Cooper, whose faith was only partly shaken, went on to write a 1
book on the Cottingley saga, explaining that Elsie's later dismissal of
fairies "was, I guess, the device of a tired and ailing old lady not want-
ing to be bothered by reporters anymore."
What was in play, of course, was the same old routine practiced over
the centuries by an orthodoxy determined to wear down the resistance
of heretics. Anyone who dares to challenge established beliefs knows
the game is stacked and that he or she must either recant or follow in the
footsteps of such noble martyrs as Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Joan of
Arc, or the millions of souls tortured and immolated in this century by
one side or the other in their hot and cold wars.
And there the story might really have ended had it not been for
Geoffrey Hodson, who was to devote a lifetime to validating not just
the Cottingley fairies, but the whole world of nature spirits as seen by
those who can describe its tenuous realms with the aid of spiritual in-
sight, a tale that leads out of darkness toward the light.
joyce
(Joyce)
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