The photograph above is a real, really real, true photograph. There is no fakery or Photoshop trickery with this image. It’s a straight photograph, taken in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, by Professor John Hyatt of Manchester Metropolitan University. Take a look at it again. Actually look at it before you carry on reading.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the world’s favourite ultra-rational detective, Sherlock Holmes, believed that there was no scientific reason why fairies could not exist. In his 1922 book, The Coming of the Fairies, he said:
We see objects within the limits which make up our colour spectrum, with infinite vibrations, unused by us, on either side of them. If we could conceive a race of beings which were constructed in material which threw out shorter or longer vibrations, they would be invisible unless we could tune ourselves up or tone them down… there is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing that which is invisible to others.
Doyle was writing about the famous photographs of fairies made by two Cottingley cousins, – schoolgirls Elsie and Frances, in 1917, and like many others at the time, he hoped they were true photographs. Sadly, they weren’t.
The girls finally admitted later in life that they had indeed faked the photographs using painted cardboard cut-outs. However, even though the photographs weren’t real, the girls (at this point, women) still insisted on the reality of fairies.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle then went on the speculate,
‘If the objects are indeed there, and if the inventive power of the human brain is turned upon the problem, it is likely that some sort of psychic spectacles, inconceivable to us at the moment, will be invented, and that we shall all be able to adapt ourselves to the new conditions. ‘.
featuring Frances Griffiths (died 1986)
Now, almost a hundred years later, Professor John Hyatt of Manchester Metropolitan University has taken a series of true photographs of fairies.
When asked now about the existence of fairies, Professor Hyatt said:
“People can decide for themselves what they are but the message is to approach them with an open mind.
“Let the world decide for itself. It is my job, as an artist, to open people’s eyes to the wonders through which they walk every day.”
So the question now is, after everything you’ve just read and seen . . .
Do YOU believe in the existence of Fairies?
Have a fabulous rest of your day, all. May your day be filled with magical things.
The Art of Cobwebs 