The Fairies of Cottingley, the incredible photos

 In 1917, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two little girls who lived in a small Yorkshire village, gave life to the mystery of the Cottingley Fairies thanks to several photographs of them in the company of fairies and gnomes. Despite numerous confirmations, the authenticity of those shots was questioned several times.

Photograph the Fairies was the sensational headline in the December 1920 issue of the British Strand Magazine. The author was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famous Sherlock Holmes character. What he said about fairies would cause controversy and amazement for more than 60 years.

In the spring of 1917, 15-year-old Elsie Wright, and 10-year-old Frances Griffiths, used to talk about the fairies they played within a small valley near Cottingley, a Yorkshire village. With the camera of her father Elsie she photographed her friend in the company of fairies, then she was photographed with a gnome. Her parents, although skeptical, were perplexed. Over the next three years, the girls took three more similar photographs.

In 1920, Elsie's mother took part in a lecture on belief in fairies and mentioned the photographs. A well-known theosophist, Edward Gardner, took her from her and showed her to a photographer friend, who was impressed.

The news reached the ears of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who initially raised doubts: the creatures photographed seemed two-dimensional. But the negatives sent to Kodak did not report counterfeits, so Doyle was convinced of their authenticity to the point of publishing them.

Photographs of the Cottingley Fairies were examined, discussed, and re-examined for 60 years. In 1982, the editor of the British Journal of Photography, Geoffrey Crawley, claimed to have evidence that the photographs had been retouched. Finally, in 1985, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, now elderly, confessed that fairies were scraps of paper, supported by pins.

They had wanted to play a joke on adults who made fun of the fairies and were amazed that they were taken so seriously. As for Conan Doyle, they would not have wanted him to appear less insightful than the protagonist of his novels, Sherlock Holmes. According to Elsie, the joke failed, but Frances, while admitting her trick, she insisted she actually saw fairies.