2020-02-01_Fortean_Times

she noticed it haslegsand
armsand alittleroundhead.
Themoststriking feature
wasits eyes. Its bodywas well
proportioned with shapely
hips. MrsGwilliamrejected the
suggestionthat it might have
beenafrog, toad, or lizard. ‘I
amcertainitisanoffspring of
thecreaturewhich wasfound
in Mr.Brown’sLevel’, she
declared.Theother members
of thefamilywereofthe same
opinion.”^5
In their time,Machen’s
stories displayedthe peculiar
ability to nowand then creep
outoftheirpublications to
settle into the popular mind
andchangereality. Even now,
discussions stillrageabouthow
farhisTheBowmen,published
in 1914,^6 gave rise to the
legend of the Angels of Mons,
the widely held beliefthat
angelicbeings had intervened
on behalf of theBritish troops
in Belgium in the secondyear
of theGreat War. Machen
brushed his shortstory aside
as “an indifferentwork”, yet
he spent therest ofhislife
arguingitwas theorigin of
the AngelsofMonslegend.^7
Butexactlyhow thishad come
about he had no clue: “This
affair of theBowmenhas been
suchanodd onefromthe first
to the last, so many queer
complications have entered
into it, therehavebeen so
many and so divers currents
andcross-currents of rumour
and speculationconcerning
it,thatIhonestlydonot
know wheretobegin...”^8 On
previousoccasions Machen had
writtenaboutthe LittlePeople
as well.Just theyear before
themanikin in the minecase
broke, Machen told hisreaders
inTheGraphicaboutthe
Asiki, theLittlePeople of the
FrenchCongo.^9 And in 1932
Machenrevisited the topicby
retellingthe verystrange near-
kidnapping ofan eight-year-old
girlbythe LittlePeople.^10
With regardtothe survival
of ancient convictionsthat
Machen mentioned, in 1926

the belief in LittlePeoplewas

still strong,as wasevident

in opinions concerning what

the tinymanikinsofthe mine

mightbe.“Coleford,thescene

of thesestrangeappearances,

holdsvarious theories as to

theLittlePeople,”Machen

explained. “Somehold that

theyare fairies,othersthat

theyare descendants of a

dwarfishrace, which, theysay,

livedlong agointhe Forest,and

wasforced to gounderground.

And there aresomewho think

that they areanimals of some

unknown and unconjectured

genus, who,asitwouldseem,

inhabitthe coalmines.

“The most interesting

suggestion of the threeis

the identification of the

little brownbeings withthe

pre-Celtic inhabitantsofthe

country,the underground

dwellerswho originated the

Irishfanciesaboutfairyraths.

Therewas such arace ofshort,

darkpeople,who did, infact,

live subterraneously,and

survivedfar into the Celtic

age.But thepeople of thisrace

must have beenaboutfour feet

[1.2m]–not 14inches [36cm]–

high.”^11

Thelocalworkmen

harboured no doubtsabout the

reality oftheirextraordinary

find. After all, theyhad seen

the frightening creaturewith

theirowneyes. “You can tell

thepeople from me,”Brown

toldareporter,“that it is only

tootrue,and,what is more,I

didnot likethe look of him.

Wewere all abit nervous at

the time,for it looked an ugly

littlebrute.Icould notrest

overnight, andonthe following

morning whenIdecided to

preserveit, Ifoundithad

gone. InmyexperienceIhave

seenmanyfossilsofdifferent

animals, but have neverseena

thinglikethat. Itwasmorelike

ahumanbeingthanIhaveever

seen before.”

An unnamed authority

thatthe newspaper produced

thought otherwise. Only

identifiedas“oneofthe most

distinguishednaturalists in

Walestoday”bytheWestern

Mail,heoffered aplausible

explanation: “The answer

is –abat...Abat,hibernating

through the cold months,seeks

acaveor crevice, and there

hangs with head downwards,

with itswings so tightly

pressedbehinditthat, looking

at it from thefront oraboveas

it fellonits back, they could

not be seen,andwould give the

effectofanarmless trunk with

well-marked shoulders.Shaken

from itsperch in arocky

crevice itwouldfall and, only

partlyawakenedamonthat

least too early,wouldlie almost

without movement,and withno

effort at escape.Theminersof

the NewHawkins Colliery may

rest assuredthatif the ‘little

man ofPoolway’ gave them a

shock,theygavehimamuch

more severeone.”^12 Machen

must have read thisrebuttal,

butfor reasons of hisownthat

arenow unfathomable, he

remains quite opaque as to

the conclusion. He writes: “As

to the ‘facts’ of the Coleford

case,Isay nothing. ButIthink

that there must beamistake

somewhere.”^13

An ambiguousfinalverdict

that onemight approachfrom

either direction.

FO

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ETTY IMAGES

ABOVE:Minersbringout coal outfrom asmall, privatelyownedminein the ForestofDean in 1 931.

NOTES

1 Arthur Machen,

‘TheLittle Brown

Things’,TheGraphic,

13 Feb1926.

2 Ibid.

3 ‘A Livin gFossil.

Prosaic Solution

ofaMysteryina

Dean ForestMine,

Gloucestershire Echo,

29 April1925.

4 ‘TheMannikin.

WeirdCreature In Old

Mine .Living ‘Orange

Head’. ‘Human Being

Only 14 Inches In

Height’,Liverpool

Echo,30Jan 1926;

‘Gnomes In Life.

WeirdTrave ller’s Tale’,

Western Star and

Roma Advertiser,

Toowoomba,

Queensland, 13Feb

1926.

5 Ibid.

6 In 1915 The

Bowmenwas

published intwo

editions. The story

wasoriginally

publishedin the

EveningNews,29

Sept 1914.

7 David Clarke, ‘The

Bowmen ofMons and

Mars’,FT319:54-55

(2014).

8 ArthurMachen,The

Bowmen andother

Legends of War,

Putnam’s, 1915,p1.

9 ‘TheLittle People’,

The London Graphic,

11 July 1925.

CollectedinArthur

Machen,Dreads and

Drolls,Secker, 1926,

underthe titl e‘The

Little Beings ofthe

Forest’.

10 “The StrangeTales

of MountNephim”,

Dalton Citizen,11Feb

1932.Collectedin

Arthur Machen,The

Glitter of theBrook,

PostprandialPress,

1932.

11 Machen, ‘The Li ttle

Brown Things’.

12 ‘Dean Forest Little

Man. Fossil Th at Bled

&Breathed. Mystified

Miners. Prosaic

SolutionTo The

Problem’,Western

Mail,Glamorgan, 29

April 1925.

13 Machen, ‘The

Little BrownThings’.

Thesources for notes

9and 10 werekindly

providedby Raymond

Russell, chairmanof

The Friends Of Arthur

Machen.