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> Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a keen spiritualist, even consulted a medium to attempt to solve the mystery of her disappearance. This bit was the most surprising part of the article for me, given the themes of science and materialism in Sherlock Holmes books. Looking a bit into it, Doyle really seems to have been into Spiritualism for some bizarre reason [0]. [0] https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/spiritualist
> The written answer from the Home Secretary was that ‘No members of the Metropolitan Police were specially detailed for the purpose, and no cost was incurred by the Metropolitan Police …’ Then > Agatha’s husband, Archie Christie, responded to enquiries about his wife’s state of mind by explaining that she was suffering from a nervous disorder and memory loss. The police approached him to request a contribution towar…
It is fascinating to see how much misinformation was shared to the public by the MSM in this story. Long before the ills of social media were around to blame.
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Even more interesting is the fact that he and Harry Houdini were friends, but they were split over the life after death question. Houdini was sick of all the charlatans, and made the focus of his life’s work in his final years to prove them wrong. It obviously created a wedge between them. Houdini by that time was a megastar. He was easily the most famous person in the western world for about a generation. His fame d…
Was he more famous than Chaplin?
Even given that, I’d say yes.
The thing about Houdini was not just that he was famous M, but he really didn’t have any competition.
Chaplin, even at the height of his fame, there were others that weren’t far behind (Buster Keaton, say)
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Conan Doyle was into a lot of pseudoscientific stuff and it runs through his Holmes stories. He didn't think of it as "pseudo-" at all so just presented it as run of the mill science, like the hoary "10% of your brain" nonsense. Holmes' "reasoning" processes were often pretty dubious too. I read those stories as a kid (we had a huge single volume for some reason) and tried to figure out how to emulate Holmes' thinkin…
Really? Most of the stories are well done even if not every bit of his "ratiocination" holds up. I feel like one can enjoy them for what they are without trying to take them as real-life forensic science.
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Was he more famous than Chaplin?
Their careers mostly didn’t overlap. There were a few years, but Houdini was earlier. Even given that, I’d say yes. The thing about Houdini was not just that he was famous M, but he really didn’t have any competition. Chaplin, even at the height of his fame, there were others that weren’t far behind (Buster Keaton, say)
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have been into Spiritualism for some bizarre reason Most religions have afterlifes, and that implies some kind of spiritualism. And a mere 50+ years ago, Christianity was almost universally accepted in the West.
Spiritualism is a specific movement which all major branches of Christianity and most other major world religions reject.
But the concept of an invisible spirit, which leaves your body upon death, (or is created by an omnipotent being upon death), is the commonality.
Spirits are spirits, be they called souls, vapours, spirits, or what not. And everyone believed in life after death, in the spiritual form.
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have been into Spiritualism for some bizarre reason Most religions have afterlifes, and that implies some kind of spiritualism. And a mere 50+ years ago, Christianity was almost universally accepted in the West.
Spiritualism is a specific movement which all major branches of Christianity and most other major world religions reject.
Speaking of rejection, Agatha Christie was so deeply devoted to the Tridentine form of the Catholic Mass, that she signed a petition that resulted in Papal permission to extend celebrations of this Mass beyond the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. That permission became known as the Agatha Christie Indult.
> Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a keen spiritualist, even consulted a medium to attempt to solve the mystery of her disappearance. This bit was the most surprising part of the article for me, given the themes of science and materialism in Sherlock Holmes books. Looking a bit into it, Doyle really seems to have been into Spiritualism for some bizarre reason [0]. [0] https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/spiritualist
A bit like CS Lewis and Tolkien. Lewis is the one you’d expect to be religious based ont heir popular works, but nope.
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Well Newton was seriously into alchemy so you never can tell.
From a scientific standpoint, nuclear fission is pretty much alchemy, right? I feel like we use the term to dismiss quacks, but changing one element into another is literally something we now know how to do. Lead (atomic number 82) isn’t even that far from gold (atomic number 79).
Just because it happens to be physically possible to turn lead into gold using a model that alchemists would never have even comprehended (as their principles were based on hermeticism and religion, not experimental science) doesn't mean they weren't quacks, or that they were half right. They were quacks, and it's OK to see them as such.