Fairy Faith
There are many local stories about the activities and antics of fairy folk. Most of these stories take the form of fairies being seen as little people dancing around in secluded areas.
The people of the past were afraid of offending the fairies and sought to avoid antagonising them.
A big fear was that fairies would steal new babies, especially boys, and replace the baby with a changeling or a dead fairy baby. Some mothers murdered their babies and blamed the fairies for abducting them. It was commonly claimed that the babies could be heard crying as they were taken away by the fairies.
Fairies were thought to have the supernatural power to afflict sickness. Sometimes sick children were abandoned by their parents if a relative was dying. It was thought that somebody had to die so it was best to let the children die so that the relative might live. Despite this, curiously, the fairies were known as the "good people".