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Where, pray, is Sherlock Holmes?POSSIBLE SITE FOR SLEUTHS is Chateau de Lucens in Moudon, Switzerland. Wife of curator of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation and museum here believes thereground comes the cloprdop of aBy AILEEN SNODDYMOUDON, Switzerland (NEA) — There we were — nine curious tourists standing in a wisp of rain on a dark, chill night thousands of miles from home.Overshadowing us were the lighted battlements of the Chateau de Lucens a museum filled with memorabilia of Sherlock Holmes. In front of us the gate to the .castle’s drawbridge, scheduled to be open for a warm welcome, was barred. At the foot of the winding quarter-mile gravel road leading to the castle on the hill a hound bayed. Our only solace was the flickering flame of a cigarette lighter.Unplanned though it was by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation, the introduction to the castle was perfect. The mood was set as we stumbled back down the road toward the comfort of an inn in this city. We were ready to accept any mystery the townspeople might put on the table with the coffee and stinging Marc liqueur.We weren’t disappointed. There are two mysteries cur-t rently surrounding the castle. One, will the members of the Sherlock. Holmes societiesaround the world meet here May 1, a historic date for Holmes? Two, is there really a ghost in the castle? (An implied third mystery hangs over all — is Sherlock Holmes really dead?)Plans are under way to solvethe first but involved are international communiques. The answer to the second question wascloser at hand.According to an authority on castles in Switzerland, the Swiss are “too practical to have ghosts.” Perhaps this is why the apparition “appears” to an Englishwoman.Mrs. Ennis Foley, wife of the castle’s curator says, “someone turns the water taps and lights off and on in the night.” Pretty good for a starter. And she offhandedly admits these initial pranks are enough for her to prefer spending evenings far away from the fortification once used to protect the valley ofLucens near Lausanne.However, her husband and son Charlie, who must ride a bike four miles to school, find the assignment fascinating. Foley is a cousin of the late Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle and warms to the Doyle collection of books, letters, paintings, armor and the Holmes museum.This makes the castle and its collection a “family affair” since the owner is Adrian Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur’s son, who lives there several months of the year. He set up the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation and opened the exhibition in April, 1966. to the public.Like so many steeped in the character of Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur, Foley speaks of Holmes as though heis a ghost.will walk into the sitting room of 221B Baker Street reproduced here at any moment.Certainly the picture gallery in the castle vaults shows how the movies help perpetuate the myth. These range from Alwyn Neuss, as Holmes in 1908, through Clive Brook, John Barrymore, Raymond Massey and Basil Rathbone to John Neville, the latest Holmes. He stars in “A Study in Terror” released this year in the United States.Nothing took the edge off the visit to Lucens. The Inverness cape and deerstalker hat hung by the door of the famous sitting room reminds the visitor that the two friends are at home. The room originally was created in 1951 for the Festival of Britain.From a dictaphone comes the voice of Adrian Conan Doyle guiding the viewer's attention to a pipe, to a stethoscope, to some test tubes. In the back-horse’s hooves and the street chatter of the late 19th century people who passed the famou* door in Baker Street.On a cool, dark night in astrange setting, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes become as alive as (1) the beheading ax, swords and torture collar in the armory peopled by knights upstairs in the castle or (2 the final groan of a victim whose heart has been pierced by the shortest spike of more than 3Q which makes the elusive Iron Maiden of Nurmberg one of the most terrible instruments of torture invented. She waits patiently in another wing of the castle.The thought of intrigue, murder and torture highlighted in the Castle of Lucens is shiver-ingly quick. Still lingering, though, is the aside of Foley to his wife on hearing her comment about the ghost: “Now, dear. You shouldn’t talk aboutTEA AND BISCUITS await Sherlock Holmes and aide, Dr. Watson, in 221B Baker Street. Sitting room is authentically reproduced and exhibited in the Chateau de Lucens in Moudon, Switzerland. Castle is now Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation.it. We really aren’t sure.”SIDE GLANCES By Gill Fox
Newspaper Details
Redlands Daily Facts
Redlands, California, US
Thu, Jan 26, 1967
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Hayner P.
IL, USA 28 Nov 2018
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Redlands Daily Facts
