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STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Faeries, also known as the little people, green men, good folk, fayerye, fairye, fayre, faery, fairy, fatae (Latin), fee (French) and fay (Anglican), are one of the most popularized fanciful races in mythology and literature. They are featured in myths from the early Norse-men, Celts, Romans as well as in Medieval French, English, Irish and Scottish tales. In literature faeries have been written about by Chaucer and Shakespeare and many others. But what are faeries, and do they have fairy tales?

You Can have a faerie, or even more.
Just right click your mouse on one.
'Save picture as', is your next chore,    
Then paste in a folder just for fun...
 

The Cottingley Fairies

The Faery Garden
By Beatrice Philpotts

This is a must have for adult or child who wish to learn about the world of Fae Folk or their history and magik.

We have people point out words that seem to be spelt incorrectly. Spell Check thinks so too....

But many of the words associated with Faery Folk are very old, and have been changed in modern times. In fact they are traditional words and are quite correct. The image of The Faery Garden book links to more information...

A Most Abnormal Child

Did you know the church used to kill people for believing in faeries?

IN MEMORY OF BRIDGET CLEARY
BEATEN AND BURNED TO DEATH, CLONMEL, IRELAND, 1894

In Ireland, the belief in Witches is closely associated with the belief of Faeries ~ and in folklore tales a Witch and a Faerie mingle together and one can very easily be the other. In 1894 in Clonmel (in Tipperary County), a young woman by the name of Bridget Cleary was burned to death...by her husband...after he tortured her. He did this because he believed her to have been a changeling. Changelings are sickly or ill faeries, who take the place of healthy human babies who the faeries kidnap. Sometimes, it is said that the faeries will kidnap an adult to marry a faerie, and in the place of the adult, leave a changeling.
Micheal Cleary suspected his wife (Bridget) was a changeling because she had become refined, and had grown two inches in height very suddenly. Micheal's mother suspected foul play by 'the little people', and so he confronted his wife with his accusations. Bridget, of course, denied being a changeling, and so Micheal begun torturing her (with the help of: three of Bridget's cousins ~ James, Patrick, and Micheal Kennedy; her Father, Patrick Boland; her aunt, Mary Kennedy; and two local men whose names were John Dunne and William Ahearn).
The local townsfolk noticed that Bridget was missing, and heard rumours of her being ill. Johanna Burke (a neighbour) tried to visit Bridget, but found the door to the house was barred. She then sought out two other neighbours who tried to visit (William Simpson and his wife) and the three of them together went back to Bridget's house. They knocked on the door, and were eventually let into the house by Micheal when they saw him through the window. The neighbours were aghast when they saw Bridget being tortured by her husband and family. She was spreadeagled on the bed in her nightclothes, being forced by her husband to drink milk and herbs (a faerie-antidote)...being held over the kitchen fire, and repeatedly asked by her husband whether she was, in fact, Bridget Cleary ~ or a faerie-witch instead. Bridget was screaming and telling all present that she was the real Bridget Cleary ~ but to no avail.
The following day, Micheal asked his neighbour (Simpson) for a revolver ~ saying that he was going to rescue Bridget from the faeries at Kylegranaugh Hill, who were holding her hostage. Simpson refused Micheal Cleary, but later saw him riding off toward the direction of the hill with a huge knife in his hand. Cleary also stated that Bridget would return to him later that night on a grey horse, bound with Faerie ropes. For her to be freed and become mortal again, the faerie ropes would have to be cut. That night, Johanna Burke returned to the Cleary household, where she found Bridget sitting by the fire talking to her family. Suddenly, Micheal Cleary rose from his chair, flung his wife to the ground, and tried to force-feed her (faeries do not have to eat mortal food) ~ he threatened Bridget with further punishment should she refuse to eat. He again demanded her to reveal her true identity. Bridget insisted she was not a changeling, but was a mortal...she was Bridget Cleary. Micheal grew more and more angry, he tore off his wife's clothes and threatened to brand her mouth with a hot branding-iron from the fire. He became more demented- refusing anyone to leave the house until his true wife was returned. He then threw lamp oil over Bridget and set her on fire. Later Burke described what happened, with details of how Bridget lay burning and writhing in the hearth, of how the house filled with acrid smoke, and of how Bridget faced him and begged for help. When he knelt down to her she was dead. For some reason, Micheal Cleary screamed "She is burning now, but God knows I did not mean to do it. I may thank Jack Dunne for all of it "Cleary and Patrick Burke buried Bridget's remains in a shallow grave 1/4 of a mile from the house, after wrapping her in a sack. Her remains were found on March 22nd...her left hand, legs, abdomen and part of her back were burned away. Witnesses were questioned and the following were charged with wilful murder:
Micheal Cleary (Bridget's husband)
Patrick Boland (Bridget's father)
James, Patrick and Micheal Kennedy (Bridget's cousins)
Mary Kennedy (Bridget's Aunt)
John Dunne and William Ahearne (local men)

During the investigation of Bridget's death, two more men were charged:
William Kennedy (Bridget's cousin)
Dennis Ganey (a herb doctor)

The trial went on for two weeks before the jury found all defendants guilty of manslaughter (a lesser charge than wilful murder), and all were sentenced to jail. Cleary received the harshest sentence of all...20 years of hard labour.
Even as he was sentenced, he still believed that the faeries had stolen his wife, and the murder victim was a changeling witch.
Bridget was only 26 years old when she died, and it is believed that her husband, Micheal Cleary, suffered from mental disturbances. Even so...it is a hard fact to face ~ that an innocent woman whose only desire was to better herself and become a refined young lady, was murdered in a horrific manner by people who were her family and friends...and no-one stopped them.