“There have been many adventures in my life, but the greatest and most glorious is ahead of me” - these words Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uttered a few days before his death. It is not easy to believe in it, but Conan Doyle, a doctor by profession, by the end of his life finally and irrevocably became addicted to spiritualism.
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Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh into an artist's family. Parents could hardly make ends meet, and wealthy relatives took an active part in the education of a smart boy. With their help, he graduated from Jesuit School and College at Stonyhurst and entered the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In his third year, he got into the first spiritualistic seance in his life. This made an indelible impression on him. The same cannot be said about medicine. Even with his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees, Arthur was skeptical about his profession. Suffice it to say that when he got down to work, he made a poster that read: "Permission to kill."
Of course, Conan Doyle didn't kill anyone. At first he worked as a surgeon on a ship sailing to the shores of West Africa, then opened a practice in England. I must say that it was not very popular. In anticipation of patients, Arthur, out of nothing to do, took up his pen.
Conan Doyle wrote almost continuously: on trains, cabs, posing for a photographer, and even … while talking at parties. The official birth of the great detective Holmes took place in 1887 in the "Study in crimson tones", which was written in … three weeks. In total, Sherlock Holmes appeared in 56 short stories and 4 stories. In 1893, Conan Doyle tried to kill the detective, but outraged readers were forced to resurrect Holmes.
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"Otherworldly contacts" Conan Doyle became interested after the death of his father, who died in a mental hospital and claimed to hear "voices from the other world." Among the belongings of the deceased, Arthur found a diary in which his father wrote that he was lucky to find a way to communicate with the souls of deceased parents, and begged his son to explore "this reserved area of human consciousness."
After that, Conan Doyle seriously took up spiritualism and the occult sciences. By this time, he had already gained world fame, his books were published in huge editions, translated into other languages. But suddenly in 1917, in one of his public speeches, Sir Arthur in a rather harsh form renounced Christianity and announced that he was switching to a "spiritualist religion." He soon became a member of the Golden Dawn Occult Society, President of the British College of Occult Sciences, the London Spiritual Society, and in 1925 presided over the International Congress of Spiritualism in Paris.
Conan Doyle has traveled to many countries and cities in Europe and America, where he gave public lectures on Spiritualism; he penned the fundamental work "History of Spiritualism" and a number of books devoted to the search for a connection with parallel worlds. However, among many of his contemporaries, his belief in "afterlife contacts" caused a skeptical smile. And since he did not look like a mentally ill, he was simply suspected of hoaxes.
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But no one has ever been able to turn a convinced spiritualist off the chosen path once and for all. It is enough to give two examples.
In 1920, the writer met the illusionist Harry Houdini. Despite the dissimilarity of characters, they became friends. In his book "On the Edge of the Unknown," Sir Arthur devoted a whole chapter to Houdini, in which he argued that he had paranormal powers, but out of stubbornness he did not want to admit it. Indeed, at the dawn of his career, Harry Houdini helped his wife, who performed in the circus with the number "The Famous Fortuneteller."
However, in his mature years he developed a persistent dislike for all kinds of mediums. He saw in them crooks and swindlers who profit from other people's misfortunes. The relationship between Conan Doyle and the great illusionist finally soured after a seance in Atlantic City. There Houdini was persuaded to contact the spirit of his mother, Cecilia Weiss. Lady Conan Doyle, the writer's wife, who considered herself a medium, wrote fifteen pages of close-fitting text claiming to have been led by Houdini's mother.
Harry doubted: his mother, a Hungarian Jewess, did not know English! This statement threw Sir Arthur Conan Doyle off balance. He began to argue with a friend, arguing that when representatives of two worlds communicate, automatic translation into the language of a medium often occurs. But the writer's explanation did not dispel Houdini's doubts. After all, the spirit did not even mention that the session took place on Cecilia's birthday!..
Later, Sir Arthur wrote in a letter that for the persecution of spiritualism Houdini would receive what he deserved. “I think the day of reckoning is not far off,” he broadcast.
I am glad to be fooled
An even more graphic example of Conan Doyle's passionate love for spiritualism and his credulity is the famous story of the fairies.
In 1917, cousins from Yorkshire, 16-year-old Elsie Wright and 10-year-old Frances Griffith, took a photograph in the garden of their house, which showed fairies dancing and playing lutes. Three years later, the girls took three more of the same photographs.
Arthur Conan Doyle sent the negatives to the experts. Kodak London officials said they could not vouch for their authenticity. However, renowned photographer Harold Snelling, after carefully examining the negatives, said they were genuine. Naturally, Sir Arthur agreed with Snelling's opinion and not only believed in the unusual story, but, as usual, began to ardently prove the existence of fairies.
Half a century after Conan Doyle's death, a 1915 children's book was found. Among others, there were drawings of fairies, which were very similar to the fairies from the photographs of Elsie and Frances. In 1982, the sisters, then still alive, admitted to the draw. They cut fairies out of a book and attached them with needles to a bush, and a light breeze caused the illusion of a dance …
Curious in this sense is the statement of the famous British writer Gilbert Chesterton: "For a long time it seemed to me that with his intellect Sir Arthur went more to Dr. Watson than to Sherlock Holmes."
SEE YOU SOON
In the spring of 1930 Sir Arthur, then seventy-one years old, invited his wife to his office and solemnly said: he was told FROM THERE that he would leave the world on July 7th. Then Conan Doyle handed her an envelope sealed with his personal seal, and asked that after he died, the wife, through a medium, would learn from his spirit the content of the message.
The prediction received from the other world came true: on July 7 at about eight o'clock in the morning, Sir Arthur passed away.
The well-known medium Estelle Roberts attended the funeral service. Conan Doyle's wife handed her a sealed envelope and asked her to ask his spirit what was written in the message.
Estelle Roberts, standing in front of the writer's empty chair, reported that Sir Arthur writes: “I have defeated you, unbelieving gentlemen! There is no death. See you soon!"
After that, the envelope was opened and just such a text was read on a piece of paper.
Zakhar RADOV, Sergey DEMKIN