Ann Arbor Fairy Doors

Status: Real doors
image Fairy Doors are popping up around Ann Arbor, Michigan. No one knows who's building them. They just mysteriously appear. The Washington Post reports:

The entryways are Thumbelina small and are so subtle and incongruent that they're easy to overlook -- or dismiss. At first glance, you might mistake one of the eight doors for an electric socket or a mismatched brick. But look closely and you'll see evidence that, yes indeed, something very little could live in there.

One Ann Arbor resident speculates that the fairies are moving into Ann Arbor because they're being displaced from their rural homes by urban sprawl: "Searching for a new domicile, the winged ones -- who count among their relations the Tooth Fairy and Tinkerbell-- ventured into Ann Arbor... Wright surmised that, liking what they saw, they decided to uproot to specific addresses amenable to fairies." So how long before we get photographs of the Ann Arbor fairies?

Paranormal

Posted on Thu May 11, 2006


Comments

What a neat and whimsical idea! They're so detailed too. I think it's great!
Posted by Nymph  on  Fri May 12, 2006  at  12:55 AM
Photos of fairies??? You gotta go to San Francisco to get them... :lol:
Posted by Christopher in Joplin, Missouri  on  Fri May 12, 2006  at  05:56 AM
I want one, no 2 home and office.
Posted by Susan  on  Fri May 12, 2006  at  07:36 AM
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5393277

Day to Day, May 9, 2006
Posted by buba  on  Fri May 12, 2006  at  07:37 AM
No, no Christopher. The are asking for pictures of the Ann Arbor faries, which consequently would be a picture of the U of M football team.

Go Bucks! :coolsmile:
Posted by Jim  on  Fri May 12, 2006  at  10:47 AM
Aw, those are adorable.
Posted by Sakano  on  Sat May 13, 2006  at  06:27 AM
Gee, I guess his wife sells them in little kitschy stores too...
Posted by Evan  on  Sat May 13, 2006  at  10:45 AM
I love fairy stories...but can't stand the dominant image of fairies as delicate, winged, prancers of the Cottingley variety. That particular image is largely a product of Victorian fancy and has little (if anything) to do with the articulation of fairies in proper folklore. In Ireland, for example, they could be the size of a child, adult-sized and everything in between depending on the kind of fairy in question (and who was telling the tale). The fairies of authentic folklore are also a lot rougher round the edges than these creatures of winsome whimsy.

*Grumble*
Posted by f  on  Fri May 19, 2006  at  04:48 PM
"proper folklore"?
Proper folklore is handed down from generation to generation and by its very nature subject to change and nuance with each telling. I think that today
Posted by Jonathan  on  Sun Oct 29, 2006  at  05:36 PM
"Proper folklore is handed down from generation to generation and by its very nature subject to change and nuance with each telling."

I completely agree....and I don't see how that contradicts what I said.

Would you consider articulations/representations of fairies in advertising/cartoons/fantasy fiction (etc) to be the stuff of "folklore"? I don't think I would, as surely folklore comes from a country's "folk" (broadly speaking).

There are many contemporary images of fairies that are interesting as media/fictional representations, but I wouldn't pay much attention to them as significant objects of folklore.
Posted by f  on  Tue Oct 31, 2006  at  07:28 AM
There's a brilliant episode of Torchwood involving fairies. They start off sweet and glittery - then become these diabolical creatures of evil, trying to steal a human child. Wonderful.
Posted by Nona  on  Mon Mar 19, 2007  at  06:49 AM
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