Conan Doyle Lived for Cottage Core ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

•  Conan Doyle gained fame by creating the world's foremost fictional detective in Sherlock Holmes, but what in what ways did he fail to do good detective work himself when it came to the Case of the Cottingham Fairies?

Conan Doyle's emotions got the best of him in this investigation with the recent passing of his son and brother in World War II, making him biased towards the belief that the fairies and gnomes Elsie Wright had invented were real. In specific, Doyle did not go out to the site of these mythical spottings himself but sent an investigator with even more bias toward the belief. Furthermore, he merely dismissed the idea that the girls had made up these sightings not only because they were of the working class, but because they were girls. In reality, Wright was clever enough to craft this hoax using paper cutouts of fairies and watercolor displays on the walls. Once he believed in the idea, Doyle believed this theory up until his death, unwilling to see the obvious deception in the photographs.  

• Conan Doyle had lost both his son and brother in World War I. Deep in grief, he found himself in spiritualism, the occult, and beliefs in fairies. In the next essay, "The Devil Baby of Hull House," hundreds of people, particularly women and mothers, come to visit Hull House (a settlement home for immigrant families) intent on seeing a devil baby that does not in fact exist. What does author Jane Addams discover that many of these women share in common? She listens to the stories of these women, fascinated. Share one of those stories that she uncovers by paraphrasing it here. When you consider Conan Doyle and the stories of these women who come to Hull House, what are some observations you have about why people might be drawn in to believing in things that don't exist? Try to draw connections between the essays.

Jane Addams' story "The Devil Baby at Hull House" revealed several horrific stories of the old ladies' that desperately wanted to see the devil baby. One of them talked about her only surviving daughter Liboucha out of her eleven children. She witnessed the suicide of her father after his attempt to kill them which affected her speaking. Although she remained as calm and gentle as always, she also began disapperaring for days at a time, cause distress for her hardworking mother. She died in an asylum, leaving her mother all alone. Just like Conan Doyle, this old woman lost many loved ones in her life. This similarity could draw a corellation to being more trusting of the paranormal and non-existing creatures. It serves as a possible explanation of beyond our certain understanding, giving them a comfort that there is more to our lives. 

• "There is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing things that are invisible to others," Conan Doyle wrote. He conceded that, "Victorian science would have left the world hard and clean and bare, like a landscape in the moon" (qtd. in Losure 92-93). More than a hundred years later in what ways do you agree with Doyle? Is there a particular mystery that you think is beyond science?

Modern techonolgy has advanced the world's understanding of world phenomenons that were ungraspable in the Victorian era. I think that as science continues to develop, there will be even bigger discoveries that we currently believe to be beyond science. One mystery that I do truly believe to be beyond our understanding is the true vastness of the universe or the idea of infinite realities. Will we ever make it to the ends of space, and if we do, how do we reach those other realities? The movies that feature this idea are really intriguing, but is it really attainable? 

• In a long paragraph, create a mystery for a reader of your blog. Choose one world mystery or urban legend or cryptid (often called cryptozoology) such as Bigfoot, chupacabras, ghosts, the Lochness monster, the Jersey Devil, the kraken, mermaids, Mothman, selkies, the Thunderbird, etc.—or any other creature you can think of. Or choose a psychic phenomenon such as telepathy or telekinesis. Using research, explore what evidence exists out there that might or might not prove the existence of such a being? Quote from at least one of your articles. What do you believe after your search?

The urban legend of La Llorona has been a 500-year-old omen for misbehaving children in Latin America, long before its movie in The Conjuring series. The story has different variations among different cultures, but is most famously recognized as a young mother who lost her two children in a housefire. She died of grief and heartbreak, returning to the living world every night, roaming villages in search for the souls of her children to rest. Parents warn their children not to be out at night, for they could be mistaken for La Llorona's children, and will be kidnapped. Ancient manuscripts reveal that the earliest documented version of this legend dates back to the times of the Aztec empire, before Hernan Cortes even arrived. In this earliest form, the spirit's name was Cioacoatl, and was believed to be one of the many gods and demons the Aztecs believed in. An account was written of an encounter of her, stating, "the demon Cioacoatl walked about weeping at night in the streets of Mexico. Everyone heard it saying: ‘My children, woe is me that I must soon leave you... the demon that in the form of a woman walked and appeared, by day and by night...ate a small boy, who was in his cradle in the town of Azcapotzalco". For an impressionable child, these stories that adults would tell in foreboding tones made the legend seem completely true. However, the only proof of La Llorona is the sightings people would retell, making it less trustworthy. I believe that that's the conclusion many hispanics like myself have come to after being afraid of this spirit from our childhoods. But, there is no doubt that this urban legend is an important aspect of latinx culture as many movies, songs, and memories have been created from this iconic urban legend. 

Article used: La Llorona: Roots, Branches, and the Missing Link from Spain