The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax: Aftereffect

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Title: The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax: Aftereffect
Author: gardnerhill
Word Count: 60
Rating: G
Warning: None.
Summary: Some cases are etched indelibly into the mind.

***

Our work remains with us in different ways. Holmes dreams of orange pips rolling in his hand, or snakes dropping onto him; I face a red-eyed giant hound or watch, helpless, as Holmes and Moriarty topple into the abyss.

But one night after the Carfax case we both awoke, gasping for air and clawing at the lids of invisible coffins.

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Such a well thought and well written 60. Thank you.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Being buried alive was one of the biggest phobias Victorians experienced (to the point that folks invented all sorts of alarms that could be rung from inside caskets) - I can see this case lingering in the minds of both men.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yup, I told Small Hobbit she needed to include that in her advert, the Not Dead Yet bell (or whatever they called it).

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yup creepy, creepy, creepiest!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Story always freaks me out when I reread it. Hideous fate - and the two culprits escape.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yeah, buried alive is right up there in the nightmare (literally) scenarios. I don't know if you were ever a fan of Law & Order Criminal Intent but I think they riffed this story. I remember an episode where a couple kept the au pair in a box beneath the bed. It still haunts me, like a decade later.

[debriswoman]

Really well done...such a striking image.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Considering how terrified Victorians were of being buried alive, this situation would have been a wealth of nightmare material for both men.

[debriswoman]

I can imagine...

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

The end of LADY when they find Lady Frances in the coffin with her face covered with cotton wool is just filled with horror. I can well believe that Holmes and Watson will have reacted in this way.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

One of the great terrors of Victorians: being buried alive. I can only imagine how that nearly-tragic ending would have stayed with both men.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yes, easy to say a case is solved, not so easy to put it out of the mind.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Several of the cases would have provided ample material for sleepless nights. Victorians were terrified of being buried alive - so this case could easily have lingered in the subconscious.