Cottingley Fairies

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Frances with the fairies, taken by Elsie in July 1917. One of the five photographs.
Frances with the fairies, taken by Elsie in July 1917. One of the five photographs.

The Cottingley Fairies refers to a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins living in Cottingley, near Bradford, England, depicting the two in various activities with supposed fairies. In 1917, when the first two photos were taken, Elsie was 16 and Frances 10.

Contents

[edit] Details

The picture with the fairy
The picture with the fairy

The first two photos were taken in 1917.[1] They were publicized in 1920 when the Strand Magazine (home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories) published a piece by Doyle showing the first two photographs and describing them.[2] Griffiths and Wright were then given 24 photographic plates and took three more photos in August 1920.[3] They blamed constant rainfall, but rainfall was at the lowest point in the year during August. This is now seen as proof that they had to discard several failed attempts. The photos showed the fairies as small humans with period style haircuts, dressed in filmy gowns, and with large wings on their backs. One picture is of a gnome, about 12 inches tall, dressed in a somewhat Elizabethan manner, and also with wings.

[edit] Arthur Conan Doyle's support

At the time, the photos were viewed by some as evidence of fairies, most notably Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote a book called The Coming of the Fairies about the Cottingley Fairies and his belief in them. His belief in spiritualism and contact with the spirits of the dead, were part of a larger worldview that encompassed the belief in fairies. His support and his book on the Cottingley Fairies carried great weight with similarly minded people of the day.

[edit] Analysis of the pictures

In the pictures and prints available today, the fairies look flat, with lighting that does not match the rest of the photograph, as if they were paper cut-outs. It has been claimed that this is because the originals were of poor quality and needed retouching and that this is the reason the originals were first seen as convincing. Harold Snelling, a man considered an expert in fake photography in the early 1900's, said "these dancing figures are not made of paper nor any fabric; they are not painted on a photographic background—but what gets me most is that all these figures have moved during the exposure." However in the long exposure (see waterfall in above photo), wind could have moved the fairies' wings or bodies if they were made of paper or fabric. Doyle also dismissed the idea the photographs could have been faked. It is now considered that he thought the girls too young and too inexperienced to have been able to create such a hoax[citation needed].

In 1978, it was found some of the fairies resemble drawings in the 1915 book Princess Mary's Gift Book by Claude A. Shepperson.[4][5]

[edit] Confession by the girls

The cousins remained evasive about the authenticity of the pictures for most of their lives, at times claiming they were forgeries, and at other times leaving it to the individual to decide. In 1981, in an interview by Joe Cooper for the magazine The Unexplained,[6] the cousins stated that the photos were fake and they held up cut-outs with tacks. Frances Griffiths, however, continued to maintain until her death in July, 1986 (Elsie died in April, 1988) that they did see fairies and that the fifth photograph, which showed fairies in a sunbath, was genuine.[7]

[edit] In popular culture

Two 1997 films, Fairy Tale: A True Story, starring Peter O'Toole and Harvey Keitel, and Photographing Fairies with Ben Kingsley, were based on this event.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

An episode of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, Small Worlds, features the photographs. In the episode it is revealed that the "Fairies" were actually destructive creatures that take children away to become like them and kill, or attempt to kill, all those who upset or harm those children, or get in their way. At the end of the episode, Gwen Cooper, looking at this image, realises that the lower right fairy is a girl who was taken by the fairies.

Spoilers end here.

The photographs and Conan Doyle's endorsement of them is mentioned in the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The first in July 1917, see The Unexplained, Volume 2, Issue 20, page 382. The second in August 1917, see The Unexplained, Volume 2, Issue 20, page 383
  2. ^ The Unexplained, Volume 2, Issue 20, page 382.
  3. ^ The Unexplained, Volume 2, Issue 21, pages 414-415.
  4. ^ The Unexplained, Volume 10, Issue 117, page 2338.
  5. ^ The Unexplained, Volume 10, Issue 116, page 2319.
  6. ^ The Unexplained, Volume 10, Issue 117, page 2338-2340
  7. ^ The Unexplained, Volume 10, Issue 117, page 2339.

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle, Hodder & Stoughton, hardback, 1922.
  • The Unexplained, Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time. Edited by Brian Innes and Peter Brookesmith, a weekly part work published by Orbis Publishing Ltd.

[edit] External links

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