Modern sightings of fairies

On the picture on the top of your review, is a very nice example of a faery ring. I know there is a scientific explanation for these rings, something to do with the fungus using up nutriments at one central point and then progressively spreading out to continue feeding

A stockboy is stacking fruit on a display, when a lady asks "Do you have any mushrooms? " The stockboy replies "Sorry ma'am, we are out of mushrooms, but we will be getting a shipment tomorrow morning" The lady looks around some more. 

A few mins later she runs back to him asking where the mushrooms are. The stockboy confused about her mental state simply tells her "Sorry ma'am, we are out of mushrooms, but we will be getting a shipment tomorrow morning" 

The lady looks around some more then goes back to the same stockboy and asks "Where the hell do you keep the mushrooms, I need some mushrooms right now!" The stockboy, getting frustated with his inability to explain the situation, tells the lady "Answers a couple of questions and I will get you your mushrooms from the back." The lady agrees and the man starts the questions. 

"Spell cat for me, as in catastrophe " she says Ok, "C A T". 

"Very good!" the stockboy says, "now spell dog, as in dogmatic. " The lady getting frustrated spells it correct. 

Now the employee finally asks "now spell, Fuc, as in mushrooms. " She replies "There is no Fuck in mushrooms?" To which the stockboy replies "THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU THE WHOLE TIME!

Neil,

On the picture on the top of your review, is a very nice example of a faery ring. I know there is a scientific explanation for these rings, something to do with the fungus using up nutriments at one central point and then progressively spreading out to continue feeding.

However, many of us have become very cynical about 'scientific' explanations, because for example, such explanations of NDE's make some quite extreme assumptions, which are then never taken back into the relevant science as a whole.

I am wondering if these rings are as well explained conventionally as people are lead to believe.

David

Indeed David. I think the scientific explanation is valid at one level, but as usual, it doesn't allow for the deeper metaphysical meaning. These rings are very prevalent in the folklore, and frequently act as portals between the physical and non-physical, wherein reside the faeries. This seems intimately connected with the faeries dancing in rings, which I have written about here: Going Round in Circles. Graham Hancock also writes about the phenomenon in his 2005 book Supernatural... “I realise we may not even have begun to understand what is going on with the phenomenon known as the fairy dance. Still, I repeat my suggestion that it feels like some sort of technology for jumping between worlds, and in particular for entering and leaving this one.”

A stockboy is stacking fruit on a display, when a lady asks "Do you have any mushrooms? " The stockboy replies "Sorry ma'am, we are out of mushrooms, but we will be getting a shipment tomorrow morning" The lady looks around some more. 

A few mins later she runs back to him asking where the mushrooms are. The stockboy confused about her mental state simply tells her "Sorry ma'am, we are out of mushrooms, but we will be getting a shipment tomorrow morning" 

The lady looks around some more then goes back to the same stockboy and asks "Where the hell do you keep the mushrooms, I need some mushrooms right now!" The stockboy, getting frustated with his inability to explain the situation, tells the lady "Answers a couple of questions and I will get you your mushrooms from the back." The lady agrees and the man starts the questions. 

"Spell cat for me, as in catastrophe " she says Ok, "C A T". 

"Very good!" the stockboy says, "now spell dog, as in dogmatic. " The lady getting frustrated spells it correct. 

Now the employee finally asks "now spell, Fuc, as in mushrooms. " She replies "There is no Fuck in mushrooms?" To which the stockboy replies "THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU THE WHOLE TIME!

OK I see your analogy, but I prefer this one:

An alien spacecraft travels 3237 light years to land on Earth, The commander, $FRED observes a profusion of plants, animals and humans. He takes a generous sample of all of these and heads off back to base. He goes at once to the chief scientist $GOOFY, and presents all his samples.

$GOOFY takes them to a back room and returns after a few minutes. "OK I took a mass spectrum from all your samples, and here is the result. As you can see, they simply contain the usual elements - hydrogen, carbon, oxygen etc. - absolutely nothing of interest here!"

$FRED explodes, "But sir, the large pink things were moving around and generating sounds when we sampled them - they must be interesting!"

$GOOFY responds, "Oh that is easily explained, matter of that type often moves about until it reaches thermodynamic equilibrium! As I said, absolutely nothing of interest here."

David

OK I see your analogy,

No analogy, just a joke from a fun guy/fungi.

The media are reporting the sale of two of the infamous Cottingley fairy photographs for £20,400 at auction - ten times what had been expected:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-45748927

What's not clear from most of these reports is that the photographs that have been sold were only prints produced for sale at the time. Apparently these are now quite rare, but it seems strange that they should fetch so much, considering that the original glass plates reportedly sold for only £6000 as recently as 2001:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1218778.stm

The media are reporting the sale of two of the infamous Cottingley fairy photographs for £20,400 at auction - ten times what had been expected:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-45748927

What's not clear from most of these reports is that the photographs that have been sold were only prints produced for sale at the time. Apparently these are now quite rare, but it seems strange that they should fetch so much, considering that the original glass plates reportedly sold for only £6000 as recently as 2001:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1218778.stm

Courtesy of the Daily Grail - another set of prints is now being auctioned, and is expected to fetch £70,000:
https://uk.style.yahoo.com/cottingley-fa...00594.html
https://www.dominicwinter.co.uk/Auction/...lot=336306

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about the original glass plates. The BBC report I linked to previously does say they were sold for £6000 in 2001. But the new Yahoo report quotes the auctioneer as saying they "do not seem to have survived." Others say they were donated to the Brotherton Library in the University of Leeds in the 1970s (though a "snippet" on Google Books casts doubt on whether the glass plates at Leeds match the prints):
https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/la...uted-18543

Courtesy of the Daily Grail - another set of prints is now being auctioned, and is expected to fetch £70,000:
https://uk.style.yahoo.com/cottingley-fa...00594.html
https://www.dominicwinter.co.uk/Auction/...lot=336306

Here's a report of the auction. In the event, 9 lots out of 14 sold for £50,000:
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n...for-25000/