The Myth of Francis and Elsie

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Francis and Elsie confessed to the hoax after Edward Gardner and Conan Doyle died. They said they didn't want to humiliate their parents by keeping it a secret for so long. Neither Elsie nor Francis ever received any royalties from the photographs.

In the summer of 1917, 16-year-old Elsie Wright took a photograph of her 9-year-old cousin, Frances Griffiths. It was the first photograph she’d ever taken — and it became the source of a mystery that lasted for most of the 20th century.

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