Hi ,
Continuing my researches to obtain an insight in to the personality
of Sir Conan Doyle, I stumbled upon another strange aspect of his
personality which I think most of us are familiar with. I am
referring to the strange affair of the Cottingley fairies. It so
happened that two girls related to each other, Frances Griffith and
Elsie Wright living in Cottingley, Yorkshire produced stunning
photographs of fairies playing with them.

The photos showed the fairies dancing with the children and
they were shown to their parents to authenticate their claim. These
photos were certified to be authentic by the local experts and these
photos were doing the rounds of upper class British Society. It
caught the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who seized the
opportunity to proclaim the reality of the existence of fairies. He
being a passionate believer in spiritualism and so argued his thought
regarding the photos in the Strand magazine in 1920. He again
published an article on receipt of two more photo graphs from the
girls.

He was pilloried in the media for advocating such absurd ideas but he
continued to believe in the photographs till his death.

I think he was a man of great conviction to have said such a thing
in face of such outcry and to stick to his guns despite personal
attack needs some courage. Such conviction in spite of counter
arguments can be seen in his creation, Sherlock Holmes many times.
The most striking instance can be seen in the Adventure of the
Norwood Builder. As a matter of conjecture, I think Sherlock Holmes
is partly based on Sir Doyle himself apart from Dr Joseph Bell, of
course. Please flood in your comments. I hope to see an interesting
discussion on this