Elves, Fairies, and UFOs: Dangerous Encounters with Otherworldly Beings in Folklore

Harvard FAS

This course introduces folk traditions involving dangerous encounters between humans and otherworldly beings. Our primary areas of focus will include medieval through modern European elf and fairy lore, as well as twentieth- through twenty-first-century accounts of UFO abduction. The course will examine the historical conditions in which these traditions emerged, and in which they have developed. It will also explore the premise that while the contents of otherworldly…