The Paracast Newsletter
December 25, 2022
www.theparacast.com
Discover the Legends, Myths and Possibile Reality of Fairy Lore with John Kruse on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PARACAST AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment. And if you don't want to use PayPal, we now also offer a second payment option, from Stripe, which accepts major credit or debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. For "qualified users," you can also take advantage of Pay Later options, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz explore the myths, legends and possible reality of fairies with author/blogger John Kruse, who has been fascinated by such lore since his early twenties. In mid-2016 he set up the WordPress blog "British Fairies" and started intensive fairy research and writing. In 2017 his themed examination of fairy-lore, "British Fairies," was published by Green Magic Publishing. His next book, "Faery" was published by Llewellyn Worldwide in April 2020 and "Beyond Faery," a companion volume on mermaids, hobgoblins and other faery beasts appeared in November that year. As of this interview, he was working on several other books on faery and he's published articles in various magazines, including Magical Times, Witches and Pagans, The Wild Hunt and Faerie Mag. And one more thing: Are such tales similar to reports of UFOs and UFO abductions?
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 25: Folklorist John Kruse returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about the legends, myths and possible reality of fairies. The discussion covers fairy lore in other countries, whether these beings are all human-like, and other magical creatures. As well as "British Fairies," John writes two other blogs on Wordpress; these are broadcastbarnsley.wordpress.com, which discusses music and fashions of the 1970s and johnkruseblog.wordpress.com, which is a forum for his wider interests in the arts, history and the like. In his "civilian life," John worked in the field of social welfare law for over 30 years, specializing in civil enforcement (bailiffs' law). He gained considerable practical experience as an adviser, consultant and trainer and wrote numerous books and articles on current and historical enforcement law.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel.
ET Versus the Fairies
By Gene Steinberg
I suppose this column’s title is reminiscent of a Grade-B sci-fi film from the 1950s, and you can just imagine the image of gray aliens fighting Tinker Bell.
Or at least the common cultural memes of these types of beings. But the whole picture is a lot more complicated as you’ll see shortly.
When it comes to fairies, you can trace the legends of such “enchanted” creatures back to the early days of Christian tradition, or among Pagans.
But the definitions, while they vary, is fundamentally about a human-like being, perhaps shorter but otherwise indistinguishable from humans, with magical abilities. They are also said to engage in trickery from time to time, which may explain why they are regarded as demons in Christian beliefs.
Legends depict fairies as coming from a place that appears to occupy a mysterious land that appears to coexist between our dimension and another.
A modern day interpretation of a fairy is the tiny winged creature in the Peter Pan stories, which are most familiar in the Walt Disney cartoon of that name, and the Steven Spielberg live-action interpretation of the life of the adult version of Pan, “Hook.”
In both cases, Tinker Bell was a tiny beautiful creature, Pan’s friend. In “Hook,” she is portrayed by Julia Roberts who, evidently in love with Pan, briefly becomes a normal-sized being before reverting to her true form.
Both are based on the original stories from J.M. Barrie, a Scottish novelist and playwright. But he depicted Tinker Bell as a more full-figured creature.
Fairies are, according to legend, capable of shape-shifting. So one might appear as a bird, another a wolf — you get the picture.
Of course the general view of all this is that it’s the stuff of myths and legends, and there is no possibility that any such creature exists. Yet there are people who maintain that we continue to see them.
Indeed, we explored the subject in great detail in this weekend’s episode of The Paracast with author and blogger John Kruse, who specializes in writing about English law and court disciplines.
He seems to be quite the person who’d reject fairy lore as having any basis in fact. But he has written serious, factual books on the subject, and regularly updates his blog, British Fairies (British Fairies).
While there was always the temptation to have a great laugh over the subject, Tim Swartz and I approached this interview quite seriously. We asked Kruse detailed questions about fairy myths, about their society and history.
So they are notorious for kidnapping humans from time to time, apparently to increase their population. Evidently their genetic pool is depleted. Such incidents involve being unexpectedly transported to a magical place, perhaps of great beauty, at least according to what they want humans to believe.
In other words, they are engaged in a sort of mind control. Sound familiar?
Now let’s take a look at the other side of the equation, other beings that appear to have strange powers or advanced technology who also kidnap humans from time to time.
Such creatures appear to have harnessed advanced technology and they will fly here in their spaceships, and take unwitting humans aboard for physical examinations and, from time to time, to enhance the gene pool by birthing hybrid humans. In other words, half human and half alien.
It’s similar in a most general way to what fairies are said to do, although the latter employs magic, or the illusion of magic, rather than advanced technology. And both fairies and ET are said to employ superior mind control schemes to make us see, feel and believe what they want us to believe.
Of course, an easy explanation to all this is that the phenomenon is being interpreted in accordance with the cultural norms of the period in which they occur.
So we can find sightings of fairies mostly in the Middle Ages and before. Sightings of UFOs mostly occur in later years, in the 19th century and beyond, as humans were developing heavier-than-air craft of one sort or another.
During our interview, I asked Kruse on several occasions about the fairy/ET connection, and he did not disagree with the possibility that it’s all a manifestation of the same thing.
What makes it all the more curious, however, is the fact that, according to Kruse, fairies and similar creatures are still being observed around the world. He focuses primarily on his British locale, but agrees it happens around the globe.
It’s clearly difficult to conceive of a connection between what appears to be clearly physical phenomena, the appearance of flying saucers and their occupants, and races of magical beings.
Indeed, it’s difficult to even believe in magic. What we regard as professional magicians nowadays are themselves tricksters who use conventional methods and misdirection to make it seem as if they are accomplishing the impossible. We know they aren’t transporting someone from one place to another, making people levitate, and stabbing people without any sign of injury.
Perhaps a lot of this holds true for both fairies and extraterrestrials. They are manifestations of the same phenomena that uses advanced mind control to manipulate our senses. We see what they want us to see, and behave accordingly.
Maybe.
But there are other theories about such creatures, one that we manufacture such events via a collective unconscious. Be they flying saucers, gray aliens, or small humans with amazing powers, we are all creating the image somehow.
Of course actually investigating such a connection is difficult. Most UFO sightings are anecdotal, with one or more people seeing something mysterious behaving mysteriously. The same is true for sightings of fairies and similar creatures.
In either case, there may be cultural memes afoot. We live in a sci-fi world of Star Trek, Star Wars and other creations. But fairy tale lore can be popular as well. Consider the Disney TV series “Once Upon a Time,” which aired from 2011 to 2018.
The show imagined a connection with our world and a fairy tale world where lived all the legendary characters from our childhood. So there were depictions of the Evil Queen, Snow White, Prince Charming, King Arthur, Merlin, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Robin Hood, and other characters, not to mention the evil Rumplestiltskin.
I actually enjoyed the show in its early years, the cleverness of the stories and the high-caliber acting. But as with many shows based on a very unique concept, it ran out of steam after a few years. The plots became more and more difficult to follow and consider logically.
In the end, it did demonstrate that many of us can enjoy both the sci-fi world of spaceships and aliens and the fairy tale world of magical creatures. But are such concepts based on fact? That, dear reader, is clearly something people are still investigating.
Copyright 1999-2022 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
December 25, 2022
www.theparacast.com
Discover the Legends, Myths and Possibile Reality of Fairy Lore with John Kruse on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PARACAST AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment. And if you don't want to use PayPal, we now also offer a second payment option, from Stripe, which accepts major credit or debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. For "qualified users," you can also take advantage of Pay Later options, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz explore the myths, legends and possible reality of fairies with author/blogger John Kruse, who has been fascinated by such lore since his early twenties. In mid-2016 he set up the WordPress blog "British Fairies" and started intensive fairy research and writing. In 2017 his themed examination of fairy-lore, "British Fairies," was published by Green Magic Publishing. His next book, "Faery" was published by Llewellyn Worldwide in April 2020 and "Beyond Faery," a companion volume on mermaids, hobgoblins and other faery beasts appeared in November that year. As of this interview, he was working on several other books on faery and he's published articles in various magazines, including Magical Times, Witches and Pagans, The Wild Hunt and Faerie Mag. And one more thing: Are such tales similar to reports of UFOs and UFO abductions?
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 25: Folklorist John Kruse returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about the legends, myths and possible reality of fairies. The discussion covers fairy lore in other countries, whether these beings are all human-like, and other magical creatures. As well as "British Fairies," John writes two other blogs on Wordpress; these are broadcastbarnsley.wordpress.com, which discusses music and fashions of the 1970s and johnkruseblog.wordpress.com, which is a forum for his wider interests in the arts, history and the like. In his "civilian life," John worked in the field of social welfare law for over 30 years, specializing in civil enforcement (bailiffs' law). He gained considerable practical experience as an adviser, consultant and trainer and wrote numerous books and articles on current and historical enforcement law.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel.
ET Versus the Fairies
By Gene Steinberg
I suppose this column’s title is reminiscent of a Grade-B sci-fi film from the 1950s, and you can just imagine the image of gray aliens fighting Tinker Bell.
Or at least the common cultural memes of these types of beings. But the whole picture is a lot more complicated as you’ll see shortly.
When it comes to fairies, you can trace the legends of such “enchanted” creatures back to the early days of Christian tradition, or among Pagans.
But the definitions, while they vary, is fundamentally about a human-like being, perhaps shorter but otherwise indistinguishable from humans, with magical abilities. They are also said to engage in trickery from time to time, which may explain why they are regarded as demons in Christian beliefs.
Legends depict fairies as coming from a place that appears to occupy a mysterious land that appears to coexist between our dimension and another.
A modern day interpretation of a fairy is the tiny winged creature in the Peter Pan stories, which are most familiar in the Walt Disney cartoon of that name, and the Steven Spielberg live-action interpretation of the life of the adult version of Pan, “Hook.”
In both cases, Tinker Bell was a tiny beautiful creature, Pan’s friend. In “Hook,” she is portrayed by Julia Roberts who, evidently in love with Pan, briefly becomes a normal-sized being before reverting to her true form.
Both are based on the original stories from J.M. Barrie, a Scottish novelist and playwright. But he depicted Tinker Bell as a more full-figured creature.
Fairies are, according to legend, capable of shape-shifting. So one might appear as a bird, another a wolf — you get the picture.
Of course the general view of all this is that it’s the stuff of myths and legends, and there is no possibility that any such creature exists. Yet there are people who maintain that we continue to see them.
Indeed, we explored the subject in great detail in this weekend’s episode of The Paracast with author and blogger John Kruse, who specializes in writing about English law and court disciplines.
He seems to be quite the person who’d reject fairy lore as having any basis in fact. But he has written serious, factual books on the subject, and regularly updates his blog, British Fairies (British Fairies).
While there was always the temptation to have a great laugh over the subject, Tim Swartz and I approached this interview quite seriously. We asked Kruse detailed questions about fairy myths, about their society and history.
So they are notorious for kidnapping humans from time to time, apparently to increase their population. Evidently their genetic pool is depleted. Such incidents involve being unexpectedly transported to a magical place, perhaps of great beauty, at least according to what they want humans to believe.
In other words, they are engaged in a sort of mind control. Sound familiar?
Now let’s take a look at the other side of the equation, other beings that appear to have strange powers or advanced technology who also kidnap humans from time to time.
Such creatures appear to have harnessed advanced technology and they will fly here in their spaceships, and take unwitting humans aboard for physical examinations and, from time to time, to enhance the gene pool by birthing hybrid humans. In other words, half human and half alien.
It’s similar in a most general way to what fairies are said to do, although the latter employs magic, or the illusion of magic, rather than advanced technology. And both fairies and ET are said to employ superior mind control schemes to make us see, feel and believe what they want us to believe.
Of course, an easy explanation to all this is that the phenomenon is being interpreted in accordance with the cultural norms of the period in which they occur.
So we can find sightings of fairies mostly in the Middle Ages and before. Sightings of UFOs mostly occur in later years, in the 19th century and beyond, as humans were developing heavier-than-air craft of one sort or another.
During our interview, I asked Kruse on several occasions about the fairy/ET connection, and he did not disagree with the possibility that it’s all a manifestation of the same thing.
What makes it all the more curious, however, is the fact that, according to Kruse, fairies and similar creatures are still being observed around the world. He focuses primarily on his British locale, but agrees it happens around the globe.
It’s clearly difficult to conceive of a connection between what appears to be clearly physical phenomena, the appearance of flying saucers and their occupants, and races of magical beings.
Indeed, it’s difficult to even believe in magic. What we regard as professional magicians nowadays are themselves tricksters who use conventional methods and misdirection to make it seem as if they are accomplishing the impossible. We know they aren’t transporting someone from one place to another, making people levitate, and stabbing people without any sign of injury.
Perhaps a lot of this holds true for both fairies and extraterrestrials. They are manifestations of the same phenomena that uses advanced mind control to manipulate our senses. We see what they want us to see, and behave accordingly.
Maybe.
But there are other theories about such creatures, one that we manufacture such events via a collective unconscious. Be they flying saucers, gray aliens, or small humans with amazing powers, we are all creating the image somehow.
Of course actually investigating such a connection is difficult. Most UFO sightings are anecdotal, with one or more people seeing something mysterious behaving mysteriously. The same is true for sightings of fairies and similar creatures.
In either case, there may be cultural memes afoot. We live in a sci-fi world of Star Trek, Star Wars and other creations. But fairy tale lore can be popular as well. Consider the Disney TV series “Once Upon a Time,” which aired from 2011 to 2018.
The show imagined a connection with our world and a fairy tale world where lived all the legendary characters from our childhood. So there were depictions of the Evil Queen, Snow White, Prince Charming, King Arthur, Merlin, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Robin Hood, and other characters, not to mention the evil Rumplestiltskin.
I actually enjoyed the show in its early years, the cleverness of the stories and the high-caliber acting. But as with many shows based on a very unique concept, it ran out of steam after a few years. The plots became more and more difficult to follow and consider logically.
In the end, it did demonstrate that many of us can enjoy both the sci-fi world of spaceships and aliens and the fairy tale world of magical creatures. But are such concepts based on fact? That, dear reader, is clearly something people are still investigating.
Copyright 1999-2022 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!