- The famous photos appear to show fairies at the bottom of a garden
- The cameras used to snap them have been scanned by scientists for first time
They’re the photos that fooled the world and caused a sensation.
Over 100 years ago, two young girls released a series of five images appearing to show fairies at the bottom of their aunt’s garden in Cottingley, West Yorkshire.
The infamous photographs were published in The Strand magazine by none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who said the images, if proven to be real, would ‘mark an epoch in human thought’.
Towards the end of their lives Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths admitted faking the first four photographs – although Ms Griffiths always maintained the fifth and final picture was genuine.
Now, the cameras used to create the images are among the first objects to be internally analysed by state-of-the-art scanning technology – and nothing untoward has been detected.
Over 100 years ago, two young girls released a series of five images appearing to show fairies at the bottom of their aunt’s garden in Cottingley, West Yorkshire
The cameras used to create the images are among the first objects to be internally analysed by state-of-the-art scanning technology – and nothing untoward has been detected
The cameras are part of the permanent collection of the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, and have now been put through the latest CT scanners recently acquired by the University of Bradford’s School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences.
The two scanners – a MetroTom 1500 micro CT and a NewTom CBCT (Cone Beam CT) – are able to image detail down to a resolution of seven microns – about the width of a strand of spider silk.
They also have the ability to see inside physical objects, negating the need for intrusive inspections.
One of the cameras is a Quarter-plate ‘Midg’ camera manufactured by W Butcher & Sons, in London, which was used by the cousins, who were 16 and nine at the time, to make the first two Cottingley Fairies photographs in 1917.
A second camera, a Quarter-plate ‘Cameo’ was used to create more fairy pictures between 1918 and 1920.
Professor Andrew Wilson, of the University of Bradford, said: ‘Of course, we didn’t find any fairies but I think we did find a little bit of magic – in that these scanners show how we can now look inside objects without disturbing them and see a level of detail that is unsurpassed.
A Quarter-plate ‘Cameo’ (pictured) was used to create more fairy pictures between 1918 and 1920
‘This is one of the first iconic objects from the National Collection to go into our micro CT and cone beam CT scanners.’
Ruth Quinn, curator of photography and photographic processes at the National Science and Media Museum, said: ‘The Cottingley Fairies cameras show how ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when coupled with skill and playful creativity.
‘Through scanning these objects, we can show the inner workings of how analogue photography works – and the materials which go into making a camera.
‘It’s really exciting to be able to see new details inside our objects using the cutting-edge facilities next door to us at the University of Bradford.’