Long before stories of pixies were confined to the pages of children’s books, pixies were said to roam the rolling hills and deep forests of Devon and Cornwall.
While the belief in pixies was localized to Britain, there are similar creatures (such as the northern fairies and Scandinavian elves) that also interact with humans, and they are commonly mistaken for one another, despite being very different. Pixies are much smaller than fairies, with pointed ears. Some of them have wings, while others look more like trolls and travel on horseback – some even prefer to shape-shift into hedgehogs.
But not all the myths about pixies are cute and full of whimsy. There are evil pixies who enjoy creating chaos for unlucky humans. The scary stories about pixies usually start with the little creature feeling slighted or disrespected in some way – but pixies tend to overreact, and the punishment rarely fits the crime. Even Tinkerbell, Disney’s beloved pixie, was a temperamental and violent little monster when it came to her jealousy of Wendy. Pixies don’t share, they take whatever they want, and they don’t play well with others. Gathered here are some creepy pixie stories that prove pixies aren’t always the benign, adorable creatures on greeting cards.
Several cultures have myths about changelings replacing human infants. It could be a fairy, pixie, or a troll that’s put in the child’s place. Some lore says it can even be an enchanted stone or wooden “child” the pixies swap out for a human baby.
In Cornwall, England, there’s a tradition that if a baby is identified as a changeling, a good pixie can bring it back. The changeling must be brought to the Mên-an-Tol stone so that the pixie guardian who dwells there can reverse the evil pixie’s spell and return the real child to its parents.
They Kidnap Children For Their Own Amusement And Return Them Later
In Dartmoor, the pixies (or “piskeys”) disguise themselves as bundles of rags. Little children find these rags and play with them, becoming ensnared by the pixies. Pixies have been accused of luring children out to their caves with the promise of treasure and keeping them for days. Then, when the pixies get sick of the children, they knock them out (magically, not physically) and return them to the very same spot from where they abducted them. The children wake up and have no idea how much time has gone by or what has happened to them.
They Lead Travelers Astray
If a human traveling through pixie territory fails to show respect for the little people of the land, they’ll be misled (or “pixie-led”) on the moors as punishment. Pixies can confuse mortals so badly, they never recover. These lost humans are reduced to wandering aimlessly, singing to themselves or speaking an unidentifiable language.
They Went To War With The Fairies Over Land And Won
The fairies who dwelled in Somerset wanted a change of scenery, so they attempted to move to Devon and extend their territory. Unfortunately, the Devonian pixies already had a stake in that land and they were not going to share. They declared war on the fae and waged a bloody, violent battle in which the pixies were victorious. The surviving fairies were booted out of Devon and sent right back to where they came from. It’s believed that to this day, Devon has pixies only and no fairies within its borders.
They May Be Ancient Gods Or Lost Human Souls
The Cornish piskies believed to inhabit the moorland are said to be spirits of dead people who are in a limbo-like state, not bad enough for hell but not good enough for heaven. Others believe pixies were never human: they are ancient gods that were sprinkled with holy water, causing them to shrink and weaken.
They Dose Humans With Pixie Dust And Seduce Them
The term “pixilated” describes the hazy, magical effect pixies have on humans. The feeling is described as an intense intoxication. The victim’s behavior becomes erratic, and they may seem mentally unbalanced as if they were drunk. Now, considering pixies have been known to take human mates and that grown men and women have followed the call of a pixie and vanished forever, it’s safe to say pixilation may be responsible for those couplings.
They Once Tried To Lure Monks Over A Cliff
According to legend, the arrival of Christianity in the East Devon town of Otteri (later Ottery St. Mary) meant that the pixies would be flushed out of the town and forced to retreat to the caves.
As the finishing touch for the newly constructed church, the local bishop ordered a set of church bells to be brought in from Wales and sent a group of monks to fetch them. When they heard this, the pixie population went into sabotage mode. They cast a spell on the traveling monks, redirecting them from the road and right towards a cliff in Sidmouth. The monks almost went over the cliff until one of them stubbed his toe on a rock and broke the spell by exclaiming, “God bless my soul!”
To this day, this almost disastrous event is commemorated in Ottery St. Mary with a holiday called Pixie Day, where hundreds of people dress up as pixies and drag the church’s bell ringers to the town square to be “rescued” by the local vicar.
They Act Like Hoodlums On Halloween Night
Pixies have been known to throw pots, blow out candles, rap on windows, and throw rocks at houses in the night. People used to leave bowls of milk, gifts, and treats as offerings out on their porches to placate the little beasts and keep the peace.
They May Be The Souls Of Unbaptized Children
Pixie mythology transformed a bit once a Christian presence moved into Britain. These formerly pagan spirits were given a creepy origin story as the souls of children who were not baptized before they died. The children’s spirits would transform into little pixies after their personal belongings were placed in clay funeral pots. Then they remained on earth causing mischief instead of going to heaven.
They May Actually Be Aliens
Despite the common consensus that pixies are nothing more than creatures of fables, there are those who claim to have really seen them. Some take more of a Doctor Who approach to the existence of pixies and just chalk them up to being different life forms from another planet. Who’s to say there aren’t aliens on earth? And who’s to say they can’t have wings and pixie dust instead of bulbous heads and glowing spaceships?
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