I have one of these photos hanging in my room, but only because I am into the image of the strange androgynous looking girl staring intently at a paper doll-esque fairy. I only later learned about the Cottingley Fairies Hoax…which makes me even more drawn to the photo. 

The photos themselves are great in all their eerieness, but it’s the story behind the photos that makes them so fascinating.  Please note: This story was taken from The Iron Skeptic.

It was the summer of 1917. Elsie Wright, 16, and cousin Frances Griffiths, 10, lived together in a place called Cottingley, England. Elise’s father, apparently a good and reasonable man, chided the two girls for constantly telling him that when they went out to play in nearby Cottingley Glen they were joined by a troupe of fairies. Not to be outdone, the girls borrowed a camera as they went out to play one day. No-one thought much of it until the father developed one of the photos in his home darkroom. I can only imagine the look on his face as the picture slowly appeared to reveal Frances sitting in front of a bush as four little fairies danced in front of her, cavorting, flapping their wings, and playing musical instruments.

Over time the girls produced five photos, showing Frances with the dancing fairies, Elsie shaking hands with a gnome, two of one of the girls with a single fairy, and a fifth picture of two fairies dancing in what looks like a bird’s nest.

Mr. Wright was unimpressed. He didn’t believe the girls, no matter what their photos said, and the matter, to him, was settled. The pictures went into a drawer for two years until Elsie’s mother dusted them off and brought them to a religious meeting. Being a Theosophist, she believed that dwarves, gnomes, fairies, imps, goblins, and all manner of other goofy creatures interacted with human beings on a daily basis. This is probably where the two girls got the idea in the first place.

Anyway, she brought the photos to the meeting and the place erupted. Everyone was shocked at this indisputable proof that fairies existed. The two girls were well mannered, decent children with no previous history of mental disorders, lying, or other immoral behavior. They were, so to speak, the most “reliable witnesses” of all time, their story credible. Who would believe two innocent-looking, charming young girls would lie about such a thing? Nobody, that’s who.

The world was afire over the photos. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series and, up to now, proponent of logic and reason, went absolutely batty over them, writing the girls several letters and singing their praises to all who would listen. He published several articles on the subject and in 1922 expanded them into a full-length book, The Coming of the Fairies.