Year 1893. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was tired of writing Sherlock Holmes. Decided to push the public’s favorite detective out of Reichenbach Falls. Farewell to this incredibly popular character. Before killing Sherlock, he once visited Reichenbach Falls in the Swiss Alps. He liked Reichenbach so much that he decided to bury this beloved character forever in Reichenbach.
Sherlock was so popular that readers would stand in front of newsstands for hours to buy new Sherlock stories. It was said that Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were known to no less than Queen Victoria. Doyle felt that the popularity of Sherlock was overshadowing his other books.
Sherlock was pushed down. Where did the poor man go? No trace was found. John Watson lived with the sharp pain of losing his friend. Meanwhile, Doyle wrote in a corner of his diary, “Killed Holmes.” I mean, seriously? You have written so many books and stories; don’t you have any compassion?
Sir Doyle was only 34 when Sherlock died. He became bored with writing Sherlock. Enough of spying; now let’s focus on something else. But when he killed Sherlock, he did not correctly estimate the extent of Sherlock’s popularity. When his story The Final Problem was published in The Strand Magazine, the general public could not take it at all when Sherlock’s farewell bell was rung in the story. Over 20,000 people angrily canceled their magazine subscriptions! Have you thought about it? The incident did not stop here. Many wrote letters to The Strand magazine, calling Sir Doyle “cruel”, “bigot”, etc. Even the Americans started various groups called “Let’s Keep Holmes Alive”. It is said that the entire youth of London mourned Sherlock’s death by wearing black for months. However, there are doubts about its authenticity. But other incidents are pure facts. The unimaginable public response to Sherlock’s death has never been seen before. It was never known before Sherlock’s death that so much madness was possible with a fictional character. At that time, the writer would handle his characters as he pleased. The common people would have been happy like that. But when Sherlock died, things changed completely.
People took Sherlock’s death to heart. Sir Doyle was repeatedly requested to depart from it. But Doyle was determined that he would not write Sherlock again. He thought that after some time, people’s frenzy would subside. But he was wrong. As the years passed, the calls to bring Sherlock back never abated. Even Sir Doyle’s stony heart could not escape such a request.
Finally, in 1901, he resumed writing new Sherlock Holmes stories. “The Hound of Baskerville” was one of Sherlock Holmes’ most popular books, serialized in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902. Sales of The Strand rose to over thirty thousand overnight. The story, however, did not mention how Sherlock survived. The Hound of Baskerville was said to be written about the events before Sherlock’s death. Later, “The Adventures of the Empty House” explained how Sherlock survived. Later, Sir Doyle saw Sherlock’s popularity and actually did not dare to kill him. Everyone has a fear of death, right?
Perhaps it was through Sherlock Holmes that fandom was created around a favorite character. The character created in 1887 has not been lost in the evolution of time; on the contrary, the popularity of Sherlock has increased as time goes by. Many famous movies and series have been made about Sherlock. They have also become equally popular. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has died but left behind a character that fans will rave about for centuries.
