DAY 68

PHOTOGRAPHIC CURIOSITIES

Famous Fakes

NESSIE AND FAIRIES APPEAR ON FILM

In 1934, a photograph surfaced that was reported to be an authentic image of the famed Loch Ness Monster.

Twelve years earlier, a photograph had been published that appeared to show a young girl with several real, live fairies dancing in front of her. Known as the “Cottingley Fairies,” the image was widely distributed, thanks to support from renowned author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.¹

Years later, individuals who had helped to falsify these images came forward with their confessions. The silhouette of “Nessie” turned out to be nothing more than a model attached to a toy submarine; the fairies were simple paper cutouts.²

Many suggest that their popularity was due to pareidolia, a case of people seeing exactly what they wish or expect to see. Centuries of folklore had prepared the collective public consciousness for the idea of the Loch Ness Monster; the Cottingley Fairies were published during the Age of Spiritualism.

According to Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko, individuals who are faced with an extraordinary experience naturally tend to interpret it through the language of existing cultural constructs.³ Regardless of whether Nessie, Sasquatch, or fairies actually exist, the fact that they haunt the collective imagination increases the likelihood that they will be spotted. —DJS