This is the world of the Cottingley Fairys.
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Do you believe they are real?
Taken in 1917
In 1917 two Englih girls, Francis Griffiths, 10 and her 13 year old cousin Elsie Wright, shared a house in cottingley, near Bradford, Yorkshire. Francis and her mother had moved there from Cape Town, South Africa; her father was serving as a British soldier. One day Francis retured home wet and said that she had fallen into a brook while playing with the fairys. Her mother was unmoved, and Francis was punished.
Elsie hit upon the idea that they would photograph the fairys, so they borrowed her father Auther wrights camera.
He provided them with one plate, and awhile later they returned with a picture. When the elder wright developed the picture, he saw an image of Frances's facing the camera as four winged women dressed in filmy clothing danced in front of her.
The girls refused to admit they were fakes. one month later they took another picture. Convinced that this was a joke Wright forbade the girls further use of the camera.
The following year, frances father returned and they moved to Scarborough, Yorkshire. Just prior to the move, Frances wrote a letter to a friend in south Africa, enclosing the photos and writing on the back of one she noted, "Elsie and I are very friendly with the beck fairys" In the letter she referred to the fairys only briefly and in passing. When rediscovered and published in the cape Town argus, Nov 25 1922, frances's words would be cited as evidence of the girls sincerity and of the photographs authenticity.
What would prove to be one of the most bizarre controversies in the history of photography began in 1920 when Polly Wright, Elsies mother attended a lecture on folklore. Afterwards Mrs wright mentioned the photos and the lecturer asked for the prints and she sent them to Edward L. Gardner, a London Theosophist. Garderner wrote to the wrights. Intime they loaned him the original plates, which he took to H.Snelling, an authority on photography. Snelling was positive of the photos, though it would not be known until 1983 that he retoutched the first photo and transformed it into a clearer photo.
Gardner showed the photos at a public lecture in may, and an audience member alerted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the prominent author, now a spiritualist. Doyle urged gardener to take the photos to the kodak labs, and two expets were unable to find any flaws. Gardner finally met the wrights that summer. He supplied Elsie with a modern camera, and she and francis provied three more photos.
In December the Strand magazine published doyles article on the first two pictures, and the following march a follow up included the later three.
Doyle wrote a book , The coming of the fairys (1922), and Geoffrey Hodson a clairvoyant claims he visited the becks in the girls company and saw numerous fairys.
There would be no more fairy photos, but the controversy would live on. In 1945 gardner published a book of the case, and photos appeared in magazines and newspapers. Elsie and Francis seemed to stand by the pictures, ot at least refused to admit their phoniness.
In December the Strand magazine published doyles article on the first two pictures, and the following march a follow up included the later three.
Doyle wrote a book , The coming of the fairys (1922), and Geoffrey Hodson a clairvoyant claims he visited the becks in the girls company and saw numerous fairys.
There would be no more fairy photos, but the controversy would live on. In 1945 gardner published a book of the case, and photos appeared in magazines and newspapers. Elsie and Francis seemed to stand by the pictures, ot at least refused to admit their phoniness.
In December the Strand magazine published doyles article on the first two pictures, and the following march a follow up included the later three.
Doyle wrote a book , The coming of the fairys (1922), and Geoffrey Hodson a clairvoyant claims he visited the becks in the girls company and saw numerous fairys.
There would be no more fairy photos, but the controversy would live on. In 1945 gardner published a book of the case, and photos appeared in magazines and newspapers. Elsie and Francis seemed to stand by the pictures, ot at least refused to admit their phoniness.
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