Episode 135: Netta Fornario - Death on the Faery Hill

In November 1929, a woman stepped off a ferry onto the small, windswept island of Iona. Dressed in a long black cloak and trailing several trunks of furniture and books, she made an immediate impression on the islanders. Her name was Marie Emily Fornario—known to friends as Netta—and she claimed to be there on urgent spiritual business. Just days later, she would be found dead under mysterious and unsettling circumstances.

Netta’s body was discovered lying on a carved cross in the turf, completely naked except for a blackened silver cross around her neck. A knife lay nearby. There were no signs of foul play, no wounds aside from a few scratches on her feet. The cause of death? Officially: exposure to the elements. But the story is far from that simple.

Born in Egypt in 1897 to an Italian father and an English mother, Netta had been raised in England by her grandparents after her mother’s early death. Her father, a prominent Italian physician, would later speak of a premonition he experienced on the day of her death—an overwhelming sense of dread he could not explain.

Netta had long been fascinated with mysticism and the occult. She studied under Dr. Theodore Moriarty, an esoteric Freemason and founder of a breakaway occult group. After his death, she became involved with the Alpha et Omega, a splinter group of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. These circles attracted some of the most influential figures in early 20th-century esotericism, including Dion Fortune—Netta’s friend and, possibly, her rival.

According to Fortune, Netta had become dangerously obsessed with communicating with the "Green Ray elementals"—nature spirits connected to healing and growth. Her fascination with the veil between worlds led her to Iona, a place steeped in spiritual history and ancient myth. The island is known as the “cradle of Christianity” in Scotland, but its older, pagan roots run deep. Local legends speak of the Aos Sí—supernatural beings said to inhabit the hills and mounds of the land.

Netta believed she was under psychic attack. The night before she disappeared, she frantically packed her belongings, insisting she had to leave the island immediately. She spoke of visions, a rudderless ship in the sky, and dark messages from beyond. But when no ferry could take her off the island until morning, she calmed down—resigned, perhaps, to a fate she already sensed was inevitable.

She vanished overnight. A massive search followed, and two days later, her body was found near the faery hill of Sithean Mor.

Theories abound. Some believe Netta died of natural causes—a tragic case of exposure brought on by psychological distress. Others point to medical explanations such as acidosis, which can cause confusion and blackened silver jewelry due to changes in body chemistry. Still others suspect foul play, perhaps connected to the secretive world of occult societies.

And then there are those who believe Netta did make contact—with something. That she crossed a threshold not meant to be crossed, and couldn’t return.

Her belongings, including letters said to be of a "strange character," were handed over to police and later lost or destroyed. Her death remains one of the most baffling and haunting mysteries in the history of British esotericism.

On November 21, 1929, Netta Fornario was buried quietly on Iona, near St. Oran’s Chapel. Her simple headstone sits among the graves of ancient kings.

She came to Iona seeking answers. She left behind only questions.