Are Fairies Ghosts?
by Sir Frank Dicksee, P.R.A. (1853-1928 English)
This question arises from time to time, and is understandable as there is a lot of overlap between the two. However, in a short answer and in fairy speak, fairies are fairies, and ghosts are ghosts. They overlap but are not the same, but in some regards, each can be both – the ghost of a fairy, or a fairy ghost.
First let’s consider the differences between the two. To start and most obvious, fairies are alive, and ghosts are dead. While some descriptions of fairies say that fairies are the spirits of the dead, this is a very narrow definition, understanding of fairies, if at all. Fairies are many things, and can appear wispy or translucent, even invisible, and there are indeed spirit fairies, but they are not dead, spirits or not. And just as easily it can be said, ghosts are not alive, but can act as if.
by Edmund Thomas Parris (1793 – 1873 English)
Fairies can be touched, or touch you. They can eat, have physicality, assume a thousand forms, and generally interact in most all living ways. Also and most telling, they can die and they can become ghosts, whereas ghosts cannot re-live and become fairies. Ghosts are echoes of life, sorta one dimensional, haunting this or that, while fairies are wild, all over the place, doing mischief or magic everywhere, and very present. And yes, fairies can do a good haunting too.
So there is some overlap, a blurring of lines so to speak, both in appearance and nature, and also in classical description. For example the Tuatha dé Danaan are often referred to as the ‘living underground’, or consider the mention of ‘Mabinogion’, the Celtic fairy otherworld. There are also fairies who act dead, sorta, like the headless horseman. or ghostly fairy women, such as the banshee or gwyllion. There are also some one wishes were dead, like the Dearg Due, a fairy vampire. or Fear Gorta, hunger personified, and the Slaugh, a black winged host. It is also said that in the Wild Hunt, fairies ride along the dead in their nighttime winter pursuit, an intermingling of spirits alive and dead.
by Johan August Malmström (1829 –1901 Swedish)
So there is definite overlap between things, ghosts, fairies, and angels for that matter. Perhaps when one gives up the human life, they end up in the otherworld, being one of the three, by choice or circumstance. Being a ghost seems rather dull, a sad lot, while being an angel is nice, doing good and loving all things, maybe a bit predictable, and then there are fairies… This reminds me of the famous quote by Mark Twain when asked where he wanted to go after death, and he replied, ‘Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company’.
So to conclude, fairies are fairies, and ghosts are ghosts. There is considerable overlap, and some sharing of energies, but overall they diverge and fill different parts of the otherworld, or afterworld or human psychology. Most notable is fairies are supernatural, or ultra-nature beings, full of life, while ghosts are memories, echoes of life past. Also, despite their many forms, fairies have physicality, while ghosts are wisps, translucents, without any real body, and no future, slowly drifting away to nothingness.