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September Meeting Programming

View halloo! Have you registered yet for our meeting next Sunday, the 27th, at 2pm ET/1pm CT? We have a little treat for you.

Mary O’Reilly (JHWS Fraggle) put on a wonderful puppet show with Brad Keefauver at Holmes in the Heartland: Sherlock Haunts! in July. If you missed it at the time, here’s your chance to watch the full recording at our meeting! Sadly, Mary will not be with us, but we hope to be able to get her on at some point in the future.

If you want to hear from the Hound of the Baskervilles, one of the geese from “The Blue Carbuncle” (recall that there were two!), the Lion’s Mane, or the Speckled Band, now’s your chance! Register at this link, and we’ll see you there!

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The Results of the 13th Annual Treasure Hunt AND the answer key!

The 13th Annual John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt has officially ended. Familiar names were among the leaders in all four categories, US and International individual entries and US and International groups. 

International contestants, The Unclubbables — A. K. Alexander and Henri B. Vernet (France) — had a rare perfect score of 140.

Our International contestants did an admirable job as Oksana Shishkina-Korolenko (Russia) finished in first place with 139 points while perennial contestants Enrico Solito of Italy and Mark Doyle of Australia finished tied for second place ahead of Alessandro Melillo of Italy, who had 128 pts.

In the international team competition, Societe Sherlock Holmes of France finished with 139 points with team members Britt Bailly-Salins, Cédric Chardon, Eric Torres, Olesia Shishkina-Korolenko and Anne du Ranquet, who were trained by Alexis Barquin and Thierry Saint-Joanis.

Meanwhile, the Sound of the Baskervilles of Seattle with team members Cameron Brandon, Margie Deck, Nancy Holder, Naching Kassa, and Steve Mason missed only one question on their way to winning high honors for US contestants with 139 points.

The top individual scorer for US participants was Regina Stinson (132 pts) who finished ahead of Todd Reston (127). 

The correct translation of the anagram was Watson’s familiar statement, “I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air.”

Quizmaster Rich Krisciunas said, “The thing that always amazes me is how many times someone comes up with an answer I didn’t foresee that fits. I go back and re-read the story and have to admit that the person deserves credit for their answer and my list of correct answers grows. This happened multiple times this year. One of my questions dealt with vowels in the surnames of characters. Several of the international contestants reminded me that ‘y’ is a vowel.  I also had one answer that appeared in the original edition of the Strand but had been removed in subsequent printed editions. The city ‘Buffalo’ was also mentioned in two stories including Valley of Fear.”

Congratulations to the winners, and to everyone with the willpower to dive in and do their best! (That’s more than the Boy-in-Buttons could have managed this August!)

Also, a HUGE thanks to Rich Krisciunas (Bullpup Hector) for quizmastering again — it is no small feat, and we are very grateful to him for his service!

Finally, below, you can download and read the answer key.

2026 Treasure Hunt Answers FINALDownload
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August Meeting Reminder

Not only do we have a meeting coming up next Sunday, we also have a little bit of programming! Bullpup Grimesby (aka Greg Sullivan) will show us the Sherlockian filk videos he’s made — and if you’ve seen any of them before at various Zooms, you know it’s going to be fun to see them all!

Please join us on August 23 at 2pm ET/1pm CT for our last chat of the summer! You can register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/56pK1OVTR66XJwdlIZvskw

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August Meeting AND the Annual Treasure Hunt!

It’s that time again! Please join us on August 23 at 2pm ET/1pm CT for our last chat of the summer! You can register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/56pK1OVTR66XJwdlIZvskw

BUT WAIT, there’s more! It’s also time for our Annual Treasure Hunt! And yes, I am posting this late, and I apologize! Since I am posting late, we’ll give you a little extra time: all answers are due by 11:59pm Eastern Time on September 5, the Saturday before Labor Day.

Download the Word file, fill out the answers, and submit it to our Treasure Master, Bullpup Hector (Rich Krisciunas), at kriscirt@gmail.com. Good luck!

2026 TREASURE HUNTDownload
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Meet Us at Midsummer!

It’s time to register for the JHWS’s July meeting! We’ll be meeting at 2pm ET/1pm CT on Sunday, July 19th (rather than the fourth Sunday, when some of us will be at the Holmes in the Heartland conference).

Please recall that we’re now on our summer programming: that is, we’ll just be chit-chatting. (And there will probably be plenty of talk about Holmes in the Heartland.) Be sure, though, to bring something for show & tell if you have anything!

You can register for the Zoom here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ym3YM6BLT1-9hMbEwNd3fA

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Our June ’26 Meeting

View halloo! It’s time to register for our next meeting! We’ll be meeting on Zoom on June 28th at 2pm Eastern/1pm Central.

This meeting starts our summer non-programming: that is, we will be meeting purely to chit-chat! All Sherlockians are welcome. Bring something for show & tell, though!

Please register here.

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A Date in Fogtown

Have you heard about Fogtown? It’s a YouTube show and an upcoming video game that reimagine the world of Sherlock Holmes as a world of puppets.

Join us for our next meeting, May 31st, at 2pm Eastern, to watch a demo of the video game. Sean Parker (JHWS “Pedro”) will run us through the demo, and then we’ll have a Q&A session afterwards, during which you can ask Sean your questions about the project!

Register for the meeting here. Remember, you don’t have to be a member to attend a meeting! Come join us!

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In Memoriam: David Burke

You may have heard by now the sad news that David Burke has passed away at the age of 91. The news was first broken yesterday by the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast, as they had been in touch with the family.

Since then, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere has posted both a written tribute and a podcast episode in memory of David, featuring Gus and Luke Holwerda of the JBSH podcast, and an official obituary has been issued by The Times (UK). The obituary is worth the read if you are a fan; the written IHOSE tribute is very moving; and the IHOSE episode is a lovely cap to the reading.

If you have not listened to the interview Gus and Luke conducted with David and his wife Anna Calder-Marshall in 2022, you can listen to it here. In this episode of the podcast, the brothers talk about their trip to England that included that interview. Lastly, the JBSH podcast hosted an event in the UK in 2024 called “BrettCon,” to celebrate the Granada series’ 40th anniversary. Stephen Fry and several actors from the series sent video messages to the event, including David and his family.

David Burke was one of the finest and most beloved Watsons ever to grace the screen. He was just shy of his 92nd birthday, and he is survived by his wife Anna Calder-Marshall and his son Tom Burke.

By all accounts, he was a gentleman and a wonderful human being. He could have stayed on to play Watson much longer, which would have made many of us very happy, but he chose to leave the show to be nearer to his family, especially since Tom was very young at the time.

His was not the first intelligent and competent Watson, but this version marked a turning point in mainstream depictions, from comedic sidekick to a hero in his own right.

RIP, dear sir. You will be missed. Thank you for everything.

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JHWS April Meeting

Hello, bullpups!

It’s time to register for this month’s meeting. We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, April 26, at 2pm ET/1pm CT, and we’ll be discussing the goings-on at 221B Con this past month. If you attended Con, please come with your memories and anything you want to share in show-and-tell!

All Sherlockians are welcome — you do not have to be a member to attend.

You can register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/wTin-YhoStWZ3Kqs0dLK8g

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TIME CHANGE and meeting agenda

Hello, Watsonians! Sorry for the all-caps, but I wanted to make sure I got your attention. Are you got? Excellent.

We will be going back one hour to 1 p.m. ET on our next meeting after all. That’s 1 p.m. Eastern/noon Central on Sunday the 29th, and the meeting will last one hour exactly. Why? Well, at 2 p.m. ET, Ed Pettit (JHWS “Pipes”) will be hosting the next episode of Sherlock Monthly with Dan Stashower and Derrick Belanger as co-hosts, and they will be discussing “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot.” We want to make sure that we’re not conflicting with this one-time Sunday edition of Sherlock Monthly, and that any Sherlockians who want to make it to both virtual events can do so!

So what’s our agenda? Since our attendance has changed so much in the past few years, we’re bringing back an old discussion topic and seeing what we can come up with this time!

In The Sign of the Four, Watson says of Mary Morstan: “In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature.” Which three continents do you think Watson is speaking of? And for that matter, what are the “many nations” we think he’s visited? Join us on the 29th to share your ideas!

All Sherlockians are welcome. You can register for the Zoom here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/IT5XUbeBRN2EkuHvnJ4mNQ

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Our January Meeting

View halloo, it’s time to register for the JHWS January Zoom! Come join us, whether you’re a bullpup or not!

We will be meeting on Jan. 25th, a Sunday, at two p.m. Eastern/one p.m. Central Time. Please note the time change — we are meeting one hour later than we used to!

In the aftermath of all the birthday celebrations, we’ll be recalling all the things we got to do in a guided discussion. Also, suggestions and recommendations for what we can do at future meetings are welcome!

You can register for the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/u4dVv5vBQ1WWfMOkqTw1eQ See you then!

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The November JHWS Meeting Consults Again!

It’s been a while since we held a Watson Consultation and called a patient subject into Watson’s examination room and checked on their Watson-based afflictions via interview. After some rounds of questioning by our resident practitioner, we’ll open things up for the gallery to ask a few questions of their own, to make sure we miss nothing of seriousness in our diagnosis. Our subject this month will be long time member of the John H. Watson Society and literary sort, Margie Deck.

Here’s the link to sign up and see what we find out:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/fQWlwE0AQYmeyDcPJL9g2g

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The JHWS October Meeting and Masquerade!

The time has come at last for the masks to come off, for Moriarty’s minions to be exposed, and the John H. Watson Society to be as free of Moriarty as a Morris Chestnut Watson!

Sunday, October 26, 2025th, at noon Central Standard Time, the John H. Watson Society will gather on Zoom for our October meeting. It’ll be a Zoom costume party, so come in whatever guise suits you, Sherlockian or not. We’ll wind up our game of London 1891, we’ll see what’s new with us in the last month, and meander into our usual chat.

Here’s the registration link! Come and see who . . . and what . . . turns up!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/az9hZVvVROS65YProC-e-Q

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Your September John H. Watson Society Engagement

The time has come once again for the spirit of John H. Watson to whistle up his bull pups for their monthly meeting over the digital streams. The date is Sunday, September 28, 2025, and the time is high noon Central Standard Time. Things are getting serious for the residents of London 1891 as we approach October’s finality and the veil between the solid and the spirit world grows thin. If you’d like to find out exactly what that all means, or just want to be present for it, here’s a registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/dDe6e2kRTFyfTTML5y_Frw

And while we’re sharing links, here’s a link to the latest episode of the official John H. Watson Society podcast:

https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/september-22-2025-one-of-these-doctors-wants-your-blood

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A Blazing Hot August JHWS Meeting?

Baker Street may have been like an oven in August, as Watson told us in “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box,” but how hot will the August meeting of the John H. Watson Society be at high noon CST, Sunday, August 24th? Will a Victorian Londoner from 1891 die of heat stroke or Moran’s bullet?

To find out, sign up for this month’s Zoom meeting and pop on come Sunday! Here’s the link to register:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/AbFzzEFzRTqaJGuX2BETeg