Think Fairies Are Real? So Does This Professor

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Always wanted to meet Tinker Bell? Then you may want to head over to Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, England, where you will encounter not one, but numerous versions of the fairy that first made her appearance in J.M. Barrie's 1904 play, Peter Pan. At least that is what one university professor is asserting, and he even has pictures to prove it!

John Hyatt, Director of Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD) and a lecturer at the Manchester Metropolitan University, claims that he accidently caught these gorgeous winged creatures on camera, when trying to capture the sunset through the trees.

In fact, it was not until he began developing the photos that he realized that they contained something other than the sunset. It was only upon zooming closer, that the professor discovered the fairies. Hyatt says that to ensure he was not mistaken, he snapped some pictures of gnats and flies for comparison - And sure enough, they looked nothing like these magical creatures.

Of course, this unusual claim has many experts up in arms. Among them is British Entomologist, Erica McLaughlin. She believes that the professor is mistaken - The creatures in the images are not fairies, but midges - a species of flies that resemble the fictional creatures thanks to their delicate wings and long legs.

Ben Hanson, the former host and lead investigator of paranormal claims from the television show 'Fact or Faked Paranormal Files', is not even ready to give Hyatt's claim any benefit of doubt. He thinks that the images are completely doctored to showcase the professor's art and design talent. Hanson's views are based on his observation that the foliage behind the photos has been blurred to give them the 'artsy' look, as well as the fact that fairies seem to be in precise focus - something that would have been almost impossible to do, if the professor was not even aware of their existence.

None of this skepticism seems to have affected Hyatt, who asserts that he has not altered the images beyond zooming in to the section where the fairies are flying. In fact he is proudly showcasing his 'Rossendale Fairies' at a special exhibition at the Whitaker Museum in Rossendale and is asking the general public to view the photos with an open mind. He says that so far, the feedback has been positive and that many visitors are thanking him for bringing a 'bit of magic' into their lives!

This is not the first time claims of fairy sightings have been made. The most famous hoax was concocted in 1917, by 16-year old Elsie Wright and 10-year-old Frances Griffiths. The young girls pasted drawings of fairies onto cardboard and then took pictures of themselves besides them. Thanks to limited knowledge of photography tricks, what was meant to be a harmless prank, turned into a worldwide sensation that had even astute people like Sherlock Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, conned for years. It was not until 1983, when the now 66-year-old Griffiths finally confessed that the picture had been completely doctored!

Resources: huffingtonpost.com, dailymail.co.uk,manchetereveningnews.com

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798 Comments
  • unknown_user14
    unknown_user14about 3 years
    Those girls made imagination into history!
    • animereina2021
      animereina2021over 4 years
      There was a movie about those girls who have encountered fairies in their pictures. I think it was called Fairy Tale, I don't really remember. If only they were real and not just cut out pictures of them! I do believe in fairies because once I had awoken up not the middle of the night, and I heard the lights turned on. (Btw, this happened when I lost a tooth) I heard little foot steps, and then they stopped. Something raised up my pillow, and I looked around everywhere just to make sure my parents weren't the ones giving me money under the pillow. I looked everywhere, even near the pillow! I saw a top of a fairies wings, and then it left without me even noticing. I stayed in my bed in shock, really freaked out. The fairy would give me notes about how kind I was, and it was in a little piece of paper about half the size of a thumb, and was written really small. It didn't look like my dad's, because he wrote in all caps, and not my mom neither. She writes mostly in cursive.
      • unipug2
        unipug2almost 4 years
        It'd be sad if our parents did it
        • animereina2021
          animereina2021over 4 years
          My sister, @zeldarules, has seen the tooth fairy with her own eyes! She told me that she was all gold, with brown eyes. She pretended to sleep, and the fairy didn't seem to notice until she saw one of her eyes peeking, because she flew away... My sister told me that the fairy was trying to read notes from her, since my sister wrote letters to her. One of @zeldarules notes had said, "Can I play with you?" And the fairy replied saying that she is too busy to play with her, but wished that she could have done so. I believe that everyone has their own fairy. Sadly, I don't have any more baby teeth, so I can give the tooth fairy any of my adult teeth, or they won't grow back!
          • unipug2
            unipug2almost 4 years
            My tooth fairy looks like this to me even though I've never seen her:she has sparkling amber eyes, auburn hair, a silk long white flowing dress, and shimmering skin
            • wolfy_blue
              wolfy_blueover 3 years
              Fairies are not real. When I lose my teeth I always got gold dollar coins and when I lost my last tooth I went to my mom's room and I found a bag of gold coins. And back when I believed in tooth faries I asked my mom if we could put up a camera up in my room when I lost my 2 tooth but she disgreed to that. And the coins was never under the pillow it was always at my desk.
        • angelfluff
          angelfluffover 4 years
          I have a fairy garden in my back yard in the butterfly garden is .it is so cool I always wanted a fairy garden since I moved to Gastonia North Carolina
        • KaringKoalaabout 5 years
          They look like fairies but I know they are probably just some other bug that looks like a fairy. 🤔
          • Lindsey almost 6 years
            Fairies are cool
            • siennald
              siennaldabout 6 years
              Dude those r not fairies :-( got ripped off
            • Sover 6 years
              I love fairy’s I cant believe they could be real the photos can’t lie at least I hope they aren’t fake photos that are midges
              • Nicolalmost 7 years
                Perfect
                • Nicolalmost 7 years
                  Beautiful butterflies
                  • bowbaby
                    bowbabyabout 7 years
                    I knew it!! - Bowbaby