The Cottingley Fairies

In 1917, two young cousins in the English village of Cottingley produced photographs that appeared to show fairies dancing around them. The images captured public imagination, convinced experts including Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, and were not definitively exposed as hoaxes until the 1980s. The Cottingley Fairies represent one of the most famous and long-lived hoaxes in paranormal history—and raise questions about why intelligent people so desperately wanted to believe.

The Photographs

In July 1917, sixteen-year-old Elsie Wright and her nine-year-old cousin Frances Griffiths were playing by Cottingley Beck, a stream running through a glen behind Elsie’s house. Frances kept falling in the water, and when scolded by her mother, claimed she was playing with fairies.

To prove their story, the girls borrowed Elsie’s father’s camera. They returned with a photograph showing Frances surrounded by four tiny winged figures. Despite skepticism from Frances’s mother, the families kept the photograph.

A second photograph followed, showing Elsie with a gnome. Again, the adults were skeptical but retained the images.

Public Discovery

In 1919, Elsie’s mother Polly attended a meeting of the Theosophical Society, a spiritual organization interested in mystical phenomena. She mentioned the photographs, and Theosophy leader Edward Gardner obtained prints.

Gardner examined the photographs and declared them genuine. He had the images enhanced by a photographer who confirmed they showed no signs of obvious manipulation. Gardner sent the photographs to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was writing an article on fairies for the Christmas 1920 edition of The Strand Magazine.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Conan Doyle, famous as the creator of the ruthlessly logical Sherlock Holmes, was in his personal life deeply committed to spiritualism and belief in the supernatural. He had lost his son in World War I and found comfort in the idea that spirits survived death.

The fairy photographs confirmed Conan Doyle’s beliefs about the existence of elemental spirits. He published them in The Strand with enthusiastic endorsement, bringing international attention to the Cottingley case.

Gardner sent the girls new cameras and asked them to take more photographs. In 1920, they produced three additional images showing fairies in various poses.

Analysis and Skepticism

Not everyone was convinced. Photography experts examined the images and noted suspicious features—the fairies appeared two-dimensional, their positions too perfect, their clothing too contemporary for elemental spirits.

Critics pointed out that Elsie had worked at a photography studio and had artistic training. She would have known how to create the images using cutouts and careful staging.

However, Conan Doyle and Gardner rejected these criticisms. They trusted the girls’ sincerity and believed the photographs were authentic.

The Long Deception

For over sixty years, Elsie and Frances maintained that the photographs were genuine. They gave occasional interviews but remained consistent in their claims.

In 1976, researcher Geoffrey Crawley began a detailed analysis of the case. His investigation, published over several years in the British Journal of Photography, built a compelling case that the photographs were fakes.

Finally, in 1983, Elsie and Frances (now elderly women) admitted the truth in separate interviews. They had created the fairies by copying illustrations from a popular children’s book, cutting them out, and propping them up with hatpins.

The Confession

The confession was not entirely straightforward. Frances maintained to her death that the fifth photograph was genuine—that they had actually seen fairies and had taken one real picture among the fakes. Elsie suggested Frances might be confused. The truth of the fifth photograph remains disputed.

Both women expressed regret that they had allowed the deception to continue so long. They had been children when it began and had felt unable to contradict the famous adults—Conan Doyle, Gardner—who had staked their reputations on the photographs’ authenticity.

Why People Believed

The Cottingley case raises questions about belief and skepticism. Why did intelligent people believe such obvious fakes?

Context matters. The photographs appeared at a time when spiritualism was popular, when many sought evidence of life beyond death following the carnage of World War I. Conan Doyle was predisposed to believe because he wanted the supernatural to be real.

The witnesses’ youth also played a role. It was difficult to believe that young girls could deceive experienced adults so successfully. Investigators trusted their sincerity even while questioning the photographs.

Legacy

The Cottingley Fairies became a cultural touchstone, referenced in books, films, and discussions of paranormal belief. The case demonstrated how easily people can be deceived when they want to believe—and how long a deception can persist when confessing becomes socially difficult.

The affair damaged serious investigation of paranormal claims. Skeptics cited Cottingley as evidence that extraordinary claims collapse upon examination. Believers had to acknowledge that even trusted cases could prove fraudulent.

Cultural Impact

The story has been adapted multiple times, including the films “FairyTale: A True Story” (1997) and “Photographing Fairies” (1997). Frances Griffiths wrote a memoir about her experiences.

The original photographs remain in various archives, artifacts of a deception that fooled the world. The glen at Cottingley still attracts visitors, some hoping to see what Elsie and Frances claimed to have seen.

Whether any genuine mystery underlies the fraud—whether the girls ever experienced anything truly unusual at the beck—will never be known. What remains certain is that two children’s prank, intended perhaps to avoid parental scolding, grew into one of the most famous and long-lasting hoaxes in paranormal history.