The Cottingley Faerie Incedent



In July 1918, two young girls from Cottingley, England, produced what appeared to be the world's first photograph of faeries. The picture in question, taken by sixteen-year-old Elsie Wright, showed her cousin, Frances Griffiths sitting in the forest with several tiny winged people flitting around her. Her father, a sceptic, told them that they should not be faking photographs. But the girls persisted, and a few months later, they produced a second photo of Elsie posing with a Gnome. Elsie's father remained sceptical, but her mother mentioned it to some friends who were intrested in the supernatural. From there the story spread quickly, ultimately coming to the attention of one of the most famous wrters of the era- Sir Arthur Conan Doyal, the inventor of Sherlock Holmes. He was intrigued by this possibilty, and he consulted a variety of experts to find out whether or not the photos had been faked or not. Although some said the haircuts on the Faeries looked too 'modern', they could not find any plausible evidence that the photographs had been faked. And so the argument raged on, about the authenticity of the photographs for several decades.
At last, in the early 1980's, both Elsie and Frances addmitted faking the pictures. They demonstrated how they had cut them out of paper, and hung them on wire from the trees. At one time Frances exclaimed, "It was the strangest thing. In some of the pictures, the wire was perfectly visible, and yet, nobody took notice!"


Here is a linkn to one of Elsie's pictures of the so called 'Cottingley fairies': http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/ghost08h.jpg


This case is one of the strongest examples of the power of wanting to believe in somthing over common sense. Feel free to post other fraudulent incedents that you know of, personal or otherwise. Thank you.

-Shadowling