What I Gathered from the Gathering

I've been told that the "Gathering of Southern Sherlockians" isn't called a symposium because that sounds too serious, whereas this yearly event is more into the fun side of Sherlock Holmes & Co.

That may be, but I found the eighth annual "Gathering," held last weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to be highly informative as well as fun.

For instance, historian Tracy Revels, author of the Holmes novels Shadowfall and Shadowblood, taught us about "Grave Expectations: Victorian Funeral and Mourning Customs." She offered the fascinating speculation that public mourning for Sherlock Holmes was so deep after he went down the Reichenbach Falls precisely because he was denied the Victorian idea of the good death. She defined that as "a slow decline which gave one time to say goodbye and serve as an example of Christian fortitude and suffering to one's family."

Marino Alvarez, author of A Professor Reflects on Sherlock Holmes, and his wife Victoria took us with them (via Power Point) on visits to Baker Street, the Reichbach Falls, and Oxford to see the papers of the early Holmesian Ronald A. Knox.

The always-entertaining Henry Zecher, author of the definitive biography of William Gillette, gave his illustrated talk on "William Gillette: America's Sherlock Holmes." I've heard and seen this talk three times now and enjoyed it every time. The subject and the student are worthy of each other!

Kenneth Carr talked about the Baker Street Irregulars (the street Arabs, not the Sherlockians); Stephanie Osborn, cocaine; yours truly, how A Study in Scarlet prefigured so much of what was to follow; Derek Martin, five actors who played Holmes; and Kent Ross, Victorian carriages.

On top of all that, there was a banquet, two hilarious radio plays by Tracy Revels, and lots of great door prizes. Even when they are being more serious than they want you to believe, Sherlockians are a fun crowd.

PHOTO BY ANN ANDRIACCO: Marino Alverez, Tracy Revels, Dan Andriacco