On Sunday, August 4 and Monday August 5 we will be hosting or 60th Anniversary edition of our Fairies in The Forest Event from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We always have so much fun putting this event together and working with a crew of volunteers that we don’t often get to see!
Our fascination with Fairies can be seen throughout time including the story of the Cottingley Fairies that one of our volunteers will be highlighting during the event. Two young cousins, Elsie Wright (16) and Frances Griffiths (9), in Cottingley England were fascinated with art, fairies and cameras. Elsie’s farther Arthur, was a keen amateur photographer with a camera and his own dark room. With access to those resources the two resourceful young women set about creating images that reflected their playful interests. Little did they suspect at the time the scope of public reaction that would follow.
The “Cottingley Fairies” appear in a series of five photographs taken by the two young cousins. In these images one or another of the girls appeared to be encountering a fairy in the back garden of their home. For the time, the late 1910’s, the finished product was very convincing and even when examined by professionals, the method by which they were accomplished defied explanation. There were no telltale wires, no alteration of the negative after the fact that could easily be spotted. Was it a double exposure, taking two pictures on one piece of film? Was it a two-dimensional prop being held up in some invisible way? Or, were the images real?
The images went public and then went “viral” when they came to the attention of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used them to illustrate an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for the Christmas 1920 edition of The Strand Magazine. Doyle was enthusiastic about the photographs, and interpreted them as clear and visible evidence of psychic phenomena. Public reaction was mixed; some accepted the images as genuine, others believed that they had been faked. The controversy led to the photos being examined by experts in photography, who doubted the veracity of the photos but couldn’t explain how it was done. The issue was decried as a hoax but the girls refused to comment for many years. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that they admitted the images weren’t real.
Be sure to stop by the Gillen House to learn more about this story and check out one of our cameras that we will be bringing out from the Westfield collection. While it is not the same camera used in the Cottingley Fairy story it will give you a good idea of the type of technology that was used to create an image that kept people guessing long after the photo was snapped. Hmmm this is starting to sound familiar as we grapple with 2024 AI technology!
Make sure to buy your reservation before coming out to Westfield. https://hcareservations.ca/
