolded with a call from my dad that my mom had a stroke. The next weeks were the same as the dream. That is my Ireland story. There is a special energy there.

My ex-husband and son are Lakota (Native American). We Americans don't have fairy culture, but the Lakota have little people, as do a lot of other tribal nations in the US. My ex and I had little people in our house.

I live in Illinois in the st.louis area and in 2020 I saw something that i can only describe as a fairy. It looked in the middle bottom window on the front door at around 11:30pm on sept 15th 2020. I'll never forget that day. I wasn't the only witness to the creature that was in the room. as im trying to adjust to what i think I saw, they said the F word and they backed up what I think I saw. I still don't belive I saw what I know i saw that night. it,'s not like I can just go around telling strangers that I saw a fairy without geting admitted into ketler mental hospital. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest!

My Dad was out jogging early in the morning many years ago by Sarehole Mill in Birmingham where Tolkein used to live and saw 3 fairies dancing in the grass. He was the very last person who would ever believe in fairies and was always quite puzzled by what he saw

I was about 6 or 7 years old and I was a little sad and missing my mom ( she was an unfit mother but that's another story). I was looking out my bedroom window and had fallen into a trance and out of nowhere I started to see speckles of color to my right. I turned my head to see what was going on and before I knew it there was a fairy parade that I was all of a sudden in the middle of. I was amazed and eventually I began to dance and skip with them. IDK how long this went on but i enjoyed every minute of it 😂

To pass their lives on fountains and flowers, and never know the weight of human hours. Fairies - Lord Byron❤

Have had several encounters on Springbok mountain when I lived there. They were in my yard so beautiful. Saw an amazing gathering of them under twin falls one night … sparkling different colours and music and tinkling noises and laughter . I’ll never forget it. I was with my partner and we sat in awe for what seemed like hours. Also had a young girl who would come to visit to see the fairy’s in my garden. I still work with them and and their magic to this day with great reverence. They are wonderful allies 😊🙏❤️🧚‍♀️ Springbrook mountain is behind the Gold Coast in Australia a beautiful hinterland ❤️

Around fifteen years ago I was out walking my dog in the urban neighbourhood where I live. It was 7:30 ish at night and late summer. As I walked past a house that had a long drive I saw something incredible and I think, suspect what I saw is what is termed, a brownie. I saw a creature that stood upright as we do, it was around 18” tall, dressed in browns and ochres in trousers, a shirt and a little jacket. This creature had the head of a toad, it walked perfectly well on two legs and seemed quite oblivious to me or my dog (the dog didn’t react at all, in fact I don’t think he could see it. I wonder if what I was seeing was in another dimension from ours - perhaps an elemental dimension. I watched it until it walked into a bank of flowers and disappeared from my view. Absolutely vivid in my mind to this day and I have no doubt that the fairy realm is real.

This comment section is possibly the only place I can publicly share that I saw Pan several years ago. I was walking in a suburban neighborhood that I've walked many times in my life, it was a sunny central Florida afternoon, and I felt pressure (not painful or uncomfortable) in my third eye and there he was! Unmistakably, Pan! About a foot or so tall, a jet black pointed goatee, goat hindquarters, with a sly smile, no horns though... just looking at me. I closed and rubbed my eyes and expected him to be gone but no he was still there at the base of an oak tree. I wish i would've tried to communicate with him but I was dumbfounded. He eventually faced away, the concave feeling of my 3rd eye opening hugely closed, and I continued on my walk. :)

The Leannan Sidhe did convey on Hutton the bardic gift which makes him one of the most fascinating historians/storytellers of our times.

A girl I know (then aged about 10) saw what she called a fairy one evening at dusk in the French countryside. The creature was about 20 to 30 cms tall (less than a foot) and had a sort of fuzzy translucid garment, wings like a butterfly and no feet. It flew across the path right in front of her. That girl is a country kid well used to seeing all sorts of birds and animals and it wasn't a bird.

Lovely podcast. I saw a fairy at the bottom of the garden when I was a child in England. My mother called me a liar. I was furious as she used to tell us about fairies and little people she saw in Ireland as she visited her grandma quiet a lot growing up. I'm old now 65 and can't remember all the stores but i can STILL see that fairy in my mind's eye so I know it was real.

Ronald, as an OBOD Bardic student, I have followed you for a while, and I greatly appreciate hearing of your experience. I know several people in whom I have the utmost confidence, and they have seen multiple Cherokee Little People. I saw my own member of the faerie fold many years ago in my early 20's, while canoeing down a river, and I find it sad that folks can't be open to the possibility that we are not the only two-legged sentient beings in this world. Blessings, Ronald!

I have an experience from a suburb in Fremantle Western Australia- 1990 or so, I saw a little creature about 2 feet tall running along the gutter in the road, his face had a terrified expression, and he ran very fast I was just so flabbergasted I stood looking after this creature, this is a true experience.

I was staying in rural County Clare and daily walking in the local wood. A magical place with woodland flowers in bloom. I spoke to the nture spirits, telling them I came in peace from England and was walking gently through their wood. Next morning in that place between sleep and waking I saw a person dressed in a brown, quilted outfit with a smiling, healthy face, curly light brown hair and pointed ears. I just felt they had connected with me in the woodland and were greeting me kindly. I cant think my mind concocted this, as I would not have imagined a fairy dressed in brown quilted clothing!!

I had an experience in Norway. Was hiking a long route through many forests. It all felt very "enchanted". One day, I entered a wood and I started to see something I initially thought was smoke or fog, I rubbed my eyes. Then I started feeling very, very sleepy and I had the idea that I should just lay down and go to sleep. I had the sense that I should speak to the beings there, the forest and give my gratitude for passage through. I kept walking with all my will in full force to do so. When I reached the other side, my hiking partner asked me, hadn't I heard her yelling for me. Nope. Then she said she'd had the same experience.

I was a motorcycle messenger back in the 80s, whizzing from one drop to the next. Not the kind of situation or location you would associate with a paranormal encounter, but odd is odd. I was going west down London Wall when I spotted a small man running off the pavement. He was about 9 inches tall and wearing a checked suit with matching wide brimmed hat and carried a cane. He looked straight at me but just kept running. I hit the brakes and slithered to a stop. The small man disappeared behind the bike's fairing but a crisp packet then emerged along the same path. (going north) It continued across the road then went vertical against the adjacent building, spinning like mad. It hovered briefly at the building's roof then shot away at speed. I don't think it was a leprechaun, but neither was it a crisp packet. I looked straight at his face.

When I was a child my mum showed me (on a weekly basis) when the fairies was dancing in the fields and meadows. Always a circle, always anti clock wise. Larger than humans but still similar shapes like covered in veils and very foglike but on a sunny meadow. The sightings became rarer but I could show my children a couple of times in the early nineties. But no sightings to show my grandchildren. I saw them in the suburbs of Stockholm Sweden, showed my children in the countryside of south Sweden. Today I live on a swedish island in the Baltic sea in rural surroundings but no fairies. Have our modern way of living sent them extinct? Probably. I feel sad for my grandchildren missing out.

I grew up with the Gaelic world idea of the " fairies". These fairies were respected and were believed to be part of nature .

This reminded me of walking along a farm track in Wales, between two fields, with fences both sides, such that a stray sheep in front of me was getting progressively further from where it should have been. Then I saw a young man in the field to my left, who walked onto the track, blocking it, inducing the sheep to bolt back behind me. I turned to watch it for what seemed like only a few seconds, but when I turned back, there was no sign of the man. I'm from a scientific background, but this has stuck with me for more than 40 years!

So lovely to find your channel. When I was about 5 or 6 years old I lived in a village by the sea in NZ .. I was free to walk around..usually with my dolls in a pram ☺ I used to visit a partucular garden which belonged to a couple of older women and I would play in their garden and then we would have tea and I would tell them all about the fairies who inhabited their garden. They loved to hear about them.. and once they gave me a gift of a lacy handkerchief and a small framed photo of Margot Fonteyn. I kept thiese for many years..When I was about 7 my father told me to stop talking about the fairies and also my 'imaginary friend' ( who was a star being) I miss these connections..but feel with the changes in the energies I will be reconnected once more.and be able to see them all again... I am 57 now 😊 Thank you for your work 💗

I absolutely love watching these videos of UK people telling of their encounters with the little folk. I love their accent and traditional way of thinking ❤, beautiful. I once saw a little person in the woods, i was caught by surprise and so was he. I was picking mushrooms in the woods in the spring and moving the leaves with my foot to find the mushrooms on the forest floor. I felt a heavy sort of animal that was under the leaves that i pushed with my foot. I thought it was a squirrel or something small. All of a sudden, a little man, who was on small tattered clothes, ran out of the leaves i disturbed. He was smaller than a fat squirrel and looked at me and ran!! I was so in shock i couldn't say anything, then, he went in a hole under a tree. I totally respect nature and all her inhabitants so i told him out loud that i was not here to hurt him and would never bother him and told him thank you for letting me look for mushrooms in his forest. I then left so i didn't scare him any more. I returned a few days later just out of curiosity and the place i moved the leaves with my foot and discovered the little person, there was a few flowers that were picked laying there in a pile. I knew i had made a friend ❤. Respect nature and she will respect you❤.

I once took a walk after having a few drinks at the inn. It was very dark and foggy . I think I heard footsteps near me. I saw nobody and nothing happened. It was a great experience indeed.

When I was 13 i was walking in the woods when I heard someone say look how funny he looks... what is he.... there was nobody there but the voice was right in front of me

Prof Hutton is the person I would most want to meet in the world. What a legend

I grew up with my grandfather here in Ireland in my early years and what he told me about the shee was not very good at all, he used to point out certain field's in the semi rural area were we lived saying " never take a short cut though such in such a field on a night with no moon as the shee play music and football (g.a.a . An Irish form of football where the hands can be used to pick up the ball ) and if you stumbled across this, on hearing that music you will become inchanted and taken into their realm were the human construct of time does not exist. I've heard other tale's of people making deal's with the shee for invisibleaty , fame or fortune but in return the same people must return to the fairy realm when they finish their early life. Even had heard of a guy who tricked the fairy folk and escaped their realm on a magickal black horse only to fall off the horse on entering the gates of his home and as he hit the ground he aged 100 years and died instantly , to the guy he only felt as if he had only spent maybe two days with the fairys but on the earthly realm one hundred years had passed bye . It's important work you are doing on your channel. This folklore must be preserved .

I remember waking up in the woods after a heavy night's drinking and recalling a magical experience where I was protected throughout the night by a fairy. As it turns out it was just a small gypsy, but it was still magical.

I had a similar experience when visiting renovation of the old nunnery at castle martyr in Ireland. I became aware of someone walking in step with me on the other side of the shrubbery. I told the security guard and he said "nobody will work here in the evening."

my brother and i saw a marching line of tiny light-filled, bright gnomes on a stone wall in the mid 1960s in northeastern usa. A wooded area. Because he was with me in the night, we were able to compare this story many years later matching details exactly ! We were both around 12 years old. We both saw them ! We went back several nights to possibly see them again I believe i remember seeing them again with him, i will ask him as this second memory is fuzzy.

So many great comments in here! I HIGHLY RECOMMENDED reading the comments.. lots of amazing encounters, old stories and tales as well as resources for a plethora of books! This is the encounter story that keeps on giving! ❤

As a child I slept on a bunk bed, one night I awoke to see two small female fairy like creatures at the foot of my bed. I remember thinking how intense and blond they were. They had pointed ears and features. The next thing I remember is waking up on the floor of my room facing the other direction. Later I told myself I must have fallen out of bed with a weird dream. Now thinking back I remember smells and definitely didn't fall out of bed.

After spending the day searching for fairies with my 8 year old daughter and her bff I’m elated to find this video 😊

I'm in Australia Blue Mountains and have also had an experience. My house is very close to bushland but the garden is full of introduced plants/flowers and is very well established.The previous owner left little statuettes of faeries dotted about the place and we used to have a big pine tree growing in the yard that come autumn fly agaric mushrooms would pop up (definitely not native and no I was not consuming them when I had this encounter!) So for me the garden was already a very magical and enchanting place, but one full moon night I was sitting outside - I think I was having a cigarette (I used to smoke but not anymore) or I could have just been moon bathing (I do sometimes). Anyway I was sitting in a pool of moonlight and at one stage I looked down to my left and there was a pair of tiny bare feet! They looked like human feet but small say about 10cm and rather chunky not dainty. They were frozen at the edge of the pool of light realising that they had been spotted. The owner of the feet was still in shadow and after a prolonged moment they retreated. As my eyes scanned the shadows for them I heard a sound to the right of me - they couldn't have gone behind me because I had my back against the wall so must have gone in front of me undetected in the shadows, but I could distinctly hear tiny scampering on the rails of my balcony! I said in the direction I heard the sound "I am so pleased to have met you and know that you are real but I am also terrified right now so I'm going to go back inside now." I had to walk past where I had heard the sound. I was terrified - I'm not sure what to make of it but am pretty sure I didn't imagine it. I wonder whether the previous owner had seen them too hence the faery statuettes in the garden.

A new but ardent fan of Professor Hutton, I am enchanted! God bless all who read this with showers of blessings. Love and light from a Javanese from West Java, Indonesia!, 🙏🌴🇮🇩🌴🙏❤💝❣️

The fairy lore of Britain , aswell as other parts of Europe , is extremely rich and vivid . It is very interesting to note the wide range of different fairy beings that are spoken of in British folklore .

Ronald Hutton is undoubtedly a man of great character. Strong of spirit, extremely clear of vision, adaptable, and brave also. His un-posturing demeanour proves the old adage regarding judging 'Books by their Covers' (no pun intended), to be very true. Coupled with great character, is a level of high intelligence, patience, and politeness. All in all, I see himself as a real, 'man's man'. Hugely to be respected. As a former Cornish miner, I have met with, and enjoyed the company of, many such men, in quite inhospitable surroundings: Men you don't meet everyday; like our Celtic Piskies.

This is incredible! Professor Hutton is a world treasure.

ive thought ive seen fairies or gnomes or beatrix potters anthropomorphic creatures whenever i get to visit & walk in less traveled forests(one of my favorite things to do) & although they disappear in a blink, i always say, " how do you do, i wont be long here, thank u for letting me walk thru ur beautiful forest" & then they dont disturb me.😄😄my respect to this professor for his diligence in his work. we need more like him.

He's a very special man.

I had a magical experience during a Sammhain festival i was invited to years back with modern druid and wiccan out around Avebury in the UK. We were gathering up in a circle at one ancient spot and i began to see florescent balls of light rolling along the ground but they would gather and "hide" from my behind the wheels of a baby pram since a few folks had small children with them. Someone in the group told me they were fairies and they didn't like to be watched or stared at. That is the only time I've seen them. I've only seen them in the UK and not in other continents where I've lived or worked.

Years ago, I had encounters with elves. One in particular was called Elong Rhingus. As I traveled about the USA, he would introduce me to the elves in the area. He appeared as a reflection in a window in a photograph I had taken. Some of elves in Berkeley, California, would make up things to tell me and then laughed behind my back that I believed them. Elong Rhinhus actually appeared as a reflection in a window of a photograph I had taken.

It was a sunny, summer day in coastal W.Australia, in 2021when I decided to take photo of one of my plants; I leaned closer to see the flowers better and "clicked". To my surprise what I could see was a face expression at the end of one flower. A doubter cloud say, ohhh, it's just your imagination, but friend of mind who is very intuitive, immediately confirmed my sighting. I do believe in fairies. I found professor Hutton story very interesting.

I Saw One in My bathroom of all places.., all gray with large wings...thought was moth but wasn't then it vanished like it Cloaked...bathroom lights were flickering too...I was Stunned...it will happen when you least expect it,it seems...

I’m thrilled to read these comments of encounters. Thank you, everyone. We never expected to have a fairy experience. My niece & I were walking the dog in the garden. We were just talking about nothing when this glowing greenish-yellowish orb started floating across the yard towards us. It was about 4” in diameter & flew around sporadically, popping in & out of sight. The tiny being buzzed my niece in her face. I looked over at her. Her jaw was on the ground. The tiny creature flew over to me & darted around at face level for a few seconds before flickering in & out in a strange flight pattern & disappeared into the Irises. When the little flying person was in front of me, she had beautiful little human legs. The glow was too bright to see her face inside the orb, but I could see an outline of the dainty figure in the orb. When I finally had the presence of mind to look over to my niece, she said, “Gae-Gae it had legs.” We thought fairytales were just stories until that odd visitation.

William Laidlaw, also called Will O’Phaup, born 1691 was “the last man of this wild region who heard, saw and conversed with the fairies; and that not once but at sundry times and seasons.” Will lived on the edge of Ettrick Forest which was “the last retreat of the spirits of the glen, before taking their final leave of the land of their love.”

Jacques Vallee in "Passport to Magonia " writes in great depth about "supernatural encounters " , in the chapters " the good people " and "the secret commonwealth " in particular .

I adore Ronald Hutton, such gifts he has. And you're right, he has an ethereal quality to him. I think he may have said something to the Leanan sídthe and isn't fessing up! 😉

You can't get more British than Professor Hutton

Naww, this was lovely. Ronald is awesome. Look at him there with his blanket and fantastic suit. In my mind's eye I picture him about to tell us spooky and fantastical tales as we all sit around him drinking hot cocoa ;) . I loved hearing about his encounter. Thanks so much for sharing!

When I was about 5 years old, I was in the back garden with my older brother and sister (they were about 10 years older than me). We were standing close to a big tree, all of a sudden a short, stocky lady about 4 or 5 foot tall, came running out of the tree. She ran around the tree, screaming about something and flapping her hands. She was running around the tree quite fast and her dark hair was really long past her butt. She was really wild looking, with a very stout, stocky body, kind of gnome-ish. I started shouting to my brother and sister "look!!" and i remember them saying "look at what?! Theres nothing there!". The lady dissapeared back into the tree. I have a few other stories of encounters I have had as an adult aswell.

I love his voice. I could listen to him for hours ❤

I could sit and listen to Professor Hutton tell these stories all day!

As a child , playing with my cousins, running around trying to catch Fire flys, it was night time, late, we were on the roof with my elders etc. The elders were talking drinking tea, then a. Adult came over to me, asked me to come with them to the edge of the roof and pointed out into the pitch black and asked me, what could i see. I promptly told her i could see 3 blue light, spheres, bobbing in the air, moving in an extraordinairy lightness and swiftness. The elder asked me more questions, i just answered, as it was no big deal to me, then i went back to chasing Fire Flys with my cousins, as we waited for our elders to set up the mosquito nets over our beds on the roof that night. This was in rural India.

I love this interview and the fact he has a blanket on his knees in front off the heater!! 😍

Boston, Massachusetts, must be a beacon for these things, I' have seen enough of them there.

fascinating interview - i once saw a beautiful shining fairy high up on a tree branch during the night - shining with very intense blue light - and another time I remember during a nature walk a deer had stood about 10 yards away from me, directly on the path on which I was walking - it did not move as any other deer most certainly would have when they see a human - deer almost always bolt away like a flash - but no, this one looked directly at me and the thing I will never forget were the deer's unusually large and luminous eyes - I knew this was no ordinary deer - to this day I am convinced it was a fairy in the guise of a deer -- it seemed to me the eyes had some sparkle of the light from the otherworld in them - I was with my beloved partner that day as we were walking the path through the woods together - we radiate quite a bit of fairy-like energy of our own, of which I can attest from many other experiences - so I also believe because of our loving energy that we were gifted with the meeting in the woods with the fairy deer - now I don't know about those who say there is anything at all malevolent about fairies - that is something i could never resonate with - except to think the organized church may have started some anti-fairy propaganda to instill more fear in the religious flock towards anything outside the domain of the church's official teachings - blessings 2 all - may the Fae be with you

Ronald Hutton is my favourite historian of Stuart England, especially his book on The Ritual Year; and I very much enjoyed his victory in a contretemps with an American writer on Christian vs classical resonances in J R R Tolkien's legendarium, in which I think he came out on top intellectually and morally! The breadth of his interests and sympathies makes him a cut above most academics in his field, in my view. How interesting to hear an unusual personal anecdote.

I like Professor Hutton's attire.

Just came upon this channel tonight/early morning in the USA. I had a very amazing encounter with a leprechaun in dreamtime, in 1986. I'm a singer/song writer//composer on my guitar and was working on one of my songs back then, and was having trouble with getting the right cadence form in a certain part of the song. So I was just dreaming and there appeared a leprechaun in front of me, dressed in the green hat, clothes and buckle on his shoes with his hands on his hips and very short stature and began singing/mocking the certain lines I was working on, he did it in a funny amusing way, repeating it over and over again. And then I awoke, got up, picked up my guitar and just worked it out perfectly for the way it should sound. The song is about a certain time in history, in British isles, btw. I am Welsh, Scots/Irish heritage btw. Have you ever heard people talking about dream encounters from the fairies in this way? If so would like to hear more about this. I am very satisfied with the song and would like to record it some day.

I saw a fairy once and she saw me, she warned me not to tell anyone that I saw her or she would kill me. I’m currently in fairy spotter protection program

In my late teens early adult hood I dreamed often and some of these were extremely lucid. And a few others out of body type virtual experiences that impacted me greatly A reoccurring experience I recall was being myself in a dark forested place that had many small homes nestled in rocks and trees. Coloration similar to bioluminescence and quick beautiful. I was tall walking around and the inhabitants small in stature perhaps one foot ? Or less in height ? I recall a black dog like thing that was also around I recall being surprised that they wanted me to some how co mingle with one of the females. In retrospect didn’t make sense. But over time and other strange experiences. I suspect it had to do with genetics ? Another different experience with some type of being that assumed a human form I saw moving colors that slowly took shape as flowers the inside of flowers as if greatly magnified. I felt a presence imprinting on me this thought. They are helping me to learn about and strengthen my auric field. They are of the devic kingdom and so was I. A part of my consciousness. I saw a woman and a man standing that reminded me of gnomes. They even had cone shaped hats on their heads. They were so tiny. From them manifested color. Vibration It was as if I was in a class ? Living library Another experience which was connected to a longer experience. I was brought in front of a couple of tables in a dense humid forest environment. Sitting at the few tables were tall men. Probably 10 or more feet in height. They looked like knights wearing a mesh armor. As I drew near I saw they mesh was trans lucent perilescent in color. Dazzling clothing that also covered the heads of these people Very old looking but youthful man. He was knitting using knitting needles I felt his presence and telepathically he said. I will assist you knit your life together. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. Their really are no such thing as mistakes in life. Only opportunities. He repeated. I will help you knit your life together. I saw symbols flask before my minds eye Each symbol was of a time and place. A group of cultures that existed in the ancient past Each major civilization had a symbol. And some kind of life form that was the symbol I then saw light taking form. A voice stated. Everything in books and documented isn’t the truth. Language spoken isn’t truth. It mention what I’m seeking doesn’t exist on earth. It exists in the telepathic library of creation. I don’t recall now the specific term given. But it was similar to the Akashi’s records or living library. Atheric ? Something that can only be accessed individually. Through the telepathic gateway of consciousness. Any way. I was inspired to write a comment. Thank you for the wonderful video and your commentary.

What a wonderful conversation. Thank you, Modern Fairy Sightings for giving Professor Hutton this platform.

Some years ago i was walking in a forest when i heard a voice say "look down!". At that moment i heard something scamper away... I looked around but saw nothing. But i knew i had heard something on two feet run away. The sound didn't last long so whatever it was, was still close by, but no matter how closely i examined the ground around me i just couldn't see "it". I definitely had the feeling there was something there. This is a forest where my nana told me there were fairies. And i gave photos of some interesting things from there but i keep them private and rarely show anyone.

The people of Appalachia in America know the fairies both from the Indigenous cultural experience and the Scottish tradition, the two of which hybridised with each other over time as these two demographics married into each other. Modernly, there are, I believe records of encounters both in the WPA archives in the US National Archives which were collected back during the Great Depression of the 1930, and there are allegedly police reports in Gardai archives in Ireland, taken during the course of the 20th century of faery/fairy sightings.

I will always stop what I'm doing to listen to Ronald Hutton. He is a store room of valuable folklore, and old pagan practices and beliefs. I'm not convinced that fairies and magic are real, but I do love to listen to him talk of the old ways and beliefs. He's a treasure.

I had a peculiar experience in the late 90s in Wiltshire, England. I was camping at a quiet alternative festival called the big green gathering with a group of friends, late one night I decided to go for a walk outside the festival in the local fields to visit a long-barrow I’d heard of in the area. Nobody wanted to come with me so I went alone. A couple of fields outside the festival I found the long-barrow, it was dark, maybe midnight, August, clear and warm and not so dark that I couldn’t see well, there must have been a moon up. I walked out to the barrow, climbed onto it even and stayed a while before deciding to head back. When I stepped off the barrow somebody pulled on the back of my waistcoat, I turned around in a flash and saw a young man suddenly dart away behind me but as he did so his body just turned to mist and wasn’t there anymore. It was skin pricklingly frightening. I watched for a moment but carried on walking back towards the campsite. On the way across the field I had my waistcoat pulled at least twice more and turning only saw smirking faces turning into mist, I even saw one of these apparitions running in front of me. I made it to the wall of the field and once over it they were all gone. I hurried back to the tent and told my friends but don’t think anyone believed me. It wasn’t really frightening but I often wonder what would have happened if I’d got tied up in their game. Makes me shudder to this day.

My mother born in the late 1920s in lancashire told me of an encounter she had growing up at around 14. She was walking along the road near her house, not many people had cars then and it was mainly fields and hedges. She said it was a bright sunny day and she was thinking if nothing in particular when a tiny man less than 18 inches high jumped out of the hedge in front of her. Looked at her and jumped back into the hedge and out of sight. Mum didn't have time to get many details. She said he had a human face and wore greeny brown clothes. She was shocked but nothing else happened. When she told her mum she'd just seen a little man, her mum said did you? And continued ironing. Mum sometimes got premonitions. My brother did occasionally too. I sense spirits. Had a number of encounters with ghosts and tiny sparks of light that lived in the gardens around our cottage on Anglesey.

Beautiful to meet the fairies and little ones ❤️ God Bless them all

The hotel lights appearing hazily through the mist must have been the most wonderful sight ever! I have been in similar situations ( without the ghostly footsteps ) and can imagine the scene vividly!

I saw a couple of tree nymphs in Holland park in london when I was young(18), it was a bizarre experience as I was with a group of young people who saw the same thing as I. As soon as the Nymphs realised we could see them they disappeared. We were all tripping on LSD and so it could have been hallucinations, BUT I was an experienced tripper and was well aware what was hallucinations and what was not and I know it was real. My thoughts on it is the LSD expanded the boundaries of this dimension allowing us to see beyond what was normally visible to our senses. Science tells us that humans are very limited in what we can see, something like 5% of the magnetic spectrum is available to us, maybe on that day we could see 6%.

Every culture seems to have stories of beings who exist somewhere between humans and the natural world. Fascinating interview, thankyou!

Here in Wales the older generation in the valleys will say away with fairies if someone is odd or does something odd. Also from time to time they will speak of the haunted coal mines. But thats rarer.

I can’t imagine a more British video which is real and not a scene in a play! I didn’t know that an encounter like the one these two people are having, even existed. How charmingly British! I just love it!

It was a pleasure listening to him, it pleasantly took me into dream world,,

Regardless of what he said, she wanted to believe that a fairie gave him his talent, LOL. His response was very kind.

What a nice interview, rather like a fireside chat, very interesting, if you could get one with Eddie Lenihan a noted folklorest from the west of Ireland it would perhaps be another great interview, good luck and good day to you.

I love his voice! It's mellifluous!

I was walking to work one morning in the 80s when I looked around and saw a Gentleman with a tray of bread.. he had a flat cap and a white shirt on with braces.. when I looked back again he was not there later on I looked up a local old street directory and where I saw him...there was listed a bakery just after 1 world war! Eek!

I read of Mr Hutton before I ever heard of Tony, of Time Team fame. ❤🎉

Wow I had no idea people have seen or believed in fairies. It certainly is sweet and magical.

My feeling after watching this is that it's crazy but I am glad people keep these legends alive in the twenty-first century. Thanks for the upload

Thanks to Professor Hutton for sharing this experience! I totally know how it feels to experience something strange and not being sure whether it's the senses playing tricks on us, whether the experience is real or an unusual one. We like to be "rational" about things, or at least allow for a (what we call) rational explanation and are careful of not deciding on anything "supernatural" too quickly. I am very sure that the physical world is not the only thing that exists, and that people in 100 years will laugh at our ideas about the supernatural, because scientist will have advanced so much that some of these now-called supernatural phenomena will be explored and understood, at least partly.

That was a wonderful, thrilling story. Thanks so much, Ronald. And thanks to the internet whims for sending this my way.

Very pleased to hear Ronald gleaned a lot of information from the Manx collections. There is still a lot of magic on the island.

Good Evening Professor... I just came upon your channel....I am glad that finally people are acknowledging that there are little people, fairies, gnomes...in other words, the elementals...which help us with gardens , flowers...and so much more... I had an experience but at the time, No one spoke of the elementals... I was at a hut near the river, I had to kill the chickens that an old friend had, to my dismay he was at hospital and called me to do this for him, it was Autumn....so one by one I did the deed and at everyone of them I would thank their spirit for their offer of food...I had to get pails of water to do all the work it brings, as I was going up the steps of the hut ,something very bright would pass around my feet and I would be careful not to fall....I thought to myself how weird that was, there were no animals, cats around and as I said it was so fast, bright like twinkles....they would stay around my feet without my being able to see what it was exactly....I wonder..,could it have been the hens spirits ? All that lives has spirit am I right ?.. A few months after, I was called at the last minute to be asked if I would join a meditation group for that evening...I did so, as I come in, I see this tiny beautiful woman who was the one to guide us...but she kept watching me, making me quite uncomfortable.....it all went well, some things happened very surprisingly, but to shorten this...at the end, she told me I had the little people with me, were with me, came in with me and other people were able to see them...I was not prepared to hear this as I knew nothing of them...but she told me that I had sat in the East , which she explained little people come from...I have never seen them ...I have no idea what they look like...I am very connected to nature, I do bring candies to water elementals near the river.....with this I Ieave you..and thank you for mentioning about the fairies and more...

I remember this man from the BBC Farm Series ,he Wassailed the trees, great fun...Best Regards ,Boston ,USA...❤