MABON RITUAL - THE FAIRY GATE

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(I have used the spelling "Fairy" rather than "Faerie" throughout this report for simplicity's sake.)

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THE OFFER After the rituals had ended and our investigation was over, a huge bonfire had been lit nearby and people were preparing to do some drumming and some dancing around the fire. We were approached by a very nice couple who offered to guide us to the Fairy Gate. They informed us that there is an area of the woods where "fairies enter this world," and many visitors have captured photos of glowing fairies in the area of the Fairy Gate. We were interested in seeing what we could capture on film and accepted their offer to guide us there.

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THE OFFERINGS On the way to the Fairy Gate, our guides insisted that we stop at Gaea Retreat's mess hall to grab some gifts for the fairies. We were informed by our guides that if you visit the fairies without bringing them a trinket or some sweets, they tend to be a little upset and mischievous about your lack of generosity. While this seemed a bit strange to me as a 21st Century modern adult, I wasn't about to take any chances and stuffed a piece of candy in my pocket just in case.

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THE JOURNEY It turns out that the Fairy Gate is not in a hidden location, but is actually marked on the maps on Gaea Retreat's website. Led by our guides, we drove to cabin S3, parked our car, and began walking along the trail that reportedly leads to the Fairy Gate. It was quite a walk and it was pitch-black in the woods that night. We were stumbling along for what seemed like quite a long time. There were a few times that I wondered if we were really headed to something that we would be able to identify as the Fairy Gate. I had a feeling we would simply arrive at some empty clearing, and our guides would declare, "We have arrived!" But this was not the case. The Fairy Gate is indeed a real place...

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THE FAIRY GATE When we finally arrived at the Fairy Gate, I think we were all a little shocked. Ribbons, beads, statues, jewelry, trinkets, dream-catchers, wind-chimes, and all manner of pretty things glittered in the dark of the woods. See the Photographs section of this investigation report for all the photographs we took of the Fairy Gate, or view the ones we selected below. Click on any of these thumbnails for a larger version.

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CAPTURING A FAIRY PHOTO After admiring the Fairy Gate for awhile, I left a piece of candy for the fairies amid the other offerings. Jamie left a ring she had with her to appease the fairies, and Jon and Trish left gifts as well. With this bit of business done, we went through the Fairy Gate and set about trying to capture a fairy in a photograph. We took scores and scores of pictures. Some were random, and some where taken when one of our guides would say, "I think I see something in that direction." To see all of the photos we snapped, see the Photographs section of this investigation report. We are going to focus on only one of the photos. This one:

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At the time she took this photo, Jamie noticed the glowing white shape in the photo (enlarged on the right). She showed it to our guides on the preview screen of her digital camera, and they informed her that this is what the fairy photos normally look like. There is usually a glowing white irregular shape in the photograph, and sometimes there will be a hint of wings and sometimes arms and legs. Our guides pointed out that this particular glowing shape appears to have wings. At around the same time this was going on, I looked down at the glowing review screen on the back of my digital camera, and saw that a big white moth had been attracted to the light of the screen. The moth was actually just sitting there on the back of my camera and then flew away..

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THE UNFORTUNATE TRUTH REVEALED You can probably see where this is headed. Honestly, in some ways I would prefer to not debunk this phenomenon. The world would be a lot more interesting if you could go to Gaea Retreat, find the Fairy Gate, and snap photos of actual fairies. But the truth of the matter is that the white glowing object with apparent wings in Jamie's photograph is an insect...and most likely a moth. The montage of insect photos below is from a photographic anomaly study conducted by the MidNite Walkers Paranormal Research Society.

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For more on this paranormal study, visit MidNite Walkers Paranormal Research Society.

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You can easily see how someone looking for fairy photos might mistake some of these for fairies. The same thing is true for someone looking for ghosts. Many paranormal websites present white irregular glowing shapes such as these...and call them ghosts, or even angels.

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Our trip to the Fairy Gate was an enjoyable one, and gave us an opportunity to find and debunk a commonly misinterpreted photographic anomaly. We really appreciate the time given to us by our voluntary guides. If you want to visit the Fairy Gate for yourself, I suggest you rent cabin S3 at Gaea Retreat. Perhaps scout out the location of the Fairy Gate during the daylight hours, but be sure you return to the Fairy Gate once it is dark. Remember to leave a gift for the fairies...or they won't be at all happy with you. -Mark Stinson

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