‘When I was around eight I spent a lot of time with my pony kept at a local farm. A large tree stump was near the field gate and when alone I would spend long periods looking at the hollow inside – the ridges in the old wood made it look like a circular galleried house. My memory of what I saw is not clear unlike most of my other childhood memories but I recall at times going there to look at little figures living in the stump and moving around the outside edges as if busy at their business. I could only see them when alone and it was special and magical. One day I remember going to see the stump with others and realising instantly that the magic had gone or moved on. Shortly after the stump seemed to begin to rot quite quickly and I knew that the inhabitants were not coming back.’ ‘I can only say that they were very small and pale.’ ‘They were so small and seemed part of the nature of the tree – what else could they be [if not fairies]?
§125
Suffolk, England
1970s
Female: Age 0-10
regular supernatural experiences
in open land (fields etc)
Can’t remember the time
two to ten minutes
on my own
you were very sad
no fairy mood reported
a sense that the experience was a display put on specially for you, unusually clouded memories of the experience