Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of über-rationalist Sherlock Holmes, was a man who combined cool logic, medicine and detection with unswerving faith in the existence of fairies and the reality of the spirit world.His interest in other dimensions began in the 1880's. He attended séances, investigated supposed hauntings, experimented with table tipping and automatic writing for around 30 years. Doyle's faith in spiritualism was cemented by a medium who told him not to read a book by Leigh Hunt he'd been contemplating. What turned him from believer to crusader was "the war to end all wars".
The first world war hit Europe with an unprecedented wave of bereavement. Doyle, who visited the front lines and saw the carnage for himself, lost his brothers-in-law, his nephew and countless friends. His son Kingsley and his brother Innes both died from post-war influenza.
Conan Doyle wasn't the only prominent person to be convinced of a spirit world. The Society for Psychical Research, which he joined in 1893, counted scientists, philosophers and MPs, including future prime minister Stanley Baldwin amongst its members. But he was unique in his role as crusader. He felt an obligation to visit the good news on other bereaved families. The attraction of his message is obvious: your dead sons survive, they're happy and you can talk to them.
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