You are watching the picture that has deceived the whole world for nearly a century

Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - the author of the famous detective drama Sherlock Holmes has to go. However, the boundary between real and virtual is too fragile.

When we were young, the memories of most of us were associated with mythical characters. It is the Buddha, the fairy, the tiny winged fairies in fairy tales. Then when we grow up, we suddenly realize that all is just a product from human imagination.

But is that really true? 100 years ago, in 1917, the whole world was taken aback because a picture proving that a fairy was real. They are called " pictures of Cottingley".

Pictures of fever in 1917

In mid-1917, 9-year-old Frances Griffiths and her mother moved to Cottingley (Africa) from Africa. They were in the same house as the Elsie Wright family - Frances's cousin, then 16 years old.

2 girls often play together. Then one day, the two claimed to have seen the fairies hovering in the back garden. Elsie then borrowed her father's camera, which was an amateur photographer, and then returned to the same "shocking" photo .

The picture shows Frances hiding behind the dust, with three female fairies hovering.

At first, Arthur (Elsie's father) did not believe in this picture. He understood his daughter's artistic and artistic abilities too well, so it was assumed that they were paper covers. Two months later, the two girls borrowed the camera once more, and left a picture of Elsie sitting next to a 30cm tall gnome .

Mr. Arthur still did not believe, even decided not to let the two girls borrow the camera anymore. But Mrs. Polly - Elsie's mother is different. She believes these photos are real.

Elsie sat next to a 30cm tall gnome .

By mid-1919, Elsie's mother decided to publish two pictures at a Theological Society lecture in Bradford. After that, they were popularized to all members of the guild, even getting the president's attention, Edward Gardner.

Gardner quickly realized the potential of the picture. Elsie and Frances, the two girls not only saw the fairies, but also "realized" them through pictures. As a person who believed in human doctrine that continued to evolve to be more perfect, he argued that the next cycle of human evolution had arrived.

The verification process - involving Arthur Conan Doyle

Gardner then sent the film and photos to Harold Snelling - a photography expert. Snelling returned with the result: both pictures were genuine, no signs of cutting . However, he avoided giving opinions on the image of the nymph, merely replied, "This is a The real picture, no matter what it is in front of the camera ".

This information attracted both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - the father of detective Sherlock Holmes. Gardner and Doyle conducted a second survey, this time with 3 other photography companies. Like Snelling, the two companies share the same opinion: "there is no sign of counterfeiting" , while the other company does not believe it.

However, all thought that "these pictures cannot be used to conclude whether there are fairies or not" . Kodak also does not agree to issue certificates for these pictures.

For one thing, Gardner and Doyle were too emotional and opted to trust the results of the assessment that the image was not fake.

Pictures of 1920 and "seismic" with the public

In 1920, Elsie's father once again made sure that their photos were fake, though he had tried to rummage through their rooms but found no evidence.

Gardner, on the other hand, still fully trusted the honesty of the Wright family. In order to clear all doubts, he decided to return to Cottingley with two Kodak Cameo cameras, along with 24 secretly marked films. He also invited Frances to stay with the Wright family, so that the two girls could take more pictures of the fairies.

Frances and Elsie revealed that fairies will not appear if others observe, people are forced to leave the two girls alone. And then, the next fairy photos came out.

Frances and a fairy are dancing.

Elsie and another fairy.

The pictures were later sent back to Conan Doyle by Gardner. He was happy to be indescribable, using them as materials for later published articles, hoping they were enough to convince the public to believe in the existence of fairy.

As expected, it was a shocking news. The public continues to pay attention to the existence of fairies, though there are still doubts, like the first looks exactly like fairy tales, and they have hair that is too . fashionable.

Re-investigation: surprised confession and mystery have not been clarified

The story of fairies in Cottingley gradually faded after 1921. Elsie and Frances also married and left the country.

In 1966, a reporter found Elsie when she returned to England. At this time, she was hesitant to admit that the fairies could be "imaginary products" , but did not reveal more about the process of taking pictures. And so the pictures were once again feverish, as many media agencies came to investigate.

In 1976, Elsie and Frances interviewed with Yorkshire Television. Both agreed that "The rational people will not be able to see the fairy" , but still do not answer anything about the pictures.

However, two years later, when technology began to grow, James Randi and his colleagues at the Science Society investigated the mysterious phenomena once again examining the pictures. This time, they confirmed a few photos of "fake goods" , because "can see strings hanging on their heads". But Elsie and Frances kept their views.

Then in 1983, the duo decided to confess the truth: The photos were all staged . Elsie had regained the figure of the dancer in children's books at the time, drew more wings and created a model with cardboard.

The reason they confessed was probably because he was tired of the story of autobiography, and the technology pointed out quite clear evidence. Moreover, according to Elsie, the two were too embarrassed to confess after deceiving Conan Doyle, so the story lasted so long.

However, at this time, there is an interesting story happening regarding the final picture - "sunbathing". While Elsie admitted it was "fake goods" , Francis insisted that the picture itself was real.

Sunbath - the last picture in the Wright family series.

"It was a rather humid Saturday afternoon, we took the camera for a walk while Elsie had not prepared anything yet. I saw the fairy parked on the grass leaves, then turned it on and took it" - quote Frances.

The affirmation was still upheld by Frances until her death in 1986. However, at that time, the trust was lost, and the researchers said that it was only due to double exposure in photography. .

The fairies are staged, not real.