What Was Then - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

WHAT MADE HIM BELIEVE?
by KC Stapleton
Wednesday December 10, 2003 09:40:21 PM CDT

BLACK HOPE CEMETERY - A sub-division was built on top of it.
THE SAN ANTONIO HAUNTED TRAIN TRACKS - Children push cars of the haunted tracks?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"Then, with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mr. Mac. The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession." From: The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The creator of Sherlock Holmes developed a fictional character that used logic and science to unravel seemly unfathomable mysteries. You might think that with such an example of clear thinking rambling around his own brain that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be hard to fool. There was one event that proves that at times the writer himself was ruled more by his heart than by his literary hero's cold hard logic.

First the reader should understand where Doyle's heart might have been in years leading up to his pronouncement that not only did he believe in Fairies, but that he believed two little girls had taken a picture of the
"Little People" dancing merrily around a glen.

'This is indeed a mystery,' I remarked. 'What do you imagine that it means?' --'I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts...' From a Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"He wasn't a very great general, but he was a very good man" Florence Nightingale writing about Lord Raglan, British C-in-C

Famous Photo

The Famous Photo

The War

While it might sound like a plot from one of Doyle's books World War I was set into motion by a group called the Black Hand. The group conspired to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. A brutal and bitter War followed this event, resulting in heavy losses on all sides. Adding to the death count were diseases that swept through the ranks
affecting both the wounded and the whole. By the end of the war hardly any family back in England would remain untouched having lost a father, brother, or a son.

Wanting to Believe

"It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it." From The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As with so many others Doyle lost his son Kinsley in the war as well as many other friends and relatives. While he still maintained his life and work it can well be imagined that he suffered from the loneliness and despair that
accompanies great personal loss. A short time after he received news of his son's death a young woman who claimed psychic gifts was a guest of Doyle and his wife at their estate. The young woman was able to give details not only about the couple's lost son, but also about Mrs. Doyle's brother who had also been killed. This visit was no doubt the start of the interest in the paranormal that eventually almost obsessed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

This deep personal interest in the subject may explain Doyle's lack of objectivity. Frequently rather than listening to the facts about a purposed psychic or paranormal event Doyle would become bombastic in his support at any challenge or accusation of fraud. This lack of tolerance in hearing out the other side of a supernatural claim sadly drove away a few friends among them the famous magician Harry Houdini.

In 1920 a friend contacted Doyle who knew that he was interested not only in Spiritualism, but also photography. The news she would share was that a pair of little girls, cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths had taken
pictures of Fairies. While the modern viewer of these photographs will find them cute, but obliviously fakes using cardboard cutouts, they completely took in the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

The point is that there was a number of reasons he was so taken in, and these reasons are important to remember if you wish to study the paranormal without succumbing to gullibility.

Fooled by Oneself

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." From The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1. By putting such a personal slant to his beliefs in the
supernatural Doyle was left having to defend every aspect of the paranormal. A more objective viewpoint in which he conceded that fraud was a possibility would have opened his eyes to the prospect that he was being fooled.

2. His reputation, charm, and driving personality may have caused people to be either reluctant to try to dissuade him, or simply too quick to give up any debate rather than lose his friendship.

3. He underestimated the children based on both their age and sex. It's clear from his writings on the subject that he felt confident about the photographs due to the nature of the photographer and subject. Reading between the lines it's clear that he did not really understand young women
very well. He clearly didn't feel them clever enough to have authored such a fabrication, and then work out the mechanics of performing the photographic illusion on their own.

These three mistakes have overtaken researchers before and after Doyle, and will no doubt be the undoing of others again. Not being objective in observing a paranormal event, failing to listen to the opinions of others with restraint, and underestimating the ability of others to commit a fraud are three fundamental areas wherein an observer can mistake what he wants to see for reality.

NOTE: Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths refused to directly comment on the photographs until the 1980's when they finally admitted the deception. In their defense it can be said that they were children at the time of the Fairy Photographs and could hardly have foreseen the controversy their game would cause the adults around them.

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