The first of the noticeable differences from human form is the nose. As seen in the photo that zooms closest on the head, the nose is broad, flat, and has flaring nostrils. It sits atop a very broad, deep lip, which is not humanlike at all. This arrangement looks like a monkey’s face to me. While I cannot say with certainly what type of monkey it matches best, I was able to locate in the matter of a few minutes many pictures of a vervet monkey, which has similar proportion of nose, lip, and jaw and has a black face, similar in color to the face on the object. Vervet monkeys are about three times the size claimed for the object, and the facial shape is not an exact match, so I’m not saying the skull was taken from a vervet monkey; I’m saying only that the similarity of the object’s face to the face of one type of monkey is sufficient to give me pause.
If you look at human mummies, you will not generally see the nose changing shape to become flattened and monkey-like. It either keeps its shape, or it collapses inward entirely so that you see the nasal cavity of the skull. Assuming this were the corpse of a live creature, it’s logical to assume the same options would apply, meaning that a fairy, to have this face in death, would have had the same face in life. I have never read a description given by an eyewitness to fairy activity who spoke of a monkeylike face, so if you believe in fairies, you should be just as suspicious at this point as someone who doesn’t believe in them.
The other glaring exception is the brow ridge. I have never seen a brow ridge like this on a human mummy. It looks like a large bone plate that hangs directly over the eyes instead of stopping to provide a place for eyebrows. It contributes to the overall monkey-like appearance of the object’s head. It causes me to suspect that some kind of monkey head was involved in the crafting of the object, as a component or model.
HAIR AND WINGS
I feel very comfortable with the idea that the hairs wrapped around the head are human hairs. They have the appearance and texture of human hairs from a red-headed person. While I recognize that only scientific analysis can determine that for certain, I had two red-headed roommates in college, so I’m personally convinced. Note that human peat bog mummies often have red hair, and sometimes very full heads of red hair, so the color of the hair is not an argument against authenticity. The hairs on the back of the wings are roughly the same color, but instead of being wrapped around, they appear to fasten the wings to the back, running from the shoulder blades to about an inch onto each lower wing, less onto the upper wings. It looks as if red hair was chopped up and pasted there to cover the seams where sewing was done. This is, in my mind, the least authentic-looking part of the object.
Now to the wings themselves. If you first looked at the photos from a skeptical perspective, you have probably been waiting for me to say the obvious: they look like large leaves. The shape of each of the four wings is a leaf-shape, and there is a vein structure in each wing the same as the vein structure of leaves. It seems as if each wing is made of two leaves, a large, intact, light-green leaf, and a fragmented, rotten dark green leaf of smaller size.
All right, the wings look fake. This is not, however, the only reason to doubt them. The main reason to doubt them is that they are logically unable to provide flight. To begin with, they aren’t attached properly. There is no cartilage structure to attach them securely to the body. Furthermore, they contain no visible elements rigid enough to enable them to withstand wind pressure when moving, as would the wings of birds and bats, which are closer to the presumed fairy in size and anatomy than the wings of an eight-inch flying insect. (A monarch butterfly, the largest living flying insect I can think of, is 3-4 inches in size and has a much more compact frame.) The text on the web page suggests that the fairy was able to camouflage itself, which implies that camouflage is an explanation for the odd appearance of the wings. That might explain the texture and pattern, but not the inadequate structure. It also claims the body has been x-rayed, revealing hollow bones. It is easy to conclude even with hollow bones, an animal with this shape would be too heavy to fly with wings like those.
FORM AND FUNCTION
When you look at a photo of a supposed cryptid from a scientific point of view, you have to ask questions about the relationship between the form and the function. How does the creature fit into its environment? How are the visible body parts usable or adaptable to the functions it needs to perform? In this instance, if some object is claimed to be the actual corpse of a fairy, then you must set aside the supernatural trappings of fairy lore and see if what you are looking at is biologically viable.
This one can’t be. Setting aside the issue of the wings, there is another: the size of the brain case. At eight inches high but with a human-shaped skull, the creature would not have sufficient room in the brain case for a brain that functions at the level of a human brain. Without intelligent paralleling human intelligence, there would be no question of a culture advanced enough to have organized burial mounds such as described on the website.
SUMMARY
In summary, the object resembles a miniature human mummy in some particulars, which initially makes it believable to the viewer’s eyes. Upon closer inspection, one discovers a number of details which defy logic (the wings) and suggest the techniques used to craft it (the hair, the monkeylike face). I know that there are many people who believe in fairies, but this is not one. If fairies existed as biological beings, at any time in history, they wouldn’t look like this in death. Whoever made this fairy is a skilled craftsman, and if it’s an April Fool’s joke, as the date suggests, it’s a great one.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Posner is a writer who works in Brooklyn, New York.
