Here's a small sample collection of the sort of emails that I've received over the last three years, since I put the five fairy photos on my web site as part of an article about Arthur Conan Doyle and spiritualism. Some are from children (not surprising) but some are from adults. There's a theme here, of a yearning, hope and even faith in something emotionally appealing for which there is no credible evidence. This has much in common with letters I get from folks who are certain that perpetual motion machines are possible, or that ufo's are spacecraft of intelligent aliens from elsewhere. Note that even when evidence is found to be fraudulent, or faked, this does not destroy the conviction that the object of belief is real just the same. Spiritualists admitted that some mediums were fakes, but still believed that some were genuine. Perpetual motion believers admit that no such machine has ever worked, but are convinced that with a little more tinkering, someone will be successful.
I have suppressed names and locations. Further comment on the content of these emails seems unecessary, for they speak for themselvers. I have not corrected typing and grammatical errors.
Dear carriers of the so called "fake photos of the girls and the fairies",
Hello, my name is ... ... and i am 12 years old. While staying
home sick and looking for pictures to draw for my friend for her birthday, I
came across these photos. Considering Im Irish and all of the tales of
fairies,leprechauns, demons, etc.... all of it seems real to me. I am
familiar with the show on Fox Family. Why 3 girls would lie about hearing the
ghost world, I have no idea. I take this very seriously considering I am
familiar with the ghost world because I can see the ghost world and hear it.
You are probably thinking that I am lying, but I am not. It is probably weird
for you to have a 12 year girl email you on this subject. But I am only
trying to get a point across to you, why would a couple of girls take fake
potos of fairies? Maybe for the fame, but if they had no experience in
photographic trickery, how could they make fake photos? This question has
probably been asked allready, but if they were lying, how could they get the
fairies into the pictures? I am sure back then they did not have the tools to
put the faireies in the photos such as computers. Another passage that
disturbed me is the one about Arthur Conan Doyle and how he belived the
girls. How people called him crazy? Now why would someone do that, when it is
only his beliefs? We might as well call other people crazy for their beliefs.
To call a man crazy for what he believes in is selfish and rude. Well that is
all I wanted to share with you. Allthough I think I have shared to much, but
it was the only way to get a point across to you. Thank for your time an
effort. And not to be rude, but if it is not to much I would like a reponse
if you don't mind. Thank you again.Sincerely,
... ...
I think that the fairies are real personally... cause well i like to believe in those sorts of things.. i love your page and i just wanted to congradulate you on your page cause i like it a lot and many people have seen that movie "a fairie tale" and it was great!!
write back
...
Hi
I just stumbled on this and took a look at the photos. How could anyone believe that those were "real" fairies. It is obvious that the "fairies are 2 dimentional figures. You can simply because of the lack of shadow in key places. I do believe in fairies but they are nothing like this.
My name is ... and i am 12 years old. I really do believe in fairies! But i haven't seen any... And i just wanted to ask you how to see a fairy. If you know how to see one, PLEASE e-mail to me. This is really important for me!
...
I am stating an opinion, over the pictures, taken of the fairies with the girls,I think that there is a chance that they are real, but then again they couldn't be, I saw a fairie once in Mexico Durango, in my grandmas house,when I was only 6yrs old, but the reason I have doubts, over the fairie pictures,is because the one I saw was naked and did not have any clothes on,the fairie was purple her whole body was purple not a human color she had wings her size was about an inch and a half, and I only saw her for about 7-8 seconds. than as I called my friend Sandra to come see the fairie, she disappeared into a flower, this took place in my grandmas garden. and I think that what I saw was real although people might not believe me, also I believe that the fairies body was made, or it looked like it was made out of a plant because it looked so fragile. anyways whatever it was made out of, I saw it and I believe in what i saw, and i know that there has to be more of those type of fairies that i saw out there. whether or not they exist, I know that what I saw looked pretty real.
Dear Mr Simanek,
I first saw the movie Fairytale when it was published in the theater several years ago. Although I choose to say that I have an open mind for the most part, I am a sceptic in many ways, just because I have been stumped by people all my life. That movie changed my life forever. I do not know your feelings on the matter, but mine are this. I have raised my children who are now 16, son and 11 yr old daughter to believe in them. Not sure my son does anymore, but my daughter does.
I started a garden last year and added onto it this year all designated for fairies. Each year here after, I hope to make it more and more believable. Although I have never seen one, dosn't mean that I will give up hope of it. I am a very stable and credible woman for the most part. But it is nice to have something to believe in. I sometimes think they really could be there. I suppose you think I am crazy, but, no matter what, our fairytale has been a fun one. With winter setting in and the garden now dying, I will spend my winter spare time figuring out how to make fairy houses out of the huge tree roots that I salvaged over the summer. Your article is interesting, I do wonder if the pictures are real, up close they sure don't look like it. But, maybe in the retouches that were done after the originals, someone fixed them to suit the press. There is always hope.
Sincerely,
...
The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose. — Hadia Bejar
have you seen 4 more fairies in this picture [picture no. 5]?
Mr. Simanek,
I was reading your web site http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/doyle.htm Arthur Conan Doyle, Spiritualism, and Fairies. Looking at the photos from the Cottingley Fairies I notice something interesting on Photo No. 5 "Fairies and their Sunbath". There appears to be an additional face in the grass on the right side of the photo (see the picture attached). Has there ever been any comments or questions about this. All the other photos do look fake but photo 5 was interesting. Especially the additional face. This actually looks real. Has this photo been altered?
Just interested
...
George: In the attached photo I've outlined three faces. The gold outline is the "mask". The red and green ones are faces. The red one may be just a trick of shadow. The green one is probably another paper cut-out.
The face and head you notice has been remarked on before. It has the same hair style as the dark haired figure just to the left of it. And at the feet of that dark haired figure, lying on its side, is what looks like a face mask. It looks rather like the face on Mars, don't you think?
Others have seen other faint, indistinct and ambiguous images by looking at the photos upside down. It's the ink blot psychology at work.
I stumbled upon your website when I was looking for fairy pictures to copy for a fairy trail quiz for children. I was reading about the Cottingley fairies and the girls Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. I know they confessed in 1983 during an interview that the photo's were fakes although not both maintain the fifth one is. I personally do not really believe in fairies and have always thought of them as mythical.
However I do keep an open mind on most things as it has sometimes with the passage of time what we once believed is then proven to be incorrect. I therefore wonder if these girls in adulthood felt that they needed to set the record straight about the photographs! but not actually about whether on not they did see fairies. It could be argued that the hoax relates to the photographic proof they developed and not to the actual matter in hand. Did these two girls see a fairy or fairies? Most interviews focus on the photographs, were the girls ever asked if they actually saw fairies but could not prove it? I think as they have passed away we will never know unless they had told living family relatives the whole truth. Then again would anyone believe them if there is no proof apart from the original photo's.
Interesting thought
...
I watched the film Fairy Tale: A True Story and then went Internet browsing – and found your site.
I believe. It’s strange how you keep mentioning that the fairies are in focus and lit differently than the girls. Yet you admit that this was no double exposure. Fairies would be lit differently, as their vibration is higher than ours. The children are darker and are of a heavier vibration.
My younger sister and I used to spend time near a creek, where there was a low bridge crossing. It’s there that we met the fairies and became friends with them. Back then children functioned at a slightly higher vibration than adults – which explains why the grownups couldn’t see them.
Today humans are raising their own vibration and more and more of us adults can see these things, as well as many other things, that were hidden from us before. Children today are being born with a MUCH higher frequency and will be able to maintain that into their adulthood.
As more and more of these hidden things are revealed to the world in general you will find the subject of “Real or Not Real” to become of less and less importance. We actually feel sorry for your kind – for you are the blind ones.
Actually I didn't use the word "focus" anywhere in the document. Lighting was mentioned only in relation to the lack of modeling and shading on the "flat" fairy figures, while the images of the girls show the expected light modeling of three dimensional objects. I also pointed to the fact that the fairy wings show no motion blurring, even though they are supposedly in mid-air. Perhaps it's a fairy "hovercraft" principle that doesn't require motion. Perhaps fairies inhabit a two dimensional "flatland" world, which accounts for their flat appearance. This could allow them to appear and disappear at will by just turning sidewise.
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