3min chapter

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford cover image

The Scientist and the Swindler

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

CHAPTER

Conan Doyle and the Fairies

This is a moment in time where spiritualism is actually getting a little bit more credibility in the mainstream. William James, who we know as the father of modern psychology, happens to head up the spiritualist society. There's so much invisible in the world that we're now bringing science to bear on. That said, when two girls appear and show this evidence of fairies, almost nobody believes them because if you look at the photographs, they're bad. These are not good fakes. It's a very crude forgery beyond that one of the girls is an apprentice at a photography studio. And yet I think he just wants to believe. Never underestimate our need to believe and our desire

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