A 19th century fairy sighting from North Wales has parallels with modern UFO encounters
by RICHARD HOLLAND
There are many intriguing parallels between the old belief in fairies and the current belief in aliens and UFOs.
Take the following story, for example. The action takes place in the neighbourhood of Portmeirion in North Wales (well known as ‘The Village’ in the cult TV series ‘The Prisoner’) and the time is one dark night one year in the first half of the 19th century – more than 100 years before the first ‘flying saucer’ sightings.
A young woman named Miss Jones was walking back to her farm, Penrhyn Isaf [pictured], from a neighbour’s house and she had with her a servant known by the nickname of Dafydd Fawr, or Big David, ‘because of his great strength and stature’. Dafydd was carrying a joint of bacon on his back and walking rather slowly. Miss Jones hurried on her way through the growing dusk, as Dafydd followed.
When she arrived home, however, Miss Jones was surprised to find that Dafydd was not with her – and it was another three hours before he finally turned up, the bacon still on his back. The servant was amazed when he was told how late it was. He was sure that he had been just a few minutes behind Miss Jones, but he explained that he had been briefly delayed by a strange sight: ‘He observed, he said, a brilliant meteor passing through the air, which was followed by a ring or hoop of fire, and within this hoop stood a man and woman of small size, handsomely dressed. With one arm they embraced each other, and with the other they took hold of the hoop, and their feet rested on the concave surface of the ring.
‘When the hoop reached the earth these two beings jumped out of it, and immediately proceeded to make a circle upon the ground. As soon as this was done, a large number of men and women instantly appeared, and to the sweetest music that ear ever heard commenced dancing round and round the circle. The sight was so entrancing that the man stayed, as he thought a few minutes, to witness the scene. The ground all around was lit up by a kind of subdued light, and he observed every movement of these beings.
‘By and by the meteor which had at first attracted his attention appeared again, and then the fiery hoop came to view, and when it reached the spot where the dancing was, the lady and gentleman who had arrived in it jumped into the hoop, and disappeared in the same manner in which they had reached the place.
‘Immediately after their departure the fairies vanished from sight, and the man found himself alone and in darkness, and then proceeded homewards. For this reason he accounted for his delay on the way.’
The ‘meteor’ and the strange beings arriving to earth in a glowing circular object are clearly reminiscent of UFO stories. It is also significant that the experience of ‘missing time’ – hours (or even days or years) passing by in what seems but a few minutes – is equally common in fairylore as it is in accounts of alien abduction.
This begs the question – were fairies the aliens of our forefathers?
[Source: 'Wales of the Unexpected' (2005) by Richard Holland p82, quoting 'Welsh Folklore' (1896) by Elias Owen, p. 93]
© Richard Holland 2008
