#The Sussex Vampire

[no-side-us]

Without speaking, Holmes examined it with care. Finally he shook one of the dimpled fists which waved in front of him. “Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange start in life. Nurse, I should wish to have a word with you in private.”

Little art of Holmes and the baby cause I thought it was really cute.

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #my art #art #sherlock holmes #arthur conan doyle #frederic dorr steele inspired #even picked some colors from his covers

[dathen]

Finally he shook one of the dimpled fists which waved in front of him.

“Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange start in life.

HOLMES SHAKING THE HAND OF A BABY and talking to it formally THIS IS NOT A DRILL

#i love how he is with kids!!! #MORE HOLMES WITH KIDS PLEAAAASE #letters from watson #the sussex vampire

[mariana-oconnor]

The Sussex Vampire pt 2

It took me five times to write the title correctly, so this is clearly going to go brilliantly.

Back to the vampires

Now, my working theory is that the son is secretly trying to off his new half-sibling and frame his stepmother. Mainly I think this because Peru, because British authors in the first part of the twentieth century loved a good untraceable tropical poison from South America.

“She verra ill,” cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her master. “She no ask for food. She verra ill. She need doctor. I frightened stay alone with her without doctor.”

First... wow. That's some terrible accent work there. Yikes. Second, is she ill because she's been sucking poison out of her baby's neck?

“Would your mistress see Dr. Watson?” “I take him. I no ask leave. She needs doctor.”

First, all he's going to do is prescribe brandy. And second, it's lucky he's actually a medical doctor (Although I'm not convinced he's ever done much medicine. He wasn't at his practice much before he abandoned it to live with Holmes again.) You can't just go assuming that everyone called doctor such and such knows medicine. I have many friends and relatives who are doctors and literally 1 of them is a medical doctor.

Both were high, and yet my impression was that the condition was rather that of mental and nervous excitement than of any actual seizure.

Or... an untraceable tropical poison...

“A fiend! A fiend! Oh, what shall I do with this devil?”

A fiend? A devil? Or perhaps...

(No, she's referring to the son. Definitely because who else could it be. Way too obviously directed at her husband here for it to actually be him.)

So far no brandy though. Watson must have lost all his medical knowledge since he left his practice. Woe.

“He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him? Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart? That is how I love him. And yet he could think of me—he could speak of me so.”

Lady, I get it, I get it. You don't want to tell him his son is a murderer. But given the evidence you've left the poor man with, what do you expect. You think he'll just be like 'well, she beat my son and she keeps chowing down on our baby's neck, but I trust that she knows what she's doing?'

...a youth entered the room. He was a remarkable lad, pale-faced and fair-haired, with excitable light blue eyes which blazed into a sudden flame of emotion and joy as they rested upon his father. He rushed forward and threw his arms round his neck with the abandon of a loving girl.

The child is evil.

Although I kind of dislike how they're using his 'excess' of emotional response to show this, especially with the comparison to a woman. There's a distinct undercurrent in this description that sparks of him 'showing too much emotion for a boy' and therefore being othered.

Or maybe I'm reading too much into things in order to support my own hypothesis. Am I altering data to suit my story? Am I the misogynistic one reading too much into this.

Although it literally says in the text that his father 'gently disengaged himself from the embrace with some little show of embarrassment.'

Like, tell me that isn't outright supporting my reading.

Presently he returned, and behind him came a tall, gaunt woman bearing in her arms a very beautiful child, dark-eyed, golden-haired, a wonderful mixture of the Saxon and the Latin. Ferguson was evidently devoted to it, for he took it into his arms and fondled it most tenderly.

Watson out there refusing to apply gendered pronouns. How very modern of him. Lol.

It is a bit weird to see a baby referred to as 'it' so consistently, though. Not even 'them'. Reminds me of the baby object in the Sims.

Then he smiled, and his eyes came back to the baby. On its chubby neck there was this small puckered mark. Without speaking, Holmes examined it with care. Finally he shook one of the dimpled fists which waved in front of him. “Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange start in life."

Holmes being very nice to a baby. Actually interacting with... it? when he really doesn't need to. Not like the baby knows what he's saying. Just taking the time to be nice to a baby. Super heartless and lacking in empathy, that man.

“Do you like her, Jack?” Holmes turned suddenly upon the boy. His expressive mobile face shadowed over, and he shook his head. “Jacky has very strong likes and dislikes,” said Ferguson, putting his arm round the boy. “Luckily I am one of his likes.”

On the one hand, perfectly reasonable to dislike the woman who beat you. On the other hand, maybe the father knows his son is capable of terrible things.

The boy cooed and nestled his head upon his father's breast. Ferguson gently disengaged him.

Oh my god, he's a kid. Let the boy have a hug. Even if he is a monster-child, this is probably why. Though I have a sneaking suspicion the story is going to try to tell me it's the exact opposite.

"Now, Mr. Ferguson, I am a busy man with many calls, and my methods have to be short and direct. The swiftest surgery is the least painful. Let me first say what will ease your mind. Your wife is a very good, a very loving, and a very ill-used woman.”

And your son is a murderer.

“I will do so, but in doing so I must wound you deeply in another direction.” “I care nothing so long as you clear my wife. Everything on earth is insignificant compared to that.”

People really need to think before they make statements like this. I understand that he is unlikely to consider that his son is trying to murder his other child in a fit of outraged jealousy over having to share his beloved father, but still... famous last words.

"The idea of a vampire was to me absurd. Such things do not happen in criminal practice in England."

The specficity of this is very bizarre. Do they happen in other kinds of practices in England?

"Was there not a queen in English history who sucked such a wound to draw poison from it?”

Was there?

OK, apparently this refers to Queen Eleanor, who sucked the poison from Edward I's poisoned knife wound in 1272. A story that has, sadly, fallen out of vogue in the English educational system. Probably because we don't really like to discuss the crusades except in a very general, distant sense. Or... y'know... any of the other times we invaded people. There are a lot of gaps in English history lessons.

“A South American household. My instinct felt the presence of those weapons upon the wall before my eyes ever saw them. It might have been other poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I saw that little empty quiver beside the small bird-bow, it was just what I expected to see. If the child were pricked with one of those arrows dipped in curare or some other devilish drug, it would mean death if the venom were not sucked out."

Curare, that was the name I've been trying to think of. Very popular for a while in literature.

“I watched him as you fondled the child just now. His face was clearly reflected in the glass of the window where the shutter formed a background. I saw such jealousy, such cruel hatred, as I have seldom seen in a human face.”

Sometimes it does suck to be right.

Suck... heh. Pun wasn't intended, but I'll take it.

“I think a year at sea would be my prescription for Master Jacky,” said Holmes.

Like... they're making him work on a ship? I know therapy isn't really anything at this point in time. But would-be murderer child gets sent to sea?

I doubt he'll be killed in a mysterious shipwreck off page, like so many others have been, but really... how is sending him to sea going to help literally anyone? Surely it'll just make him angrier and more resentful.

Victorian parenting was super weird.

Is this to 'make him a man', because we've seen him being compared to a woman? Is this some sort of misguided restoration of the gender binary to save him?

"There, now,” he added as he closed the door behind him, “I think we may leave them to settle the rest among themselves.”

Also Holmes reading the room well enough to know husband and wife need some alone time?

(One last vampire gif there that I don't know if anyone but me will even recognise. Josef, you almost made me understand the vampire thing...)

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Sussex Vampire #long post #Qd

[theriseofthesea]

I know Holmes is like the story about the giant rat of Sumatra is something the world is not prepared for but I want to know about the giant rat!

#sherlock holmes #letters from watson #the Sussex vampire #dr. john watson #I am incredibly curious #like yeah vampires are cool #but giant rat??

[intj-greenwords]

Sherlock Holmes: The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #lx reads sherlock holmes

[eirinstiva]

The Sussex Vampire: a bit about Perú

In the last two letters from my dear friend Watson we know about The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire so I have an excuse to dust my old book of history, some English-Spanish dictionaries and Todo Sherlock Holmes.

Mrs. Ferguson (we don't know her name. ACD, how hard was to call her María or Violeta?) and her maid Dolores come from Perú (I know I shouldn't use ´ but I have my Latino ID so I'll do what I want). She was daughter of a Peruvian merchant related to importation of nitrates.

After the Pacific War came a National reconstruction period (1884–1895). During this period Peru has huge external debt and lost many industries related to nitrate production, the occupied provinces of Tacna and Arica were under Chilenization. Latex and oil industries become relevant due to Industrial Revolution but the country was in bankruptcy. In 1886 the Grace Contract was signed between Peru and British bondholders to settle this debt, and the Peruvian Corporation was formed. This corporation agreed to cancel Peru's debt in exchange for £80,000 in annual payments, mining rights, and ownership of the Peruvian rail for 66 years. The corporation also agreed to build 160 kilometers of new railroad.

Nicolás de Piérola was elected president of Peru 1895, and the country began its period known as the Aristocratic Republic. During this time the economy was highly dependent of Britain: The Peruvian Corporation (trains), London Pacific (oil), Cerro de Pasco Minning Corporation (copper), Peruvian Amazon Company (latex rubber) Sugar Company (sugar) and Banco Perú Londres (bank) were the motors of the economy.

Mrs. Ferguson was probably from an aristrocratic family and received a proper education for a woman of her social status, including learning a foreign language like English. Her "alien religion" was Catholicism like the biggest part of the country because that religion reached almost every corner in South America (by choice or force) during the Colonial Era.

The maid Dolores had brown skin, so I guess she was indigenous or mestiza (Spaniard+Indigenous). Like her employer she was Catholic too but she hadn't the same education. There were efforts to increase the number of people able to read, but it was a common practice for kids to leave school and work in the same industries as their parents.

Dolores didn't study English like Mrs. Ferguson, that's why she use Spanish grammar when she speaks:

“She verra ill,” cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her master. “She no ask for food. She verra ill. She need doctor. I frightened stay alone with her without doctor.”

She no ask for food = Ella no pregunta por comida ✔

The translation into Spanish made by Juan Manuel Ibeas reflects this with the absence of some sounds and words:

—Ta my enferma gimió la muchacha, mirando con ojos indignados a su señor—. No quere comía. Mu enferma. Necesita doctor. Me da miedo estar sola con ella sin doctor.

And "leesten", IIRC in Spanish we don't have long/short vowels, so the /ɪ/ in listen can be /iː/ like in heel, details that make English a hard language for Latinos, and harder for someone with Dolores' background.

ACD wrote a whole chapter of "The Mystery of Cloomber" with some Scottish accent, so I doesn't surprise me. I like the level of accuracy of this accent. There are high chances that Dolores doesn't even read in Spanish, so this details are more accurate that I expected.

I understand (a bit) why Mrs Fergurson didn't dare to tell her husband what his son did. She was in a foreign country alone with her maid, she had to deal with another language, another religion and she doesn't have her family or friends there. I can't imagine going back to Perú by steamship in times when the Panama Canal was in construction.

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #SUSS #history #acd canon #sherlock holmes #i wanted to add ID and more details but my brain is melting #latin american history #lost in translation #todo sherlock holmes #letters in the underground

[johnlockifconvenient]

All these years and Watson keeps surprising him 💖

#johnlock #they’re in love your honor #letters from watson #the sussex vampire

[sarnie-for-varney]

#no because I'm right #sherlock holmes #the casebook of sherlock holmes #granada television #granada holmes #the last vampyre #the sussex vampire #jack ferguson #richard dempsey #sir arthur conan doyle #arthur conan doyle #conan doyle #acd #gallowglass #michael sheen #sherlock holmes memes #the casebook of sherlock holmes memes #the last vampyre memes #gallowglass memes #memes #video

[ultraviolet-ink]

Happy Halloween!

#granada holmes #granada johnlock #granada sherlock holmes #granada john watson #johnlock #holmes/watson #sherlock holmes/john watson #dgs really bringing me back to my johnlock days #the last vampyre #the sussex vampire

[thefisherqueen]

Letters from Watson's The Sussex Vampire it is this evening! Such an itriguing title. A vampire? Really?

“You are right, Watson. I bet Watson glowed with pride at those words

The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply. Ok I love that

“Cheeseman's, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley, Watson?” “It is in Sussex, south of Horsham.” Holmes sometimes really treats Watson as a walking atlas or newspaper. I don't think that Watson minds

It was one of the peculiarities of his proud, self-contained nature that though he docketed any fresh information very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldom made any acknowledgment to the giver. Ok, maybe he does mind

indeed the matter is so extraordinarily delicate that it is most difficult to discuss Really delicate this time, or delicate like a student trying to cheat again?

The lady was very beautiful, but *steels for racism and misogyny*

Twice the wife was caught in the act of assaulting this poor lad in the most unprovoked way. Once she struck him with a stick and left a great weal on his arm. This was a small matter, however, compared with her conduct to her own child, a dear boy just under one year of age. On one occasion about a month ago this child had been left by its nurse for a few minutes. A loud cry from the baby, as of pain, called the nurse back. As she ran into the room she saw her employer, the lady, leaning over the baby and apparently biting his neck. There was a small wound in the neck from which a stream of blood had escaped. A violent and biting wife. So, some real vampire-like behaviour then. Not what I expected

To him it seemed as wild a tale as it may now seem to you. He knew his wife to be a loving wife, and, save for the assaults upon her stepson, a loving mother. Why, then, should she wound her own dear little baby? He told the nurse that she was dreaming, that her suspicions were those of a lunatic, and that such libels upon her mistress were not to be tolerated. Believe her, idiot!

So what are Holmes and Watson going to do this time? Interrogate this vampire lady? Deduce and remove the perfectionally rational and existing thing that suddenly makes her want to drink her baby's blood? I really can't see where this story is heading

P. S. I believe your friend Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond. It is the only personal introduction which I can give. “Of course I remembered him,” said I as I laid down the letter. “Big Bob Ferguson, the finest three-quarter Richmond ever had. Fanfic writers really ran away with this, avidly pointing to Ferguson as Watson's first crush on another man. I can't really blame them

Holmes looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head. “I never get your limits, Watson,” said he. “There are unexplored possibilities about you. I love this. So easy to picture Holmes looking at Watson like he is a beautiful, ever interesting puzzle

I had remembered him as a long, slab-sided man with loose limbs and a fine turn of speed which had carried him round many an opposing back. There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his shoulders were bowed. I fear that I roused corresponding emotions in him. “Hullo, Watson,” said he, and his voice was still deep and hearty. “You don't look quite the man you did when I threw you over the ropes into the crowd at the Old Deer Park. Oh my. There was really some History between those two

“I gather that you did not know your wife well at the time of your marriage?” “I had only known her a few weeks.” Still wild to me, that it was common to marry someone you barely knew at that time

“I fancy,” said he, “that I may be of more use at Lamberley than here. It is eminently a case for personal investigation. If the lady remains in her room, our presence could not annoy or inconvenience her. Of course, we would stay at the inn.” They are going on a country trip, staying at an inn, again :)

“Did she give no explanation why she struck him?” “None save that she hated him. Again and again she said so.” “Well, that is not unknown among stepmothers. A posthumous jealousy, we will say. Is the lady jealous by nature?” “Yes, she is very jealous—jealous with all the strength of her fiery tropical love.” Evil stepmother trope, but racist as well *groans*

Still can't figure out where this story is going and what Holmes is planning to do

“For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes? It may be a mere intellectual puzzle to you, but it is life and death to me! My wife a would-be murderer—my child in constant danger! Don't play with me, Mr. Holmes. It is too terribly serious.” Good that Ferguson says those words aloud. Holmes, are you listening?

Again she turned on me those glorious eyes. “He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him? Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart? That is how I love him. And yet he could think of me—he could speak of me so.” “He is full of grief, but he cannot understand.” “No, he cannot understand. But he should trust.” Don't tell me her intentions were good, and those two children were the ones who were... possessed, somehow? And that she tried to help them? I'm lost

“Fancy anyone having the heart to hurt him,” he muttered as he glanced down at the small, angry red pucker upon the cherub throat. It was at this moment that I chanced to glance at Holmes and saw a most singular intentness in his expression. His face was as set as if it had been carved out of old ivory, and his eyes, which had glanced for a moment at father and child, were now fixed with eager curiosity upon something at the other side of the room. Following his gaze I could only guess that he was looking out through the window at the melancholy, dripping garden. *inspiration is striking* I have a theory! Do wasps live in the garden? Was the baby stung by a wasp, and did the lady try to suck the poison out, and maybe beat them away with those sticks as well? Though that does not explain the partly paralized dog

Your wife is a very good, a very loving, and a very ill-used woman.” Ferguson sat up with a cry of joy. “Prove that, Mr. Holmes, and I am your debtor forever.” “I will do so, but in doing so I must wound you deeply in another direction.” Hm. My suspicions are now on the older son. And no wasps. Something stronger, intentionally given

Ferguson clearly saying he's not interested in hearing Holmes' reasoning, only his conclusions, yet Holmes simply can't resist

“Did it not occur to you that a bleeding wound may be sucked for some other purpose than to draw the blood from it? Was there not a queen in English history who sucked such a wound to draw poison from it?” Good, I was at least somewhat right. Still curious about what and who

A South American household. My instinct felt the presence of those weapons upon the wall before my eyes ever saw them. It might have been other poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I saw that little empty quiver beside the small bird-bow, it was just what I expected to see. Not fair. The readers couldn't see what Holmes could see, you literally can't know this

“Now do you understand? Your wife feared such an attack. She saw it made and saved the child's life, and yet she shrank from telling you all the truth, for she knew how you loved the boy and feared lest it break your heart.” “Jacky!” I knew it. Quite terrible, though, to write his disability as a motivation for this attacks

I liked the start of this story. The rest seemed a bit rushed, the elder brother as the villain in this story could use a bit more foreshadowing. I also really missed desciptions of Holmes and Watson sleeping in the same inn room and going on countryside walks together

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #sherlock holmes

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Aug. 30

The Sussex Vampire, Part 2

I assume the reason this detail was included is to further emphasize that Big Bob isn't secretly a bad guy or something, and that he's free to see his wife, she just doesn't want to see him in return.

It's always a treat to have Watson be a doctor in the story in some way. A few nice words, a quick check up, just small stuff he's probably done over a thousand times by now.

What is a "smart maid" in this context? And what differentiates her from a normal maid that she's also described as "modern"? Unless it just means a maid who is quite intelligent.

This is such a cute little moment! And afterwards Holmes calls him "little man" which is even more adorable. I like the idea of Holmes being very easy around kids and the like, especially with how few of them we see in these stories.

Maybe elsewhere, but vampires? In England? Absolutely preposterous! The mere notion is absurd! Who would even dare to imagine such a thing? Certainly not anyone Doyle knew.

You'd think they'd remove the poisons from the weapons brought into the house, especially with kids around. Though Jack seemed pretty committed, so I wouldn't put it past him going out and getting some other poison to use.

Jack's what? Fifteen? So would a year at sea mean going on a merchant's ship or joining the navy as a recruit? Or something else? If instead it's more like the equivalent of a cruise, then I think that would suit him much better. Just give him some time to figure out who he is outside of poisoning dogs and babies.

I don't remember this story, but I hope it includes Watson playing rugby or showcasing some knowledge of rugby. I enjoy hearing about what his life is like outside of being a doctor or Holmes' partner.

Part 1 - Part 2

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #sherlock holmes #john h watson #robert ferguson #mrs ferguson #dolores the maid #jack ferguson #mrs mason #carlo the dog #arthur conan doyle #liveblogging sherlock holmes

[dathen]

I’m dying that Holmes was recommended to the guy worried about vampires by his LAWYERS. Oh no who around here might have vampire experience…solicitors!!

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #dracula daily

[mariana-oconnor]

The Sussex Vampire pt 1

I know i haven't read this one. Because I remember its existence and that I never read it. Vampires aren't often my thing, but somehow I doubt this is going to stray into my alternate universe of supernatural explanations. I'm sure there will be a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything.

'Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from us in a communication of even date concerning vampires. As our firm specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery the matter hardly comes within our purview...'

Imagine working for an engineering company and someone writes to you asking for help with vampires. What would you even do with that? Honestly, it's kind of nice that they're even forwarding the request on rather than just binning it. I would have just written an email back saying 'Sorry, but I think you sent this to the wrong address. Good luck with your vampire problem.'

The fact they're sending it to Holmes because they've worked with him before though and someone at the office was like 'you remember that weird guy who came in and solved our mystery? the one who crawled around on the floor and pushing things off tables? I bet he could deal with a vampire.'

Or Holmes was really rude to one of them and this is their revenge.

“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,” said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. “It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared."

I may not have read this story before, but the Giant Rat of Sumatra's fame exceeds this paltry statement. He's my favourite 'sir not appearing in these stories' of the Holmes canon.

"But what do we know about vampires?"

Or at least that seems to be Tumblr's hot take on the matter.

(How many pop culture vampire gifs can I fit into this story? That's what I intend to find out)

“Rubbish, Watson, rubbish! What have we to do with walking corpses who can only be held in their grave by stakes driven through their hearts? It's pure lunacy.”

“But surely,” said I, “the vampire was not necessarily a dead man? A living person might have the habit. I have read, for example, of the old sucking the blood of the young in order to retain their youth.”

They're treating this so seriously.

"The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply."

"By the way, he claims acquaintance with you.” “With me!”

Watson! How could you forget your old friend Bob Ferguson? How? Tutut.

'The gentleman had been married twice and he had one son by the first wife. [...] Twice the wife was caught in the act of assaulting this poor lad in the most unprovoked way. Once she struck him with a stick and left a great weal on his arm.'

I mean, you don't get clearer evil stepmother vibes than that. In general, not good.

'As she ran into the room she saw her employer, the lady, leaning over the baby and apparently biting his neck. There was a small wound in the neck from which a stream of blood had escaped.'

That does sound fairly vampiric.

'...the lady implored her not to do so and actually gave her five pounds as a price for her silence.'

This is the equivalent of over £500, so... I can sort of see that working. But also you think the woman is biting her infant child - definitely tell someone. Always tell someone if you think someone is trying to eat a baby. Seems pretty obvious. Take the money as well, sure, but definitely tell someone.

'He knew his wife to be a loving wife, and, save for the assaults upon her stepson, a loving mother.'

That's a pretty big exception. You know that right? She's a loving mother except for how she abuses her stepchild. But other than the physical violence, she's great. Super maternal. Contender for mother of the year.

Seriously?

“Of course I remembered him,” said I as I laid down the letter. “Big Bob Ferguson, the finest three-quarter Richmond ever had."

Hey, he actually is a Bob! Ha!

"Take a wire down, like a good fellow."

Condescending much, Holmes?

There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his shoulders were bowed. I fear that I roused corresponding emotions in him.

Yikes, Watson forced to confront his own mortality. But again a really unflattering description of someone you seem to like. Did Watson ever keep any friends other than Holmes, because he's really rude about them sometimes.

"But you can imagine how difficult it is when you are speaking of the one woman whom you are bound to protect and help."

I mean, sir, as far as you know she is literally abusing your children. I feel like you're okay not protecting and helping her get away with that.

“No, she struck him savagely. It is the more terrible as he is a poor little inoffensive cripple.”

O-kay, so... right. Yep. Mmhm. Glad to see the ableism alive and well in the Victorian times.

Well, post-WWI times when this was published, but Victorian times in the story.

“I gather that you did not know your wife well at the time of your marriage?” “I had only known her a few weeks.”

I'm starting to understand your problem a bit better, my dude.

“None save that she hated him. Again and again she said so.”

That's... extreme.

Beating child bad, but what if child evil? Clearly there's going to be a twist here, because there's no way this is going to turn out to be an actual vampire. What if twist is that the fifteen year old is the villain all along?

Don't know how that would relate to the baby-blood drinking.

“That's what puzzled the vet. A sort of paralysis. Spinal meningitis, he thought. But it is passing. He'll be all right soon—won't you, Carlo?”

Oh no. There's a woman from Peru, a selection of South American artefacts available. I feel like there might be some sort of mysterious tropical poison involved and the kid tried it on the dog, then went after the baby and the wife has been sucking the poison out of the wound. It would certainly cover all the facts. And there was a long phase where people really did like 'tropical poison blow darts' in British fiction.

“For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes? It may be a mere intellectual puzzle to you, but it is life and death to me! My wife a would-be murderer—my child in constant danger! Don't play with me, Mr. Holmes. It is too terribly serious.”

Honestly, Mr Ferguson should definitely have done something about his wife abusing his children before this (even if she isn't, that's what he thinks she's doing), but I respect him for this outburst. And Holmes does actually respond to it with some empathy.

Yep. current theory is that the fifteen year old is actually a jealous, spoilt kid and he's trying to get rid of stepmother and half-sibling in a way that will implicate her because it's South American poison. And poor old Bob is just a bit of a himbo, who doesn't believe anyone capable of such things.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Sussex Vampire #long post #Not enough vampire gifs #I will try to include more next time

[warrenwaskilledbyadeer]

The Sussex Vampire ends on my birthday!! :D November 21st!

Any other people have Sherlock Holmes dates on their birthdays?

#sherlock holmes #arthur conan doyle #sir arthur conan doyle #acd holmes #the sussex vampire #acd canon

[ogsherlockholmes]

22nd October

It’s coming closer to Halloween, so we have one of the more... ‘spooky’ Holmes stories today (I definitely planned that and this isn’t just an accident obviously): The Sussex Vampire. 

Like a Scooby-Doo episode, however, there isn’t actually any monster, and there isn’t really a villain either. But, I’ve been enjoying all vampire related content recently (blame Dracula Daily) so I’m going to include today’s antagonist, Jack Ferguson. And, yes, he’s another J villain. He’s also one of the youngest antagonists, being only fifteen. 

This story is... very uncomfortable. It starts off with a tale of a woman sucking her baby’s blood, then she goes mad and becomes bedridden. Her husband refuses to believe it, until he catches her in the act so naturally wants to keep her as far away as possible from their child. Robert Ferguson, whose wife is the one going all-out vampire, has another son from his past wife, and I think you can guess the name. 

Jack Ferguson is disabled- it’s not specified what the disability is, but, like any Victorian literature, it’s used to make him seem ‘weird’ or ‘pathetic’. This is, of course, plain ableism, but unfortunately that is how he is categorised. 

Ferguson’s wife had reportedly hit Jack before, once with a stick and once with her hands, so they (to put it plainly) don’t have a good relationship. 

However, Jack and his dad’s relationship is entirely different, to the point where it’s almost like Jack won’t allow anyone else to be close to his dad. I say ‘almost like’, but that is the main gist of their relationship, and Jack was jealous of everyone. 

‘He [Jack] was a remarkable lad, pale-faced and fair-haired, with excitable light blue eyes which blazed into a sudden flame of emotion and joy as they rested upon his father. He rushed forward and threw his arms round his neck with the abandon of a loving girl. “Oh, daddy,” he cried, “I did not know you were due yet. I should have been here to meet you. Oh, I am so glad to see you!” Ferguson gently disengaged himself from the embrace with some little show of embarrassment. “Dear old chap,” said he, patting the flaxen head with a very tender hand. “I came early because my friends, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, have been persuaded to come down and spend an evening with us.” “Is that Mr. Holmes, the detective?” “Yes.” The youth looked at us with a very penetrating and, as it seemed to me, unfriendly gaze.’ 

Not even the detective and his boswell can talk to Jack’s dad. 

Jack’s devotion to his father manifests in his hatred for his new baby brother. His outlet for this hatred? Poisoning him. Very extreme. 

But, Robert Ferguson would never believe his son would do this, so his wife continued to beat Jack ‘privately’ (because that was definitely going to do something) and suck the blood out of her baby. Ferguson’s wife was probably reading one too many vampire novels. 

Jack is never confronted, but Sherlock tells his father of his actions, and recommends a year at sea for him. 

I don’t know, maybe he thought it was ‘just hormones’. 

#the last bit is not my opinion #its never just hormones #jack ferguson #the sussex vampire #acd canon #acd books #ACD #Sherlock Holmes #sherlockholmes

[pop-goes-the-weasel]

Yippee! This is where Holmes shakes the hand of a baby!

#letters from watson #Sussex vampire #sherlock holmes