“never for such stakes” [EMPT]
We all know Sherlock Holmes's reaction to the existence of vampires: “It's pure lunacy.”
He was specifically referring to the widely accepted myth that vampires could be defeated by driving a stake through their hearts in order to pin them in their graves. The type of wood mattered too; oak and ash were preferred for their mystical qualities.
Interestingly, in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Count wasn't defeated with a stake through his heart. According to Mina Murray's narrative, Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris pried open the lid of the box in which Dracula lay, the one decapitating him with a Kukri and the other piercing his heart with a bowie knife:
But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan’s great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris’s bowie knife plunged into the heart.
And while the creator of Sherlock Holmes thought the idea of vampires was fanciful, he had a direct connection to Bram Stoker. And you can hear Edward Pettit discuss that in Episode 298 of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere:
The boys at Baker Street Elementary may not have gotten the memo on vampires quite yet...
Baker Street Elementary follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at www.bakerstreetelementary.org.
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