“this agency stands flat-footed upon the ground” [SUSS]
One of the greatest ironies in literary history is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the most famous logic-based human thinking machine in literature, was also a committed spiritualist — a devoted believer in being able to communicate with the dead.
This belief spanned his writings, his public lectures, and even crept into the world of Sherlock Holmes after Conan Doyle's death: the 1939 production of The Hound of the Baskervilles was infused with a seance (which was decided not in the book about the so-called spectral hound).
He was thorough in his belief; he wasn't trying to hoodwink anyone, nor was he naively accepting. His belief was a rational and deeply personal decision shaped by childhood religious conflict, scientific inquiry, and the theological tenets of the religion he grew up with (and was conflicted about). In fact, it famously led to the dissolution of his friendship with Harry Houdini when the latter (a committed hoax-buster) felt duped by a seance to communicate with his departed mother.
Conan Doyle's writing on the topic included the novel The Land of Mist, numerous letters and articles, including "The Case for Spiritualism" in 1920. When one conducts a search at the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, it returns more than 700 entries for spiritualism.
But the one item that requires additional attention is that of the seance that was held a week after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's death in July of 1930. Held at Royal Albert Hall, the president of the Marylebone Spiritualist Association (appropriately named "Craze") hosted the event at which Mrs. Estelle Roberts, a noted clairvoyant supposedly passed along a message to Lady Conan Doyle. Read all about it at the Royal Albert website.
It's almost enough to make Conan Doyle sue his estate from beyond the grave.
Let's see who's getting spooked at Baker Street Elementary...
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 the Baker Street Elementary website.
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