The Cottingley Fairy Photographs

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The Innocent Fairy Photo Hoax That Made Two Young Girls Famous

The story of two young girls and the photographs that created controversy, hope and curiosity for over 63 years.

Elsie Wright was 16 and her cousin, Frances Griffiths, was 10 in 1917 when the first two photographs of the famous Cottingley Fairies were taken with a borrowed camera in Yorkshire. The girls truly believed in the existence of fairies and decided to show their skeptics photographic evidence as proof that they indeed spent time in the company of their tiny winged friends.

There were a total of five photographs in the series. When the first two photographs were developed by Elsie's father he assumed the photos were fake. Elsie's mother believed the photos were genuine.

#1 Frances and the Cottingley Fairies 

The photograph was taken in 1917.

Cottingley Fairies
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#2 Elsie Wright and the Gnome 

The photograph was taken in 1917.

Elsie Wright and the Gnome
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How the Fairy Photographs Gained Public Interest

The photos did not become of interest until 1919 when Elsie's mother, Polly Wright, went to a Theosophical Society meeting in Bradford. During the lecture, which happened to be titled, "fairy life", Polly shared the details of the photographs that her daughter and niece had taken with the fairies.

In 1920 the photos then became of interest to Theosophist, Edward Gardner who believed the fairy pictures were authentic.

In 1922 a letter that Frances wrote to her friend Johanna Parvin, dated November 9, 1918, was discovered and published in an article called "Cape Town Link In World Controversy".

"Dear Joe [Johanna], I hope you are quite well. I wrote a letter before, only I lost it or it got mislaid. Do you play with Elsie and Nora Biddles? I am learning French, Geometry, Cookery and Algebra at school now. Dad came home from France the other week after being there ten months, and we all think the war will be over in a few days. We are going to get our flags to hang upstairs in our bedroom. I am sending two photos, both of me, one of me in a bathing costume in our back yard, Uncle Arthur took that, while the other is me with some fairies up the beck, Elsie took that one. Rosebud is as fat as ever and I have made her some new clothes. How are Teddy and dolly? Elsie and I are very friendly with the beck Fairies." On the back of the photograph Frances wrote "It is funny I never used to see them in Africa. It must be too hot for them there."

The letter was considered evidence because Frances wrote about the fairies in her letter as if they were real and just a part of her everyday life.


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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Believed the Photographs to Be Genuine

While working on an article about fairies for the Strand Magazine in 1920, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle heard about the photographs taken by the young girls. He borrowed copies of the photos from Gardner. He investigated the Wright family with the help of Gardner and decided that if they could produce more photographs it would prove their authenticity. They provided Elsie and Frances with cameras and photographic plates in hopes that they summon the fairies out for another portrait sitting.

The first two photographs were printed in the Strand magazine and Conan Doyle scheduled a tour about Spiritualism in Australia.

The photographs were causing a lot of controversy and the girls had their critics, but there were also those who wanted to believe the photos were real. Conan Doyle was among those who believed the photographs were genuine. He published a second article when the girls took 3 new photographs of the fairies and made the girls famous. He published The Coming of the Fairies in 1922 which told the story of the Cottingley Fairy photographs and the existence of the spirit world.


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On the last expedition to Cottingley in 1921 a clairvoyant named Geoffrey Hodson was asked to verify the genuineness of the girls' story.

featured lens Geoffrey Hodson books on clairvoyance

Geoffrey Hodson (12 March 1886 in Lincolnshire, England - 23 January 1983 in Auckland, New Zealand) was a occultist, Theosophist, mystic, philosopher and esotericist, and a leading light for over 70 years in the Theosophical Society. He was educated...

 

In his book 'Fairies at Work and Play' Hodson stated that he was convinced that Elsie and Frances were bona fide and that he had seen the fairies with his own eyes.

Fairies at Work and Play (Quest Books)

Fairies at Work and Play (Quest Books)

by: Geoffrey Hodson

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#3 Frances Griffiths and the Leaping Fairy 

The photograph was taken by Elsie Wright in 1920.

Frances Griffiths and the Leaping Fairy Taken by Elsie Wright
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#4 Fairy Offers Tiny Harebells to Elsie  

The photograph was taken by Frances Griffiths in 1920.

Fairy Offers Tiny Harebells to Elsie Wright
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#5 The Fairies Enjoying Their Sun-Bath 

The photograph was taken in 1920 and is the fifth photograph, of the fairies alone in the sunbath. Until her death, Frances Griffith swore that this photograph was the only genuine photograph of the Cottingly Fairies.

The Fairies Enjoying Their Sun-Bath
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The Confession 

In 1981, Elsie and Frances admitted in an interview that the photographs were taken with cut-out pictures of fairies that were held in place with hatpins.

In a 1982 TV interview on Arthur C. Clarke's "World of Strange Powers", Elsie Wright stated that they were too embarrassed to admit the truth after fooling the author of Sherlock Holmes.

"Two village kids and a brilliant man like Conan Doyle, well, we could only keep quiet".

In the same interview they also stated:

"I never even thought of it as being a fraud - it was just Elsie and I having a bit of fun and I can't understand to this day why they were taken in - they wanted to be taken in."

The cousins stated that the last, fifth photograph, of the fairies alone in the sunbath, was genuine and there really were fairies at Cottingley.


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Interview With Elsie And Frances 

Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths talk about taking the Cottingley Fairy Photographs.

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Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths 

Photograph taken at the Beck Cottingley.

Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths Photographed at the Beck Cottingley
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Elsie Wright 

  • Born in 1901 to Arthur Wright and Polly Wright
  • She was a very talented artist who used watercolors to paint landscapes and portraits.
  • She had attended Bradford Art College at the age of 13.
  • She worked in a photographic lab during WW1 where she worked in a darkroom with plate cameras.
  • She later married Frank Hill who she met in the US.
  • She was a captain in the WRVS working in military hospitals in Calcutta during World War 2.
  • She lived in India with her husband until 1949 and later moved back to England after the declaration of independence.
  • She had a son and daughter.
  • Elsie died in 1988 at the age of 87.

Frances Griffith 

  • Born in 1907 to Sergeant Major Arthur Griffith and Annie Griffith.
  • She moved from South Africa to live with her cousin in Cottingley.
  • Frances married a soldier, Sydney Way in 1928.
  • She settled in Ramsgate.
  • She had at least two children, a son and a daughter.
  • Frances died in 1986 at the age of 78.

Fairies Photographed in a London Garden 

The photograph was taken in 1917.

Fairies Photographed in a London Garden during the Summer of 1917
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An Interview With Frances Griffith's Daughter 

The interview came about on the BBC Antiques Road show in the UK where Frances Griffith's daughter brought her mother's camera.

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The Cottingley Fairy Photographs Hoax 

Explained by James Randi

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Book by Arthur Conan Doyle Sir 

The Coming of the Fairies (Extraordinary World)

The Coming of the Fairies (Extraordinary World)

by: Arthur Conan Doyle Sir

Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 11/29/2009)Buy Now

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), best known as the author of Sherlock Holmes stories but also a devout spiritualist, was entirely convinced by a set of photographs apparently showing two young girls from Cottingley in Yorkshire playing with a group of tiny, translucent fairies. To demonstrate his unshakeable belief in the spirit world, he published The Coming of the Fairies in 1922. Doyle's book lays out the story of the photographs, their supposed provenance, and the implications of their existence. This quirky and fascinating book allows us to get inside the mind of an intelligent, highly respected man who happened to believe in fairies.

John M. Lynch's introduction to this Bison Books edition provides the background to appreciate Doyle's claims and, without supporting the existence of fairies, to understand why Doyle wanted them to exist. The photographs of the fairies are reproduced in their entirety, with the original captions, offering readers an opportunity to examine Doyle's and his supporters' claims to their authenticity.

The Movie Inspired by Elsie & Frances' Story 

Fairy Tale - A True Story

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Fairy Tale - A True Story

Fairy Tale - A True Story

Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/29/2009)Buy Now

This movie is beautifully made and absolutely charming! The young girls who portray Elsie and Frances are so charming and innocent as they play in Cottingley Glen with the fairies.

Click Here to Watch a Video of Fairy Tale - A True Story.

 

Fairy Tale: A True Story Movie Storybook (Cottingley Glen)

Fairy Tale: A True Story Movie Storybook (Cottingley Glen)

by: Monica Kulling

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Photographing Fairies 

Photographing Fairies is an adult movie and a much darker version of the Cottingley Fairy Photographs.

Click Here to Watch a Video of Photographing Fairies.
Photographing Fairies [VHS]

Photographing Fairies [VHS]

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