It may seem a strange choice of hobbies for the creator of Mr. Logic--so strange that various fictional Holmeses have commented, "Don't talk to me about my editor, Mr. Doyle. He's a strange one."
In truth, Conan Doyle's Holmes's tales are rife with adventures and atmospheric phenomena and oddities of nature.
In truth, too, highly logical and educated and supposedly even cynical people can believe unbelievably daft things.
My question isn't, Why was Conan Doyle fooled?
After all, hoaxes are most successful when they fill a gap in human need. Van Meegeren's dreadful Vermeers filled a gap in the academic story of Vermeer.
I understand what gap spiritualism was filling, especially for Conan Doyle who was devastated by the loss of family members. Additionally, the scientific approach to spiritualism was honestly meant: if things like telegraphs could close the distance, why not close the distance to the Great Beyond? Why shouldn't mediums be able to contact spirits?
My question is, What gap could the Cottingley fairies possibly fill?
The forward to Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fey, edited by Elizabeth Dearnley does a great job answering my question--like many cultural curiosities, fairies of the early twentieth century sat at the center of several trends: spiritualism which branched (for some) beyond death into all the things humans couldn't see; beliefs about technology, which could capture these invisible things; wild misinterpretations of evolutionary theory, which interpretations proposed that the fairies were the descendants of past inhabitants of England -or- the next stage in evolution (honestly, it's a tad confusing).
I postulate a fourth reason: humans have always wanted "other" beings to exist alongside day-to-day life. Demons, sure. But demons are a little too single-minded and, uh, crazed. There are pets. But pets have a tendency to eat their owners for purely non-sentimental reasons when their owners die. (However, for many people, pets are the answer.) Angels--but angels don't exist on the same plane and are somewhat demanding, expecting sacrifices and alterations in one's worldview.
Hence...fairies. Once ideas about fairies were dismissed, aliens stepped in to take their place. In fact, many beliefs about demons and fairies simply transferred themselves wholesale to space alien mythology.
The interesting point here is that a desire may remain the same but the context/container/language shifts depend on the latest current acceptable theory. Spiritualism, technology, and evolution made up Conan Doyle's world--so that is the language he used.
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