If you want to learn how to see fairies the fastest way might be to catch them on film.
In July, 1917, Elsie took a photograph of her friend Frances with four fairies. Later Frances captured Elsie on film playing with a gnome. The two girls insisted that they could see fairies frequently down by the stream near the house and they finally became tired that no one believed them so took pictures as proof.
The photographs set off a whirlwind of controversy, with skeptics and believers alike not being able to refute the evidence. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle insisted that the pictures could not have been faked. The girls gave interview after interview about contacting faeries and accounts of their ability to see them.
Many years later, as grandmothers, the two girls admitted that they had faked the photographs to get back at the adults who insisted that fairies didn’t exist. The fairies, they said, were designed after a book, and one of the girls learned to draw as an art student.
One has to remember this was back in 1917 and using a simple hat pin to secure paper fairies to the ground became a stroke of genius that wasn’t detectable. Many years later, the controversy and confession was made into a movie; Fairy Tale, A True Story. The movie is by far one of the best fairy tale stories ever told.
How to See Fairies
As far as learning how to see fairies in your own backyard, there are said to be several ways. (Remember that the girls perpetuated the lie about the photographs only because they were tired of grown-ups not believing that they actually could see the little creatures!)
Some of the best ways to see them are related through stories shared by true believers. You can also see them by taking photos of gardens in your area. Then view the photos using a looking glass for shapes, and odd light patterns, and hidden images between the leaves. You may be amazed by what you see!
On midsummer’s eve, go into the garden just after dawn when the dew is still wet and set out a sugar cube. It is believed that fairies love sugar and other sweets, and they will come to dance in the buttercups. Remember to sit quietly and squint to look past the flora and fauna and you may find where the fairies emerge. Traditionally, midsummer’s eve is the only time that fairies can (or choose to) speak the human language, so if you want to talk to them, this is the best time of the year.
Any evening at dusk you can also go into your garden and tend the flower beds and weed. The fairies like to live on the edges of the garden where one does not typically weed, so turn slightly away from where you are working and you might catch one out of the corner of your eye. Garden fairies will come out to watch you and if you are quick you will see them.
It is said that cats can see them. Look at the eyes of a cat who is staring quietly into the long grass. Creep up and look through their ears and you’ll see what they see.
It’s fun to come up with ways one might encounter a fairy sighting! You only need patience, sugar, persistence, and some respect.
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