Fairy Tale?
Rossevelli
I've seen the trailers, on E!, and my youngest cousin, whom I take
responsibility for in the movie-going category, just about died from sheer
delight. Her room is decorated with faries and other mythical creatures,
and this is a film she's excited about seeing (and this is saying alot.)
Now, I visited the IMBd and read that it's based on a true story (two kids
took a picture of what is believed to be evidence OF faries)... um. What's
the story behind this? Did this incident actually happen? I've never heard
of it before... Is it like along the lines of all those pics of Loch Ness
and Bigfoot?
Thanks...
Derek Janssen
The Cottingly Fairies incident is still used as an example of just how easy it
IS to create a hoax, no matter how unlikely:
Back in turn-of-the-century England, one of two little sisters were teased for
playing imaginary fairy games--So, as a practical joke, her older sister set up
a camera and took photos of them posing with cardboard cutouts of fairies cut
from the younger sisters's picture book.
Unfortunately, spiritualism was a hot topic back then, and the newly invented
camera "that never lies" was considered a god...So when a family friend saw the
photos, many in the scientific community, led by spiritualist nut Arthur Conan
Doyle, fell over themselves publishing actual London-journal essays praising the
"first real scientific evidence" of fairies--Scientists even worked to come up
with detailed theories about why the fairies looked so flat and cardboard while
the girls looked so three-dimensional: "Well, you see, the fairies come from a
different dimension, and this affects the camera lens's refraction..."
The two girls were too embarrassed by the fuss to expose it, but confessed years
later--And the incident's still used as a catalog of the basic hoax defenses:
"But why would they do it, if there's no money involved?", "They're just
children, they're too sweet and innocent and don't know how to work a camera",
"Science's mind is too closed to the unknown", etc.
(Sound familiar, those who believed the Alien Autopsy?...) ; )
Derek Janssen
dja...@ultranet.com
ELurio
>>Now, I visited the IMBd and read that it's based on a true story (two
kids
took a picture of what is believed to be evidence OF faries)... um. What's
the story behind this? Did this incident actually happen? <<
It's one of the great hoaxes of the century. Two little girls were late
for supper. When asked about it, they told their father they had been
playing with the fairies in the back yard garden. Daddy was a
photographer, and he challenged them to take a picture of these alleged
fairies.
One of the little girls was a talented artist and made some copies of
fairies from picture books. She took these cut outs to the garden and she
and her sister made some photos.
Daddy was amazed, and soon, the whole country (UK) was agog. Arthur conan
Doyle (he of Sherlock Holmes fame) vouched for the authenticity of the
photos. The little girls were stuck: if they admitted it was a hoax, it
would hurt too many of their friends and relations....so they lived with
it for over fifty years, until 1970, when one of the sisters gave an
interview on the BBC fessing up.
My family and I were in England when the admission aired, and I remember
it quite vividly.
eric l.