The Forgotten World: Fairies in Newfoundland - Short Experimental Documentary

A short poetic documentary about Fairy folklore in Newfoundland, Canada.

[skygirl]

I grew up and still live in rural Newfoundland. My great aunt Marjorie firmly believed in fairies. She was never afraid of walking in the dark because she said the fairies were with her. There are still no streetlights in the community and you can't see a foot in front of you in the dark most times. She passed on many years ago but was as tough as they came. She certainly would have been a great source to speak on this topic.

[OswaldMosley-rrfg]

Great video.

Me nan always forced me to turn me socks inside out or take something shiny to give to them before I went in the woods as a youngster. Over the years I've had some strange experiences relating to the woods that just pure mystify comprehension, and I attribute these to what we call fairies.

I don't believe they are little flying michevious people but rather spirits of the forest for lack of a better term. The closest way I can describe what I mean is when you come across a particular tree, outcroping of rocks or a freshwater spring or what have you and you feel a peculiar sensation that's not entirely fear or excitement; it's a sensation that brings out the goosepimples on your arms and sends chills down the spine even though what's directly infront of you should be the pinnacle of the mundane. I dunno, I probably sound like a loon but it's the closest way I can describe what I mean to say.

[dumoulin]

As a child I saw will-o'-the-wisps in a marsh in Normandy during warm summer nights. They were so strange and moved so creepily that I could easily see how people would think they were fairies.

[littleoneadventures]

I love hearing these stories told by an old generation, I find it so interesting. Great video (:

[maxbrunette]

I lived in Labrador for a few years and they had similar stories except bread was enjoyed by the fairies and if you scatter bread in the forest or around the crib of a newborn the fairies will instead take the bread instead of taking you or the baby.

[TommasoFirmini]

I moved to pouch cove(just outside st.johns) when I was 10, my mom grew up here. She always tells me a story about her great grandmother, when she was a little girl she got lost on the mountain behind my house for a couple days and then she just showed up again. When asked, she told the family that the fairies helped her, that a little girl walked her back out.

[Chewable]

The fairies followed us from the British isles and lived alongside us.
When our menfolk left for the war, the fairies followed them, for they could cross the sea on the wooden ships we still used in those days. They wished to see their kin in England and Scotland where the Newfoundlanders stayed at Edinburgh castle and the woods of Salisbury Plain.
When they left for France and Gallipoli, the fairies followed. They were curious to see how the world had changed since the days of Offa, and Hengist, and Drake. There, they found themselves trapped and left behind as there was too much cold iron and steel, and the ships we took to come home were made of steel as well.
They’re still hiding, and waiting for us, and will wake our dead and bring them home when we return to fetch them.

Or so my grandfather told me.

[rainbowwarrior]

Great documentary, enjoyed it... they are real!

[charlesda]

By listening to this, you'd think your back in Ireland.

[joltjolt]

The lightening bugs were fairies I was told as a child in the south. It was magical.

[alexconstable]

"The Secret of the Faerie Ring" by Patrick Collins is entertaining and compelling fiction. Set in 1920's Newfoundland, it explores the mystery of a "Faerie Ring" of ancient beech trees on a farm in Harbour Grace on the Avalon Peninsula. The trees are still there today...

[tyedubbins]

That is so interesting. I believe these people stories.

[gregruland]

well done - great production value - very entertaining - ty

[_shane_]

If this is the Newfoundland accent, it is very similar to some Irish accents.

[cagedlemp]

I was beyond shocked when he said 10000 fairies. I live in Cape Breton and I want to see one

[Meena-lp]

Their destiny is different from ours, they crave what we have, which makes them dangerous, some say they are some of those Angels who fell, not good enough to return to the firmament, and not evil enough to decend into the abyss....you don't want to run into one of them..it's not like the Walt Disney fairies ...not at all..you come across one of those lads you might be in real trouble.

[dayawhitaker]

I been in the woods a millions times everywhere and never seen a fairy or one bug me or even a bear. You got to have love in you and not be a wierdo and nature just fits with you.

[craigmcneil]

I grew up in NL, in my area they called the fairy ingopingo and he supposedly hung out around the shore line.

[genekelly]

I read once that in Ireland, if the fairies get you-turn your coat inside out-it will make the leave you.

[jamesalanstephensmith]

All my grandparents were from Newfoundland!