The ETH has been under pressure for a long-time. The biggest problem is that the more data we have (especially when we can see the geographical and temporal variations) the less easy it is to fit to the idea that space travellers are dropping by in their fancy flying saucers (how we look back to the simplicity of the early, Contactee era with a misty eye). We also have reports of contacts with "aliens" going back centuries (along with other "ascended" masters) and beyond that a range of other entities, suggesting the real possibility that these aliens are just new masks worn by an age-old phenomena.
With the latter one of the most important areas of western folklore are fairies and especially good in this regard is Janet Bord's book. One of the important things to bear in mind is that such encounters continue to the present day where the old ways persist, as we saw with Margit Sandemo.
So I was interested to see a review of the rather convolutedly titled UFOs, Time Slips, Other Realms and the Science of Fairies. Global Communications have been reprinting some very interesting material, like the Varo edition (the annotated copy of Morris Jessup's The Case For The UFO) and the Allende Letters and this continues in that vein.
The core of the book is The Science of Fairy Tales by Edwin Sidney Hartland:
Hartland died in 1927, and most of his fairy-related work was published in the late 1800s, but it is still as vital and fresh as ever-perhaps even more so, since his "antiquated" writing style is refreshingly cultured and erudite compared to the careless slam bang journalism of the 21st century.
And Hartland's work is nothing if not thorough. He covers subjects like the supernatural lapse of time that comes with journeying into fairyland, which dovetails nicely with the "missing time" phenomena reported often with current alien abduction accounts. Hartland writes that the age old phenomenon of the "changeling," the abduction of infants and children by fairies or other supernatural entities, must be guarded against by wise mothers. The Christian ritual of baptism was partially intended to keep the abductors at bay, while an un-baptized child could technically be considered a "heathen" creature and therefore subject to the whims of evil spirits. In any case, a preoccupation with mortal children and the general processes of genetics are further carried forward in our present day abduction myths.
As this is available free (see the end of the piece) what else do you get for your money?
Beckley has long championed the idea that most of the high-tech UFO research of our day more properly supports a non-outer space point of origin for the phenomenon.
...
Beckley's chapter is boldly entitled "Little Men Are Not From Mars," and he bolsters his argument with anecdotes from the early days of the contactees, as well as with encounter experiences from France that feature the alien interlopers showing their true colors as impish, mischievous and downright ugly grape thieves who sometimes appeared before witnesses in what looked like diving suits.
He also includes accounts of genuine little green men, one of the areas that seems to show a real crossover between "fairies" and "aliens". There are also some other pieces which put the original book in context but does it sound worth it? Well even though it can be read free having it in book form is always useful and there have been a lot of developments in the years since it was published, so a few modern perspectives could be useful. The final choice is up to you.
The good thing is that a lot of people are coming to the conclusion that something is wrong with the ETH. Equally, Jacques Vallee's concerns and ideas have percolated through the Fortean community sparking others, like the Paranormal Brat Pack, to come up with new ideas and theories. Of course, the answer too all this is still elusive but we should embrace the unknowing. The important thing at this stage is to generate hypothesis and test the data against it, all the data - no filtering out the weird cases and don't be scared of following your nose even if it leads into other areas, which some may view as discrete categories. Of course, that is how science works (its not all about test tubes and fancy lab kit) and it is a strange state of affairs that this kind of thing happens so late in the game.
Source
Hat tip
Book
UFOs, Time Slips, Other Realms and the Science of Fairies is available from:
Also The Science of Fairy Tales is available free at:
The Science of Fairy Tales is also available in print from at least a dozen publishers, the cheapest seems to be the one from Forgotten Books (which is less than a fiver - if you are going to spend £10-80, prices vary, then you should definitely consider getting the new book, as it has added extras)
Forgotten Books have been making a number of old/obscure (and out of copyright) books available, including more of Hartland's which might be of interest:
And if this topic is of interest then I really recommend Janet Bord's book, it covers historical accounts, modern reports and looks at the grey areas (no pun intended) where it seems to touch on UFOs or other paranormal goings-on. If, as I and others suspect, fairies are part of the bigger picture then this book is an important contribution:
Fairies: Encounters with the Little People by Janet Bord (1998)
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
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