Imagine walking to work on the same old path you’ve been down a million times before – only to suddenly find a tiny little door peeking at you from the corner of the sidewalk.
In the quiet community of Ann Arbor, townsfolk welcome this unusual sight. Why? Because the beings behind that door are less than 12 inches tall, use flight as a primary means of transportation, and are — well, faeries.
Ann Arbor’s shops look just like any other at first glance, but upon closer inspection one is able to see these whimsical portals to another, albeit smaller, world.
Cynics credit their existence to children’s book author and father Jonathan B. Wright, who “discovered” the first fairy door in the baseboards of his west side home in 1993. A “non-certified Fairyologist”, Mr. Wright brushes off these claims and attributes these fairy doors solely to their residents.
Of course, the truth is far sweeter. Wright created these doors in an ode to his two daughters.
Wright continued to keep the magic alive by creating even more doors around town. One was soon found in his living room fireplace, and two more in the kitchen (which makes sense as fairies are known candy-lovers). The very first sighting of a miniature door was on the seventh day of April 2005, outside a quaint coffee shop called Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea. Ever since then, ten more doors have popped up in the most random of places.
There is also a door outside a gift shop, The Peaceable Kingdom, wherein fairies ran a gift shop business of their own, with shelves stocked with pennies, marbles, acorns, cocktail parasols, and other items that would surely delight your run-of-the-mill shopaholic fairy.
Did you know that fairies have developed a taste for caffeine? Here they have a miniature coffee shop where they hang out with their ‘cup of joes’ and take selfies (or whatever they call it in fairyspeak.)
Of course, they also have a fairy wing at The Mott Children’s Hospital. One door is sufficient, as their healing method of “sprinkle with fairy dust” is much more efficient than our “slice open, poke and prod entrails, then sew back up again”. We humans seriously need to catch up with their technology.
A “Giggle” office at the Ann Arbor Google facility. Aside from a geek brain, the criteria for employment includes either a really light briefcase or really strong wings.
The doorway to the aristocratic home of The Shevel Gallery fairies.
Furniture and gift store Red Shoes also has a fairy door. Children usually leave various bric-a-brac on their doorstep such as coins, crayons, and dollhouse furniture.
The fairies have also made a home of a bookshelf and some books (an unspeakable vandalism, in my opinion) at the Ann Arbor Public Library.
Mr. Wright talks more about his discoveries in his book, Who’s Behind the Fairy Doors?, and his official website Urban-Fairies. One would think that Ann Arborites are extremely lucky to have such interesting neighbors, but any competent Fairyologist will tell you that these winged creatures are everywhere. If you haven’t seen a fairy door around your town yet, look closer – maybe you’ve walked past one without realizing it.