What Do We Know About Fairies?

What Do We Know About Fairies?

In 1917, the first ever photographs of fairies emerged from a small village in northern England. Sixteen-year-old Elsie Wright and her cousin, nine-year-old Frances Griffiths, had taken the pictures at the bottom of Elsie’s garden, in Cottingley, West Yorkshire. The garden led to a quiet, secluded stream where the girls loved to play and explore. But they often came home dirty and wet, which annoyed Elsie’s mother, Polly. What had made them so wet? The girls said it was the fairies that they had been playing with. This annoyed Elsie’s father, Arthur. If there was such a thing as fairies, then perhaps the girls should take a photo of them, he said. So, the girls borrowed Arthur’s camera and returned an hour later smiling triumphantly. They said they had taken a picture of a fairy.

Arthur developed the image in his home darkroom and was confused by what he saw. It showed Frances sitting behind a bush on which four female fairies were dancing. The fairies were a few inches high, wore short dresses, and had butterfly-type wings on their backs. One fairy appeared to be playing a clarinet. Arthur was far from convinced. He asked why there were “bits of paper” in the photo and treated it as a joke. He reacted the same way when the girls took a similar photograph a few months later. This photo showed a slightly larger winged male who was dancing and touching Elsie’s hand.

Although the girls insisted the images were genuine, Arthur did not believe them. But Polly did. She thought the images were real. She took them to a lecture on fairies that happened to be taking place in the nearby city of Bradford. The lecture was being held by the Theosophical (say: Thee-os-OFF-ick-kul) Society. Theosophists believe in spirits, supernatural beings, and mystical experiences that normally go unseen by people. The members were fascinated by Polly’s photos and had them examined by photographer Harold Snelling. Snelling said they were “genuine unfaked photographs.” This created something of a stir, as no photo of a fairy had ever been seen before. The Theosophical Society began a series of public lectures on the fairy photos soon afterward.

The pictures soon caught the attention of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. By chance, Conan Doyle had been asked to write an article for The Strand magazine about whether fairies existed. The fairy photos seemed to have emerged at exactly the right moment. Conan Doyle asked an expert at the Kodak photographic company to check the photos. The expert said they had not been faked. Delighted, Conan Doyle published his article called “Fairies Photographed.” He then asked Frances and Elsie to provide more photos of fairies. The girls took three more fairy photos. These showed fairies flying and hiding in the grass, and offering flowers to Elsie. Conan Doyle used these images for a second article about fairies. In the articles, Conan Doyle said that fairies did exist and that the photos proved this.

The articles were published in England, South Africa, and the United States, and caused a great sensation. Some people thought the photos were a hoax and that Frances and Elsie had made the whole thing up. But others were excited by the pictures and took them as proof that fairies existed. Many people, it seemed, believed in fairies. But who was right? Were the Cottingley fairy photos real? And do fairies actually exist? What do we really know about fairies?