The Adventure of the Creeping Man
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"The Adventure of the Creeping Man" (1923) is one of 12
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
short stories by
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
collected in ''
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' is the final set of twelve (out of a total of fifty-six) Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the ''Strand Magazine'' between October 1921 and April 1927. Ti ...
'' (1927). The story was first published in ''
The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'' in the United Kingdom and ''
Hearst's International ''Cosmopolitan'' is an American monthly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a wome ...
'' in the United States in March 1923.


Synopsis

A man named Trevor Bennett, the personal secretary of one Professor Presbury, comes to Holmes with a most unusual problem. He is engaged to the professor's daughter, Edith, and the Professor is himself engaged to a young lady, Alice Morphy, although he himself is already 61 years of age. Their impending marriage has caused no scandal, but the trouble seems to have begun at about the time of the engagement. First, the professor suddenly left home for a
fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is h ...
without telling anyone of his destination, with the family later learning that he had been to
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Upon returning, Presbury unprecedentedly forbid Mr Bennett from opening certain stamped letters. The professor had also brought a carved wooden box from Prague, and became very angry with Bennett for touching it. The whole household also observes severe changes in the man's personality: he has become furtive and sly, with changes in his moods and habits, some of which quite bizarre, though not impeding his functions. Bennett notes particularly strange incidents: one, in which he saw the professor crawling along the hall on his hands and feet, and his master swore him off; and another, witnessed by Edith Presbury, who saw her father at her bedroom window at two o'clock in the morning. Her bedroom is on the second floor, with no long ladder in the garden. Further, the professor's usually faithful Irish Wolfhound has started attacking him (Holmes notes this happens at 9 day intervals), and has to be chained up outside. Holmes and Watson go to the university city of Camford to see the professor. They pretend that they have an appointment, but the professor sees through the ruse, and becomes furiously angry at the intrusion. Bennett dissuades the professor from violence. Holmes and Watson leave, Holmes confiding to Watson that the visit has taught him that the professor's mind is clear and functional, despite recent behaviour. Bennett tells Holmes that he has found the address of the mysterious letters. The addressee is a man named Dorak, a
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
an name, fitting with the professor's secret journey to Prague. Holmes later finds out from Mercer, his "general utility man", that Dorak is indeed an elderly
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
n, who keeps a large general store. Holmes examines Edith's bedroom window, finding that the only way to climb up to it is using the creeper, unusual for a 61-year-old man. Holmes forms a theory that every 9 days, Professor Presbury takes some drug which causes the odd behaviour, having become addicted in Prague, and is supplied by Dorak in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Holmes also comes to realise, by connecting the professor's thick and horny knuckles, his odd behaviour, the dog's attacks, and the use of the creeper, that the professor is behaving like a monkey. Shortly after the realisation, Holmes and Watson are treated to a firsthand display of Professor Presbury's odd behaviour. He comes out of the house, scampers about on all fours, climbs on the creeper, and torments the tied-up dog. Unfortunately, the wolfhound gets loose and attacks the professor. The two of them, with Mr Bennett's help, get the dog off the professor, who is wounded badly. Watson and Bennett, also a medical man, tend to the professor's injuries. Holmes then examines the professor's little wooden box after having obtained the key from the unconscious owner. It contained a drug, as Holmes expected, but also a letter from a man named Lowenstein, a
quack Quack, The Quack or Quacks may refer to: People * Quack Davis, American baseball player * Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack (1834–1917), Dutch economist and historian * Joachim Friedrich Quack (born 1966), German Egyptologist * Johannes Quack (b ...
. The professor had sought out Lowenstein's rejuvenation treatments, for his upcoming marriage to a younger woman. The drug's effects are explained as a consequence of being obtained from
langurs The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications spli ...
. Promising to hold Lowenstein responsible, Holmes muses on the consequences of such drugs, and departs with Watson.


Commentaries

David Stuart Davies David Stuart Davies (born 1946) is a British writer. He worked as a teacher of English before becoming a full-time editor, writer, and playwright. Davies has written extensively about Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction. He is the editor ...
, who has written an afterword for the ''Case-Book'', comments that this story "veers towards risible
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
". Indeed, there is something a bit less scientific in this story than is usually the case with Conan Doyle's writing. This is one of four stories said to be forged "drivel" in
Nicholas Meyer Nicholas Meyer (born December 24, 1945) is an American writer and director, known for his best-selling novel ''The Seven-Per-Cent Solution'', and for directing the films ''Time After Time (1979 film), Time After Time'', two of the ''Star Trek'' ...
's 1974 novel ''
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution ''The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.'' is a 1974 novel by American writer Nicholas Meyer. It is written as a pastiche of a Sherlock Holmes adventure, and was made into a film of the same na ...
''. (The other three are also from ''
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' is the final set of twelve (out of a total of fifty-six) Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the ''Strand Magazine'' between October 1921 and April 1927. Ti ...
''.) Ancient philosophy scholar
Jonathan Barnes Jonathan Barnes, British Academy, FBA (born 26 December 1942 in Wenlock, Shropshire) is an English scholar of Aristotelianism, Aristotelian and ancient philosophy. Education and career He was educated at the City of London School and Balliol Co ...
writes of encountering the story as a child and finding it "one of the richest and most singular investigations of Holmes's long career – an opinion which I have had no reason to change ... Revisited in adulthood, the story reveals itself as a sour parable about the endurance of lust, a lurid treatment of the question that is put to
Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
as
Doll Tearsheet Dorothy "Doll" Tearsheet is a fictional character who appears in Shakespeare's play '' Henry IV, Part 2''. She is a prostitute who frequents the Boar's Head Inn in Eastcheap. Doll is close friends with Mistress Quickly, the proprietress of the t ...
fidgets on his knee: 'Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?'. Yet, curiously, the feeling persists that there is something in the narrative – hidden, submerged – which the reader is not permitted to comprehend but which forms the source of its power."


Publication history

"The Adventure of the Creeping Man" was published in the UK in ''
The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'' in March 1923, and in the US in ''
Hearst's International ''Cosmopolitan'' is an American monthly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a wome ...
'' in the same month. The story was published with five illustrations by Howard K. Elcock in the ''Strand'',Cawthorne (2011), p. 161. and with seven illustrations by
Frederic Dorr Steele Frederic Dorr Steele (August 6, 1873 – July 6, 1944) was an American illustrator best known for his work on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Early life and education Steele was born on 6 August 1873 at Eagle Mills, near Marquette, M ...
in ''Hearst's International''. It was included in the short story collection ''
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' is the final set of twelve (out of a total of fifty-six) Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the ''Strand Magazine'' between October 1921 and April 1927. Ti ...
'', which was published in the UK and the US in June 1927.


Adaptations


Radio

The story was adapted by
Edith Meiser Edith Meiser (May 9, 1898 – September 26, 1993) was an American author and actress, who wrote mystery novels, stage plays, and numerous radio dramas. She is perhaps best known for bringing adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories to radio in the ...
as an episode of the American radio series ''
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a collection of twelve short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, first published on 14 October 1892. It contains the earliest short stories featuring the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, w ...
''. The episode aired on 2 February 1931, with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson. Meiser also adapted the story for the American radio series ''
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a radio drama series which aired in the USA from 1939 to 1950, it ran for 374 episodes, with many of the later episodes considered lost media. The series was based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Art ...
'' as an episode which aired on 27 November 1939 (as "The Mystery of the Creeping Man"). Another dramatisation of the story aired on 9 July 1943. Both episodes featured
Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
as Holmes and
Nigel Bruce William Nigel Ernle Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953) was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series ''The New Adventures of Sherlock H ...
as Watson. An adaptation of the story aired on 10 March 1947 with
Tom Conway Tom Conway (born Thomas Charles Sanders, 15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television, and radio actor remembered for playing private detectives (including The Falcon, Sherlock Holmes, Bulldog Drummond, and The Saint) ...
as Holmes and Bruce as Watson. "The Creeping Man" was also dramatised for
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in 1994 by Robert Forrest as part of the 1989–1998 radio series starring
Clive Merrison Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is a British actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College. He is best known for his long running BBC Radio portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, having played the part in all 64 ...
as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. It featured
Robin Ellis Anthony Robin Ellis (born 8 January 1942) is a British actor and cookbook writer best known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in 29 episodes of the BBC classic series ''Poldark'', adapted from a series of books by the British author Winsto ...
as Professor Presbury and
Annabel Mullion Annabel Mullion (born 1969) is an actress. She was educated at St Mary's School, Ascot and studied English and Drama at the University of East Anglia. She then completed the 3 year acting course at Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating i ...
as Alice Murphy. In 2010, the story was adapted for radio as an episode of ''
The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''Imagination Theatre'' is an American syndicated radio drama program airing on FM and AM radio stations across the United States. It features modern radio dramas. The program first aired in 1996. Originally produced by Jim French Productions, t ...
'', a series on the American radio show ''
Imagination Theatre ''Imagination Theatre'' is an American syndicated radio drama program airing on FM and AM radio stations across the United States. It features modern radio dramas. The program first aired in 1996. Originally produced by Jim French Productions, t ...
'', with
John Patrick Lowrie John Patrick Lowrie (born June 28, 1952) is an American actor, musician and author best known for voicing the Sniper in ''Team Fortress 2'' and various characters in ''Dota 2''. He has played Sherlock Holmes in the radio series ''The Further Adv ...
as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson.


Television

The story was dramatised in 1991 in Granada TV's ''
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
'', starring
Jeremy Brett Peter Jeremy William Huggins (3 November 1933 – 12 September 1995), known professionally as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor. He played fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in four Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series), Granada TV series from 1984 ...
as Holmes and
Edward Hardwicke Edward Cedric Hardwicke (7 August 1932 – 16 May 2011) was an English actor, who had a distinguished career on the stage and on-screen. He was best known for playing Captain Pat Grant in ''Colditz'' (1972-73), and Dr. Watson in Granada Te ...
as Watson. The adaptation is relatively faithful to the plot, but includes a subplot involving Inspector Lestrade investigating the theft of various primates from London's zoos: these are later revealed by Holmes to be the sources from which Dorak obtains his serum. A 2001 episode of the animated television series ''
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century ''Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century'' is an animated television series in which Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life in the 22nd century. The series is a co-production by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Scottish Television Enterprises and ...
'' was adapted from the story.


Sources

Lowenstein's development of a "rejuvenation serum" derived from monkeys parallels actual treatments popularised in the early twentieth century, notably those of the Russian-born surgeon
Serge Voronoff Serge Abrahamovitch Voronoff (russian: link=no, Сергей Абрамович Воронов; c. July 10, 1866September 3, 1951) was a French surgeon of Russian extraction who gained fame for his technique of grafting monkey testicle tissue on ...
, who had experimented with injections of extracts from animal glands; in the 1920s he popularised the transplantation into humans of tissue from monkey testicles.


References

;Notes ;Sources * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure of the Creeping Man Creeping Man, The Adventure of the 1923 short stories Works originally published in The Strand Magazine