The Unfair Folk: Fairies in Horror

"Oh...my leg went that way. How strange."

If you’ve ever read a fairy tale, you certainly know of fairies. The sweet little creatures that like to help humans and look gorgeous as the day is long. They seem nice but to quote Into the Wood: “Nice is different than good”. Here we will be exploring the Little People from the Celtic lands and how you can use them in your horror writing by first looking at what could be my favorite horrifying legend involving the Fae: the changeling.

The changeling is a creature that is given many possible origins: some say its a baby fae, others think its an elderly one and yet others still will claim it to be an enchanted piece of wood. Whatever its true nature, the Fae will sneak into homes that hold unbaptized babies and replace it while the parents aren’t looking. Sometimes they are asleep, other times the mother is just in the kitchen and cooking. In any case, the changeling at first takes the form of their child, nothing is amiss. Over time though, the creature changes, maybe the little one is getting sickly or suddenly acting off. It could stop growing, start growing too big, or even wither away and die but once the parents get suspicious there is only one thing to do: get rid of the nasty thing. Methods to do this vary from the violent to the hilarious, but mostly they are not something you’d wish to do to a baby. Yet people did throw their children into the fireplace thinking it was a changeling and it would fly up the chimney. One case had a man brutally murder his wife in front of all his family because he thought she was a changeling and that killing the changeling was the only way to get his true wife to return. One of the saddest things to me about this tale is how many people died because it was thought they were replaced.

While that legend is tragic and pulls at my heartstrings, there are many other ways to scare people with just your regular fairy with cute little wings and a pretty smile. To do this you just have to remember two things: the Fae love playing tricks on humans and they also have a very different moral system than humans. Depending on the legends you reference or the sources, fairies will do things like trap people in their realm by tricking them into eating their food and use them for slave labor. There are others who will seduce men to lure them into undying lands just so they can have a human lover forever, forgetting that if the man returns to the human world he will die of old age because she kept him there so long. Other tales tell of fairy hunting parties called the Wild Hunt which, if a human goes out into the wood at night during a Wild Hunt, they better be careful not to become the game.

All of these legends focus on fear of the unknown things that live in the deep dark woods, for in a place with large forests, it is very easy to get lost among the trees. Your eyes will play tricks on you and what you thought was the right way turns out to be the exact worst path to take on the trail. Not to mention the terrible creatures that live in the wood, some that frighten and others that can kill a man. The other reason they are scary is how the Fae see the world. They are selfish creatures that do not understand human rules of how things work. The ones that are beautiful and want to play with humans often do not realize that us humans, we’re mortal. We cannot live forever and when we have gotten old will dispose of us like used tissues. A lifetime of love to us will be just a quick summer fling to them. There are also those that think nothing of humans and are willing to harm them for no reason except that they got in their way or they were bored. Sometimes they just don’t need a reason. Needless to say, the otherworldly creatures have a lot of potential to horrify.

So tell me below, what are your favorite tales involving the Fae? I love the stories of Changelings including this funny version of how to defeat them. You must brew a batch of beer inside of eggshells in the presence of the changeling and at some point while you’re making them the changeling will sit up and say “IN ALL MY YEARS, I HAVE NEVER SEEN NOTHING LIKE THAT!”. Being found out, the changeling flees and your child is brought back. Tell me your favorites, horrible or hilarious below and see you guys for Food Thursday!