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Fairies Weren't What You Think | The Dark Truth Behind British & Irish Folklore

Mysteries of Mythology

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Fairies were never one “species”—they were a warning label for whatever lived beside us, didn’t belong, and could ruin your life if you got it wrong.
From Tinker Bell to the Aos Sí, we’re tracing the REAL fairy traditions of Britain & Ireland—England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

Explore more legends from the Celtic world in the Celtic Myths & Legends
and the Beasts, Legends & Monsters – Mythical Crea...
playlists.

The fairies of folklore aren’t cute, tiny, and winged—they’re human-sized, rule-bound, easily offended, and dangerously literal. In this long-form deep dive, we peel back the modern “sparkly” image and travel region by region through Britain and Ireland’s most influential fairy beliefs: elf-shot and fairy rings, pixie-led travellers, changelings, Welsh lake maidens, Ireland’s mound-dwelling Aos Sí, and Scotland’s Seelie/Unseelie courts—where a single mistake can cost you years… or your life.
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⏳ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction to Fairies of UK and Ireland
01:32 The Modern Fairy
09:53 Fairies of England
27:49 Fairies of Wales
35:05 Irish Fairies
43:01 Scottish Fairies
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📚 SOURCES & CREDITS:
Gerald of Wales, The Itinerary Through Wales (includes “Elidor and the little people”)
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
The First Branch of the Mabinogi: Pwyll (Annwn / Otherworld material)
W. Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911)
Diana Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts
Bodleian Libraries: MS. Rawl. B. 467 (includes Meddygon Myddfai)
The Irish Times on the Bridget Cleary case (1895 “fairy/changeling” belief and murder)
University of Sheffield “Modern Fairies” project
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🌍 Full Playlists:
🔱 Greek Myths Explained
🪶 Myths of the Americas
🐉 Beasts, Legends & Monsters – Mythical Crea...
⚔️ Norse Myths: From Creation to Ragnarök
🦉 Celtic Myths & Legends
👹 Asian Myths: Gods, Spirits, and Legendary ...
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🔗 Connect With Me:
🌐 Website: https://mysteriesofmythology.com/
💬 Chat on Discord: Discord: discord
📱 Instagram: Instagram: mysteriesofmythology

#fairies #fae #folklore #celticmythology #irishfolklore #scottishfolklore #welshmythology #englishfolklore #aossi #tuathadedanann #banshee #pixies #changelings #selkies #kelpie

20 Comments

@MysteriesOfMythology Creator 7 months ago (edited) Pinned

Which fairy would you like to meet the most?
Quite a few have pointed out that the 'unknown' artist around the 7 min mark is Rebecca Guay - thank you!
And yes... Tinkerbell indirectly tried to kill Wendy - I am old and watched it a very long time ago - apologies.

@k-pax532 2 months ago

I bought a cottage in the west of Ireland on the side of a mountain, surrounded by woods, a fair bit off the beaten track and with no proper road leading to it. When viewing it the first time, the real estate agent was in a hurry to leave after just showing it to me. He asked if I feared the fairies; I said no, that I have never had any trouble with them. He said that they give him the heebie-jeebies, and he didn't like coming to show people the cottage because of his fear. It was all a bit strange to me at the time, and then he asked if I would be a cash buyer, to which I replied yes, and he immediately dropped the price of the cottage by quite a bit, which brought it into my budget. I've had it nearly 10 years now, and it is a magical place for sure, and I'm happy to say that I've had no trouble at all with the wee folk,

@rodrigosanchezviamonte2694 7 months ago

About tooth fairys. I'm from Argentina. Here we tell the children that a mouse is who takes fallen teeth leaving money in exchange. It's called Ratón Pérez. Less glamorous than a fairy, but still magical

@nataliebutler 7 months ago

A channel that isn't AI !! 🙌

@radicalpaddyo 6 months ago

My theory about all the stories with people disappearing for a couple of days on the way home and reappearing with stories about being taken "by the wild fae", is they are deeply rooted in an even older tradition of the isles: alcoholism!

@arcanian717 4 months ago

European Folklore is far more intriguing and engaging than any HBO or Netflix show.

@Gianfranco_69 7 months ago

This is Gorgeous...... and zero AI entities were bothered in the production of this 'material'.
No AI B-Roll slop,no AI Voiceover or Script ,.....
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HUMAN

@Sgt.MarkRoe 7 months ago

Tooth Fairy: when my son was very little and still believed in Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, etc. one night, after he'd lost a tooth and carefully put it under his pillow, asked me " but how will she get in our flat?" I said I'd leave the bathroom window open a bit. After he went to sleep, I took a pair of little combat boots from his 12" G. I. Joe, rubbed the bottoms with a charcoal stick, and made little boot prints from the window, across the toilet lid and over the bathroom floor ( as everyone knows, Fairies Wear Boots). Come morning, he gets up, goes to the bathroom to pee, and screams: " Dad! Dad! The Tooth Fairy was HERE!! " The little things we do for our kids..

@fjallaxd7355 7 months ago

I'm from Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. In the mid to late 1800s our Governor at the time, Sir Edgar MacCulloch 1808 - 1896, started to compile local folklore about the Channel islands, specifically about Guernsey. Because as he saw it, our island's culture and folklore was disappearing and becoming more like the mainland UK. Almost whitewashed. He was 100% correct. Our Island's culture has deteriorated massively in the past 250 years.

Anyway, he spoke extensively in his later published book, known simply as "Guernsey folklore" about fairies, their homes, how they act, how to treat them, where to find them and general tradition around them. The fairies of Channel Islands are a Celto-Germanic mix of traditions. Very, very similar to the fairies you spoke of here. Anyway, I thought this may be interesting. Great video.

@Datadog-1 7 months ago

Fairy is a shortening of “the fair folk”
Superstitious people were terrified of these creatures, and you never knew when they could be listening to what you were saying.
So, in an attempt to avoid their wrath, they decided to always refer to them by a name that would hopefully please them, or at least not insult them enough to have them put a spell on you.

@TimelessMurmurs-SleepTales 5 months ago

Tinkerbell tried to murder Wendy. The Banshee is a grief counselor. Fairies in Ireland are literally fallen gods.
We didn't simplify fairy folklore to protect children. We simplified it because the truth was too uncomfortable for adults.
Marcus Aurelius said: "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
This video does exactly that. It looks folklore in the face.

@kevindorn2508 7 months ago (edited)

In germany we had legends of gnomes that live in your house and you can lure them out with things they like and exchange goods for service. I have enough tobacco and alcohol to pay gnomes for doing my chores...but they never show up

@aratrex 7 months ago

I want to thank you for keeping the background music nice and quiet. I could hear everything you had to say it was great.

@kellyshea7716 7 months ago

My Nana grew up in very rural southwest Ireland and left for America in the early 1920's.
To her, fairies were dangerous and were to be avoided at all costs.

@katrussell6819 7 months ago (edited)

In Grand Rapids, Michigan we have a true story connected to Fairies. In the late 1800s Irish workers where brought in by train to do a job. They were to dig up the ancient Native American mounds on our river bank and throw the dirt into the river to firm up swampy banks. They came. They looked around. They refused to do the work, though they were hungry and needed money. The didn't want to disturb the local Fairies. There was quite a fuss about this. Angry city leaders sent them away without pay. Chinese workers were later brought in to do the dirty deed. We lost our mounds. As a person of Irish descent I am proud of these men for refusing to do this terrible thing. Though it was done by others, sadly.

@TimelessMurmurs-SleepTales 5 months ago

The changeling myth is the most psychologically devastating idea in all of folklore.
Your child is still there. But they're not yours anymore. Something unknown has slipped inside the familiar face.
We laugh at it now. But every parent who has watched their child change — through trauma, addiction, grief, or simply growing up — has felt that exact terror without the mythology to name it.
Marcus Aurelius wrote: "Accept the things to which fate binds you." The Celts couldn't accept it. So they invented a story where the real child still existed somewhere — stolen, not gone. Waiting to be returned.
Sometimes mythology isn't superstition. Sometimes it's just grief wearing a costume.

@lucymolloy4341 7 months ago

4:01 she quite literally does try to k!ll wendy tho? like basically as soon as they get into neverland after u see captin hook the following scene is tink trying to k!ll wendy.

@abbypagel331 7 months ago

The fairy queen in Midsummer Night's Dream isn't named Tatiana, as said in this video. Her name is Titania.
I never comment on YouTube, but I just couldn't leave the name of an important character in one of my favorite Shakespeare stories incorrect.

@SenoirMeow 7 months ago (edited)

When my aunt was a child she ventured into a small forest near my home, the trees there are so old and it’s creepy. She came back to my grandparents speaking of faeries in the woods ever since. She’s over 50 and still believes they exist and talk to her.

I dismissed it as nonsense, but one day I was on holiday with her, I hit a low and tried to remove myself from this world. She came and saved me. Why? Because the faeries told her something was wrong.

Even still I’m doubtful, just a coincidence. Still, here’s my little story on the topic.