The archives of Indiana University’s Lilly Library contains a small scrap of paper with an important message from Sherlock Holmes to John Watson about their adversary, Mr. Moriarty. Of course, these characters are fictional, but the handwriting is legitimately that of Arthur Conan Doyle. While the provenance of the fragment is not entirely known, the library houses enough examples of Doyle’s penmanship to make this claim.
While we know the letter wasn’t really written by Holmes, Sherlockian fans who “play the game” – pretend Holmes and Watson were real historical figures – embrace it as authentic. The concept of Playing the Game emerged with the creation of the Baker Street Irregulars in 1934, the first organized fandom of its kind.
So much to work with! What if Sherlock and Watson were real? Could this letter fragment contain clues to a final Moriarty mystery? Who were the Baker Street Irregulars? What mysteries did they involve themselves in? Did any part of that fandom ever turn toxic? What other literary classics might have inspired their own fandoms prior to Sherlock Holmes? What if one of your fandoms was based on actual real-life person you thought was fictional?
