Caesarea and a fairy waystation

A Jay

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As background, there's a labyrinth just around the corner from Caesarea. A little stone maze which has a nice tree grove butting up against it with some paths inside that has a very old and mysterious vibe to it. There's also a fairly large creek of mountain spring water that runs from up in the mountains, down past Caesarea, through the tree grove, and then beyond. The labyrinth has a nice little shop and the woman who owns and runs the place does craniosacral therapy among other things. A few weeks ago Ennio had gone to get some craniosacral work done and afterwards the shop owner told him some interesting stories about fairies.

First, there was the story of two children who'd recently gone into the tree grove and when they came out were arguing about the size of the fairy they'd seen. There are some small fairy statues in the area, but judging from their lively discussion the owner suspected that they weren't talking about one of the statues. From the fourth-hand account of the gestures depicting the size, we're talking about something approximately the size of a grapefruit or maybe a small cantaloupe.

Second, there was a writer who was told about the labyrinth and came out to check the place out. I believe he wrote about the myth, legends, sightings, and so on of fairies. Unfortunately, I don't know his name or the name of his works. Though perhaps Ennio can remember. He went through the labyrinth and the tree grove and when he spoke to the owner after his walk about he said that the area was a fairy waystation of some sort. A place where fairies would come and stop before going off to other places.

Lastly, the shop owner herself had recently been at the shop and was doing things around the place when she turned around and there floating in front of her face was a fairy. Don't remember the size or description accompanying the account.

So, the questions we were wanting to ask the C's was:

What is the nature of these "fairy" sightings? Is there a mundane explanation, or is there some reality to the phenomenon?

If there is some reality to the phenomena, what are these "fairies"?

Is there something about the area that makes it conducive to such encounters?

If so, is it just a coincidence that we ended up here?
 
When I was a child I had two friends at my school who swore they saw a fairy one day in the grounds of our school. They took me to the exact spot and they both said they saw it.

A few years ago whilst visiting Oakridge in Oregon, USA, a local woman showed me photograph taken looking into the trees of her back yard. There was the image of two fairies in the shot, up amongst the branches. It really did appear to have captured the image of fairies.

Both these accounts told of fairies about the size described. These instances have been of those things that I have always thought could not be real. But in the grand scheme of things what the heck do I know about anything?!
 
Then there is this local legend of Rotorua in New Zealand. It is common knowledge to everyone here that fairies are said to be living on the hill, although they are said to be a similar height to humans:
“Long ago,” said Te Matehaere, “the summit of yon mountain Ngongotaha, the peak-top called Te Tuahu a te Atua (“The Altar of the God”) was the chief home of the fairy people of this country. The name of that tribe of Patu-paiarehewas Ngati-Rua, and the chiefs of that tribe in the days of my ancestor Ihenga were Tuehu, Te Rangitamai, Tongakohu, and Rotokohu. The people were very numerous; there were a thousand or perhaps many more on Ngongotaha. They were an iwi atua (a god-like race, a people of supernatural powers). In appearance some of them were very much like the Maori people of today; others resembled the pakeha race. The colour of most of them was kiri puwhero (reddish skins), and their hair had the red or golden tinge which we call uru-kehu. Some had black eyes, some blue like fair-skinned Europeans. They were about the same height as ourselves. Some of their women were very beautiful, very fair of complexion, with shining fair hair. They PAGE 35wore chiefly the flax garments called pakerangi, dyed a red colour; they also wore the rough mats pora and pureke. In disposition they were peaceful; they were not a war-loving, angry people. Their food consisted of the products of the forest, and they also came down to this Lake Rotorua to catch inanga(whitebait.) There was one curious characteristic of these Patu-paiarehe; they had a great dread of the steam that rose from cooked food. In the evenings, when the Maori people living at Te Raho-o-te-Rangipiere and other places near the fairy abodes opened their cooking-ovens, all the Patu-paiarehe retired to their houses immediately they saw the clouds of vapour rising, and shut themselves up; they were afraid of the mamaoa—the steam.
 
A bit off topic, but from that general area are legends, sightings and even (for me) very reliable 2nd hand reports of locations and artifacts relating to the Cherokee Little People. The Mysterious Little People of the Cherokee
My sister and I both studied at Western Carolina University. She made friends with Jimmy and Coony Buchanan (odd-ball, native Cullowhee fixtures). From them she learned about the little people, where they lived in tunnels, where those tunnels were, some things that had been found in them and why they'd been sealed. In the lowest level of the McKee building, there is a big wall (in the direction of the Stilwell building). She told me that they said the tunnels had been sealed behind this wall.
One of those two (can't remember which was which) was elderly in the 70s, so it is possible that he saw the building being constructed.
 
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