Jo Hickey-Hall speaks to Frank Scannella about his encounter next to the river in Walton-on-Thames in 1982. His story ‘Meeting Nicola’, was published in the, “It Happened To Me…” section of The Fortean Times (Issue 350, 2017). This episode was also released as a video on YouTube.
The sense of uncanniness about this meeting has always stayed with Frank. There are many liminal aspects to consider: the proximity to water, crossing a bridge, the time of his life between studies. As well as this, various folklore motifs abound: black dog, dark man, strange stillness in the environment (Oz Factor) and the way that the beings appeared and disappeared in a mysterious manner.
Most of all, there was a sense that one cannot fully describe. But you will know, if you’ve ever had a brush with the Otherworld.
The main image is Frank’s own impression of ‘Nicola.’
⭐️ BONUS EPISODE ⭐️ In the bonus episode on Patreon I share related folklore about river-related merfolk, we hear some comparable encounters submitted to Simon Young’s Fairy Census and we end with a particularly unsettling story that was posted on Reddit. It is a strikingly similar experience of a young man who came into contact with a strange man along the river in York, England, featuring lost time and other very strange factors Both men view their experiences as near misses with beings from the Otherworld and feel lucky that they lived to tell the tale.
Warning: These are not fairytales. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for viewers andlisteners 16 years and older. This show is unsuitable for children or anyone who might be sensitive to creepy content.
Podcast intro music: Transmutate by Snowflake (c) copyright 2020 Licensed. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Shownotes
Frank is the author of Sicilian Shadows – a compelling memoir of his struggle for survival in the heartland of the Mafia as a young boy.
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Jo talks to a Dutch folklore storyteller who experienced two contrastingly different encounters during his twenties. The first epitomises the very essence of a beautiful nature spot and the second, the stuff of nightmares. They explore how each event played out and the potential meanings behind them.
A bonus episode available on Patreon features extra material from the conversation and further explores possibilities.
Warning: These are not fairytales and the content is unsuitable for children. Some episodes may contain details which some may find unsettling or frightening. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for listeners 16 years and older.
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We commonly refer to nightmares as terrifying subconscious sleep journeys. But in times past, the nightmare was said to be caused by visitations from Otherworldly beings. These spectres would sneak into bedchambers, lie on a victim’s chest and give them bad dreams, or worse, suffocate them.
Henry Fuseli (1781)
The older Germanic “Nachtmahr” relates to the word “nightmare” in Old English maere, or mara in Anglo Saxon. It is thought that, in English this word, rather than meaning a horse, referred to an incubus or succubus – a mythical demonic creature who would ride the chest of the sleeper, rendering them powerless to their disturbing vivid dreams and imposing a sense of breathlessness.
“Oh, you ugly beast, do not come here this night. You shall blow all the waters, You shall blow all the trees, You shall count all the muscles of barley, Do not come to torment me this night. ” (Unknown)
Goya Image
The sleep of reason produces monsters
The sketch I referred to in the episode is Francisco Goya’s (1746-1828) The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. It’s number 43 of a series of 80 aquatint etchings entitled, Los Caprichos. Published in 1799, they feature his response to the political, religious and social atrocities of the time.
Interestingly, our guest contacted me afterwards and told me that the one he had in mind was the image featured below. Plate 72: A bat-like creature sucking at the chest of a corpse, from Disasters of War (c.1810-12).
A bat-like creature sucking at the chest of a corpse
Orbs, Vapours and Energy Bodies
From my own experiences and that of others, I believe that orbs and vapours are a dense form of energy or ‘spirit’. Not quite dense enough to become manifest physically, as we are but enough to form and be perceived. Some people are able to see these forms more easily than others. It’s possible to practice by attempting to see the aura (energy body) of another person.
Allow your eyes to become relaxed and out of focus and then just observe their outline. If that person can be seated with a white background (hung up sheet or white wall) then all the better. Watch to see any colours or shapes that manifest around them. What you are perceiving are that person’s energy bodies.
We are all beings of energy and our physical body is simply our densest form – how we usually perceive each other. But the next most dense is our emotional body, followed by the mental body and then the astral, etheric, Buddhic and causal bodies.
One possibility is that the energetic manifestations of spirits, fairies or other Otherworldly beings are also made of energy, as is the entire Universe. From this point of view perhaps they are perceived by us while we are observing from that corresponding level of consciousness or energy body.
We can move through these bubbles of perception in various altered states, caused by meditation, relaxation, the use of psychedelics or even during states of passion.
Personally, I’ve been working with these ideas since the mid-nineties and in 2005 I trained in The Body Mirror System with Martin Brofman. I offer one-to-one healings in person or remote healing appointments. If you’re interested in learning more about these, please see here.
I will be releasing further episodes featuring orbs. Please subscribe to this blog to receive alerts about forthcoming episodes.
