[nickcarraway]

The infamous Cottingley fairies, photographed in 1917, were the source of much discussion at the time

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini in 1922

The Man Who Believed in Fairies

For Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, the proof was in the pictures

Doyle's great sleuth, Holmes, was super-rational, but the famous author himself was the world's best-known advocate of Spiritualism, the belief that human personality survives death and that the living can communicate with the dead. Spiritualism was all the rage around the turn of the century. Séances, rapping, table turning, automatic writing and other occult methods of contacting the spirit world attracted thousands. Doyle was the antithesis of a man who would try communicating with the dead, but after converting to Spiritualism he set about trying to convert others.

Eventually Doyle's obsession seriously compromised his reputation and strained his friendships, most notably with the escape artist Harry Houdini, who had once been a fake medium and whose training in the "artifices of conjuring" led him to approach Spiritualism with great skepticism. Perhaps the most damaging blow to Doyle's good name resulted from his outspoken advocacy of the existence of fairies, a matter somewhat fancifully retold in the film Fairytale: A True Story, starring Peter O'Toole as Doyle, which is scheduled to be released by Paramount Pictures in October.

In 1917, two girls from the Yorkshire village of Cottingley made photographs of themselves cavorting with fairies. Few took the pictures seriously, but Doyle did. He wrote a book defending their authenticity. "And what a joy," he enthused, "is in the complete abandon of [the fairies'] little graceful figures as they let themselves go in the dance! They may have their shadows and trials [but] there is a great gladness manifest in this demonstration of their life."

The girls did not confess their hoax until 1983. Doyle died in 1930, still a believer.

[lady lawyer]

Believe in fairies? What choice do we have? They're always in your face, screaming about their rights. The love that once dared not speak its name is now the love that won't shut up.

[martin_fierro]

Faeries are real.

[day10]

Insert your favorite Ron Reagan, Jr. joke here.

[kingattax]

[Old Sarge]

Every time someone says they don't, somewhere a fairy falls down dead.

- J. M. Barrie, "Peter Pan"

What do you think I'd say?

[RichInOC]

I believe in Mark Morford. Is that close enough?

[Semper Paratus]

Not until I first moved into a large city.

[Enterprise]

[Jaysun]

Beware the banshee!

[Corin Stormhands]

Lembas ping.

[rockabyebaby]

Do You Believe in Fairies?

LMAO, I live in GAYsachusetts, they are EVERYWHERE, especially in Provincetown, LOL!!!!

[theFIRMbss]

>Do You Believe in Fairies?

Welsh Witches exist!
Maybe people mistake them
for fairies at night . . .

[cripplecreek]

I don't believe in fairies but I do believe in fruitloops.

[dighton]

.

“The Vikings could easily have started the stories about the fairies,” he continues. “After all they were tall, blond-haired, and would have been quite startled by these small, dark strangers emerging from grassy knolls.”

[itsamelman]

[massgopguy]

Well ya' know when you're up all night on a cocaine binge, the mind does wander.

[Constantine XIII]

bump

[laishly]

"Still, few people seriously believe in them any longer."

I understand that in Iceland the belief is so prevalent that the location of faery habitations and activities are taken into consideration when building roads, buildings and such. The public officials treat evidence of faeries in much the same way our authorities respond when Indian artifacts or slave burials are turned up at a construction site.

I would guess that the belief comes from the Norse culture, which still prevails in Iceland, the Outer Hebrides, and the Faeroes.

[Charlotte Corday]

You need to check out the fairy research of Angelica Cottington

[Junior]

The word is, technically, "faeries."