| "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story byArthur Conan Doyle | |||
 | |||
| Publication | |||
| Publication date | 1924 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| Series | The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes | ||
| |||
"The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", written by British authorArthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12Sherlock Holmes stories collected between 1921 and 1927 asThe Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the January 1924 issues ofThe Strand Magazine in London andHearst's International in New York.[1]
Holmes receives an odd letter that makes reference tovampires. Mr. Robert Ferguson, who comes to221B Baker Street the next morning, has become convinced that his Peruvian second wife has been sucking their baby son's blood. By his first wife, he has a 15-year-old son named Jack, who suffered an unfortunate accident as a child and now, although he can still walk, does not have full use of his legs. Since the start of the bloodsucking, Jack has unaccountably been struck twice by his stepmother, although Mr. Ferguson cannot imagine why. Ever since being found out by her husband, she has locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Only her Peruvian maid, Dolores, is allowed in. She takes Mrs. Ferguson her meals.
Even before Holmes and Watson set off for Mr. Ferguson's house inSussex, Holmes has worked out what is going on, and it has nothing to do with vampires. Holmes's trip is made simply to observe and confirm what he has already deduced.
Upon their arrival in Sussex, Mrs. Ferguson's maid announces that her mistress is ill, and Dr. Watson offers to help. He finds an agitated woman in the room upstairs – she speaks of all being destroyed, and of sacrificing herself rather than breaking her husband's heart. She also demands her child, who has been with the nurse, Mrs. Mason, ever since Mr. Ferguson found out about the bloodsucking incidents. Holmes examines the South American weapons displayed in the house and meets the children. While Mr. Ferguson is doting on his younger son, Watson notices that Holmes is gazing at the window. He cannot imagine why his friend is doing this.
Holmes then reveals the truth about what has been happening, much to the relief of Mrs. Ferguson as this is exactly what she has been hoping for: the truth to come from someone else's lips. It turns out that the culprit is Jack, Mr. Ferguson's elder son, who is extremely jealous of his young half-brother. Holmes has confirmed this by looking at Jack's reflection in the window while his father's attention was on the baby. Jack has been attempting to murder his half-brother by shooting poisoned darts at him, and his stepmother's behaviour of sucking the baby's neck is thereby explained: she was sucking the poison out. It also explains why she struck Jack, and why she was sick when Holmes and Watson arrived. The wounds, therefore, were caused by the darts, not by her biting. Mrs. Ferguson had not wanted to be the one to tell her husband what Jack had done.
"The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" was first published in the UK inThe Strand Magazine in January 1924, and in the US inHearst's International (under the title "The Sussex Vampire"[2]) in the same month.[3] The story was published with four illustrations byHoward K. Elcock in theStrand, and with four illustrations byW. T. Benda inHearst's International.[4] It was included in the short story collectionThe Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,[4] which was published in the UK and the US in June 1927.[5]
The story was adapted byEdith Meiser as an episode of the American radio seriesThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The episode aired on 16 February 1931, withRichard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson.[6] The script was used again for an episode that aired on 7 March 1936 (with Gordon as Holmes and Harry West as Watson).[7]
Meiser also adapted the story as an episode of the American radio seriesThe New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that aired on 2 October 1939 (withBasil Rathbone as Holmes andNigel Bruce as Watson),[8] and another episode that aired on 14 December 1947 (with John Stanley as Holmes and Alfred Shirley as Watson).[9]
A radio dramatisation of the story adapted byMichael Hardwick aired on theBBC Light Programme in 1964, as part of the1952–1969 radio series starringCarleton Hobbs as Holmes andNorman Shelley as Watson.[10]
"The Sussex Vampire" was dramatised forBBC Radio 4 in 1994 byBert Coules as part of the1989–1998 radio series starringClive Merrison as Holmes andMichael Williams as Watson. It featuredMichael Troughton as Robert Ferguson.[11]
In 2012, the story was adapted for radio as an episode ofThe Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a series on the American radio showImagination Theatre, withJohn Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson.[12]
In a 1993 televised adaptation of this case entitledThe Last Vampyre, produced byGranada Television and starringJeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, the case was altered. In the televised version, Holmes was called by the town vicar to investigate the death of the Ferguson baby, with the prime suspect being the newly arrived Mr. John Stockton, a man of eccentric behaviour descended from a local family rumoured to be vampires. During this investigation, it is revealed that Jack Ferguson, driven to delusions by the childhood accident which cost him the full use of his legs, has come to believe himself to be a vampire because of the power and fear such a creature inspires. He sees Stockton as a 'mentor' of sorts due to his seemingly vampire-like ability to charm women. The case concludes with Stockton dead in an accident; the villagers digging up Stockton's body and taking it to his family's old, burned-out house; Mrs. Ferguson's sucking blood from her maid's neck to remove poison introduced by Jack; Ferguson attempting to stake Stockton's corpse; and Jack throwing himself from the ruined Stockton house, believing he can fly as part of his delusion. When Holmes and Watson discuss the case as they wait for their train, Holmes suggests that the world may not be prepared for a report of this case.
An episode of the animated television seriesSherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century was based on the story. The episode, titled "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire Lot", first aired in 1999.[13]
The 2018 Japanese television dramaMiss Sherlock adapted "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" in season 1, episode 4 "The Wakasugi Family", setting it in modern-day Japan. The episode is fairly faithful to the original, but includes a secondary antagonist motivated by revenge.
It was adapted into one of the books of the Hong Kong children's book seriesThe Great Detective Sherlock Holmes, as "The Mystery of the Vampire" (吸血鬼之謎). It is Book #13 of the original Chinese version,[14] and book #4 of the English version.[15]
The work was adapted a crossover betweenYoung Miss Holmes andDance in the Vampire Bund.[16][17]
Media related toThe Adventure of the Sussex Vampire at Wikimedia Commons
The full text ofThe Adventure of the Sussex Vampire at Wikisource
