You are hereFolklore / Fairies
Fairies
Cauldshiels Loch
This stretch of water in the Scottish Borders has a ‘Water Bull’ Tarbh Uisge legend attached to it. Read More »
Elphin Irving The Fairie's Cupbearer
Corrie Water is a stream running seven miles from Eskdalemuir to the Water of Milk near Lockerbie. The stream runs through Corrie, an ancient parish annexed to Hutton in 1609. It is here, according to a story by George Douglas in his Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales (1901) that fairies lived. Read More »
Hylton Castle
The Grade I listed ruin of Hylton Castle, seat of the Hylton (previously Hilton) family was built by Sir William Hylton (1376–1435) shortly after 1390. This small four storey gatehouse styled castle, replaced the earlier wooden fortification of Henry de Hilton, which had been built on this site around 1072. Read More »
Llyn Cowlyd
On the edge of the Carneddau range of mountains in Snowdonia lays the deepest lake in North Wales, Llyn Cowlyd. The lake has been dammed so it is unnaturally deep, but it has given soundings of 229 feet, and has a mean depth of 109 feet. The lake is almost 2 miles long, and a third of a mile wide, with the adjacent hills dropping steeply to the lakes edges. Read More »
Llyn Ebyr
Edwin Sidney Hartland gives the following tale about how a mother retrieved her twin children after they had been replaced by fairy changelings in his ‘The Science of Fairy Tales’ (1891)’ ‘Water's antagonism to witches is notorious; and ample use was made of it in the old witch trials. Read More »
The Mermaid Of Knockdolion
'THE old house of Knockdolion stood near the water of Girvan, with a black stone at the end of it. A mermaid used to come from the water at night, and taking her seat upon this stone, would sing for hours, at the same time combing her long yellow hair. Read More »
Creatures of Scottish Folklore
Baobhan Sith
A very dangerous female vampire who haunted the highland regions.
Bean Nighe
The Scottish version of the washer woman at the ford. She always wore green and had webbed feet. She was not always a death portent, and would grant three wishes in certain circumstances.
Baisd Bheulach Read More »
A Changeling In Nithsdale
In his The Science of Fairy Tales’ (1891), Edwin Sidney Hartland gives the following description of a Changeling in Dumfries and Galloway. ‘In Nithsdale the elf-child displays a superhuman power of work. The mother left it on one occasion in the charge of a servant-girl, who sat bemoaning herself. Read More »
A Man Carried Through The Air By The Fairies
The following folk tale by Edward Hamer appeared in a publication entitled 'Parochial Account of Llanidloes' (1877) and repeated in Elias Owen's 'Welsh Folklore' (1973). Read More »
A Visit to Fairyland
The following fairy folk tale takes place around Llyn Cwellyn, a 215 acre, 120 feet deep glacial lake which has now been dammed to create a reservoir. The tale is taken 'Bedd Gelert: Its Facts, Fairies, and Folk-Lore (1899) by D E Jenkins. Read More »
An Underground Woman in Labor
A woman who died at Neu-Bukow in 1841 at the age of 118 told that when she was a child underground people lived in a mountain near her home town. She herself and other children often saw them, but they always ran away from them. One night an underground man knocked at their door and asked the mother to go with him. His wife was in labor. He also asked to borrow a kettle. Read More »
The Ankou
The Ankou was a grim harvester of souls from the dark side of Brittany folklore, once believed to ride the dark lanes of Brittany in search of unwary travellers and the benighted.
The Ankou came in many guises, most commonly as a gangling skeletal figure with long white hair and a revolving head so he could look in every direction, his features shaded by a long brimmed hat. Read More »
Aughisky
These are the water horses of Ireland and are similar to the Each Uisge and Cabyll-Ushtey. They gallop out of the crashing waves up onto the shore, venturing inland. They are supposed to make excellent mounts for whoever can catch one but riding a Aughisky is not without risk. Read More »
Ballad of Tam Lin
Oh, I forbid you, maidens all
That wear gold on your hair,
To come or go by Carterhaugh,
For young Tam-Lin is there.
There's none that goes by Carterhaugh
But must leave him a wad;
Either gold ring, or green mantles,
Or else their maidenhead.
Now gold rings ye may buy, maidens,
Green mantles ye may spin; Read More »
Banshee
The Banshee is most commonly visualised as a female spirit who wails in the night to foretell disaster, either to an individual family or more generally. The tradition is the strongest in Ireland but many places with Celtic survivals have a variant of the Banshee. Read More »
Barnoldby le Beck
The Churchyard of St Helen’s in Barnoldby le Beck and the fields and surrounding the village have been said to be haunted by a Shag-Foal, a rough coated goblin horse, described as a cross between a black dog and a horse. Read More »
The Bean Nighe
The Bean Nighe is an example of the ominous 'Washerwoman at the Ford' rendered in the Highland tradition. The tradition of 'The Washerwomen at the Ford' seems to have its roots in Celtic legend and myth. She appears in the Irish stories and can be identified as the crone aspect of the triple goddess. Read More »
Beast of Lettir Dallan
The Triads of Ireland or the Trecheng Breth Féne describe the Beast of Lettir Dallan as one of the three wonders of Glenn Dallan in Tirowen. Read More »
The Beetham Fairy Steps
The fairy steps, West of the church are steps cut into the limestone rock. If you can climb them without touching either side you will be granted a wish by the fairies.
Directions: Reached from a footpath through woodland to the South West of Beetham and South East of Storth.
Ben Bulben
Legendary home of the Irish third century warriors known as the Fianna, Ben Bulben (or Benbulben, Benbulbin, Binn Ghulbain) is a large glacial rock formation in the Darty Mountains. Read More »
Bendith y Mamau
Bendith Y Mamau means 'the mothers blessing' and is a generic name for the fairies, especially in Southern Wales.
In appearance the fairies are described as small and ugly, and are most readily identified with the Brownies, or the West Country Pixies, although they have the characterisations of most fairies. Read More »
Bincombe Down
Bronze Age barrows on the down are known as the music barrows, and are traditionally thought to be home of the fairy folk. According to folklore it was possible to hear the fairy revelry if you placed your ear to the barrows at midday.
Directions:
A public footpath runs near the down reached from the South West Coast Path.
Read More »
Black Annis
The area around the Dane Hills in Leicestershire, (now built upon) was said to be haunted by a creature known as Black Annis, possibly the remnants of some pagan goddess in darker times. Read More »
The Black Down Hills
The Black Downs have a long tradition as a haunt of the fairies, and stories tell of many sightings as recently as a few hundred years ago, when many country folk believed we shared this land with supernatural denizens. Read More »
Black Sea Mermen
In 1996 a man named Borovikov was diving in the Anapa region of the Black Sea hunting sharks. Whilst he was eight meters deep he had a strange encounter with a mermaid type creature. In his article UFOs in the Soviet Waters, Paul Stonehill described the encounter. ‘He saw giant beings rising up from below. They were milky-white, but with humanoid faces, and something like fish tails. Read More »
