Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [14]
In The Coming of the Fairies, Doyle, in discussing another correspondent's report of a fairy encounter, has a moment of doubt. The writer has described a sighting in New Zealand, where she was "surrounded by eight or ten tiny figures on tiny ponies like dwarf Shetlands... At the sound of my voice they all rode through the rose trellis across the drive." Doyle, referring to the horses, admits that they are mentioned by several writers and decides, "I have convinced myself that there is overwhelming evidence for the fairies, but I have by no means been able to assure myself of these adjuncts [the horses]."
Sir Arthur concludes his lengthy book on fairies with the comment that "while more evidence will be welcome, there is enough already available to convince any reasonable man that the matter is not one which an readily be dismissed, but that a case actually exists which up to now has not been shaken in the least degree by any of the criticism directed against it. Far from being resented, such criticism, so long as it is earnest and honest, must be welcome to those whose only aim is the fearless search for truth."
To sum up the case for the defense: Two unsophisticated girls, unfamiliar with photographic trickery, with no motive at all, have photographed fairies and a gnome in the glen. The photographs have been examined by experts and declared unquestionably genuine and beyond any possibility of fakery. Whatever flaws the photos have are explainable; indeed, these apparent errors are further corroboration of the authenticity of the pictures. Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, cannot be fooled by any fake; the man who thought like Holmes is a master detective, and exceedingly logical. Frances and Elsie, still alive and well in England (aged 73 and 79 in 1980), have never admitted to any fakery, despite having no good reason, at this late date, to maintain their innocence if they played tricks on people long deceased. Finally, the girls lacked a reason to be dishonest. They made no money from the episode and to this day are anxious to play down the whole matter. They may even have suffered because of the controversy. (In some accounts, Elsie and Frances are referred to as Iris and Alice. This was an agreement entered into at first, to protect the identities of the girls and of the Wright family, called the Carpenters.)
Does it all sound convincing? Yes, quite, if you choose to believe that the facts are as presented: that the experts were really competent, that Doyle was a logical thinker, that the photographs could not have been fabricated by the girls, and that there was no motive to do so. But let us present some of that "earnest and honest criticism" so admired by Sir Arthur. In my opinion the facts as learned by the experts reveal that Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths were clever little girls who lied rather convincingly and were believed by some naïve and not-too-bright persons who were in a position to transform a simple hoax into a major deception that is recounted to this day.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the outstanding personality in this comedy, is a good place to start our analysis of the Cottingly Fairies. He was a physician of Irish-Scotch parentage—"well born" was the expression of the day. Lack of patients inspired him, in 1887, to put pen to paper, and devotees of mystery fiction have been ecstatic about this decision ever since. Medicine was abandoned in favor of his great detective character, Sherlock Holmes, who, with the bumbling Dr. Watson, was to give Doyle a reputation as one of the great thinkers of post-Victorian England.
To understand Sir Arthur's impact in the matter under discussion, it must be recognized that he was considered an absolutely unassailable authority on any subject he chose to expound upon. Eric J. Dingwall, the tireless