Francis Pharcellus Church was an editor at The New York Sun when he was handed Virginia O'Hanlon's letter and told to write a response for the next day's edition. Church dashed off his legendary editorial in a very short time, and in doing so struck a glancing blow to skeptics of every era. It was not until after his death in 1906 that it became publicly known that Church had written the reply to Virginia O’Hanlon.