Sherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective in
the World, first appearing in a series of short stories in The Strand Magazine. As a result, his inventor, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, is afforded the respect of a near-infallible sleuth. However, there was
one case reported by Conan Doyle that showed some flaws: his support for the
reality of the Cottingley Fairies, named after the village in Yorkshire where
they were supposedly seen.
In 1920, Conan Doyle wrote an article in The Strand Magazine [1] supporting the
view that two photographs of fairies, taken by two young girls, were real and
not faked. To protect the identity of the girls, he used pseudonyms in his
article and thus in the captions to the two photographs (shown below). One is
labelled "Alice and the fairies" (taken in July 1917) and the other
"Iris and the dancing gnome" (taken in September 1917, when Frances
Griffiths (Alice), who was just 10-years-old, was staying with her 16-year-old
cousin Elsie Wright (Iris). Elsie used her father's recently-acquired plate camera
to take the first photograph and the second was taken using the same camera, presumably by Frances.
The images intrigued Conan Doyle when he saw them three years later, prompting
his article. He was convinced that the fairies in the photographs were real and
three further plates, taken later, gave further evidence for his conviction.
Conan Doyle summarised his views, and those of others, in
his book The Coming Of The Fairies
[2], that appeared in 1922 and contains the article from the Christmas 1920
edition of The Strand Magazine.
Several points from the article (that I have read in the original) are worth elaborating.
Much centres on a report by Mr Edward L Gardner, a member of the Executive
Committee of the Theosophical Society, who met with the girls, and other
members of the family, after he was shown the photographs in 1920. Mr Gardner consulted
experts in photography, who confirmed that they were genuine; he visited the
spots where they were taken; and he met members of the family. His conclusion
was:
Extraordinary and amazing as these
photographs may appear, I am now quite convinced of their entire genuineness,
as indeed would everyone else be who had the same evidence of transparent
honesty and simplicity that I had.
That was good enough for Conan Doyle, who, as a Spiritualist,
wanted to accept the evidence at face value. However, the investigative side of
his nature, so evident in Sherlock Holmes, provided a note of caution. This was
his conclusion after seeing the two photographs:
There is one point of Mr Gardner's
investigation that should be mentioned. It had come to our knowledge that Iris
[16 year-old Elsie] could draw, and had actually at one time done some designs for
a jeweller. This naturally demanded caution, though the girl's own frank nature
is, I understand, a sufficient guarantee for those who know her. Mr Gardner,
however, tested her powers of drawing, and found that, while she could do
landscapes cleverly, the fairy figures which she had attempted, in imitation of
those she had seen, were entirely uninspired, and bore no possible resemblance
to those in the photograph...
Other well-authenticated cases
will come along. These little folk who appear to be our neighbours, with only some
small difference of vibration to separate us, will become familiar The thought
of them, even when unseen, will add a charm to every brook and valley and give
romantic interest to every country walk. The recognition of their existence
will jolt the material twentieth-century mind out of its heavy ruts in the mud,
and will make it admit that there is a glamour and a mystery to life.
Like many adherents of clairvoyance etc., Conan Doyle
suggests that those with supernatural powers are able to see such apparitions
when those without such skills cannot [2]. A propensity to see things is thus a
prerequisite for witnessing them and this must apply to all apparitions,
whether they are ghosts, little people, or even the Virgin Mary. There are
still those who believe the Cottingley Fairies existed, and plenty more that
have sympathy with the views expressed in the last paragraph above. However,
the photographs were the result of a hoax, as revealed in an interview by Joe
Cooper with Elsie and Frances a few years ago [3].
It is interesting that Conan Doyle himself was close to
solving the mystery. In The Strand Magazine
article he writes this about the first photograph:
..the two upheld hands of the elves
[in the first photograph] seen under a high power do not appear to be human, nor
does the left foot of the figure capering on the right. The hands seem furred
at the edges and the fingers to be in a solid mass. This also may be due to
movement and position, but it is curious that both hands give the same
impression.
The figures were cut out from a book and it was not possible
to cut round each finger, so the whole hand appeared rather solid. Each figure
was then fastened to a hat pin and inserted
into the ground in front of Frances. Conan Doyle's deduction did not go this
far, as he wanted the fairies to be real and this overcame his doubt.
According to experts, fairies come in many forms [4,5], in
addition to those, like the Cottingley Fairies, that are the common type of
benevolent creatures made popular in countless illustrations and films. As Katharine
Briggs remarks in a section of her book dealing with whimsy [4]:
When they were given butterfly and
dragonfly wings they were reduced to almost the status of insects, and in the
sheltered days of the early twentieth century every care was taken to render
them unalarming.
Briggs remarks that this tradition of fairies being winged
had been in existence for over 200 years and probably originated when insects
were being observed and human imaginations then left to run riot. An example
can be given in a quote from a correspondent in Seeing Fairies by Marjorie T. Johnson [5]:
My sister was standing near the
snapdragon plant in our garden when she saw a movement on it, and a tiny fairy
flew out and settled on her arm for an instant, perhaps trying to show her
gratitude to my sister for putting the stake [that supported the plant] there
in the first place. When I asked for a description, my sister said she didn't
look more than one and a half inches high and was "silvery, with small
silver wings"..
So, in the view of those that believe in fairies, where do
they fit into evolution? Conan Doyle
gives us the opinion of Edward Gardner, the Theosophist:
Fairies are not born and do not
die as we do, though they have their periods of outer activity and retirement.
Allied to the lepidoptera, or
butterfly genus, of our familiar acquaintance rather than to the mammalian
line, they partake of certain characteristics that are obvious. There is little
or no mentality awake—simply a gladsome, irresponsible joyousness of life that
is abundantly in evidence in their enchanting abandon. The diminutive human
form, so widely assumed, is doubtless due, at least in a great measure, to the
powerful influence of human thought, the strongest creative power in our
cycle.. ..The wings are a feature that one would hardly expect to find in
conjunction with arms. In this respect the insect type, with its several limbs
and two or more wings, is a nearer model. But there is no articulation and no
venation, and moreover the wings are not used for flying.
In contrast, one of Marjorie Johnson's correspondents
reports that "wingless fairies can soar through the air quite
effortlessly" but:
..it is possible that they
[fairies] have evolved from butterflies, since they attach so much importance
to the use of their wings.. .. fairies, which are fully materialized, fly like
butterflies by the power of their densified wings.
Conan Doyle [1] wrote that "A.. ..general observation
is that the elves are a compound of the human and the butterfly, while the
gnome has more of the moth." Confusing isn't it? There seems to be
agreement that fairies evolved from butterflies, but what about the fairies
with dragonfly wings? What were the steps in evolution that led to these
insects/creatures having the appearance of a human body? We know that it is impossible
for human-like figures to fly with insect wings, just as it is for angels to
fly with bird wings [6], so do those that believe in wood and water spirits, of
which fairies are a part, view them as part of evolution on Earth, or as something
completely supernatural, like angels? For those that do not believe in a
supernatural, there is no problem, except puzzlement at the level of
imagination shown by all humans in what we believe.
[1] A. Conan Doyle (1920) Faries Photographed: an epoch-making
event. The Strand Magazine 60: 462-468
[2] A. Conan Doyle
(1922) The Coming Of The Fairies.
London, Hodder & Stoughton.
[4] Katharine Briggs (1967) The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. London, Routledge &
Kegan Paul.
[5] Marjorie T. Johnson (2014) Seeing Fairies. San Antonio, Anomalist Books.
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