AI, Fake News & Fairies: Suspending Our Disbelief
With the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence engines, agenda-driven narratives, and social media manipulation, one has to really discern what to believe any more.
In October, Folktellers explores all of these things with our fourth installment of the Folktellers Guidebook Series, The Great American Fairy Hoax. In this book, will delve into the problems and possibilities that pop up when you begin to blur the lines between our real world and the enchanted lands of the imaginary.
This story begs the question — Do you believe in fairies?
For millennia, people have been fascinated with the lands just beyond our own, going back and forth about the existence of these magical beings. Traditionally, Fairies were seen as tiny, often beautiful human-like creatures (sometimes with wings) that appeared in legends and folklore around the world. Their origin may have sprung from pagan nature gods and goddesses, often associated with the outdoors and magic journeys into unknown lands.
Faeries (or, The Fae) have long been a staple in the catalogue of imaginary creatures across Celtic, Slavic, German, English, and French mythologies. According to some historians, the term “faerie” meant “enchanted, and was born out of Persian folklore, that identified these magical figures as the Peris. The otherworldly Peris were angelic beings mentioned in antiquity in pre-Islamic Persia as early as the Achaemenid Empire. They were described to be fair, beautiful, and extravagant nature spirits supported by wings. This may have influenced migratory Germanic and Eurasian settlers into Europe, forming the initial constructs of the faeries we know today.
The problem with fairies, as J.R. R. Tolkien noted in his essay, “On Fairy-Stories,” is:
“Smallness was not characteristic of that people as a whole, that was a modern invention…The trouble with real folk of Faerie is that they do not always look like what they are; and they put on the pride and beauty that we would fain wear ourselves. At least part of the magic they wield for the good or evil of man is power to play upon his body and heart.”
Many cultures not only believed in the existence of these enchanted entities, they built a large part of their mythologies around them. To this day, you will find incredible stories about the Good Folk, and their active presence in the daily lives of people around the world. For many, the Faerie Realm is as real and tangible as the one we live in, and the journey to or from the Land of the Fae is one of both high adventure and danger.
Contrary to popular belief, not all fairies are kind, beautiful and enchanting. In fact, these magical creatures often work against the wishes and desires of humankind. It doesn’t take much to offend a fairy, and the results can be catastrophic for anyone who crosses them.
Over the centuries, some people have accused the Fae of many terrible things, including stealing and enchanting brides, abducting mothers to be nursemaids for their fairy children, and even swapping sickly fairy babies for healthy human ones. These beliefs were at the root of one famous murder trial in Ireland. In 1895, a woman named Bridget Clearly was killed by her husband, who claimed that she was not really his wife but instead a changeling brought to him by fairies. The gruesome nature of the case prompted extensive press coverage, and the trial was closely followed by newspapers across Ireland.
Glimpses of the Good Folk have been recorded for years as well. In the early 20th Century, in Cottingley, England, a great fairy sighting took place. when two teenage cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, claimed to have played with the Fae in the English countryside. The girls insisted that the fairies were real and even provided proof in the form of five photographs showing little fairy folk dancing before them.
While some dismissed the photos as obvious fakes, many others were not so sure. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, believed that the creatures were real, and published the pictures in his Strand Magazine, while writing a book titled “The Coming of the Fairies,” in which he discussed the fairies and his conviction that their existence was genuine. Many readers believed him, and the reality of fairies was the subject of debate among some adults for decades.
In The Great American Fairy Hoax, we delve into the spaces that exist between our reality and the world of the imaginary. Fay and Iris are two girls that re-discover the Cottingley story, and decide to perpetrate a hoax using modern technology.
They are warned:
Do not meddle in the affairs of the imaginary…
This is great advice, for not all fairies are friendly, and they prefer to be the tricksters, rather than play the fool to any human. Our teenaged heroes must learn that there are fairies, both good and evil, and now that they have stirred them up, they will have to face the consequences.
And as far as fairies being real, well that remains to be seen. For in the end, who is to say what is really real and what is pure fantasy?
And when it comes to thinking about what is possible and what just might be, maybe it is just BETTER TO BELIEVE?
