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

Cottingley Fairies: Gallery

Contemporary debunkers noticed such features as the oddness of the lighting on the fairies and the lack of evidence of motion even when the figures seemed to have been caught mid-movement. Defenders of the photos' authenticity claimed that the lighting was affected by ectoplasm, which spiritualists held would naturally occur with an any supernatural manifestation, and suggested that the fairies moved so slowly that the camera could capture them easily without any blurring. Arthur Conan Doyle argued that while an expert could have faked the photos, Elsie and Frances lacked the skill and sophistication to have done so.

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