Young (ed), The Wollaton Gnomes: a Nottingham Fairy Mystery
S.R. Young (ed), The Wollaton Gnomes: a Nottingham Fairy Mystery (2022) (UK, US)
The Wollaton Gnomes was a classic anomalous encounter. 23 September 1979, a half dozen primary school children went for an evening walk in Wollaton Park in Nottingham. A number of these children then saw thirty small cars each with a gnome driver and passenger. The encounter lasted, according to the children, about fifteen minutes, as the gnome cars chased them around the park. It is a fascinating incident not least because it is so well documented. We have an interview transcript of the children recorded less than 48 hours after the sighting (and two pictures drawn by the children); newspaper reports with interviews with parents, teachers and children; extra fairy and gnome sightings in the area; and an investigation by Fairy Investigation Society stalwart Marjorie Johnson. All of these are brought together in the present volume. There are also ten essays by fairyists, folklorists and Forteans: Frank Earp, ‘The Wollaton Gnomes: A Different Kind of ‘Fairy Tale’’; Dan Green, ‘A Visit to Wollaton Park’; Mave Marian, ‘Dowsing at Wollaton Park’; Kate Ray, ‘The Wollaton Gnomes: More Questions than Answers’; John Kruse, ‘‘Planes, trains and automobiles’: fairies and transport’; Jo Hickey-Hall, ‘Wollaton and the Great Windsor Park Encounters’; Neil Rushton, ‘Faeries, Children and Altered States of Consciousness’; Dr. Jack Hunter, ‘Gardens and Gnomes: Statues, Extraordinary Experiences and Subtle Ecologies’; Loes Modderman, ‘Gnomes: A View from the Netherlands’; and Simon Young, ‘Enid, Noddy and Big Ears at Wollaton’.
For other Pwca books and pamphlets.
Review, Frank Earp, Northern Earth: If you are expecting a comfortable read with answers to the many mysteries of this case, forget it! As a novel, it would be a ‘who did it’, with a ‘cliff-hanger’ ending… I would consider this book as something suitable for those wishing to put together the clues themselves to answer the question — is this just a children’s fairy tale, or did something paranormal really happen on Wollaton Park?’
