Fairy and Folklore research

Jacqueline Simpson and Steve roud. 2000.               Oxford dictionary of English folklore.                 Oxford university press.

(Mostly paraphrased)

Fairy

The European version of the fairy stems mainly from the Celtic areas of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. But has mainly been shown through literary representations, such as stories and plays. The term fairy is a rather loose word referring to a:

Non-human yet material beings with magical powers.

It is said that some had the ability to switch between visible and invisible at will. Some could even change shape, some could fly, and mainly they lived in natural areas such as forests, rivers and underground. Many were believed to be friendly and brought luck and good fortune to people. However there were some that believed these fairies to be pranksters and even minor demons that were a threat to passers, they were blames for causing many sicknesses and even stealing human babies.

This book states that fairies can be divided into two categories ‘social fairies’ that live in communities and groups and are usually friendly. While the second were the “bogey/ Bogart” type who often haunted open spaces. However there are those who would argue that certain apparitions termed as fairies are in fact completely separate species and that the overall generic term for the race is “elf”

The church insisted that all such creatures could only be demonic. But later the Christian church they were referenced them in a way that made them morally ambiguous, neither siding with God or Lucifer. In Cornwall they were believed to be a type of Angel:

“Too good for hell, but too bad for heaven”

So they were thrown to earth to live where they landed.
Many times people claiming they had unusually powers said they were given them by fairies.

Fairy land

Beliefs involving fairies often portray a world running very close to our own where fairies live, usually underground that humans cannot see or reach. Some humans could get there by accident or be invited or abducted. The fairy land is said to be a beautiful heaven like place.  

all the other books mentioned in my previous post turned out to be irrellevant to my research.

The information i have here is good, it confirms the use of evil fairies in the Torchwood episode and gives me the option of using evil fairies in my idea (when i get one) without it being a direct copy of this episode.

I am starting to think that i will set my idea in a wooded area or forest - this would allow me to incorperate fairies and maybe even other mythical/ folklorish creatures into my idea.