Delaware County District Library

Through a glass, darkly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the quest to solve the greatest mystery of all, Stefan Bechtel and Laurence Roy Stains

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-292) and index

collective biography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Through a glass, darkly

bibliography

957022393

Stefan Bechtel and Laurence Roy Stains

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the quest to solve the greatest mystery of all

Is it possible to make direct contact with the dead? Do the departed seek to make contact with us? The conviction that both things are true was the cornerstone of spiritualism, a kind of do-it-yourself religion that swept the Western world from the 1850s to the 1930s. The movement's most famous spokesman was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Known to the world as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle underwent what many people at the time considered an enigmatic transformation, turning his back on the hyper-rational Holmes and plunging into the supernatural. What was it that convinced a brilliant man like Doyle, the creator of the great exemplar of cold, objective thought, that there was a reality beyond the reality? Using the life of Doyle as a lens, Bechtel probes this largely unexplored movement, a movement rife with fraud but also full of genuine evidence that is difficult to dismiss

The infinite strangeness of life -- Into the unknown -- "Mister Splitfoot, do as I do!" -- The spiritual wildfire -- The invention of Sherlock Holmes -- The science of the unseen -- "Some splendid starry night" -- The Saint Paul of spiritualism -- An embarrassment of fairies -- The strangest friendship in history -- Sex, lies, and séances -- Houdini cheats...again -- "We have just begun to fight!" -- A death foretold -- The lion in winter -- Sir Arthur, is that you?