Sherlockian
The Sherlock Holmes stories fascinated me as a boy and I continue to be a Sherlockian (a Holmes aficiando). When I was a Mensa member (q.v) I joined a Special Interest Group (SIG) called Mycroft's Isolated Companions (after Sherlock's brother). However, as I later told a Toronto Holmes club (the evening before I was to speak on Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, at the public library), my interest takes a somewhat different than usual form: Rather than engage in mock Holmesian scholarship or "play dress-up and wear a funny hat" (referring to Holmes' deerstalker cap), I wanted to be Sherlock Holmes -- that is, to do the kinds of investigations he might do today, if he actually existed, wearing contemporary dress and using the latest forensic and other aids. Indeed, philosopher (and CSI chairman) Paul Kurtz once described me to a reporter as "the modern Sherlock Holmes."
Among my homages to the great detective, I used epigrams from Holmes to begin each chapter of my Secrets of the Supernatural (1988); spoke of Holmes contributions to forensics in my Crime Science (1999); wrote "Sherlock Holmes, Paranormal Investigator" for Skeptical Briefs (March 2006), pictured here with a cartoon of Holmes that I drew using the letters of his name.
The photos shown are from my pilgrimages: to Holmes' famous address, 221B Baker Street (now a Sherlock Holmes museum) and Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls where Holmes grappled, apparently fatally, with arch rival Prof. Moriarty.
