QAA Podcast - The Case of the Cottingley Fairies (Premium E327) Sample

Episode Date: March 15, 2026

Jack returns to torment Jake, Julian, and Travis by ranting about the impending threat of AI via a classic story from WWI Britain. In 1917, Elsie and Frances took what appeared to be photos of each other interacting with fairies. While some immediately recognized the photos as fakes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a true believer. Jack talks everyone through the history of the famous hoax, and speculates as to why it is that some so ardently believed in it. Jake, Julian, and Travis challenge themselves to figure out how the photographs were taken and offer insight into whether or not ruining skirts and stockings in creeks is a universal childhood experience across genders. Tune in to learn the truth behind the Cottingley Fairies, and whether or not an AI-generated fairy named Mr. E is going to kill us all if we don’t celebrate Earth Day. Jack Laroche: www.jacklaroche.com Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes: www.patreon.com/qaa Produced by Liv Agar & Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (instagram.com/theyylivve / sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (pedrocorrea.com) qaapodcast.com QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

Well done. You found a way to connect to the internet. Welcome to the QAA podcast, Premium Episode 327, the case of the Cottingley Ferrys. As always, we are your host, Jake Rakatansky, Jack LaRoche, Julian Fields, and Travis View. So, what do you guys know about fairies? Not a whole lot. I don't think they call them that anymore. You know, I'm not too deep in the fairy lore. I know that you have to have to be. to believe in them for them to remain healthy. That's the last sort of lore that I checked in on.

I know that it was wrong to make Julia Roberts so hot in Hook. I think it's a variety of Fay, pretty sure. Yeah, Fay Fem is the pronoun. Oh, I know there's a game called Fay Farm. That's kind of like Animal Crossing with fairies. And mermaids, I think. Oh, yeah. I'm not sure they like you farming them.

Well, no, you are them. farming, you know, smaller, smaller creatures, yeah. It's like a little geodome and they have all the fairies in there and they're hunting them with fucking muskets. Yeah, they marketed them

in the United States as sea monkeys but we know the truth now. Yeah, that's come. No. Oh. That's a big rabbit hole, the sea monkeys, man. Maybe if you leave them in there for a very long, it could become some kind of...

That's true. Sea monkeys, we are going to eventually have to do an episode about them somehow. I don't know why. I'd love to do that. Let me get done with Spectral Voyager, and then I'd love to do a sea. Jack, maybe you and me can do a deep dive into sea monkeys. Oh, I'm 100% down for it.

It's a weird story. Yeah. You can do that in like the flea circuses. That's another like fascinating rabbit hole that I do not really quite understand. That's like clearly part of Americana. Mommy, look at the fleas. I actually have a short story I've been working on for a while. that is related to a flea circus and the crushing weight of capitalism.

That's fantastic. We anxiously await. What Jake said is the point that I really want you guys to think about. There's this moment when you're seeing Peter Pan performed live, that Tinkerbell is dying in front of you on stage. Got a clap. Yep, you got to clap. You got to believe in the fairies in order to give them life.

I'm dying, Peter. Now, who remembers the live action play that got copied to video? cassette in a lot of 80s households. None of our listeners and not us either. That's wrong. There's going to be, I predict three of you. Three of you maybe in the Patreon comments. He's so lonely like every episode.

He drops something. He's like, and I bet they'll contact me. And I bet they'll say I'm a nice big boy. Jake is making three people very happy right now. Yeah. But just a few weeks ago, a relative of mine sent me a link to a five-minute-long compilation video, eagerly texting a minute-long compilation video, eagerly texting a minute later to ask if I'd watched it yet.

The video was made up of various short clips, which are part of what I call the toddler in peril genre. Picture a toddler, wobbling on their stubby legs towards a raging fireplace, only for a Siberian husky at the very last second to grab the kid by the back of their shirt and drag them away to safety. It was an emotional roller coaster. I get these husky videos sent to me a lot, as I have a wonderful, quite loud pet husky.

But these videos are unmistakably AI. My friends, every single one of them, will apologize after being told that whatever they sent me was AI. But my relatives, oftentimes their responses are more defensive. You'd think that they would realize that, like, you know, that a husky doesn't usually do a TEDx talk? You think that they would realize the husky would actually jump and pushed the child into the fireplace?

Yeah, that that's the husky way. I don't know. Babies have been dancing at younger and younger ages, I hear. Oh, yeah, you hear. You hear. Word on the grapevine is, some of these babies are getting onto two, they're getting onto two feet a lot quicker than others,

and they're doing these very complicated Fortnite dances. The memes are returning. They're going full circle. The dancing baby's back. Yes, yes, yes. Soon. What's next? A cat playing a piano?

Come on. What's next? Rollerblading babies? They're roller skating now earlier and earlier. Yeah. But my relatives will often explain to me that the essence of the video is true, that this sort of thing, it happens every day. Or alternatively, that it was just cute and funny, even if it was AI.

You know, what's the harm, right? They're literally like, you remember when we had that awful migrant panic? They're stealing our pets. They're eating our pets. The AI is eating our, it's actually eating our pets, as usual. Like, we're looking in the wrong place. Oh, we certainly are. But what's really interesting about this to me is that these defenses are often coupled with the phrase,

oh, I knew it was AI to begin with. But did they do any of us with the way that AI videos are going? So photo and video manipulation is nothing new, nor is the way that it's being used now. But it is an increasingly important subject as the use of AI becomes, even more difficult to discern, and as it's used in ever more commercial and political ways. For instance, in February, a, quote, AI-powered grassroots advocacy platform was successful in flooding a California air pollution regulatory body with comments against the implementation of new clean air rules. This, quote, digital astroturfing is only the beginning of

AI manipulation of public governance, which is a very frightening thought indeed. Well, I mean, for the first time ever, it's a waste of time to argue with someone online because they might not be real. I don't think that's going to stop people somehow. I think at this point the bots are actually starting to argue with themselves and the dead internet theory might be coming true. Yeah. So in times of high stress, we seek solace in the fantastical and the imaginary,

as well as the comforting confirmation of our own beliefs wherever we can. In the shadow of the Civil War, the Fox sisters took the United States by storm with their ability to communicate with the dead, as did Mumbler with his spirit photography, which I believe you covered, didn't you, Jake? Yes, episode one of Spectral Voyager, I believe, is about Mumbler. The curious case of William Mumbler, right? Yes, yes.

Yeah, so check it out. I'm a specialist. I'm a fan, actually. Yes, well, you are in for a real treat, my friend. Cursemedia.net. And also, I've listened to the episode, Jake. That was my point. No, I know, no, I mean, of what's to come,

if you're a fan. Oh, hell yes. Of what's to come. Of what is yet to arrive. Of what dreams may come. That's right. Curious things are coming in the future. Yes, curiouser and curiouser. The United States has a particular talent for spiritual escapism. We have mediums galore, as well as witch talk, and guides on how to best utilize AI to enhance your own psychic abilities. Today, though, I would like to take you back to Britain in the shadow of World War I, where two girls, much like the Fox Sisters, stumbled upon something truly fantastical. In this case, the communication was not with the dead, but with fairies, and the girls had the photos to prove it.

You've been listening to a sample of a premium episode of the QAA podcast. For access to the full episode, as well as all past premium episodes and all of our podcast miniseries, go to patreon.com slash QAA. Travis, why is that such a good deal? Well, Jake, you get hundreds of additional episodes of the QAA podcast. for just $5 per month. For that very low price, you get access to over 200 premium episodes, plus all of our miniseries.

That includes 10 episodes of Man Clan with Julian and Annie, 10 episodes of Pervers with Julian and Liv, 10 episodes of The Spectral Voyager with Jake and Brad, plus 20 episodes of Trickledown with me, Travis View. It's a bounty of content and the best deal in podcasting. Travis, for once, I agree with you. And I also agree that people could subscribe by going to patreon.com slash

QAA. Well, that's not an opinion. It's a fact. You're so right, Jake. We love and appreciate all of our listeners. Yes, we do. And Travis is actually crying right now, I think, out of gratitude, maybe? That's not true. The part about be crying, not me being grateful. I'm very grateful.