Empire unusual suggested

100 PASSPORT TO MAGONIA
TAKEN BY THE WIND
J. L. Newman
73 Freyberg St.,
Otumoctai, Tauranga.
We have now examined several stories of abductions and attempts
at kidnappings by the occupants of flying saucers. These
episodes are an integral part of the total UFO problem and cannot
be solved separately. Historical evidence, gathered by Wentz,
moreover, once more points in the same direction.
This sort of belief in fairies being able to take people was very
common and exists yet in a good many parts of West Ireland. . . .
The Good People are often seen there (pointing to Knoch Magh)
in great crowds playing hurley and ball. And one often sees among
them the young men and women and children who have been taken.
Not only are people taken, but—as in flying saucer stories—they
are sometimes carried to faraway spots by aerial means. Such a
story is told by the Prophet Ezekiel, of course, and by other
religious writers. But an ordinary Irishman, John Campbell, also
told Wentz:
A man whom I have seen, Roderick Mac Neil, was lifted by the
hosts and left three miles from where he was taken up. The hosts
went at about midnight.
Rev. Kirk gives a few stories of similar extraordinary kidnappings,
but the most fantastic legend of all is that attached to Kirk
himself: the good reverend is commonly believed to have been
taken by the fairies.
Mrs. J. MacGregor who keeps the key to the old churchyard where
there is a tomb to Kirk, though many say there is nothing in it but
a coffin filled with stones, told me Kirk was taken into the Fairy
Knoll, which she pointed to just across a little valley in front of us,
and is there yet, for the hill is full of caverns and in them the "good
people" have their homes. And she added that Kirk appeared to a
relative of his after he was taken.
Wentz, who reports this interesting story, made further inquiries
regarding the circumstances of Kirk's death. He went to
TO MACONTA AND BACK! 101
see the successor to Kirk in Abcrfoyle, Rev. Taylor, who clarified
the story:
At tlie time of his disappearance people said he was taken because
the fairies were displeased with him for disclosing their secrets in
so public a manner as he did. At all events, it seems likely that Kirk
was taken ill very suddenly with something like apoplexy while on
the Fairy Knoll, and died there. I have searched the presbyter books
and find no record of how Kirk's death really took place, but of
course there is not the least doubt of his body being in the grave.
Kirk believed in the ability of the Good People to perform
kidnappings and abductions, and this idea was so widespread that
it has come down to us through a variety of channels. We can
therefore examine in detail four aspects of fairy lore that directly
relate to our study: (1) the conditions and purpose of the abductions;
(2) the cases of release from Elfland and the forms taken
by the elves' gratitude when the abducted human being had performed
some valuable service during his stay in Elfland; (3) the
belief in the kidnapping activities of the fairy people; and (4) what
I shall call the relativistic aspects of the trip to Elfland.
Hartland reports that a Swedish book published in 1775 contains
a legal statement, solemnly sworn on April 12, 1671, by the
husband of a midwife who was taken to fairyland to assist a troll's
wife in giving birth to a child. The author of the statement seems
to have been a clergyman named Peter Rahm.
On the authority of this declaration we are called on to believe
that the event recorded actually happened in the year 1660. Peter
Rahm alleges that he and his wife were at their farm one evening
late when there came a little man, swart of face and clad in grey,
who begged the declarant's wife to come and help his wife then
in labour. The declarant, seeing that they had to do with a Troll,
prayed over his wife, blessed her, and bade her in God's name go
with the stranger. She seemed to be borne along by the wind.
It is reported that she came home "in the same manner," having
refused any food offered to her while in the troll's company.
In another tale, the midwife's husband accompanies her
through the forest. They arc guided by the "earthman"—the
gnome who has requested their help. They go through a moss
door, then a wooden door, and later through a door of shining