Today we drove through Cottingley near Bradford. I instantly recognized the name from reading about it as a kid in my massive Readers Digest book of myths and legends of Britain, which I adored and still have. Do you, did you have it too?
Cottingley was famous for fairies. Photographs of them. Five.
They were taken over a hundred years ago by two youngsters and became world-wide sensations. You might say they went viral.
Only 70 years later did the youngsters admit they were fake. However, the fifth one, continued to be deemed genuine.
See what you think. Here's an original set that sold at Sotherby's. The fifth photo is the last [images: Sotherby's].
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I couldn't believe we were in Cottingley 50 years after I first read about it's fairies. Such a small world of time and place.
Very interesting! Early special effects artists…the fifth one is a masterpiece OR…who am I to say it isn’t real?
ReplyDeleteYep Charles, Photoshop at the turn of the last century!
DeleteBeing from Shipley, and as my cousins lived in Cottingley, I am very familiar with the Cottingley Fairies.
ReplyDeletePersonally, it was always obvious to me, even as a kid, that they were fakes, drawn on paper or card, and set up in the shots on sticks, to look 'real'.
Cleverly and artfully done, for their time, though.
A local legend that went global Mish. I imagine it put Cottingley on the map.
DeleteAs a devoted reader of Fortean Times, my wife was delighted when it recently did a feature on the Reader's Digest Folklore compendium. As a result, I skipped onto eBay and found a reasonably priced copy which I bought for her birthday. ....Before other FT readers got the same idea!
ReplyDeleteOh Wow! She'll love it Looey! A treasure trove of tales and spooks. I cannot tell you how much I adored it as a kid, and it's companion volume.
DeleteThe companion book is Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. Another 70's classic Looey!
DeleteI never had the Reader's Digest book, but I do recall reading about the Fairies. It might have been in World of Wonder magazine ? They never looked real to me either, too flat, and uniform in texture. I think they were cut-outs from a book ?
ReplyDeleteWow, even known I'm far off NZ! Yes, they were cut from a book Paul.
DeleteThey were relatives of Arthur Conan Doyle weren't they?
ReplyDeleteHe used the photos for his book on fairies. Don't think they were related.
DeleteThey were drawings pasted onto glass - if you look carefully at Alice and the Leaping Fairy, or Iris and the Gnome, you can see their line of sight is slightly behind the 'fairy'. It must have been difficult to do given the state of cameras at the time. Bill
ReplyDeleteFascinating stuff Bill.
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