Fay...fae...maybe we're thinking in the wrong way about this.
I think you might remember that I'm from Eastern Europe(Hungary). Playing the Witcher game series was an absolutely cathartic experience for me (lets not talk about the netflix show, I'm still salty about that). Although there was a lot of western influence in it, but it was still a deeply Eastern European story and these morons managed to make it about California again(okay...I stop). It was clear that some of the monsters were grounded on the local folk tradition and it was the Leshen what completely bought me. Like I actually know this one...you can even say personally. So I ran to the book store to find as much as I can about the slavic/hungarian mythology, cryptids etc.. Retvrn to tradition I guess.
In contrast to popular belief, Hungary is a godless place(yes I'm doing it again...sorry, but I will get to the point), a spiritual wasteland even. Barely anyone goes to church and even when I started to delve into this elusive thing, most of the people were weirded out by it. Was asked many times if I am going to die or what? Many thought that I would be the last one to go into this, but here I am. And we're all going to die. It is safe to say that the commies succeeded in a lot of ways eradicating the religiousness of the population and the pedo/gay priests are here to finish the work. Still there are something you can't take out of the people.
There's an interesting forest not far from where I'm originally from. The trees are growing in a weird way there, so it immediately got around that it must be some place of power. When my father had lung cancer my mother actually dragged him there for that reason. Also around the same time, we got adopted by some forest cat, who always sat on the window sill, when my father was home, until he got the diagnose that he is clean. Since then, we always need to have a cat, eventhough we never had one before. Or there is one family friend who smote and decapitated some poor snake because it is the evil himself(it was not even a snake, it was a kuszma, a legless lizard, totally harmless). I'm speaking about very secular people here. Sure there are some other, somewhat unserious claims, like the grandpa of my friend, who claimed that he saw a ball lightning once...it came in one window and left in the other...suuuuure(you might want to lower the daily pálinka dose, old man).
Then again, if you know any nurses who worked at the nastier wards, they almost always have some weird stories. Like the one man who started talking in the middle of the night, pointing at the other patient that, "It's here. It has come for him". Get back to sleep...the man he was pointing at was dead in less than an hour. What was it? I think it is a perfect answer if one says..."You know.". Suddenly, it seems perfectly reasonable to run to some church.
I have always been the one my grandfather would have called a man of the machine, but lately I've been returning to my old ways. Hiking, touring, participating in hunts sometimes, so I spend a lot of times in forests. I actually spoke about these things with someone a few days ago. I'm also often at a meadow I found, where I'm writing, reading, thinking or just basically losing myself nowadays. There's also this thing happening, when after a while, you start to see all the forest critters, sometimes even larger animals, the birds beginning to sing again and you have this feeling...it's here. I'm not alone anymore. The forest accepted my presence, now I'm a part of it. But what is here, you might guess. Well, it's not terribly important, but then again..."You know.". I don't think it's very far fetched that some of my ancestors very long ago might have felt the same thing. (Then some hikers from the city arrive with the carefulness of a panzer division.)
You have to give respect to the place. This also makes hunting a very misunderstood thing, although it's true, that there are many psychos among the hunters, but I still think that most, are absolutely respectful for the forest. I like to think ourselves as some guardians, keepers of the balance. Shooting can be incredibly fun, true, but we don't necessarily kill just for fun. There's no natural predators left, so we must try to keep the overpopulation in check.
That's why OG city dwellers can be so annoying. They trash the place, loud etc. Was also writing yesterday about one time some of these dumbasses ran into some wild boar piglets. Obviously the mother was not far away and let me tell you...if it happened at night, it might as well have been the Leshen. Those things can really fuck you up. The spirit of the forest struck.
As I said, I want to believe, but it's still true that there could have been terrifying things at work here. But for a start, knowing some of the depictions of the fae, it didn't seem that out of place.
It is true though that kids can say a lot of stuff and I actually believe that they're serious about it. Remembering back when I was very little it sure feels dreamlike, with a lot of stuff hard to explain. My cousin was also saying for like 2 years that he sees our dead grandma. But if you spent enough time with little enough children, they do say sometimes so out-of-field terrifying shit, that you again start to look under the bed.
There is also that theory, that as they are freshly torn out of the void or the otherside and they are yet to take roots in the world, they still retain a direct connection with it. Everyone else might need shrooms for that.
Also, if we think that that sound was air raid sirens you almost get the start of the Pan's labyrinth which describes the same thing. So it might have been a Faun, if you will. That sounds even cooler than being a fae or the spirit of the island. And it was implied that there was more like it elsewhere.
I also like the "You know." answer. It gives the thing an otherwordliness. Like the language is too limited to describe it.
Sadly, I must return from the spirit world now. It's very suspicious that there's no one to reach actually about this happening. Won't call it absolute hoax, because there might have been actually some whimsical/dreamy kids around having some fantasy adventure before their consciousness reached maturity.
(And although I have never been scared of clowns, there was always some deviousness in those looks. It's best to be on the lookout around them...)
Very interesting insight, I appreciate you sharing. To your point, the old ways are deeply rooted in certain places. Hungary is a very old country, much older than America, and even when the people are divorced from these old traditions, they have a way of creeping back in or finding their ways into modernity. In some ways, it's almost in a cargo cult fashion - no one really knows why or what purpose these old traditions were implemented originally, but they continue to go through the motions, if only to hedge their own bets. You see similar behavior in certain parts of America that are older than others. The Appalachians come to mind. It's a beautiful part of the country but there's a dark energy to them that speaks to the presence of... something. And that dark energy only becomes more pronounced the further into the wilderness you go, and, despite there being some relatively large cities in the region, it doesn't take long for you to escape the trappings of modernity (Washington D.C. is only an hour, two hours drive from West Virginia, for instance). Humans, I think, are predisposed to turn to the unknown and mysterious when in dire need. It's like they say about warfare; there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. That's something I think that no amount of political ideology or reeducation will ever be able to completely nullify. This may be a self-report, but I do believe the old gods, whatever they may be, are alive and well in certain places, and they are to be offered a sort of deference when in the places they dwell. I often think that they are older than we are by some measure and will be around after we're gone, but I'm also partially of a mind that they are an extension of us, to some extent, and without us they will lose much of what makes them... them, if that makes sense. Maybe that's just hubris on my part, or reading too much into how we perceive them versus how they actually are. Every spiritual system on planet earth has a concept of "invisible people" or "forces of nature"; to me, it seems silly to believe that there isn't some merit to the idea. There's a lot to say on the topic, more than can be fit into just one comment, but suffice to say that there is a reason I keep my time in the deep woods to a minimum.
From what I understand, the Leshen, Leshi, Leshy, whatever you want to call them, are quite well-spread across the Slavic world, and despite Communisms best attempts to eradicate them... well, like I said, you can tell yourself that they aren't real, but what is real doesn't care much about one's opinion on that matter. I had a professor from Russia who taught a lot of Slavic folklore and mythology and impressed upon us that, in the rural parts of the country, many of the old folks still believe in them and abide by the old traditions to keep them satisfied. A growing number of young people like yourself seem to be coming back to them. I don't think that's a bad thing, so long as they don't take precedence over true divinity (which I don't believe they are).
Also, I would agree with you that children are more open to paranormal experiences that adults are not. When they're fresh to the world and understand little of it, I believe it's easier for them to see things as they really are without the decades of mental conditioning, education, biases, so on and so forth that are baked into adults over time. As I've said many times in the comments section of this article, I believe many who encounter these entities only see what they want to see, and one's personal beliefs can alter what form these beings take. I'd reckon that were an adult to encounter "Sam", assuming he ever existed, they would have seen something far different what the children did.
I'm actually mostly Rusyn, so there might be some cultural atavism at play here. Although I did read about them before, revisiting it, it is interesting how many things I do fits right into the original beliefs. I'm not claiming that I'm an expert but a lot of those superstitions actually make sense, even if in a convoluted way. I almost dare to say, that if you follow those descriptions, it will actually help you be around better in the forest.
I must add though that you've never been in the forest really, if you never stepped out of the well traveled paths. That is when the real magic starts. It can be a really humbling experience...even in a densely populated country like mine, it is not hard to see, how can people get lost. But if you are part of the forest you can never be really lost. (This just gave me the idea, that this might be the same for life itself. Never thought about that.) And when there is a complete silence when you are there, it is one of the most terrifying things. So you want the spirit to look over you.
I also agree that there are things out there, that we might have forgotten about. One always projects some dark things to the unknown, but I never thought of them as evil. Rather they have this primordiality with them-just like you said-so neutral is more fitting...even neutral good. The wild boar doesn't fuck you up because it is evil(although they are depicted many times as that), it just acts as it should. Maybe this is the same you are thinking about. It was always there(not always but just roll with it), and always will be. Like in one of the Merlin stories...the human sentience makes them pop into reality. Although still wouldn't count myself as a believer, I think these experiences brought me closer to the truth. But I could ramble about these for hours.
I do love the feel of the Appalachians. Really want to visit there once. It still has that true untouched wilderness feel, that is increasingly hard to find here. Also, lol about the 2 hour way from DC...in 2 hours you are at the border of the next country here.
I follow Wendigoon and he had a video where he was just out and about there. I instantly knew that I have to visit once. Also, I don't know exactly where, but there are those weird lights at one part. Maybe for a next essay?
All-in-all, I finally left the city, even if it's just for the suburbs somewhat. It was one of the best choices in my life and I have the wilderness not far from me, even if it's very far from that unknown primordial thicket. No noise, calm, space...if I knew that it will be this good, I would have taken out a loan to get away as fast as I can. In short...fucking splendid.
The Sam the Sandown Clown story has that weird psychedelic 1970s vibe to it, and I can't help but think it has a very Sid and Marty Krofft/HR Pufnstuf character to Sam. Can paranormal things be influenced by kid's television to disguise themselves to children, but get it wrong? Or were the kids putting that hippie gloss on something inconceivable?
That's a very interesting avenue I had not considered. Now that you mention it, I can definitely see the overlap between the two. I'm not sure if the Krofft brother's shows were ever broadcast in England, though, or if there was an English equivalent to their bizarre brand of psychedelic children's entertainment. That doesn't mean that, hypothetically, whoever or whatever Sam was would not be aware of it. There is a wealth of paranormal stories that do suggest, if they are to be believed, that some of these entities do present themselves in certain ways that mimic popular figures in children's entertainment when interacting with children (i.e. "taking a form you are comfortable with"), or that there's a sort of certain psychological "shield" or "filter" that humans have that cause them to be perceived in a way that's bespoke to the individual interacting with them. I purposefully included a link to the scene from "The Mothman Prophecies" in which the purported alien, when asked what it looks like, replies with, "It depends on who is looking"; I do think that if this phenomenon is real, there is a large degree of people perceiving these entities, whatever they may be, as whatever it is they are best equipped to handle as the "true form" of the entity is either purposefully hidden or, as you said, "inconceivable" to the human brain. Again, this is all baseless speculation based on accounts that we have no real way of verifying, but there are a disturbing amount of testimonies provided by people who claim to have encountered entities presenting as characters, including Muppets, cartoon characters, and the like. The Cryptonaut Podcast has several episodes - if you're interested, there's an episode called "Day of the Puppet People", I believe, that covers a few of them, as well as a listener-submitted story from a woman who claimed to have been visited in her bed by a sinister entity disguising itself as the Count from Sesame Street. It sounds silly but the story itself is deeply uncomfortable. It's all a very intriguing (and disturbing) phenomenon.
Bit late to comment, but yes HR Pufnstuf was most definitely broadcast in England in the early 1970s - Saturday morning childrens TV. I was a huge fan. British kids TV at that time was full of weird kids shows. Look up The Magic Roundabout, the Clangers (lived on a barren planet), Catweazle.
I’ve actually heard of the Magic Roundabout, but only because of the failed localization of the animated movie from, like, twenty years ago now. Much like HR Pufnstuf, I also hear that the Magic Roundabout had an audience with people who were very much not kids and had a fondness for a certain mind-altering weed. But that’s just hearsay from what little I know about it.
Why is it that every child draws a house with a pointed roof, two windows, a smoking chimney, and a door in the middle? I've never seen a house like that.
I would proffer that we interpret these sorts of things through the visual filters that we have. So instead of a stone castle, it's a workman's metal shack.
And here I was thinking this essay was going to be about the iCarly character/Jeanette McCurdy when I saw the title. :P
Anyway, an interesting tale, very SCP-like. Have to admit I've never heard about this one. All the way through I was bracing myself for something eerie and deeply unsettling, but in the end this one felt surprisingly mild for me. I'm even tempted to say "wholesome", but that's probably taking it too far. This entity didn't come across as especially menacing to me, and more as charmingly weird and disturbingly weird, if that makes sense. Most of the fear factor disappears if you don't happen to have a clown phobia. (In my personal case, they never bothered me, but bees and all related insects were and are more my weak point)
It does ping my suspicion radar a little if the story allegedly happened in the 70s, but only became known in 2020. All the way through I was also waiting/hoping for an interview with a grown-up Fay, and also suspecting she'd turn out to be dead or to have suffered some other awful fate. I'm used to these stories being unconclusive and vague, but not getting her perspective first-hand did feel like a bit of an anti-climax.
As for fairies, this guy doesn't really fit IMO. He's too harmless and too bumbling. Fairies seem to have this combination of aristocratic disdain, grace and cruelty that doesn't mesh with this story for me at least.
"But just because we decided they didn’t exist anymore… does that mean they decided to go away?"
I've sometimes wondered the same about the traditional pagan gods of Europe, and also other places, I suppose. If we assume for the sake of argument that they existed, what happened to them and what did they do when people suddenly stopped worshipping them? And does the recent revival of some of their faith mean they're "back"? Then there's JMG's theory that pagan god names might be more like titles claimed by a succession of deities as they rise to power, age and "die" (or move on?)...
Trust me, if I ever return to the Bakeryverse, it will be a while. I've had enough Schneider material in my life to last a few years, if not a lifetime.
A lot of people share your sentiment that the story is wholesome and charming, which, I'll admit, if you read it a certain way, it can be. To take it back to Sam's "You know" statement, how the story reads emotionally comes down entirely to how one interprets statements like that and the tone they were delivered in. It returns to the fallibility of textual communication and that only a scant 3% of any information in a given statement actually comes from the diction itself, and the remaining 97% of anything being communicated is gleaned through tone, body language, microexpressions, etc.
As for the story taking place in the 70's, it is strange that it never caught on until almost fifty years after the fact, but at the same time it's nice to know that it is about as accredited as a story like this can be, coming from a genuine, authentic journalistic publication. If I wasn't able to find the Bufora Journal archives, I would have believed it to be an internet creepypasta - there's a lot of that certain kind of ambiguous flavor to it.
I'd also argue that fairy is a blanket term that incorporates a wide variety of beings who, if they do exist, may or may not even be related. It's kind of hard to explain - or at least I feel like it is - but again, presuming they do exist, we know so little about them that it's possible that, say, pixies and elves really have nothing in common outside of being incorporeal intelligences. This is to say that the spectrum of fairies ranges from the more aristocratic, noble, and graceful to the opposite end of the spectrum of bumbling commoners and even court fools. If there's any factor that unites them, I'd say it's their caprice. Cruelty is certainly a possibility but what makes the fair folk so... "best left untouched", shall we say, is the fact that, if the old tales are to be believed, they are as likely to be senselessly mean as they are beneficent, and you can never rightly predict which way they'll act. In many stories they begin benevolent but, for arbitrary reasons known only to themselves, become malicious. There's usually a way to placate them or rules and procedures that can be followed to keep from getting on their bad side, but, as I said - it's best to just leave them alone. So far as I understand, they seem to really only bother people who bother them first. Or, more odiously, once you notice them, they notice you.
Personally, absurd as it may sound to some, I do believe that the traditional pagan gods of Europe and beyond were attached to genuine spiritual entities. I also think JMG is on to something - the figure being worshipped as, say, Ishtar, may not have been THE Ishtar that the Assryians believed they were worshipping, but something else that stepped into fill the role or play the part, in a way. Given that deities like Ishtar were worshiped across large spans of lands by a variety of different people, it stands to reason that the entity behind the Ishtar of the Assyrians may not have been the same entity behind the Ishtar of Babylonians. Same with the Odin of one tribe of Scandinavians versus another. It would explain why different people worshiped the same gods in different ways at different times, different places, so on and so forth (of course, the more realistic explanation is things just change over time, but, still). I don't think any of them went away, per say. Maybe they went dormant, if they need human belief or emotional energy to persist (again, like I said about fairies, perhaps they only exist because we perceive them, or they're some latent manifestation like a gestalt or egregore that only exists because we believe they do). If that's the case, it's far more likely that they would adopt new identities to play to the audience. Again, to go back to the fairies, if you draw the lines between the similarities between fairy phenomenon in pre-Christian Europe, demonic phenomenon in Medieval Europe, and alien phenomenon in modernity, the overlap suggests that they may just be the same entities updating their identities to better fit with the times and with what humans are willing to believe. The Alien-Fairy theory is actually one that I was first introduced to by JMG, actually... and at a young and impressionable age at which that idea has always stuck with me ever since. I think he's onto something with it, though.
True, the "you know" part can be read in a more creepy way, or in a "frightening that the universe might be more capricious and unknowable than we thought" sort of way. In that way, the Sam story reminds me a little of my favorite SCP, 1193, the buried giant with the phone, which per its author plays on the same sort of eeriness.
The "text is only 3%" bit is very true. Without going into a lot of details, I've had some experiences with that, in how hard it is to have actual genuine conversations in only text with someone you mainly know through the internet. I know some younger people say they find it easier to "be themselves" when communicating through text, but personally I found it much harder in many ways once things went past the superficial.
Re. faeries, I'll grant that my concept of them could very well be too narrow. It's not a subject I've read about in any real detail, and your take makes sense.
"Same with the Odin of one tribe of Scandinavians versus another."
Of course this fits Odin in particular especially well, since He's such a shifting, malleable deity to begin with. ;) This interpretation would also be one way to make sense of the Ragnarok myth: even if one version of Odin died/will die there, another could take His place.
"Maybe they went dormant, if they need human belief or emotional energy to persist"
For what little it's worth, my intuition is that this wouldn't be the case. Not for full, proper deities. As I understand things (mainly but not only through JMG's writings), they're meant to be much bigger, older and more powerful than humanity, so I can't see them being dependent on anything we do in order to exist. This certainly seems to be the case for the Abrahamic God as those traditions understand Him. Lower-order beings like faeries might be different.
Honestly, that makes about as much sense as a spaceman or a fairy. I notice that, when it comes to these kind of stories, there are people who find one pet theory and believe it whole-heartedly and refuse to humor any other explanation when, really, all of them are as likely as another.
One would like to believe, out of some strange sense, that spirits of the nature proposed Paracelsus von Hohenheim, certainly there's plenty of encounters that people recount that are more just strange than malevolent.
There's of course, many many accounts of the sinister, and of encounters that ended when a certain carpenter's name was cried out.
Christians at least, know of at least two things. Unclean spirits and clean spirits.
Many account for angels, fallen and unfallen, attributing demons and unclean spirits to fallen angels.
There's actually a good bit of wriggle room, and much left unclear.
Though, this teller has a theory. People speak of people being spiritually dull, or that taking this or that substance opens this or that.
Rather than dull, this teller's suspicion is that our relative blindness is protection.
Still, one doesn't know other than two things.
Whatever the nature, people have seen and heard strange things.
Flesh or spirit, there's plenty of danger in seeking out the unusual, you don't need to meet a wendigo to get eaten or murdered.
It sounds as if you may agree with the famous (or infamous?) Lovecraft quote; "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
Very interesting comment. Leaves me with much to consider.
Some agreement can be made with the tortured wordsmith, on a basic level, directly in the bible, fallen mortals viewing God directly is such a bad idea that he takes measures against the consequences, then there's the ever famous words of most angelic visitations. Perhaps seeing through the glass darkly isn't just a matter of fallen nature and limitations...
What the bible doesn't touch on is no less suggestive than what it does.
Of course, a man could discount it all, and call himself a meat robot, but on that front apart from being a boring choice, turning from christians and christianity, a good many occultists have expressed their preference for working spells on atheists.
I’ve never heard this story, it was very engrossing to read through your account! I am of the opinion that there are many strange and unusual things in this world that science does not hold the answers for. I do hope you weren’t joking about writing on djinns.
I wasn’t kidding, but I also don’t known when I’ll get around to it. The topic of the djinn is one that is expansive, esoteric, and deeply misunderstood in the West. Even those who know that the djinn and the western concept of a genie are so far removed from one another that the connection is almost only nominal don’t know just how extensive the lore around them goes or how very real they are to many who practice Islam today. It’s a topic I’ve been deeply intrigued by and one that I actually ordered scholarly texts in order to study it because I wanted to understand it better, and even I, as an American with a very poor grasp on Islam, is rather unequipped to understand in depth in whole. I’d say I certainly know more about it than almost any non-Muslims and most Westerners, but at the same time… I’m not sure I could do the topic the justice it deserves. The other thing that makes me cagey about writing too much about the djinn is that many Muslims believe that speaking about them, or even thinking about them too much, is a way that you can draw their attention to you (a very fairy-esque quality, which is why in traditional European folklore there are so many polite euphemisms for them to avoid mentioning them directly). And, while djinn, like fairies, can be benevolent, kind, and generous, that’s only if you happen to attract the attention of one that is disposed to be that way. Or maybe you just catch them in a good mood. Like humans, they wildly vary in their personalities and temperament. The point is, it’s largely common knowledge that you’re better off not engaging with them, regardless of their disposition. I had a friend from Egypt in college, a practicing Muslim, and when I asked him about the topic, he largely refused to discuss it. He said something along the lines of, “I don’t really believe in them, but I also don’t want to chance it, so I don’t want to talk about it.” That should tell you how deeply those beliefs are embedded in their culture where even a relatively secular (and rather impious, as he did regularly consume alcohol with us) Muslim still holds some trepidation about the djinn. Point is - I don’t know if I really want to talk about them all that. Just in case. But… we shall see. Maybe one day I will. But I’ll be wearing my crucifix when I do.
Fairy was my first take. Well, second, after, "the kid made it up". Which is what I think, but that rules out any speculation, which is no fun.
But otherwise fairy fits the bill.
I have a good chuckle every time it is suggested that space aliens are more "realistic" or "scientific" than fairies or other supernatural creatures. The things people reason themselves into.
So let me get this straight. You believe in non-human beings, from other worlds, using powers beyond what what is possible based on known physics, who visit humans for mysterious purposes, sometimes abducting or harassing them, other times revealing vague glimpses of things unknown to humans.
I'm glad to know I'm not alone as only a few places I've seen this story recounted raise fairies as an explanation for it, despite it being very in-line with traditional fairy lore. As I mentioned in the article, the overlap between phenomenon ascribed to "aliens" and traditional stories, lore, whatever pertaining to fairies is strikingly similar, as is some demonic activity. I have a pet theory that, if all the stories are to be believed, then what many consider to be "aliens" are the same entities that were "fairies" masquerading under a different alias that better fits the secular worldview of the 20th century. I do believe demons are their own proprietary category of spirits, but I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that many demonic encounters were the same entities that are aliens/fairies/what have you similarly leaning into those trappings to better present to those more religiously inclined. If they're not creatures of fresh and blood, there's no real reason to assume they can't present as whatever best suits their purpose at any given time.
I figure it's all roughly the same phenomenon. What that phenomenon is, is anyone's guess. More than mere spontaneous hoaxing, anyway; at a minimum a social phenomena that spans the ages and virtually all cultures. But I think there is probably *something* to it.
In alien lore there are good aliens and bad aliens and trickster aliens. It's all the same tropes.
Whether they're space wizards with magical physics defying vehicles, or spirits vibrating at higher frequencies, or whatever. We keep telling the same stories, with the same narrative elements, and the same circumstances, and the same air of mystery. We've been doing it at least as far back as our written and oral histories go. Chances are, much longer than that. It just seems silly to me to say, "your thing is totally fake and made up, but my exactly the same for all intents and purposes thing is totally real." Reddit tier logic.
Don't forget that people who believe in the Religion of Progress have an ulterior motive here: if aliens exist, that means faster than light travel is presumably possible, or as you put it, our "known physics" aren't as hostile to human ambition as it seems. Which of course means that their dream of our glorious future in the stars is (theoretically) possible.
Sure, just like people who believe in faeries and djinn think that means magic exists, and therefore they too can learn its secrets. Or people who believe in ghosts are comforted by the notion that life goes on after physical death. Simulationists think this is all a video game they'll someday wake up from and get to start a new playthrough, and singulatarians think if they can cling to the mortal coil long enough they'll ascend to godhood. All these things are, in a sense, reflections of our yearning to overcome the limits imposed on us by our apparent reality. The old promises of witchcraft - omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, etc. - are always with us.
Isn't it though? The conspicuous choice of Fay as a pseudonym was one of the first things I noticed when I heard the story for the first time, and it's always puzzled me that even people who float the "fairy" theory when discussing the account don't pick up on it. I also tend to use that word more than I should... I have a "colorful" vocabulary. It's something I try to work on but one or two slips through. Assuming the "F" word is a certain expletive and not "Fairy" ;)
Glad you enjoyed, and hope you can say the same about what I have coming soon.
This was so engrossing. I am not a fan of All-Colors, Sam, but I am a fan of being introduced to All-Colors, Sam through a second-hand retelling with added commentary and analysis. Great write-up.
That is a heavy load to consider. I can completely understand your trepidation . There is an interesting Egyptian movie “Teer Enta” that deals with the subject in a lighthearted manner, it’s quite funny if you don’t mind subtitles.
It was also my first thought.
Fay...fae...maybe we're thinking in the wrong way about this.
I think you might remember that I'm from Eastern Europe(Hungary). Playing the Witcher game series was an absolutely cathartic experience for me (lets not talk about the netflix show, I'm still salty about that). Although there was a lot of western influence in it, but it was still a deeply Eastern European story and these morons managed to make it about California again(okay...I stop). It was clear that some of the monsters were grounded on the local folk tradition and it was the Leshen what completely bought me. Like I actually know this one...you can even say personally. So I ran to the book store to find as much as I can about the slavic/hungarian mythology, cryptids etc.. Retvrn to tradition I guess.
In contrast to popular belief, Hungary is a godless place(yes I'm doing it again...sorry, but I will get to the point), a spiritual wasteland even. Barely anyone goes to church and even when I started to delve into this elusive thing, most of the people were weirded out by it. Was asked many times if I am going to die or what? Many thought that I would be the last one to go into this, but here I am. And we're all going to die. It is safe to say that the commies succeeded in a lot of ways eradicating the religiousness of the population and the pedo/gay priests are here to finish the work. Still there are something you can't take out of the people.
There's an interesting forest not far from where I'm originally from. The trees are growing in a weird way there, so it immediately got around that it must be some place of power. When my father had lung cancer my mother actually dragged him there for that reason. Also around the same time, we got adopted by some forest cat, who always sat on the window sill, when my father was home, until he got the diagnose that he is clean. Since then, we always need to have a cat, eventhough we never had one before. Or there is one family friend who smote and decapitated some poor snake because it is the evil himself(it was not even a snake, it was a kuszma, a legless lizard, totally harmless). I'm speaking about very secular people here. Sure there are some other, somewhat unserious claims, like the grandpa of my friend, who claimed that he saw a ball lightning once...it came in one window and left in the other...suuuuure(you might want to lower the daily pálinka dose, old man).
Then again, if you know any nurses who worked at the nastier wards, they almost always have some weird stories. Like the one man who started talking in the middle of the night, pointing at the other patient that, "It's here. It has come for him". Get back to sleep...the man he was pointing at was dead in less than an hour. What was it? I think it is a perfect answer if one says..."You know.". Suddenly, it seems perfectly reasonable to run to some church.
I have always been the one my grandfather would have called a man of the machine, but lately I've been returning to my old ways. Hiking, touring, participating in hunts sometimes, so I spend a lot of times in forests. I actually spoke about these things with someone a few days ago. I'm also often at a meadow I found, where I'm writing, reading, thinking or just basically losing myself nowadays. There's also this thing happening, when after a while, you start to see all the forest critters, sometimes even larger animals, the birds beginning to sing again and you have this feeling...it's here. I'm not alone anymore. The forest accepted my presence, now I'm a part of it. But what is here, you might guess. Well, it's not terribly important, but then again..."You know.". I don't think it's very far fetched that some of my ancestors very long ago might have felt the same thing. (Then some hikers from the city arrive with the carefulness of a panzer division.)
You have to give respect to the place. This also makes hunting a very misunderstood thing, although it's true, that there are many psychos among the hunters, but I still think that most, are absolutely respectful for the forest. I like to think ourselves as some guardians, keepers of the balance. Shooting can be incredibly fun, true, but we don't necessarily kill just for fun. There's no natural predators left, so we must try to keep the overpopulation in check.
That's why OG city dwellers can be so annoying. They trash the place, loud etc. Was also writing yesterday about one time some of these dumbasses ran into some wild boar piglets. Obviously the mother was not far away and let me tell you...if it happened at night, it might as well have been the Leshen. Those things can really fuck you up. The spirit of the forest struck.
As I said, I want to believe, but it's still true that there could have been terrifying things at work here. But for a start, knowing some of the depictions of the fae, it didn't seem that out of place.
It is true though that kids can say a lot of stuff and I actually believe that they're serious about it. Remembering back when I was very little it sure feels dreamlike, with a lot of stuff hard to explain. My cousin was also saying for like 2 years that he sees our dead grandma. But if you spent enough time with little enough children, they do say sometimes so out-of-field terrifying shit, that you again start to look under the bed.
There is also that theory, that as they are freshly torn out of the void or the otherside and they are yet to take roots in the world, they still retain a direct connection with it. Everyone else might need shrooms for that.
Also, if we think that that sound was air raid sirens you almost get the start of the Pan's labyrinth which describes the same thing. So it might have been a Faun, if you will. That sounds even cooler than being a fae or the spirit of the island. And it was implied that there was more like it elsewhere.
I also like the "You know." answer. It gives the thing an otherwordliness. Like the language is too limited to describe it.
Sadly, I must return from the spirit world now. It's very suspicious that there's no one to reach actually about this happening. Won't call it absolute hoax, because there might have been actually some whimsical/dreamy kids around having some fantasy adventure before their consciousness reached maturity.
(And although I have never been scared of clowns, there was always some deviousness in those looks. It's best to be on the lookout around them...)
Very interesting insight, I appreciate you sharing. To your point, the old ways are deeply rooted in certain places. Hungary is a very old country, much older than America, and even when the people are divorced from these old traditions, they have a way of creeping back in or finding their ways into modernity. In some ways, it's almost in a cargo cult fashion - no one really knows why or what purpose these old traditions were implemented originally, but they continue to go through the motions, if only to hedge their own bets. You see similar behavior in certain parts of America that are older than others. The Appalachians come to mind. It's a beautiful part of the country but there's a dark energy to them that speaks to the presence of... something. And that dark energy only becomes more pronounced the further into the wilderness you go, and, despite there being some relatively large cities in the region, it doesn't take long for you to escape the trappings of modernity (Washington D.C. is only an hour, two hours drive from West Virginia, for instance). Humans, I think, are predisposed to turn to the unknown and mysterious when in dire need. It's like they say about warfare; there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. That's something I think that no amount of political ideology or reeducation will ever be able to completely nullify. This may be a self-report, but I do believe the old gods, whatever they may be, are alive and well in certain places, and they are to be offered a sort of deference when in the places they dwell. I often think that they are older than we are by some measure and will be around after we're gone, but I'm also partially of a mind that they are an extension of us, to some extent, and without us they will lose much of what makes them... them, if that makes sense. Maybe that's just hubris on my part, or reading too much into how we perceive them versus how they actually are. Every spiritual system on planet earth has a concept of "invisible people" or "forces of nature"; to me, it seems silly to believe that there isn't some merit to the idea. There's a lot to say on the topic, more than can be fit into just one comment, but suffice to say that there is a reason I keep my time in the deep woods to a minimum.
From what I understand, the Leshen, Leshi, Leshy, whatever you want to call them, are quite well-spread across the Slavic world, and despite Communisms best attempts to eradicate them... well, like I said, you can tell yourself that they aren't real, but what is real doesn't care much about one's opinion on that matter. I had a professor from Russia who taught a lot of Slavic folklore and mythology and impressed upon us that, in the rural parts of the country, many of the old folks still believe in them and abide by the old traditions to keep them satisfied. A growing number of young people like yourself seem to be coming back to them. I don't think that's a bad thing, so long as they don't take precedence over true divinity (which I don't believe they are).
Also, I would agree with you that children are more open to paranormal experiences that adults are not. When they're fresh to the world and understand little of it, I believe it's easier for them to see things as they really are without the decades of mental conditioning, education, biases, so on and so forth that are baked into adults over time. As I've said many times in the comments section of this article, I believe many who encounter these entities only see what they want to see, and one's personal beliefs can alter what form these beings take. I'd reckon that were an adult to encounter "Sam", assuming he ever existed, they would have seen something far different what the children did.
Thanks.
I'm actually mostly Rusyn, so there might be some cultural atavism at play here. Although I did read about them before, revisiting it, it is interesting how many things I do fits right into the original beliefs. I'm not claiming that I'm an expert but a lot of those superstitions actually make sense, even if in a convoluted way. I almost dare to say, that if you follow those descriptions, it will actually help you be around better in the forest.
I must add though that you've never been in the forest really, if you never stepped out of the well traveled paths. That is when the real magic starts. It can be a really humbling experience...even in a densely populated country like mine, it is not hard to see, how can people get lost. But if you are part of the forest you can never be really lost. (This just gave me the idea, that this might be the same for life itself. Never thought about that.) And when there is a complete silence when you are there, it is one of the most terrifying things. So you want the spirit to look over you.
I also agree that there are things out there, that we might have forgotten about. One always projects some dark things to the unknown, but I never thought of them as evil. Rather they have this primordiality with them-just like you said-so neutral is more fitting...even neutral good. The wild boar doesn't fuck you up because it is evil(although they are depicted many times as that), it just acts as it should. Maybe this is the same you are thinking about. It was always there(not always but just roll with it), and always will be. Like in one of the Merlin stories...the human sentience makes them pop into reality. Although still wouldn't count myself as a believer, I think these experiences brought me closer to the truth. But I could ramble about these for hours.
I do love the feel of the Appalachians. Really want to visit there once. It still has that true untouched wilderness feel, that is increasingly hard to find here. Also, lol about the 2 hour way from DC...in 2 hours you are at the border of the next country here.
I follow Wendigoon and he had a video where he was just out and about there. I instantly knew that I have to visit once. Also, I don't know exactly where, but there are those weird lights at one part. Maybe for a next essay?
All-in-all, I finally left the city, even if it's just for the suburbs somewhat. It was one of the best choices in my life and I have the wilderness not far from me, even if it's very far from that unknown primordial thicket. No noise, calm, space...if I knew that it will be this good, I would have taken out a loan to get away as fast as I can. In short...fucking splendid.
The Sam the Sandown Clown story has that weird psychedelic 1970s vibe to it, and I can't help but think it has a very Sid and Marty Krofft/HR Pufnstuf character to Sam. Can paranormal things be influenced by kid's television to disguise themselves to children, but get it wrong? Or were the kids putting that hippie gloss on something inconceivable?
That's a very interesting avenue I had not considered. Now that you mention it, I can definitely see the overlap between the two. I'm not sure if the Krofft brother's shows were ever broadcast in England, though, or if there was an English equivalent to their bizarre brand of psychedelic children's entertainment. That doesn't mean that, hypothetically, whoever or whatever Sam was would not be aware of it. There is a wealth of paranormal stories that do suggest, if they are to be believed, that some of these entities do present themselves in certain ways that mimic popular figures in children's entertainment when interacting with children (i.e. "taking a form you are comfortable with"), or that there's a sort of certain psychological "shield" or "filter" that humans have that cause them to be perceived in a way that's bespoke to the individual interacting with them. I purposefully included a link to the scene from "The Mothman Prophecies" in which the purported alien, when asked what it looks like, replies with, "It depends on who is looking"; I do think that if this phenomenon is real, there is a large degree of people perceiving these entities, whatever they may be, as whatever it is they are best equipped to handle as the "true form" of the entity is either purposefully hidden or, as you said, "inconceivable" to the human brain. Again, this is all baseless speculation based on accounts that we have no real way of verifying, but there are a disturbing amount of testimonies provided by people who claim to have encountered entities presenting as characters, including Muppets, cartoon characters, and the like. The Cryptonaut Podcast has several episodes - if you're interested, there's an episode called "Day of the Puppet People", I believe, that covers a few of them, as well as a listener-submitted story from a woman who claimed to have been visited in her bed by a sinister entity disguising itself as the Count from Sesame Street. It sounds silly but the story itself is deeply uncomfortable. It's all a very intriguing (and disturbing) phenomenon.
Bit late to comment, but yes HR Pufnstuf was most definitely broadcast in England in the early 1970s - Saturday morning childrens TV. I was a huge fan. British kids TV at that time was full of weird kids shows. Look up The Magic Roundabout, the Clangers (lived on a barren planet), Catweazle.
I’ve actually heard of the Magic Roundabout, but only because of the failed localization of the animated movie from, like, twenty years ago now. Much like HR Pufnstuf, I also hear that the Magic Roundabout had an audience with people who were very much not kids and had a fondness for a certain mind-altering weed. But that’s just hearsay from what little I know about it.
Why is it that every child draws a house with a pointed roof, two windows, a smoking chimney, and a door in the middle? I've never seen a house like that.
I would proffer that we interpret these sorts of things through the visual filters that we have. So instead of a stone castle, it's a workman's metal shack.
And here I was thinking this essay was going to be about the iCarly character/Jeanette McCurdy when I saw the title. :P
Anyway, an interesting tale, very SCP-like. Have to admit I've never heard about this one. All the way through I was bracing myself for something eerie and deeply unsettling, but in the end this one felt surprisingly mild for me. I'm even tempted to say "wholesome", but that's probably taking it too far. This entity didn't come across as especially menacing to me, and more as charmingly weird and disturbingly weird, if that makes sense. Most of the fear factor disappears if you don't happen to have a clown phobia. (In my personal case, they never bothered me, but bees and all related insects were and are more my weak point)
It does ping my suspicion radar a little if the story allegedly happened in the 70s, but only became known in 2020. All the way through I was also waiting/hoping for an interview with a grown-up Fay, and also suspecting she'd turn out to be dead or to have suffered some other awful fate. I'm used to these stories being unconclusive and vague, but not getting her perspective first-hand did feel like a bit of an anti-climax.
As for fairies, this guy doesn't really fit IMO. He's too harmless and too bumbling. Fairies seem to have this combination of aristocratic disdain, grace and cruelty that doesn't mesh with this story for me at least.
"But just because we decided they didn’t exist anymore… does that mean they decided to go away?"
I've sometimes wondered the same about the traditional pagan gods of Europe, and also other places, I suppose. If we assume for the sake of argument that they existed, what happened to them and what did they do when people suddenly stopped worshipping them? And does the recent revival of some of their faith mean they're "back"? Then there's JMG's theory that pagan god names might be more like titles claimed by a succession of deities as they rise to power, age and "die" (or move on?)...
Trust me, if I ever return to the Bakeryverse, it will be a while. I've had enough Schneider material in my life to last a few years, if not a lifetime.
A lot of people share your sentiment that the story is wholesome and charming, which, I'll admit, if you read it a certain way, it can be. To take it back to Sam's "You know" statement, how the story reads emotionally comes down entirely to how one interprets statements like that and the tone they were delivered in. It returns to the fallibility of textual communication and that only a scant 3% of any information in a given statement actually comes from the diction itself, and the remaining 97% of anything being communicated is gleaned through tone, body language, microexpressions, etc.
As for the story taking place in the 70's, it is strange that it never caught on until almost fifty years after the fact, but at the same time it's nice to know that it is about as accredited as a story like this can be, coming from a genuine, authentic journalistic publication. If I wasn't able to find the Bufora Journal archives, I would have believed it to be an internet creepypasta - there's a lot of that certain kind of ambiguous flavor to it.
I'd also argue that fairy is a blanket term that incorporates a wide variety of beings who, if they do exist, may or may not even be related. It's kind of hard to explain - or at least I feel like it is - but again, presuming they do exist, we know so little about them that it's possible that, say, pixies and elves really have nothing in common outside of being incorporeal intelligences. This is to say that the spectrum of fairies ranges from the more aristocratic, noble, and graceful to the opposite end of the spectrum of bumbling commoners and even court fools. If there's any factor that unites them, I'd say it's their caprice. Cruelty is certainly a possibility but what makes the fair folk so... "best left untouched", shall we say, is the fact that, if the old tales are to be believed, they are as likely to be senselessly mean as they are beneficent, and you can never rightly predict which way they'll act. In many stories they begin benevolent but, for arbitrary reasons known only to themselves, become malicious. There's usually a way to placate them or rules and procedures that can be followed to keep from getting on their bad side, but, as I said - it's best to just leave them alone. So far as I understand, they seem to really only bother people who bother them first. Or, more odiously, once you notice them, they notice you.
Personally, absurd as it may sound to some, I do believe that the traditional pagan gods of Europe and beyond were attached to genuine spiritual entities. I also think JMG is on to something - the figure being worshipped as, say, Ishtar, may not have been THE Ishtar that the Assryians believed they were worshipping, but something else that stepped into fill the role or play the part, in a way. Given that deities like Ishtar were worshiped across large spans of lands by a variety of different people, it stands to reason that the entity behind the Ishtar of the Assyrians may not have been the same entity behind the Ishtar of Babylonians. Same with the Odin of one tribe of Scandinavians versus another. It would explain why different people worshiped the same gods in different ways at different times, different places, so on and so forth (of course, the more realistic explanation is things just change over time, but, still). I don't think any of them went away, per say. Maybe they went dormant, if they need human belief or emotional energy to persist (again, like I said about fairies, perhaps they only exist because we perceive them, or they're some latent manifestation like a gestalt or egregore that only exists because we believe they do). If that's the case, it's far more likely that they would adopt new identities to play to the audience. Again, to go back to the fairies, if you draw the lines between the similarities between fairy phenomenon in pre-Christian Europe, demonic phenomenon in Medieval Europe, and alien phenomenon in modernity, the overlap suggests that they may just be the same entities updating their identities to better fit with the times and with what humans are willing to believe. The Alien-Fairy theory is actually one that I was first introduced to by JMG, actually... and at a young and impressionable age at which that idea has always stuck with me ever since. I think he's onto something with it, though.
True, the "you know" part can be read in a more creepy way, or in a "frightening that the universe might be more capricious and unknowable than we thought" sort of way. In that way, the Sam story reminds me a little of my favorite SCP, 1193, the buried giant with the phone, which per its author plays on the same sort of eeriness.
The "text is only 3%" bit is very true. Without going into a lot of details, I've had some experiences with that, in how hard it is to have actual genuine conversations in only text with someone you mainly know through the internet. I know some younger people say they find it easier to "be themselves" when communicating through text, but personally I found it much harder in many ways once things went past the superficial.
Re. faeries, I'll grant that my concept of them could very well be too narrow. It's not a subject I've read about in any real detail, and your take makes sense.
"Same with the Odin of one tribe of Scandinavians versus another."
Of course this fits Odin in particular especially well, since He's such a shifting, malleable deity to begin with. ;) This interpretation would also be one way to make sense of the Ragnarok myth: even if one version of Odin died/will die there, another could take His place.
"Maybe they went dormant, if they need human belief or emotional energy to persist"
For what little it's worth, my intuition is that this wouldn't be the case. Not for full, proper deities. As I understand things (mainly but not only through JMG's writings), they're meant to be much bigger, older and more powerful than humanity, so I can't see them being dependent on anything we do in order to exist. This certainly seems to be the case for the Abrahamic God as those traditions understand Him. Lower-order beings like faeries might be different.
Sounds like someone was painting in old clothes, saw some children on their own and decided to play a prank by wearing a birdhouse as a helmet.
Perhaps he was a priest, his phrase a turn on a "coat of many colors", and perhaps he thought the children would recognize him after some thought.
A queer encounter that befuddles people even now.
Honestly, that makes about as much sense as a spaceman or a fairy. I notice that, when it comes to these kind of stories, there are people who find one pet theory and believe it whole-heartedly and refuse to humor any other explanation when, really, all of them are as likely as another.
One would like to believe, out of some strange sense, that spirits of the nature proposed Paracelsus von Hohenheim, certainly there's plenty of encounters that people recount that are more just strange than malevolent.
There's of course, many many accounts of the sinister, and of encounters that ended when a certain carpenter's name was cried out.
Christians at least, know of at least two things. Unclean spirits and clean spirits.
Many account for angels, fallen and unfallen, attributing demons and unclean spirits to fallen angels.
There's actually a good bit of wriggle room, and much left unclear.
Though, this teller has a theory. People speak of people being spiritually dull, or that taking this or that substance opens this or that.
Rather than dull, this teller's suspicion is that our relative blindness is protection.
Still, one doesn't know other than two things.
Whatever the nature, people have seen and heard strange things.
Flesh or spirit, there's plenty of danger in seeking out the unusual, you don't need to meet a wendigo to get eaten or murdered.
It sounds as if you may agree with the famous (or infamous?) Lovecraft quote; "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
Very interesting comment. Leaves me with much to consider.
Some agreement can be made with the tortured wordsmith, on a basic level, directly in the bible, fallen mortals viewing God directly is such a bad idea that he takes measures against the consequences, then there's the ever famous words of most angelic visitations. Perhaps seeing through the glass darkly isn't just a matter of fallen nature and limitations...
What the bible doesn't touch on is no less suggestive than what it does.
Of course, a man could discount it all, and call himself a meat robot, but on that front apart from being a boring choice, turning from christians and christianity, a good many occultists have expressed their preference for working spells on atheists.
I’ve never heard this story, it was very engrossing to read through your account! I am of the opinion that there are many strange and unusual things in this world that science does not hold the answers for. I do hope you weren’t joking about writing on djinns.
I wasn’t kidding, but I also don’t known when I’ll get around to it. The topic of the djinn is one that is expansive, esoteric, and deeply misunderstood in the West. Even those who know that the djinn and the western concept of a genie are so far removed from one another that the connection is almost only nominal don’t know just how extensive the lore around them goes or how very real they are to many who practice Islam today. It’s a topic I’ve been deeply intrigued by and one that I actually ordered scholarly texts in order to study it because I wanted to understand it better, and even I, as an American with a very poor grasp on Islam, is rather unequipped to understand in depth in whole. I’d say I certainly know more about it than almost any non-Muslims and most Westerners, but at the same time… I’m not sure I could do the topic the justice it deserves. The other thing that makes me cagey about writing too much about the djinn is that many Muslims believe that speaking about them, or even thinking about them too much, is a way that you can draw their attention to you (a very fairy-esque quality, which is why in traditional European folklore there are so many polite euphemisms for them to avoid mentioning them directly). And, while djinn, like fairies, can be benevolent, kind, and generous, that’s only if you happen to attract the attention of one that is disposed to be that way. Or maybe you just catch them in a good mood. Like humans, they wildly vary in their personalities and temperament. The point is, it’s largely common knowledge that you’re better off not engaging with them, regardless of their disposition. I had a friend from Egypt in college, a practicing Muslim, and when I asked him about the topic, he largely refused to discuss it. He said something along the lines of, “I don’t really believe in them, but I also don’t want to chance it, so I don’t want to talk about it.” That should tell you how deeply those beliefs are embedded in their culture where even a relatively secular (and rather impious, as he did regularly consume alcohol with us) Muslim still holds some trepidation about the djinn. Point is - I don’t know if I really want to talk about them all that. Just in case. But… we shall see. Maybe one day I will. But I’ll be wearing my crucifix when I do.
Thank goodness. Shit was getting way too normal around here. I'm serious about this.
Also, I'm now imagining a universe in which the story of All Colors, Sam became the original script for Doctor Who.
Fairy was my first take. Well, second, after, "the kid made it up". Which is what I think, but that rules out any speculation, which is no fun.
But otherwise fairy fits the bill.
I have a good chuckle every time it is suggested that space aliens are more "realistic" or "scientific" than fairies or other supernatural creatures. The things people reason themselves into.
So let me get this straight. You believe in non-human beings, from other worlds, using powers beyond what what is possible based on known physics, who visit humans for mysterious purposes, sometimes abducting or harassing them, other times revealing vague glimpses of things unknown to humans.
But you don't believe in fairies.
Yes you do. You just described a fuckin' fairy.
I'm glad to know I'm not alone as only a few places I've seen this story recounted raise fairies as an explanation for it, despite it being very in-line with traditional fairy lore. As I mentioned in the article, the overlap between phenomenon ascribed to "aliens" and traditional stories, lore, whatever pertaining to fairies is strikingly similar, as is some demonic activity. I have a pet theory that, if all the stories are to be believed, then what many consider to be "aliens" are the same entities that were "fairies" masquerading under a different alias that better fits the secular worldview of the 20th century. I do believe demons are their own proprietary category of spirits, but I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that many demonic encounters were the same entities that are aliens/fairies/what have you similarly leaning into those trappings to better present to those more religiously inclined. If they're not creatures of fresh and blood, there's no real reason to assume they can't present as whatever best suits their purpose at any given time.
I figure it's all roughly the same phenomenon. What that phenomenon is, is anyone's guess. More than mere spontaneous hoaxing, anyway; at a minimum a social phenomena that spans the ages and virtually all cultures. But I think there is probably *something* to it.
In alien lore there are good aliens and bad aliens and trickster aliens. It's all the same tropes.
Whether they're space wizards with magical physics defying vehicles, or spirits vibrating at higher frequencies, or whatever. We keep telling the same stories, with the same narrative elements, and the same circumstances, and the same air of mystery. We've been doing it at least as far back as our written and oral histories go. Chances are, much longer than that. It just seems silly to me to say, "your thing is totally fake and made up, but my exactly the same for all intents and purposes thing is totally real." Reddit tier logic.
Don't forget that people who believe in the Religion of Progress have an ulterior motive here: if aliens exist, that means faster than light travel is presumably possible, or as you put it, our "known physics" aren't as hostile to human ambition as it seems. Which of course means that their dream of our glorious future in the stars is (theoretically) possible.
Sure, just like people who believe in faeries and djinn think that means magic exists, and therefore they too can learn its secrets. Or people who believe in ghosts are comforted by the notion that life goes on after physical death. Simulationists think this is all a video game they'll someday wake up from and get to start a new playthrough, and singulatarians think if they can cling to the mortal coil long enough they'll ascend to godhood. All these things are, in a sense, reflections of our yearning to overcome the limits imposed on us by our apparent reality. The old promises of witchcraft - omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, etc. - are always with us.
Yeah I also thought Fay was an interesting choice for the girl's pseudonym. And you dropped the "F" word in this engrossing essay. Subscribed!
Isn't it though? The conspicuous choice of Fay as a pseudonym was one of the first things I noticed when I heard the story for the first time, and it's always puzzled me that even people who float the "fairy" theory when discussing the account don't pick up on it. I also tend to use that word more than I should... I have a "colorful" vocabulary. It's something I try to work on but one or two slips through. Assuming the "F" word is a certain expletive and not "Fairy" ;)
Glad you enjoyed, and hope you can say the same about what I have coming soon.
No the "F" word was fairy. 😉
This was so engrossing. I am not a fan of All-Colors, Sam, but I am a fan of being introduced to All-Colors, Sam through a second-hand retelling with added commentary and analysis. Great write-up.
I'm not the biggest fan of Sam myself. He seems agreeable enough but I still would not want to meet him in the woods. Glad you enjoyed :)
Smiling Friends is the old Internet's revenge on normies for social media.
That is a heavy load to consider. I can completely understand your trepidation . There is an interesting Egyptian movie “Teer Enta” that deals with the subject in a lighthearted manner, it’s quite funny if you don’t mind subtitles.