Fake News: Disinformation, Deception, and Magical Thinking Over Time

Debunk-Resistant

The publication of the photos drew a largely incredulous response from the press, though a few papers and public figures expressed belief. The Strand was considered a respectable magazine, which may have lent Conan Doyle's arguments more plausibility with the public. As absurd as the existence of fairies seemed to many, the idea that children possessed the technical prowess to fake the photos and the cleverness to maintain their lie presented its own challenges, which defenders of the photos' authenticity leaned heavily upon. Staking out a centrist position, the Manchester City News wrote, "It seems at this point that we must either believe in the almost incredible mystery of the fairy or in the almost incredible wonders of faked photographs" (29 January 1921).

Even before the publication of the December Strand issue, expert examiners had cast doubt on the photos. Photography expert Harold Snelling had examined them at Gardner's request and determined them to be "straight forward photographs of whatever was in front of the camera at the time," though he did not take this to mean to that the photographs therefore showed genuine fairies. Technicians at the photographic company Kodak agreed with the assessment that the photograph prints showed no signs of tampering but refused to issue a certificate of authenticity, on the grounds that they could not be authentic photos of fairies. Ilford, another photographic company, determined the prints to have "some evidence of faking."

Conan Doyle and Gardner had interpreted these results as two expert opinions in favor of the photos' authenticity and one against. The photos were also shown before their publication to physicist and Spiritualist Oliver Lodge, who dismissed them as fake in part because of the fashionable hairstyles of the fairies. Skeptics after publication echoed similar observations about the fairies' modern style and resemblance to traditional storybook illustrations. 

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