Elsie Wright and her younger cousin Frances Griffiths lived together in Cottingley, on the outskirts of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They often played together in the small wooded creek behind Elsie's home. In July 1917, Elsie and Frances, then 16 and 10, began seeing faeries in the glen. Tired of being scolded by Elsie's father over their claims, Elsie borrowed her father's camera, and she and Frances took a photograph of the creaures to prove their existence. When the film was developed later in her father's dark room, Elsie's parents were shocked. The picture that she had taken was of Frances; a bemused expression on her face, with a troop of fairies dancing in front of her. Elsie's parents were flabbergasted; but her father wasn't convinced. So, a month later, Frances took a picture of Elsie which clearly showed her playing with a gnome. Mr. Wright still wasn't convinced, and there the matter settled. The girls showed the pictures to their friends, but no particular interest was ever raised by them... at least, not until two years had past. Elsie's mother had developed an interest in supernatural phenomena, and took the photos to share with a Theosophist meeting in Bradford one evening. In no time, the pictures were the center of attention and argument. Of the people who believed the fairies were real, the most promenant was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur printed the first two pictures in Strand Magazine in 1920 to help support his argument for the existance of fairies, and the article made the story a worldwide sensation. In 1920, Sir Arthur arranged for Elsie and Frances to once again be given a camera and left on their own in the small glen. The results were three more photographs of the fairies and other creatures. Sadly, though, these were the last to be made, for shortly after Elsie and Frances moved away (they stayed close to each other, however.) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle later printed these three pictures in a sequel to his earlier article. In 1922, he expanded the two articles into a book, "The Coming of the Fairies." Much later (and a few years ago, now) The two cousins replied negatively to the question put to them by an investigator--"did you REALLY see the faeries?" Maybe they were tired of being questioned, or maybe the faeries were not real after all. Its up to you to decide.