§96

‘I was with a friend’s car, driving back to Nottingham from Darlington, where we had been to see a band. We didn’t have a map and got lost. We became so confused that at one point we found ourselves at the coast! It was around three in the morning and my friend pulled into a layby on a lonely road to nap. He told me to wake him in fifteen minutes. While he slept, I sat quietly, watching the clock but I had a strong feeling that we were being watched from behind the car. I thought I would turn around, see nothing and be reassured. I turned and saw a figure, about three-feet high walking towards the car, peering in. He looked a [little] like a leprechaun, he had a lined face and beard but he wore a black hooded cloak over a dark coloured jacket and trousers. I remember he wore a wide black belt and he was dragging a sack over his shoulder, which dragged along the ground. I saw him clearly. I can’t remember if there was a street light in the layby or if the car lights were still on or if there was moonlight. I was so shocked, I turned back and woke my friend. I didn’t say anything about what I’d seen, because I thought I had imagined it but when he woke, as he turned to put on his seat belt he looked shocked and said ‘what’s that?’ Then he started the car and shot off down the road. I was so frightened that I just stared down at my hands in my lap. Maybe a hundred yards down the road, my friend braked suddenly and cried out. I asked him what he had seen and he described the same hooded figure and he had braked because he thought he saw another one in the road. He told me he had seen these creatures before near his home in Notts and they were always by the road and dragging sacks.’ ‘[Fairies] exist.’