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1917, 1920s: Did two young girls really see fairies?
The Case of the Cottingley Fairies
What you need to know before your trail
This biography examines whether two cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, really witnessed and photographed fairies in the suburb of Cottingley in Bradford over 70 years ago. It questions why people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edward Gardner were convinced that the photographs were genuine. This text reveals what the author discovered about the case of the Cottingley fairies, as he worked with the two cousins for six years for the purpose of his research, and found that some of their prevarications become confessions. However, it also explains how, to her death Frances maintained that “There were fairies at Cottingley”, and how one of the photographs has never been satisfactorily explained. Giving an insider’s perspective on the case of the Cottingley fairies, this biography reveals a great deal about the human will to believe the incredible.
Locations
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Cottingley, Yorkshire
The Cottingley Fairies
Elsie Wright (1901–88) and Frances Griffiths (1907–86), were two young cousins who lived in Cottingley, near Bradford in England.
The first two photographs were taken in 1917 when Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 9.
The pictures came to the attention of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who, as a spiritualist was very keen to find out more. He hoped that the photographs would proof that a person’s thoughts could be captured on film and that fairy folk could be summonsed by believing in them.
Public reaction was mixed at first; whilst some accepted the images as genuine, others believed they had been faked. Interest in them wained after 1921 but the girls were traced again in the 1960s and Elsie still said that she believed she had photographed her thoughts.
It wasn’t until the early 1980s that Elsie and Frances admitted that the photographs were faked, but Frances maintained that the fifth and final photograph was in fact genuine.
The photographs and two of the cameras used are on display in the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, England.
Trail Gallery
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Case of the Cottingley Fairies
Destination: Cottingley Author/Guide: Joe Cooper Departure Time: 1912, 1920s
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