On This Day May 4

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to kill off his Sherlock Holmes character in a short story, The Final Problem, so he could get on with more serious writing. He'd decided the Reichenbach Falls was the exit he wanted for his fictional detective after seeing them during a holiday with his wife in Switzerland. Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty supposedly fell to their deaths from the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland on May 4, 1891. Pressure from fans eventually persuaded Doyle to bring Holmes back.

Holmes and Moriarty struggle at the Reichenbach Falls; drawing by Sidney Paget

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