The Cottingley Faries

A film that took my breath away, The Fairy Tale, beautiful cinematography, evoking emotions and spiritual beliefs. Today is Fairy day and what better way to celebrate it than to talk about the most famous faeries I know. (besides Tink!) In 1917 Elise Wright (16) and Frances Grittith (10), cousins, spent a good deal of time behind the Wright home. They moved in together when WW1 occurred and soon became good friends despite their age. It was secret between the girls but one day, exacerbated by the wet shoes and dirty feet, one of the mothers pressed the cousins as to what they were up too, "At the stream visiting the faeries!" They blurted.

As if to prove the discovery, Elise and Frances borrowed the Wright family camera and photographed these 5 pictures. When Mr Wright developed the photos, believing they were hoaxes, he placed them in a drawer, there they sat for a few years. Mrs Wright's religion allowed belief in faeries, gnomes, and pixies. She became a advocate of the children's photos. The uproar began......

In 1920 Sir Author Conan Doyle was commissioned by Strand Magazine, to debunk the five photos the girls had taken, he made several visits to Cottingley, England. He idly sat by as the girls tried to conjoin the faeries into appearing. As we all know, Mr Conan Doyle is best known for writing Sherlock Holmes. He became quickly sucked into the tale the girls had to tell. Elise then, 19 and Frances, 13.

The photos were printed on Kodak paper although the company couldn't verify the authenticity of the subjects, they could say the negatives weren't altered.

In 1981 both girls (woman) gave a interview telling the public the photos were faked, they had used hairpins to upright the cutouts, it is believed the girls gave a histrionics to the parents in the time of their grieving, motions of separations. Neither girl had the heart to reveal the true nature of the photos after a famous writer became involved. Frances continued to say the fifth photo was real and untouched by either girl, she continued to say so up to her death. Elise died in 1988, Frances in 1986. In 2003 one of the girl's daughter, and granddaughter appeared on Antique Roadshow with one of the photos, it was appraised at L40,000. I'm not sure how much that is but I came imagine it's a lot.

I ask you....do you believe? C&G Design.