The girls, who insisted on being alone with the fairies, then
apparently came back with several photographs, two of which
appeared to show fairies. These two photographs (shown on the
previous page), show Frances in profile with a winged fairy close
by her nose and Elsie with a fairy either hovering or tiptoeing on
a branch, and offering her a flower. Two days later the girls took
the last picture, Fairies and Their Sun-Bath (shown on the next
page).
When an excited Gardner sent an "ecstatic" telegram to Doyle
(then in Melbourne), Doyle wrote back: “My heart was gladdened
when out here in far Australia I had your note and the three
wonderful pictures which are confirmatory of our published
results. When our fairies are admitted other psychic phenomena
will find a more ready acceptance ... We have had continued
messages at séances for some time that a visible sign was
coming through.”
Publication and reaction
In December 1920, Doyle's article in The Strand contained two
high resolution prints of the 1917 photographs. The magazine
sold out within days of its publication. Doyle who was a staunch
spiritualist, hoped that if the photographs convinced the public
of the existence of fairies, then they might more readily accept
other psychic phenomena.
The ensuing press coverages were not very encouraging and
sometimes even made a mockery of the photographs. The
Sydney newspaper Truth on 5 January 1921 expressed the view:
"For the true explanation of these fairy photographs what is
wanted is not the knowledge of occult phenomena but
knowledge of children." and Major John Hall-Edwards, the
pioneer of medical X-ray treatments in Britain noted “On the
evidence I have no hesitation in saying that these photographs
could have been "faked"….” In 1921, Doyle used the
photographs in a second article and also in his 1922 book “The
Coming of the Fairies”. Once again, the photographs were
received with mixed credulity and some sceptics noted that the
fairies "looked suspiciously like the traditional fairies of nursery
tales" and that they had "very fashionable hairstyles".
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