Re: Vampires
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire was first published in The Strand Magazine and in N.Y. Hearst’s Int’l Magazine in January 1924
Vampires in Sussex?
No, this case has nothing to do with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was a popular play touring England at the time. (Bram Stoker was a business manager at the Lyceum Theatre, where Holmes and Watson accompanied Mary Morstan for a rendezvous with Sholto’s agent.)
Holmes’s opinion on vampires? “Rubbish, Watson, rubbish!” “…it’s pure lunacy!” “…we seem to have been switched on to a Grimm’s fairy tale.” “No ghosts need apply.”
Holmes and Watson travel to Sussex, nonetheless, where the old house is full of curiosities. A beautiful Peruvian wife and mother who lays dying. Her young step-son, with whom she has come to blows, her loyal servant, her loving husband (from whom she is keeping a secret) a baby with a wound on its neck and a lame dog.
From Bill Blackbeard’s “Sherlock Holmes in America”
The Stormy Petrels will sink their teeth into The Sussex Vampire on Tuesday, March 5th at 7:00 pm, meeting at our usual Hampton Place lounge.
For more information, please contact Fran at: franziskah@shaw.ca
Bonus questions for members attending the meeting:
(1) What was the name of the ship associated with “The Giant Rat of Sumatra”?
(2) Name another ship mentioned in this adventure
“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,” said Holmes……
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Published by Fran Martin
Fran Martin became a member of The Bootmakers of Toronto in 1987 and The Stormy Petrels of B.C. in 1988.
She has attended several Sherlockian conferences including: In 1992 "Aspects of Holmes" in Bradford, England (hosted by The Northern Musgraves); In 2006 "ACD at 35" in Toronto (hosted by The Bootmakers of Toronto); 2013 "Sherlock Holmes Through Time & and Place" in Minneapolis (hosted by The Norwegian Explorers); 2014 "Gillette to Brett IV" in Bloomington (hosted by Wessex Press); 2015 SherlockCon in Seattle; 2015 "A Scintillation of Scions VIII" in Baltimore (hosted by Watson's Tin Box); 2016 "The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes" (hosted by The Norwegian Explorers); in 2018 in Dayton, Ohio for the "Holmes, Doyle & Friends" conference (hosted by the Agra Treasurers).
Fran has held several positions with The Stormy Petrels of B.C. including secretary, vice-president, special events coordinator and is currently president and editor of the "Petrel Flyer".
She was honoured with being awarded the title of "Master Bootmaker" in 2014. She was very pleased to present a paper to a meeting of Sir Hugo's Companions in Chicago in 2017.
Fran has contributed articles to Canadian Holmes magazine, the Watsonian and Chris Redmond's "About Sixty" and "Sherlock Holmes is Like...". In May, 2018 she attended the 78th annual Speckled Band of Boston dinner. She was very honoured to have been one of the first women invited.
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