We Want to Believe: A far-reaching hoax over a century ago reveals something about our searching souls.
“Over a century ago… young Francis Griffiths and her cousin took pictures of fairies dancing in the forest. What began as the imagination of little girls turned into an international sensation known as the Cottingley Fairies incident of 1920.” - Breakpoint
Back in college, I responded to the increasing sponsorship/commercialization of college bowl games (e.g. "Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl") by joking that the Rose Bowl had been sponsored by FTD and was now the "FTD Pick Me Up Bouquet Rose Bowl". A week or so later, I sheepishly had to correct a friend of mine who was repeating my joke as if it were reality.
On this topic, as a fan of the "Shorpy" photo archive, and of old photographs in particular, it's worth noting that when the faeries pictures came out, people were just learning what the camera could do, and just like my friend, a lot of people would indeed fall for what they wanted to believe was real.
It also doesn't help, really, that a lot of times, reality is as weird as the things people can think up. I remember hearing the late novelist Tom Wolfe speak, and he lamented that his satire--"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", "Bonfire of the Vanities", etc..--was too often exceeded by reality.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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