Most of us know fairies from childhood fiction, movies and TV. However, through the ages, it was adults who actually saw fairies in the wild. The digitisation of local newspapers and ephemera has opened an Aladdin's cave of such sightings. For the first time, Magical Folk traces these fairy experiences from 500 AD to the present. In Southern England Master Dobbs-who ended up as Harry Potter character 'Dobby'-often shows himself, while in Ireland fairies may be the dead, the terrifying Whoopity Stoorie lurks in Scotland, and a two-feet tall fairy with floppy elephant ears appeared in North America in 1956. Also included are findings from The Fairy Census, the ongoing scholarly survey of 20th- and 21st-century sightings around the world. This enchanting volume is the first history of fairies in over half a century.