Eastern Kentucky suffered devastating floods in 2022 and 2023. Not long after, residents reported encountering goblins, mysterious beings who, account after account, were reported to resemble Dobby, the house elf from Harry Potter. Lora Eli Smith, who worked on crisis response with the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, reports for Oxford American.
No roadside goblin sightings have been reported of late, and Gwen has asked us not to go bothering them. Tim tells me he thinks the goblins came to help us recover. “People needed something that could occupy their minds and help us heal.” For everyone I interviewed, goblin stories made space in their grief to experience enchantment and awe at the life surrounding them—even as that life came undone. I continue to circle back to the small detail in every story that no one felt afraid of the goblins. Instead, the tellers expressed a sense of compassion and wonder. “Gobsmacked!” as Beau told me. Utterly astounded, shocked, confused d unsure of what to do next, but not scared. These are stories of confronting the unknown without fear. The possibility that if goblins are real, our future holds stories of worlds we have yet to imagine.
An invitation to live into days of astonishing bewilderment.
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