COLD OPEN+ · HISTORY
COLD OPEN+ · Nº 09 of 40
The Two Girls Who Fooled Sherlock Holmes's Creator
In 1917, two cousins faked photos of fairies with paper cutouts. Arthur Conan Doyle believed them — and defended the pictures for years.
Wikimedia Commons · Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright · Public domain
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COTTINGLEY, ENGLAND, 1917
Two cousins, one borrowed camera
Elsie Wright, 16, and her cousin Frances Griffiths, 9, borrowed a camera from Elsie's father and came back with photographs of themselves posing with tiny winged fairies. To many who saw them, the images looked astonishing.
Wikimedia Commons · The Library of Congress · Public domain
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THE TRICK
The fairies were paper cutouts
The girls had drawn and cut out fairy figures — partly copied from a popular children's book of the era — and propped them up with hatpins. Simple, cheap, and effective. And, for decades, never admitted.
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THE BELIEVER
Arthur Conan Doyle bought it completely
The creator of the hyper-rational detective Sherlock Holmes publicly championed the photos as real. In 1920 he wrote them up for The Strand Magazine, and in 1922 published a whole book, 'The Coming of the Fairies,' defending them.
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WHY HE FELL FOR IT
Even brilliant people have blind spots
Doyle wanted this to be true.
THE WISH
He was a devoted believer in the supernatural
THE AUTHORITY
Photo 'experts' vouched for the images
THE INNOCENCE
Who suspects two young girls?
THE GAP
Logic in fiction isn't the same as logic in life
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THE CONFESSION
They admitted it — in 1983
As elderly women, the cousins finally confessed in the early 1980s that the fairies were cut-out fakes. They'd fooled the public, the press, and a literary genius for over sixty years. (Frances insisted to the end that the fifth and final photo was genuine.)
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THE POINT
Being smart doesn't make you immune to believing what you want to believe.
The sharpest minds can be the easiest to fool — because they trust their own judgment most. Wanting something to be true is the real trap.
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THE RECEIPTS · THIS REALLY HAPPENED
Look it up yourself
The original photos survive in museum collections.
EVENT
The Cottingley Fairies
TAKEN
1917 (and 1920), Cottingley, England
THE GIRLS
Elsie Wright (16) & Frances Griffiths (9)
THE BELIEVER
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
HIS BOOK
'The Coming of the Fairies' (1922)
CONFESSED
Early 1980s — cut-out paper fairies
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DISCUSS
What do you think?
Why are experts sometimes easier to fool than ordinary people?
What makes us believe a photo — and should it, today?
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