The Fae and Fairy Folk: January Paranormal Discussion Group

After taking a brief hiatus to celebrate the holiday season, St. Alban’s Paranormal Discussion Group is back and in full force! Our January 2023 get-together was held at the St. Alban’s Historical Society on Wednesday, January 25th and featured a really cool topic that we hadn’t touched on before: Fairies.

The Fae and Fairy Folk discussion was led by Krista Antis, who brought with her an extensive knowledge of fairy lore, especially as it pertains to the British Isles, as well as an extensive library of fairy resource books. 

So, for most of my life, I’ve had a healthy interest in fairy lore. Like many native West Virginians, my ancestry is mostly Scots-Irish and English. With that came the stories of The Good Neighbors and the tricks they liked to play, passed down to me from my grandparents. But even though I was always taught to remain respectful of and to avoid certain behaviors that could annoy our unseen friends, I don’t think I ever actually believed in the fairy realm. I found it to be a beautiful and interesting topic, and I did try to maintain a working knowledge of it due to my involvement in paranormal investigation and research. 

But, as I get older I find a lot of my beliefs not necessarily changing, but shifting and expanding. I’m definitely more open to the possibility that the Fae not only exist, but are an integral part of the paranormal umbrella. As Krista talked about the different types of fairies, their characteristics, and ways to appease them and/or protect yourself, it became apparent that a lot of the widely-held beliefs regarding fairies also overlap with beliefs regarding other types of entities, including ghosts, demons, and aliens. 

How this phenomenon is all connected (if it even IS) is one of the many questions that keep me hunting for answers, and it makes me even more appreciative that I’ve found the St. Albans Paranormal Discussion Group to help me learn about all these fascinating topics, and to connect with people who are also searching for answers.

Anyway, Krista’s talk was really informative and fun. Although focusing mainly on the Seelie Court vs. the Unseelie Court, she spoke about several types of fairy lore from various cultures, and of course SRI’s lil’ buddy, The Ovinnik of Deep End Antiques was brought up! That sort of led into a discussion about the differences between fairies and cryptids, bringing the theory that this stuff is probably more inter-related than we realize full circle. 

As always, it was a super-fun evening, connecting and sharing stories with fellow paranormal enthusiasts. This was a unique topic, and I know everyone at the meeting enjoyed it immensely. If you’re in the St. Albans area and think that this is something YOU’D like to be a part of, please join us. We meet at 6pm on the last Wednesday of the month at the St. Albans Historical Society building. You can follow the group’s Facebook page for more information on upcoming topics…including next month’s talk where I’ll be back again discussing Local Haunts! I hope to see ya there, and as always, stay spooky!

*Bonus: I’ve linked to my Ovinnik encounter above, but he’s not the only member of the fairy realm that I’ve potentially met. Check out my blog, My Strangest Personal Experience, for another really weird sighting I had in my own front yard.*