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‘There was a period of time where I would hear the soft jingle of a bell and the pattering of tiny feet in my room, even when no pets were present. None of my pets wore bells on their collars nor had tags at the time. The sounds occurred at any given time of day but would pick up more at night. Sometimes I not only heard this strange tiny bell but felt something jump up on the bed only [for me] to find it empty. It was also during this period that I awoke more than once to three small, diminutive beings with black skin. They wore hoods and old-world clothing in dark shades. They were standing on top of my shelf picking through a collection of seashells I had on display. I watched as they carefully shifted the shells, their little faces both delighted and fascinated. I could hear the soft clacking of the scallops as they moved them. Once they took notice of me observing, they faded away into the darkness. A couple other times I would awake to find them sitting in my hanging plants, looking through the leaves curiously. These plants were hung from a hook in my ceiling. They would look down at me, observingly. When they realized I was watching them too, they would disappear in the same way they did when looking through my seashells. Sometimes knocking could be heard in the walls, on windows and on doors only for there to be no one. My father also had observed them in the garden and once right after our house was built. Our house was the first built in our neighborhood. It was once a chunk of woods that had been cleared and developed into what is now our home. We believe that the destruction of the woods may have triggered the strange activity. I believe we upset the natural beings that once inhabited the area. Being half Spaniard, I grew up with the belief in duendes. They are a form of fairy in our culture stemming back from the time of our Celtiberian ancestors. There are different forms of duende and I believe I may have encountered some form of them. Duendes are a domestic form of fairy that can vary in nature from being playful to downright evil. I believe the ones I encountered were possibly benign.’ ‘Black skin, dark clothing in varying shades of blacks/grays. Clothing appeared to be hoods and old world clothing. Pointed shoes.’ ‘Tiny bells.’ ‘My house was built on a piece of land that was wooded. It was cleared right before the house was built.’ ‘The nature of the encounter, their physical appearance and the way they interacted with my environment was more conclusive to a fairy encounter.’ ‘I believe [fairies] are beings that are real and vary in type.’