The Paranormal Database

A Devon pixie.

Pixie

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Shaugh Bridge area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1897
Further Comments: This wee fellow, standing forty-five centimetres in height and wearing blue and red clothing, quickly vanished once realising that he had been spotted. The area is also said to be where the Devil and his hellhounds hunt.

Little People

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Sheepstor - Pixies Cave
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cave was shared with the pixies by humans when hiding during the Civil War.

A strange little man in red.

Small Man in Red

Location: Delvin (County Westmeath) - Area around Killough
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1908
Further Comments: A little man dressed in red was spotted by children around the area, mysteriously vanishing from the sight of some of the witnesses while remaining visible to others. The local press at the time claimed the entity could have been an escaped monkey, although other people suspected a leprechaun.

Swift Dancers

Location: Denbigh (Clwyd) - Field by Lanelwyd House (likely to be no longer standing)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Summer, 1757
Further Comments: Four witnesses came across a group of fifteen or sixteen strange dancers in this field. Dressed in red, the dancers waved red handkerchiefs.

Leprechaun

Leprechaun

Location: Derryragh (County Cavan) - Fort on Derryragh hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A leprechaun who lived in the fort was caught by a local farmer who tried (unsuccessfully) to discover where the entity had hidden its treasure.

Fairy Treasure

Location: Dinghurst (Somerset) - Dolebury Warren hillfort
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in red cloth, the fairies would keep an eye on their treasure buried under the hillfort. Fairy pipes were said to have been found around the site.

Cow Protectors

Location: Dingle (County Kerry) - Fairy fort just outside of town
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Farmer Hanafin left a cow unmilked on his land to ensure the local fairies could feed their children. When Hanafin fell into financial difficulty and the bailiffs tried to take his cattle as payment, the fairies fought back; the bailiffs were almost killed by an unseen force, and the cattle ran back to pasture.

Fiddling

Location: Ditton Priors (Shropshire) - Between village and Clee Hills
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: While camping in a small piece of woodland, a couple of women clearly heard fiddles being played. The following morning, they asked the rest of the camp whether anyone else had listened. No one else had heard the music, although one man said he had previously heard the music, and that fairies were responsible.

Never offer a Brownie a gift.

Brownie

Location: Dollar (Clackmannanshire) - Boghall Farm
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Resembling a hairy man, the brownie who worked at the farm was happy with a small bundle of hay on which he slept during the day. Unfortunately, during a harsh winter, the farmer's wife grew concerned about the brownie's wellbeing and offered him a blanket, unaware that it would be considered an insult. The brownie left.

Farming Fairies

Location: Dollar (Clackmannanshire) - Craiginnan farm (no longer standing)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The little people would visit the farm and assist in the gathering of crops. In return, farmer David Wright would leave the best fleeces for them during the sheering season. The helpfulness of the fairies ended when David died - his son took over the running of the farm, but mistreated the fairies, who in turn ensured the farm animals sickened and died. The son died soon after, and the farm eventually becoming a ruin.

Female Spirit

Location: Dollar (Clackmannanshire) - Maiden Well, Glenqueich (north of Castle Campbell)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Taking the form of a spirit, but considered to be fairy in nature, a beautiful woman would occasionally manifest, formed from the mist of the well. One person who summoned the entity was grabbed by her and dragged to the bottom of the well.

Bridge Builders

Location: Dornoch (Highland) - Dornoch Firth
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Water spirits would cross this body of water in seashells but found the method very tiresome. A team of kelpies started building a bridge made of gold and had almost finished their endeavour when a passing man blessed them on their work. The workmen vanished and the bridge collapsed, turning into a sandbank.

Donn of the Sandhills

Location: Dough (County Clare) - Close to the site of the old castle
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Donn was said to be one of the most powerful fairy kings, but he was forgotten about as he lacked a bard to sing his praises.

Petrified Saddle

Location: Douglas (Isle of Man) - Saddle Road
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A vicar was left perplexed after discovering that someone was riding his horse without permission. The vicar asked around the neighbourhood but was unable to uncover the identity of the culprit. A few days after the unauthorised borrowing began, the vicar watched as a little man in a green jacket dismounted the horse and remove the saddle. The little man turned around, realised that he had been seen, and promptly turned invisible. The little man's saddle, left on a fence, turned to stone, and it was from this stone that the road took its name.

Secret Ball

Location: Drimfin (near Tobermory) (Argyll and Bute) - Slope near a rock
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A postman decided to have a quick nap close to a rock known to be the haunt of fairies. The rock opened and a fairy appeared, inviting the postman to a ball. The postman fled and escaped to Tobermory, chased by fairies who probably did not like taking no for an answer.

Grindylow

Location: Droylsden (Greater Manchester) - Pits in the area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Likely a different name for the entity known as Jenny Greenteeth, this fairy-like creature would wait for passing children before dragging them into the water to drown.

Lilac Balls of Light

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Glenasmole, Bohernabreena
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Some locals say that these balls of light, lilac in colour, are fairies; others say they are the manifestation of a lady who lost her way in a bad snowstorm in the middle ages and consequently died - she now tries to prevent her fate from happening to others.

Taken by Fairies?

Location: Dunblane (Stirling) - Bridgehill area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: A pedlar by the name of Scobie who once lived here was said to make his living by trading with fairies. On the evening prior to his disappearance, on neighbour spotted him and said he looked 'fay-like'. A few months later his body was discovered in a glen which was then named Scobie's Wood.

Music

Location: Durness (Highland) - Fraisgell's Cave - Loch Eribol
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Created by fairies, this music emerges from the cave and floats across the waters of Loch Eribol.

The Fairy Dogs of the Isle of Man.

Capped Dogs

Location: East Baldwin (Isle of Man) - Small glen in the valley
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century, on a moonlit night
Further Comments: A man and companion spotted some small fairy creatures, resembling small dogs wearing red caps.

Colt Pixie

Location: East Boldre (Hampshire) - Cold Pixie's Cave (Bronze Age barrow), Beaulieu Heath
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An equine pixie, this fairy entity would play mild pranks and call out to horses, the distraction causing the creatures to become lost.

Moved Church

Location: East Chelborough (Dorset) - Castle Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A church was in the process of being constructed at the base of this hill when local fairies took exception. They moved all the stones to Lewcombe, where the church was finally built.

Albino Dwarf

Location: Eastbourne (Sussex) - Claremont school
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1918
Further Comments: Seen by the novelist Pamela Frankau when at school here, this little creature ran across her bedroom floor and escaped via the landing, fading from view.

Calton Hill, Edinburgh.

Gateway

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Calton Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: According to one story, dating back to the Seventeenth Century, a magical fairy gateway leading to France, Holland, and the fairy kingdom opened on the hill, thought which though only those with second sight could see and use the mythical entrance. A young lad claimed to have access to the gate and would act as a drummer to the many fairies who used the portal. The lad claimed to be needed on a certain date by the little people, and despite all physical efforts to force him to miss the meeting, the lad slipped away from his wardens and was never seen again.

Centaur

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Royal Botanic Garden
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Robert Ogilvie Crombie claimed to have encountered several mystical creatures here, including a centaur, a faun named Kurmos, and Pan.