I’m pretty sure that any discussion revolving around “the little people,” will provoke imagery of centuries-old creatures: goblins, brownies, fairies, etc. There are, however, a significant number of reports of such creatures that originate in relatively recent times. I’ll share with you today three intriguing examples. The first comes from Crop Circle authority, Matthew Williams. Matt told me a fascinating story – of something very strange that happened to him at Knap Hill, Wiltshire, England in the summer of 1996 – that I’ll present without interruption. It goes as follows: “I was sitting in the car about 9 o’clock at night and suddenly saw this light that seemed to be coming from Adam’s Grave [a 196-foot-long, 19-foot-high, long barrow with an ancient burial-chamber at its southeast end], which is on Walker’s Hill. I had all my equipment with me – cameras, night-scopes and binoculars – and so I jumped out of the car and focused on Adam’s Grave. It was a bright, moonlit night and Walker’s Hill was all lit up.

“Through the binoculars I could see a chap on top holding what seemed to be a torch. I could tell he was wearing what looked like either a long, dark coat or a black cloak. So, I then got my night-vision equipment for a better look and could see he was walking back and forwards on Adam’s Grave. Well, I watched him for a few minutes and then went back to the car to get some food. Then, about ten minutes later, I thought I’d take a look again. When I looked up again, I could see that there was a group of figures standing in a circle around this man. What was stranger was that I could only make out their shape, but not their clothing. And as I watched, they began what looked like a dance, a ritual dance like those of Native Americans. But, the weirdest thing was that he just stood there, and it was like he couldn’t even see them.

“Whatever these creatures were, they suddenly began to shrink in size, to about the size of small children. They carried on doing the wild dance-like ceremony, but what was odd was they seemed to glitter, particularly on their arms, like little globes of light flickering. I thought: What the hell are they? So, I packed the equipment back in the car, edged my way towards Adam’s Grave and hoped no one could see me, and then sprinted the last bit to surprise them and see what was going on. But, when I got there, the figures were gone and the chap was gone, too. The moon lit up the whole area, but there was no one, nothing. I stood around for a while, searched out the whole area and then went back to the car. There wasn’t really much more I could do.”

There is another, equally intriguing, account that is connected to little humanoids and ceremonial dancing, as you’ll now see. W.E. Thorner, of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, had a close-up encounter with a group of little people on Hoy – an island in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. Years after the incident occurred, Thorner contacted E. W. Marwick, who was the author of a book titled The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland, which was published in 1975. It’s not clear if Thorner shared the account with anyone else, but Marwick, at least, seemed sufficiently impressed by what Thorner had to say.

It was 1943, the Second World War was still raging, and Thorne was stationed on the island of Hoy, in Orkney, Scotland. His account is fascinating: “One stormy day in winter I was walking or struggling along the cliff top at Horness. The wind was high and howled about, low-lying, swirling clouds part-enveloped the land in misty rain. At times the pressure was so great that I was forced to bend and clutch at the heather to retain a footing. On one such occasion, on looking up, I was amazed to see that I had the company of what appeared to be a dozen or more ‘wild men’ dancing about, to and fro. These creatures were small in stature, but they did not have long noses, nor did they appear kindly in demeanor. They possessed round faces, sallow in complexion, with long, dark, bedraggled hair. As they danced about, seeming to throw themselves over the cliff edge, I felt I was witness to some ritual dance of a tribe of primitive men. It is difficult to describe in a few words my feelings at this juncture or my bewilderment. The whole sequence could have lasted about three minutes until I was able to leave the cliff edge.”

Our third and final story comes from Mac Tonnies, who was the author of several books, including After the Martian Apocalypse and The Cryptoterrestrials. Mac said in the latter book: “I have a reliable first-hand report of ‘little people’ at large in the American northwest. My source encountered a small congregation of these beings in a wooded area. Human-like in all essential respects, the beings were nevertheless small, like normal people in miniature. Although the encounter was brief, my source was able to glean some important information. The ‘little people’ claimed to predate known North American cultures and possessed their own language. As in so many other accounts of meetings with ufonauts or ‘paranormal’ entities, they appeared Asian, again inviting speculation that they originate from a ‘lost’ community that has opted for a peripheral role, effectively hidden from the mainstream.”