Every October, when the air turns cold and the days grow short, something ancient stirs beneath the surface of our world.

The veil between the living and the dead grows thin and souls from the past return.

Before jackalantons and trick-or-treating, this time of year was sacred, a turning of the seasons when

spirits walked among us and unseen forces entered our world. Across the miscovered hills of

Scotland, Ireland, and beyond, people once lit fires to keep the dark at bay and left offerings

for the unseen. They called them the good people, the fairies, the ones you never speak of too loudly

for fear they might hear. Fairies weren't the tinkerbells of children's tales. They were wild

and ancient, creatures of twilight and revenge who could bless a household or curse a bloodline. For

centuries, people knew better than to go looking

for them. But one man did. A scholar, a believer, a man who claimed to have seen beyond the veil.

He wrote down their secrets and in doing so sealed his fate. Welcome to National Park After Dark. I'm Danielle. I'm Cassie. Welcome. It's Halloween week. I'm so excited. And because I know that like this episode is going to be a lot about fairies and stuff, but it's also a very real story about somebody going missing or dying or I already forget you told me earlier.

Yeah.

Well, we'll find out really soon.

But it is a true story and it took place in Scotland, which is fun because

I wanted to go to an international park and I wanted to kind of dive into Halloween and the story

behind its beginnings, but also I wanted to get into fairies and stuff because they're so

deeply ingrained with Halloween tradition.

And I think a lot of times, at least for me, when I first heard of fairies growing up and stuff,

I'm like, oh, Tinkerbell, like beautiful little woodland fairies that are bright and happy.

And that's not their history.

They're actually a lot darker than that. So I thought it would be fun to dive into some folklore for

Halloween. And I'm very excited that it's taking place in Scotland because Scotland has taken

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