<P> Del Toro has attributed the idea of giving the creatures in the film a fairy origin to the work of the writer Arthur Machen , saying in an interview : `` I love the Welsh author Arthur Machen and his idea that fairy lore comes from a dark place , that it 's derived from little , pre-human creatures who are really , really nasty vermin but are magical in a way , living as they do for hundreds of years . His books are what compelled me to do this . '' Machen 's stories are specifically mentioned in the film by the librarian character . Del Toro is a long - standing admirer of Machen and said his work was also an influence on El Laberinto Del Fauno ( Pan 's Labyrinth ) and Hellboy II : The Golden Army both of which also feature fairy creatures . The name of `` Emerson Blackwood '' , the character who built the mansion in the film , is a tribute to Algernon Blackwood , another writer of supernatural horror stories . </P>
<P> Del Toro has attributed the idea of giving the creatures in the film a fairy origin to the work of the writer Arthur Machen , saying in an interview : `` I love the Welsh author Arthur Machen and his idea that fairy lore comes from a dark place , that it 's derived from little , pre-human creatures who are really , really nasty vermin but are magical in a way , living as they do for hundreds of years . His books are what compelled me to do this . '' Machen 's stories are specifically mentioned in the film by the librarian character . Del Toro is a long - standing admirer of Machen and said his work was also an influence on El Laberinto Del Fauno ( Pan 's Labyrinth ) and Hellboy II : The Golden Army both of which also feature fairy creatures . The name of `` Emerson Blackwood '' , the character who built the mansion in the film , is a tribute to Algernon Blackwood , another writer of supernatural horror stories . </P>
do n 't be afraid of the dark creatures origin
do n 't be afraid of the dark creatures origin
a fairy origin
a fairy origin