The following account was provided by Scott Harper, who is a member of the Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research team.
"This encounter occurred in New Port Richey, Florida in the summer of 2012, shortly before my move to Northern California—where I still live now, as of May 2025. While in Florida, I was living with my parents. They are both devout Christians and have little to no belief in anything paranormal/supernatural. I’m Wiccan and have been for decades. While living with my parents, I had to carefully keep my religious beliefs hidden. My magickal practices were done bereft of props of any kind (herbs, cauldrons, crystals, wands, etc.) while living with my parents. All magick that I did back then was conducted 100% purely as energy manipulation. This way there was zero evidence for my parents to ever discover.
What led up to what would be my—to that date—most prolonged and dramatic encounter with a fae creature began innocently. I’ve had several encounters with them. This one brought me some goodwill with them.
We had an elderly neighbor named George who had an orange tree in his backyard. He babied that tree. He didn’t just take care of it; he pampered it. Never in my life have I ever seen anyone take such pains to care for a tree.
George and his wife already lived there when my parents and I moved in. The orange tree was already there, too, receiving better care than a lot of humans do. After several years, George lost his wife to cancer. After that loss, he seemed to devote himself even more to that tree. In hindsight, I wonder if he knew that the hamadryad had taken up residence in it. It’s something that I never thought of at the time when my own encounter took place. The stress, shock, and exhaustion of it overtook everything else in my mind, even though I was never in any danger that I perceived.
After a few more years, George’s health began declining. He had family on the other coast of Florida. They started trying to convince him to move to the other side of the state and move in with them. George consistently refused. This went on for years. Finally, his health deteriorated to the point where his family would hear no more arguments. They came across the state to New Port Richey, packed George up, moved him back across to the other coast with them, and put George’s old house—directly next door to my parents and me—up for sale. It sold fairly quickly. The new neighbors moved in. They’re still there; a nice enough couple on the surface. But they caused what happened.
For some reason, which I still don’t know, they wanted George’s beloved orange tree gone. Rather than remove it all at once, the man took a chainsaw and began lopping off limbs a couple at a time, every now and then, having them hauled away.
I’m not sure when I first began to psychically “hear” the screams. At first, I didn’t realize what I was “hearing”. When I did, it took me a day or two to zero in on the source—the orange tree that had gone from being pampered to being butchered. Then I realized that it wasn’t the tree that was screaming—it was what was bound to the tree.
I had had several encounters with creatures that I can only describe as fae before this one. So, I knew of and fully accepted their existence already. Since this being was bound to a tree, I guessed that it was a type of dryad. Before this writing, I’ve only ever told three people this story. One of them is my wife. She’s the one who labeled the being as a hamadryad after hearing this account.
Knowing how this creature was suffering—and dying—I had to do something. But I had no idea what. I didn’t know if it was even possible to remove a dryad from its host tree. Every story I’d ever read and heard claimed that dryads died peacefully with their trees. This one was proving those stories false. It had been screaming out in pure agony for days on end. But I was completely at a loss regarding how to help it.
In my parents’ side yard is a Crepe Myrtle bush. It was the nearest plant on our lawn to the badly wounded orange tree. I had the idea that if I could somehow bridge the tree and the bush, then, just maybe, the hamadryad could move itself from one plant to the other. The problem was that the Crepe Myrtle bush appeared to be dead. My parents occasionally talked about having it removed. But I had no idea what else to do. I thought this could be, at worst, a temporary answer.
So, late one night in my bedroom, I started. I drew energy to myself and focused on the orange tree’s roots. I encased the roots with energy and began to stretch that energy underground toward the roots of the Crepe Myrtle bush.
At the time, I had never undertaken such a large energy work. I quickly found myself growing tired. I have a pair of Guides/Guardians who have been with me my entire life. I speak with them and work with them. I enlisted their help. Being Wiccan, I’m polytheistic. I worship Artemis and Pan and have good relations with both. I called upon them for this as well. I could feel the energy from each of them channeling through me and into the work I was doing. I could psychically “see” the energy bridge stretching from the tree toward the bush slowly…slowly…slowly.
By the time the tree and the bush were connected, I was completely exhausted. I sent a mental message to the dryad, asking it to please follow the bridge to safety. I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily, the hamadryad did as asked—very quickly. It was such a relief to drop the energy bridge!
The hamadryad was now safe and sound, ensconced in the Crepe Myrtle bush in my parents’ side yard. As I mentioned before, that bush appeared to be dead. But for now, at least, the hamadryad was safe. The screaming stopped. The hamadryad was no longer in pain. It rested. It was quiet for the first time in days.
Several days after the rescue of the hamadryad, we all received a startling surprise. The Crepe Myrtle bush proved to be very much alive. Green leaves and pink/red flowers burst out all over it. My parents dropped the idea of having it removed and decided to keep it.
Though I’ve now lived in Northern California for 13 years and am open about my religious beliefs, my parents and I still keep in touch. I’ve not told them of this account, though. However, not too long ago, they mentioned that the Crepe Myrtle bush is still alive and growing. They said that it needed trimming. I told them they wouldn’t believe me if I told them the true reason for it, but that the Crepe Myrtle bush is special and to take very good care of it. They didn’t bother to reply to that comment (that exchange was made via email). But apparently, the hamadryad that I rescued—with help from my Guides/Guardians and Artemis and Pan—is still alive and flourishing in that Crepe Myrtle.
What I did that night, as stated before, earned me some goodwill with the fae. It unquestionably paid off shortly after I moved out here to California! That’s another account, though—shorter, yet more dramatic than this one. I still have brief, cordial encounters with fae beings on a semi-regular basis. I can’t help but wonder how many of those are due to the events of that night back in 2012." Scott Harper
EDIT: "I wrote this up to share in a group that focuses on all things fae - including stories of encounters with them - that I'm part of. I thought that you might be interested in it for the blog, too.
This account might be difficult for some people to accept. But, you have my word, that this is 100% true." Scott Harper
NOTE: A Hamadryad is bonded at birth to a certain tree on which their life depends. Some maintain that a Hamadryad is the tree itself, with a normal dryad being simply the indwelling entity, or spirit, of the tree. If the tree should die, the Hamadryad associated with it would die as well. For this reason, both dryads and the other gods would punish mortals who harmed trees. Lon
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