Today is International Fairy Day, and since it’s also time for a Friday Night Frights post, I thought we’d do a mashup.

I know what you’re thinking.  Fairies?  On a horror blog?  You must be trippin,’ yo.  (That’s what you’re thinking, right?)  But while most people think of Tinkerbell when they think of fairies, you should know that not all of them are sugary sweet.  Some fairies are downright scary.

Like this one, but not as hot. Heh. Hot. Get it?

Monstrous fairies pop up in folklore from all corners of the globe.  There’s the Celtic fairy, Ankou, who is doomed to collect souls forever.  The Berberoka are a race of fairies from the Philippines that are basically mermaids who lure fisherman to their deaths.  And we really can’t talk about fairies without mentioning the fairies of Scotland.

Scotland, in particular, has quite a few in their legends that take on some very menacing forms, including – my favorites – the sluagh and Red Caps.  The sluagh were believed to be spirits of the restless dead, and Red Caps were a group of fairies that would mop up the blood of their vanquished foes with their caps.  Cool, right? These guys actually feature pretty prominently in one of my favorite book series: Laurell K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry novels.

As you can see from this pic of my well-worn copy of the first book in the series, I’m a fan.  And if you’re interested in reading about some very non-Disney fairies, I suggest you check these books out.  As of right now, there are only nine in the series (Ms. Hamilton isn’t quite finished yet), and if you like them as much as I do, they won’t take long to read.

What are they about?  I’ll give you a quick rundown (Spoiler Alert?).  Merry is a faerie princess of the Unseelie court (look it up) who comes out of hiding involuntarily and must return to court to find a suitor to give her a child (i.e., knock her up) so she can win the throne.  Along the way, she encounters a whole host of freaky fairies with all sorts of cool, creepy powers.

For real.  Read these. They’re fun.  I wouldn’t lie to you.

Let me know if you end up reading the series, or if you already have (and in that case, kudos to you), let me know what you think in the comments.

I hope everyone has a very Happy International Fairy Day! What are you going to do to celebrate?