with gratitude to site "The Life and Art of Charles Doyle"
From an online biographical entry of his son, Sir A.Conan Doyle :
When his son Kingsley died from wounds incurred in World War I, the author dedicated himself in spiritualistic studies. An example of these is THE COMING OF FAIRIES (1922). But he had already showed interest in occult fantasy before publishing Holmes stories. In his early novel, THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER (1888), a retired general finds himself under assault by Indian magic.
Doyle supported the existence of “little people” and spent more than a million dollars on their cause. The so-called “fairy photographs” caused an international sensation when Doyle published a favorable account of them in 1920. The photographs showed fairies dancing in the air. A year after, the Star newspaper reported that the fairies were from a poster. Doyle became president of several important spiritualist organizations. In 1925 he opened the Psychic Bookshop in London. Among his friends was the legendary American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (1874-1926). He believed that Houdini possessed supernatural powers, which the magician himself denied. Another friend was D.D. Home. According to Doyle, he could levitate. Once Doyle claimed that Home “floated out of the bedroom and into the sitting room window, passing seventy feet above the street.” His own psychic experiences Doyle recorded in THE EDGE OF UNKNOWN (1930), which was his last book. Doyle died on July 7, 1930 from heart disease at his home, Windlesham, Sussex.
“My contention is that Sherlock Holmes is literature on a humble but not ignoble level, whereas the mystery writers most in vogue now are not. The old stories are literature, not because of the conjuring tricks and the puzzles, not because of the lively melodrama, which they have in common with many other detective stories, but the virtue of imagination and style. They are fairy-tales, as Conan Doyle intimated in his preface to his last collection, and they are among the most amusing of fairy-tales and not among the least distinguished.” (Edmund Wilson in Classics and Commercials, 1950)
From a brief summary of C.A. Doyle’s life:
In 1876 Charles was dismissed from his job [as an architect- ETat] at the Office of Works and put on a pension. Later that year he was sent to Fordoun House, a nursing home that specialized in the treatment of alcoholics.
While Charles was originally sent to Fordoun House because of his alcoholism he later developed epilepsy. At the time there was no known treatment and the condition was widely misunderstood. Sadly, his epilepsy doomed him to a life of confinement.
In 1885 Charles tried to escape from Fordoun House. He became violent during the attempt and was sent to the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum until early 1892. From there he was transferred to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and finally to the Crighton Royal Institution. In 1893 Charles Altamont Doyle died.
To see the fairies that Charles Altamont saw, look here
For bibliography of published material and short overview – look here. [The illustration, watercolor 'The Eavesdroppers", is published there. I've no intention of commercial use - hope the proprietors won't mind my reference]
Etat,
What do you think about it all?
Do you think that Doyle saw these “fairies”, or was he delusional and hallucinating these episodes because of his epileptic condition or for some other reason?
I think he saw the fairies. And he saw the fairies because his superstition (that always lies close to religious belief) became real in his alcohol-induced delusion.
J.D. Carr, in his book The Life OF Sir Arthur Conan Doyle opines that C.A. Doyle drank for many decades before he was diagnosed with epilepsy – out of desperation, of the dead end that his downward career was slowly heading, of permanent lack of money while the family size was ever-increasing. He was one of 4 tremendously talented and successful brothers, all – artists and illustrators, like their father, but they chose a different path and location . And while his religion was telling him his is a righteous way – the reality contradicted.
That photograph was a fake. The girls who created it admitted it subsequently, when grown-up and at a ripe old age.
Which Doyle is the discussion about? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Charles Altamount Doyle? It seems a bit muddled. Or possibly led astray by the “little folk”, who have a tendency for muddling people’s brains and sense of direction.
What photograph was a fake? I didn’t mention any photographs.
It is very clear who I am discussing: it says right up there, in the title. Sorry my post appears muddled to you; very little of my own words added to the quotations (those inverted commas constitute someone else’s speech. I thought they are quite noticeable.)
Oh, now I see what photograph.
Let me quote it again, Helen – with making the sentence you missed accented in bold:
“The photographs showed fairies dancing in the air. A year after, the Star newspaper reported that the fairies were from a poster. ”
Funny how absolutely clear things confuse people.
LOL, Tat, you missed your calling. You should have been a Commissar. Still, a lovable one.
All religeon is based in superstition? THAT is a terribly elitist and supercilious view. Was it superstition that elevated Western Europe to the fore of world history, and shaped the rest of the world around it?
Yes, Casca, I know you love me – but Comissar? What in particular in my post or comments made you say that?
This post was about a wonderful artist, a talent that struggled through disappointment, desperation, disillusionment (any other “d”-words you could think of), and the alcoholic daze he surrounded himself with, as a result of those “d”words. I don’t believe he was mentally ill, other than illness induced by alcoholism (what’s the English term for белая горячка? help me out here).
Please don’t misinterpret my words. I said superstition always lies close to religious belief. “All religion is based on superstition” is totally different statement, the one I never made.
Etat,
For myself, I leave open the possibility that these kinds of things exist. The fact that he was deranged, delusional and delirious (more “d”s for you :) later in his life does not necessarily mean that these symptoms were causative. It is possible that he became delusional and drank to excess because he saw something inexplicable.
I am not saying that Doyle did indeed see these fairies, but I think it is possible that he did. His diseased alcoholism could have induced these flights of madness, or his encounter with the supernatural could have drove him there.
The only person who can know is God… and maybe Doyle.
That’s certainly a way it might happened – he might have seen something he couldn’t comprehend and that drove him to drink. But after reading a bit about his life, I see a consensus of the biographers (who, after all, have access to documents we don’t) that he started drinking shortly after realizing his career isn’t going to pick up. From salary of #250 to #277 in 30 years of work!
I think in the links I provided there are some words to that effect, but I also read expanded version in Carr’s book, as well as Pierson’s (sp? it’s at home, I’ll look it up tonight) [H. Pearson Conan Doyle. His Life and Art -Ed.].
His was a watercolor talent, not an oil talent – his art is very much like his own pleasant, social, joyful and witty character, as it is easily seen from his early drawings (like the one pictured above). Fairies were present in them then, too – as personages of fantastic tale, not sinister at all. Only when his affliction gradually affected him, the drawings took this gloomy and threatening look – with main subject of a parallel word that exist alongside the visible one; sometimes hostile, often amused by humans. An interesting detail: he appears to think birds saw the fairies and communicated with them behind people’s backs..
So easy to be confused when one is led astray by the wee folk, especially if the title is about one man, first half or article about his son, last paragraphs about the first one and, well, what can I tell you? It’s those rewards and fairies wot done it.
The story of the photograph went on for a tad longer than you say. Like years.
I believe you that the story about the photograph went longer – although, once again – it’s not me who said that. I merely supplied the source.
The title and the post is about one man – but his story also made me think about his famous son, particularly – how childhood impressions manifest themselves in adults years and decades later, and in what form.
Two biographers of Sir A.I.Conan Doyle have their own explanations/theories why it happened, and his son Adrian – yet another; that’s only 3 sources that I read, I’m sure there are tons more.
Have you read on this subject? I hoped my readers will add some insight to this discussion.