The Secret Commonwealth: Real Fairies in History

People today think of fairies as little winged pixie girls, but this is not how those who saw them in history typically described them. The Reverend Robert Kirk wrote a treatise on the fairy people as they were known in the Scottish lowlands, and offers us a more evidence-based description of these elusive creatures.Show more

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Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau.

Illustration by V.R. Laurence (https://vrlaurence.com)
Research by Clark Murphy.
Music by Josh Chamberland.
Animation by Brendan Barr.
Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland.

Sources:

Evans-Wentz, Walter. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Mineaola, NY: Dover, 2002. Accessed April 7, 2020.
https://archive.org/details/fairyfaithincelt00evanrich/page/n5/mode/2up.

Henderson, Lizanne and Edward J. Cowan. Scottish Fairy Belief: A History. Dundurn, 2001. Accessed April 7, 2020.
https://books.google.com/books?id=IokHsI7y008C.

Janice. “Symbols on Reverend Kirk’s Gravestone in Aberfoyle Cemetery: Thistle, Shepherd’s crook and Dagger.” Scotiana. October 22, 2009. Accessed April 7, 2020. https://scotiana.com/symbols-on-reverend-kirks-gravestone-in-aberfoyle-cemetery-thistle-shepherds-crook-and-dagger.

Kirk, Robert. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. London: David Nutt, 1893. Accessed April 7, 2020.
https://books.google.com/books?id=nN9ZAAAAMAAJ.
https://archive.org/details/Kirk1893CommonwealthElves/page/n1/mode/2up.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=nN9ZAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-nN9ZAAAAMAAJ.

Kirk, Robert. The Secret Commonwealth & A Short Treatise of Charms and Spells. London: The Folklore Society, (1893) 1976. Accessed April 7, 2020.
https://amazon.com/Secret-Commonwealth-Robert-Kirk/dp/0859910164.

Kirk, Robert. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. New York, NY: New York Review of Books, (1893) 2007. Accessed April 7, 2020.
http://worldcat.org/oclc/1112655740.

Kirk, Robert. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies: A Study in Folk-Lore & Psychical Research. Franklin Classics Trade Press, (1893) 2018. Accessed April 7, 2020. https://amazon.com/Secret-Commonwealth-Elves-Fauns-Fairies/dp/0353566578.

Sanderson, Stewart. "A Prospect of Faeryland." Folklore 75, no. 1 (Spring 1964). 1-18. Accessed April 7, 2020. http://jstor.org/stable/1258872.

Scott, Walter. Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. London: John Murray, 1830. Accessed April 7, 2020. https://sacred-texts.com/pag/scott/index.htm.
https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.7481/page/n3/mode/2up.

Spence, Lewis. British Fairy Origins: the Genesis and Development of Fairy Legends in British Tradition. Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1981. Accessed April 7, 2020.
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.77103/page/n5/mode/2up.

Stott, Louis. “Robert Kirk.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed April 7, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/15651.

Vallée, Jacques. Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. Brisbane, Australia: Daily Grail Publishing. (1969) 2014. Accessed April 7, 2020.
https://archive.org/details/PassportToMagonia--UFOsFolkloreAndParallelWorldsJacquesVallee1993/mode/2up.

Young, Robin and Karyn Miller-Medzon. “‘It sounds like Magic, but it’s Not’: Many Icelanders believe in Elves.” WBUR: Here and Now. December 24, 2019. Accessed April 7, 2020. https://wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/12/24/iceland-elves.

This video uses sound effects downloaded from stockmusic.com.