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‘This happened in a small city in central NJ. We had left the center of town and were walking up an avenue (picture the suburbs – front yards and streetlamps) at around 10.30-11 pm. We were both sober and heading back to my friend’s apartment. It was late fall, the street was empty, and we were walking on the sidewalk. As we passed under a large lamp while crossing a side street, a gust of wind blew a bunch of leaves towards us and a shadow that was moving against the leaves caught my eye. It happened in a matter of about ten seconds, and I wasn’t startled or anything, just completely transfixed on this small, disembodied shadow that ran towards us. It was as if something invisible was casting the shadow; it came within about three feet of our legs, paused, then turned and ran into the middle of the empty street and vanished. The streetlamp was bright, and the surrounding area was well-lit, which made the shadow very stark. There was nothing corporeal about it, just pure shadow on the ground. It caught my eye immediately because it was clearly separate from the gust of leaves, although it mingled with the leaf shadows for a few seconds. After it disappeared, I was sort of in disbelief and calmly asked my friend: ‘Did you just see that?’ She was shocked because she was watching it too and was transfixed but wouldn’t have said anything if I hadn’t mentioned it. Afterwards, I started looking up regional folklore and knew that the area was initially Lenni Lenape territory. Wemategunis are part of the Lenape mythos and they’re small wood sprites that can become invisible according to some stories. I believe there is overlap with the forest spirits of the Americas and the Fair Folk in Western Europe. We got so close to this little disembodied shadow hurrying along a road at night, I don’t know what else it could have been.’ ‘The more I’ve thought about it since the experience, the more I think that faeries are a range of ultraterrestrial beings which probably include what people experience as aliens or ghosts. I didn’t feel scared when I saw it, I felt a quiet sense of wonder and surprise. It moved with intention and didn’t seem to even notice us, just hurried along its way.’