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‘This is my second encounter with a fairy. This experience happened about three years ago, when I was fifteen. My family rented a cabin in ***, California, during the summer. It was my first time visiting since I was little, and I’d forgotten how beautiful it was. Our cabin was surrounded by the forest, and my brother and I would be staying in a bunkbed next to a large window overlooking the trees. After a long day of driving, walking around town, and drawing on the patio, I fell asleep quickly in the top bunk. In the middle of the night, or maybe early in the morning, I groggily awoke to what I thought was my cat shuffling the blanket at the bottom of the bed and stepping over my feet, forgetting I wasn’t at home and none of our pets had come with us on our trip. A few seconds later, when the movement still hadn’t stopped, and my half-asleep brain began to remember where I was, I sort of half sat up and turned over to look down at the end of my bed. It was dark, and really only a silhouette, but the window let a lot of light in so I could see well enough. It was a gnome, about a foot tall, stopped half on top of my legs at the end of the small bed. I could see the arms, the shape of a body and a head and a pointed hat. I wasn’t alarmed, I was just kind of like, oh. I understood that he didn’t mean me any harm, he was just checking what I was doing in his land/home, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. It didn’t feel scary or alarming at all. In the morning, I mentioned it to my brother, but he said he’d slept through the night without any interruption. I’ve had sleep paralysis a few times in my life and know what that looks/feels like, and that wasn’t this. While I could see the real world, like in sleep paralysis, so I know it wasn’t just a dream, I could also move, which should rule that out. I’ve also never had hallucinations before. I’m glad I got to have this interaction, even if it was only a few seconds, especially that I physically FELT movement. It was a wonderful experience.’ ‘It seemed to be a gnome. It was broad and short, maybe twelve inches tall with a pointed hat that may have been red- it was hard to see. Because it was dark, I could make out few details.’