Comments on: A Gnome By Any Other Name

By: John Carlson

John Carlson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:01:54 +0000

T'mara -- I have to say that I agree with you. Billy is entitled to his opinions, but I personally do not think that belief in such creatures is any kind of affront to God, or that these beings are necessarily evil at all. A reader commented on my 'Stone Circle' article suggested that I read a book titled The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz. I searched for it and found several chapters online, and it basically says the same thing that you're saying: Christianity either demonized or incorporated them into its beliefs. I think we also tend to fear things those things that we don't understand. Glad you like the gnomes article, thanks. And thank you for posting this comment.

By: t'mara

t'mara — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:49:00 +0000

just reading what billy says about gnomes “not knowing jesus.”

…these creatures aren’t evil per se, but powerful in their own right, and their power does not come down from god, but rises up out of the earth.

they existed before christianity, and therefore christianity has demonized them. happened to all the irish goddesses…turned beautiful powerful goddesses into evil witches, or if the culture would not let go of them, turned them into saints. bridgid is a good example. the only way the new religion can succeed is if it demonizes and marginalizes the old gods or else incorporates them. in order to be understood these entities have to looked at without the intervening distortion of christianity.

also want to mention hunt for the skinwalker…read it through the first time in an effort to understand the more paranormal aspects of my sightings. read it through a couple more times, and saw the possibility that hoaxing had occurred, which i had not even considered on my first read through.

discussion recently about trolls in sweden led me to your site which i really enjoyed. thanks

By: John Carlson

John Carlson — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:53:41 +0000

Wow, Luis. That’s an interesting story. I’ll have to give that some thought before I can respond. It’s my birthday today and I’ve had mucho cervezas, so I’ll respond when I’m a little clearer in my mind.

Buenos dias,

John

By: Luis

Luis — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:19:35 +0000

Hello guys my name is Luis Fernando. I live at Panama (the small country). Gnomes are famous here in Panama in the parts away from the capital, where I live. Me and my friends love camping and going to the beach and as well, we know a lot of people there that have talked to us about them and other creatures. Surprisingly all the descriptions are alike. Before I tell my own story I want to say that I used to read a lot about witchcraft and other cults, not to practice but to know because I value knowledge more than anything, anyway for having this occult knowledge and books and stuff lets say I used to have problems with negative entities and I know by heart the feeling you get when something is getting weird really close to you. Now the story: Me and my friends were in my friend’s beach house which, since this is Panama *tropical country* there are forests everywhere even close to the beach, the thing is me and and my 2 best friends always lose something in that house and no matter how much we look for it or how good we remember the last place we put it just gets lost. In my case, my silver necklace which I had left wrapped in a towel under a chair to go play soccer in the yard *this happened at night* Disappeared it was gone and I recall the towel being folded way differently. My friends have also lost coins and a zippo and other stuff. Let’s its a theif well hes a hella good of a thief because to get to my necklace he would have had to pass right infront of us or somehow climb the electric fence that protects us from the woods.. Risk your life for a necklace I dont think so… The next night I was playing soccer by myself and I see this big grown man, whose face i didn’t get to see, He gave me a really weird feeling he was walking in front of the house the long street where my friend’s house is at and the closest house is 150meters away. I kicked the ball a little bit too strong and it got to the street so I ran and was outside probably 15 seconds later. When I look for the man he was not there and the street is very illuminated I thought I was hallucinating but I had that weird feeling for a couple of seconds and then later I just thought to my self oh he must have gone to the woods to get some wood for a fire.. And went back in thinking this was a normal thing to see at .. 12 in the night.. I told this whole story to a friend and he encouraged me to read about gnomes on the internet he said the man thing had nothing to do tho. but now that I see that the legends say the can confuse you and also shapeshift I believe its a possibility..
Keep Jesus in your heart. Love him and do not let this sort of this corrupt his imagine. That’s how I got away from the demonic attacks.

By: John Carlson

John Carlson — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:20:16 +0000

Angela,

I think giving it back was the right thing to do. From what I’ve read, these creatures are basically friendly, but they can be vindictive. If you anger them, they’re not good enemies to have. This is according to the legends I’ve heard and from my grandmother’s tales. I’ll keep my eyes open for any Ohio Valley gnome sightings and let you know.

John

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:25:55 +0000

This is definitely an interesting article. I’ve never seen one, but I found something in my backyard once that looked like one of the gnome hats from European folklore. It was a small hat, about 2.5-3 inches long and conical– but the top was slightly rounded. It appeared to be made out of two layers of felt; the outside was red and the inside was pink. It was sewn together quite well, with an even seam dividing it in half, with that seam on the inside. It could have been manmade, but my neighbors at the time were all adults with college-age children or older, and there is a large field behind my house. I showed it to my parents, who looked at it and said, “Well, that’s neat. What are you going to do with it?” I put it back where I found it: near our swingset. The next day, it was gone. Weird, huh? Should I have kept it? Some old tales say that keeping the clothing of the little people gives you power over them, but at the same time, I think it might make them mad. I live in the Ohio Valley, so if you have any knowledge of sightings in my area, I’d love to hear them!

By: John Carlson

John Carlson — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:54:39 +0000

Gnomes, as they're depicted in popular culture -- pointy hats, beards, and all -- are taken from the northern European tradition. In other cultures around the world whose folklore includes little people, they're of described as being quite different. The "littlefeet" of North American indigenous people are supposedly like smaller versions of themselves, wearing buckskin and moccasins and using bows and arrows. Regardless of variations in their physical description, you find accounts of these little folk all over the world and over thousands of years. There was an good interview on Whitley Streiber's website Unknown Country about little people in Indonesia that reportedly abduct people. The island of Flores is part of Indonesia, which is where the remains of the so-called Hobbits have been found. Could it be that some of these little people still exist?

By: Brad

Brad — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:06:02 +0000

It’s always interesting to read incidents like this as it isn’t quite in the popular culture like a lot of other unusual sightings. It also seems odd that there are similar accounts from very different locations; I would think that, if they were living creatures, populations separated by vast amounts of time and geography would have different habits and, especially, clothing styles. Or perhaps there are more accounts out there but they’re not all connected with each other for that reason?

By: renee

renee — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:48:41 +0000

At the time I saw mine ( he had a wrinkly face too) all kinds of ordeals were happening not to mention another paranormal activity was taking place in which everyone knew the other one was definitely not good. The characteristics of mine is similar to a lot of the reading I have been doing lately, except one thing…….the hat. He did not have a pointy hat as all others i read about do.
Maybe he came to help with all the negative energy that was present and he came to run it off???? I like to think that at least.

By: Andrey

Andrey — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:57:05 +0000

ive come to belive that these creatures are real! Ive had close encounters with these creatures and they are not pretty
this is a description of what i came to see:about 3 feet tall wrinkled face small red eyes with a grin,It had a pointy hat and pointy shoes that curled at the ends as i looked at it i rubbed my eyes to see if it was fake but it wasnt then it slightly faded away.
I had also a second sighting it was small about 6 inches tall and it had the same face wrinkled and the smll red eyes.
somehow i feel that the toys “trolls”have a tie to that