This popped up in one my RSS feeds yesterday. Great little video of Doyle discussing 1) how he created the character of Sherlock Holmes and 2) the experiences he had with spiritualism near the end of his life.
http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=16976

My favorite part of the video is where he just gets his hat, stands up and says "well...good bye".

[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 10:57 AM. Reason : ``]

7/22/2010 10:44:39 AM

Spiritualism? I certainly hope not.

7/22/2010 10:48:00 AM

^ *everyone* has odd or indefensible beliefs on some level or another. the sooner one realizes that, the sooner one can forgive others for not sharing their own peculiar/unfounded beliefs.

but doyle's drift toward spirtualism is even more understandable when considering the suffering he endured in the early 1900s.

Quote :

"Following the death of his wife Louisa in 1906, the death of his son Kingsley just before the end of World War I, and the deaths of his brother Innes, his two brothers-in-law (one of whom was E. W. Hornung, creator of the literary character Raffles) and his two nephews shortly after the war, Conan Doyle sank into depression. He found solace supporting spiritualism and its attempts to find proof of existence beyond the grave."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle

7/22/2010 11:13:00 AM