More recently I saw something even more memorable.
I swear to you that what follows is exactly true, not exaggerated or modified in any way. I'm still sorting it out.

Last summer I was in the Adirondacks again, visiting my parents. It was mid-July, and I was there with my kids.

One night I got it into my head to go for a walk at midnight along the road. It was maybe 50 out there, so I wore my black suede jacket and my rather new jeans, so I was virtually invisible as I walked along with a beer in my hand. The night was silent except for my footsteps.

I walked down a slight dip along a low swampy area, and noticed lights over there- hundreds of tiny blue-white points blinking throughout the swamp. I assumed it was foxfire and stopped to admire it- and then realized it wasn't.

Foxfire is swamp gas that you get from rotting vegetation, little bits of methane that somehow combust and produce a faint blue glow. You see it on the ground, buried in the grasses. What I saw was up in the trees, slowly blinking and fading out and coming back, then glowing brightly for a moment before fading. And they moved. And they were bright.

They almost acted like fireflies, but the glow was longer and slower to fade and come back. And I've never seen fireflies in the Adirondacks. And as far as I know there are no blue fireflies, anywhere.

The lights swarmed around, and gradually came closer to me. I admit it, I was scared half to death, but I was determined to stand my ground. The lights came to about thirty feet from me- and stopped.

I watched for a bit, then poured the rest of my beer by the roots of a hemlock and walked home.

The next night I came back at the same time. I had been looking out into the woods as I walked and saw no strange lights as I went. I got down to that low area and stood, and about a hundred feet away I saw blue gleams. Not as many as before, but they were there. And they moved as they had the night before.

And again they swarmed slowly toward me. And again they stopped thirty feet away.

This time I brought them a full beer and poured it out again by the same tree, and walked home.

The third night was my last night there, so I took my daughter with me. As we went I explained that I wanted her to see something, and remember it so she could describe it to me later.

The same thing happened. My daughter would have bolted had I not held her hand and assured her that there was nothing to fear as the lights swarmed thirty feet from us. I left them some maple sugar and another beer, then took my daughter home. She saw the same thing I did, exactly.

My apologies for the length of this tale, but would you have believed me otherwise if I told you I saw the Sidhe?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sat 12 Mar 2005, 9:56, Reply)