1897: Mrs. Herbert Sees a Pixy

In a 1928 issue of the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, a letter written by a Mrs. G. Herbert told of two odd incidents that occured to her that she felt were evidence of fairies known as 'pixies;' the first happened in 1897, when Herbert was only seven years old.

        Herbert saw a man only around 18 to 24 inches tall (she felt the shorter height was likely more correct) under an overhanging boulder near Shaugh Bridge in Dartmoor, England, while out on an afternoon walk. She described the man as looking "wizened" and wrinkly, with a little pointed hat that was slightly curved to the front, and wearing a doublet and "little short knicker things." Remembering the event thirty-two years later, she wasn't entirely sure what color the man's clothes were, but thought that red and blue sounded right. His skin was brown.

        For a moment she looked at the little man... and then he vanished. She ran home immediately and told her mother she'd just seen a 'pixy,' and her mother laughed at her.

        Mrs. Herbert described herself as being 'psychic,' and speculated this was partly why she had the above experience. Twenty-eight years later, now a mother of three boys, Mrs. Herbert had a second strange experience that she blamed on pixies. Follow the "See Also" link below to read about it.