#dorothy wiggin

[popsixsquishcicerolipschitz]

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My Pal Foot Foot

The Shaggs

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises 

My Pal Foot Foot · The Shaggs  Philosophy of the World 

℗ 2016 Light In The Attic  ℗ 2016 Light In The Attic Records & Distribution 

The Shaggs were an American all-female rock and outsider music band formed in Fremont, New Hampshire, in 1968. The band was composed of sisters Dorothy “Dot” Wiggin, Betty Wiggin, Helen Wiggin and, later, Rachel Wiggin

Duck_King I wanna see a stripper work to this song.

JohnnySixString When your kids are not the Jacksons.

ZanzibarWizard It’s like having a fever and just walking around your house.

[mintytealfox]

Have some doodles~

With Dorothy looking nice for a fancy party that Gilbert was invited to and he dragged her with him~ Then Fool's Gold wiggin out about somethin

And then Dorothy and Gilbert in THAT AU 👀 but he is in his every day clothes and still comfortable while Dorothy is layered to the nines and still cold LOL

[celuloideycarbono]

For both newcomers and seasoned fans, I’ve put together a selection of ten cycling “memorable” moments. They might not have been the best stages or the greatest days in cycling, but they had something unexpected, unusual, or strange that made them unforgettable.

1997, Disneyland Paris. Final time trial of the Tour. Bjarne Riis tosses his fancy new Pinarello into a ditch.

2003, Col de la Manse. Beloki wipes out on a corner (unfortunately he brokes his hip), and Armstrong dodges him by cutting across the field like it’s nothing.

2013, Giro del Trentino. Few know how to park a bike like Sir Bradley Wiggins.

2015, Gent-Wevelgem. Insane winds. Geraint Thomas gets blown away—literally, like Dorothy’s house in The Wizard of Oz.

2016, Mont Ventoux. After a crash, Chris Froome starts running like he’s in a marathon. Too bad he didn’t bring a pair of sneakers.

2017, Bormio. Tom Dumoulin in an urgent situation. Do you know how hard it is to poop while wearing a cycling bib? Even so, he won that Giro.

2019, Iseran. After an attack by Bernal on the climb, the race is called off during the descent due to landslides on the climb leading to Tignes.

2020, La Planche des Belles Filles. The craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Roglic had it all wrapped up, but a hungry kid swooped in and stole his lunch.

2020, Liège. Alaphilippe messes with Hirschi and Pogacar in the sprint, celebrates too early, and boom—Roglic beats him at the line.

2023, Barcelona TTT, Vuelta a España 2023. It’s raining over the Catalan capital, and it’s way too late—there’s barely any lighting. Evenepoel complains in front of the cameras: We’re not circus monkeys.

[diceriadelluntore]

Storia Di Musica #259 - The Shaggs, Philosophy Of The World, 1969

Kevin Costner è il protagonista di un bellissimo film del 1989, L’Uomo Dei Sogni, in cui il protagonista, un agricoltore dell’Iowa, sente una voce nei campi di mais che gli chiede di costruire un campo da baseball. Da qui parte una storia magica che è una sorta di viaggio spirituale e di redenzione per tutti coloro che ne faranno parte (il film è bellissimo e vale la pena di essere visto o rivisto). Una cosa simile successe a Austin Wiggin, di Fremont, New Hampshire. Anni prima, durante una fiera di magia, la madre gli lesse la mano e gli predisse tre cose: lo sposalizio di una donna bionda, tre figlie dopo che lei fosse morta, e che le sue figlie avrebbero formato una band di successo. Scatta qui una scintilla in Austin, perchè in pochi anni le prime due cose si avverano, e come un predestinato dal Fato decide che le sue tre figlie, Dorothy "Dot", Betty e Helen diventino una band. Compra gli strumenti, paga qualche lezione di musica, e sicuro che il destino si compia le fa suonare insieme: in realtà Austin avrà anche un’altra figlia, Rachel, che tenta invano di inserire in questo progetto, ha un carattere pessimo e cresce le ragazze nel totale isolamento sociale e culturale. Nel 1968 inizia a organizzare dei concerti pubblici nella piccola città dove vivono, Exeter nel New Hampshire, chiedendo la sala pubblica del Municipio come sala eventi. Stabilito che le sorelle hanno una certa amalgama, battezza il gruppo The Shaggs, le Arruffate, per via delle chiome delle tre componenti. Tutto è pronto nel 1969: Austin, che in realtà lavora in un mulino e non è certo ricco, affitta i Fleetwood Studios di Revere, Massachusetts, per far registrare l’album della consacrazione alle tre figlie. Dando fondo a ogni risparmio, sicuro che il destino lo avrebbe aiutato, paga in anticipo anche 1000 copie del disco a  Charlie Dreyer, che li farà stampare dalla Third World Music. Le registrazioni avvengono in un solo giorno, l’album ha pure due singoli per un 45 giri. Fin qui sembra la perfetta storia del sogno americano. C’è un grande, gigantesco “ma”. Ascoltando Philosophy Of The World si capisce che le tre ragazze erano tutto fuorché capaci di suonare: tecnica primitiva e improvvisata, la sensazione che non esista davvero la cognizione di ritmo, melodia e armonia, colpi di batteria che spuntano così, all’improvviso, la sensazione che le peggiori esibizioni al Karaoke non siano degne di questa scaletta. Si racconta che sbigottiti gli ingegneri del suono si guardassero tra loro quando le ragazze, convinte che una di loro avesse fatto un errore, si fermavano, ne discutevano per un attimo e continuavano a cantare. Eppure certi passaggi hanno un potenziale, e se non si sapesse la storia, le canzoni strampalate che suonano (tutte di un paio di minuti circa, che parlano di temi adolescenziali come uscire con gli amici, la festa di Halloween, le domande esistenziali tipo Who Are Parents?, Why Do I Feel? o  What Should I Do? stemperate dalle idee e dai sogni di Things I Wonder,  I'm So Happy When You're Near) potrebbero passare per un esercizio di avanguardia musicale. C’è pure un lato umano terribile: Dreyer stampa solo 100 copie, e scappa con il resto dei soldi. Con profonda umiltà, Wiggin le distribuisce alle stazioni locali, che le abbandonano sugli scaffali. Imperterrito, anni dopo, nel 1975, organizza una nuova sessione di registrazione, che però finisce quando Austin Wiggin muore per un infarto. Le tre sorelle abbandonano ogni altre idea musicale. Ma stavolta avviene l’atteso cambio di trama parziale: in primis, il Maestro Frank Zappa, da amante delle stranezze, compra una copia e diventerà un sostenitore di quella musica, tanto che in un famoso show televisivo suonerà due pezzi delle Shaggs; due grandi musicisti, Terry Adams e Tom Ardolino, che suonavano nella New Rhythm ‘n’ Blues Quintet, (NRBQ) possessori di una copia originale del disco, convincono la loro casa discografica a ripubblicare Philosophy Of The World. La ristampa del 1980 viene recensita da grandi giornali, con Rolling Stone che lo definisce “il disco peggiore di tutti i tempi” ma anche “il ritorno dell’anno”. Lester Bang sul Village Voice scrive: ”Come suona? Perfetto, non sanno suonare! Ma soprattutto hanno avuto l'atteggiamento giusto, che è tutto ciò che il rock 'n' roll è sempre stato fin dal primo giorno.” Tuttavia si riaccende un piccolo culto sotterraneo, e la riscoperta della musica “naif” di quegli anni aiutò la musica delle sorelle ad arrivare a vette incredibili (almeno di soddisfazione): è certo che Kurt Cobain designò Philosophy Of the World tra i suoi 5 dischi preferiti, e persino The New Yorker dedicò una storia di copertina alla vicenda delle sorelle Wiggin, nello stupore generale delle tre donne che consideravano un’esperienza orribile quella storia. Ci sarà perfino un album tributo, Better Than The Beatles: A Tribute To The Shaggs  del 2001, e un musical dieci anni dopo, nel 2011, tanto che le due sorelle Dot e Betty, dopo la morte di Helen nel 2006, decidono una reunion con alcuni concerti insieme alla band del musicista Jesse Krakow. In un articolo su uno di questi concerti, un giornalista del The New Yorker scrive: “Le sorelle Wiggin non hanno affatto misura e divertimento a stare sul palco (...) Cosa significava celebrare un errore? Se l'arte accidentale viene ricreata di proposito, che cos'è?”. Rimane una delle storie più incredibili della musica moderna, e suggerisco almeno un ascolto (che ammetto è un’esperienza davvero diversa) per capire come qualche volta è meglio non tentare di prevedere il futuro.

[albumwalloffame]

Let’s talk about The Shaggs

Yep, I’m talking about this album cover again, why? Because some information, that quite frankly I should have looked up before posting this album cover as part of the Album Cover Wall of Infamy 2021 Advent Calendar has recently come to my attention. So, let’s talk about this information and why it makes this cover so much worse.

So, the first question I should answer is, “Who actually were The Shaggs?” and beyond just “The band behind one of the most infamous albums in rock history”. The Shaggs were a rock band formed in New Hampshire, and was composed of three sisters, Dorothy, Betty and Helen Wiggin. Now, one might believe that, it being the sixties and these three being kids, they heard some records and wanted to make their own music, and admittedly I thought that too, because I was, and really still am, an idiot. These girls were literally forced into being a band by their father.

Their father was a man named Austin Wiggin Jr. and when he was young, his mother did some palm reading and predicted three things about Austin’s future, two of which came true, and the third was that his daughters would form a popular band. So, when the first two predictions came true, Austin tried to make the third come true, and how did he go about doing it? Getting his daughters interested in music by buying records? Letting them go to concerts? Nope, he literally pulled them out of school and bought them instruments and made them become a band.

Despite this literally being the worst way to form a band ever, it’s also noted that Austin never let his daughters go to any concerts, or even really have much of a social life. Helen even said that he was “Inappropriately intimate” with her once. So yes, these girls were essentially abused into becoming a band to fulfill a prophecy from a man’s dead mother.

So, my comment about “These girls look like they hoped their parents didn’t see them on a rock album cover”, is almost apt, but I can’t say it isn’t somewhat accurate. They look like they don’t want to be here, probably because the quite literally did not want to be here, it is a very “We’re here because Dad would kill us if we weren’t” vibes, and I do think he would literally kill them, nothing makes a musician legendary like death. Austin seemed like the kind of man who would go that extra mile. However, and I am trying not to say “Thankfully” here, Austin had a heart attack and died at the age of 47. After the family moved out and sold the place, the person they sold it to believed Austin’s ghost haunted the place and donated it to the Fremont Fire Department, who used it for a firefighting exercise.

As an aside, I genuinely did not think you could have a crazier story in music than The Beach Boys, the band that had ties to Charles Manson. However, this surpasses all of that.

So, that is the end of this band right? Their father died and they disbanded? Well guess what, in the early seventies, some guy actually played a few of their songs on a radio show, and that man would somehow go on to have a music career. You probably think, “Oh, he was probably just some nobody lo-fi noise jazz musician”, but no, this man became one of the biggest names in avant-garde and rock fusion, in fact he was actually present during the PMRC hearings alongside John Denver and Dee Snider, yeah, Frank Zappa was a fan of this band, and is probably a major reason for this band’s cult following. You know who else liked this album? Just a little punk kid from Washington you’ve probably never heard of, his name was Kurt Cobain. Yeah, The Shaggs are partially to thank for the big Grunge explosion of the 90s.

So, is this still one of the worst album covers in music history? Yes, again, it has the ickyness of parental abuse on it, they look uncomfortable because they probably are uncomfortable. They didn’t want to be musicians, but because their grandma predicted they’d be a popular band, their father tried to make them into a band. It is kind of funny though, he never did live to see the prediction come true, because they are something of a popular band in some circles.

I guess my comment wasn’t the only ironic thing about this band, eh?

[carolinawrenn]

🧤 and 🗡️ please!

Thank you for the ask, @randomcat1832! I had to think a lot about these which is why it took me so long to respond. 🧤 Dirtyhands, what's your weakness? "Under the surface, I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service"...rude of Lin Manuel Miranda to write a song about me. I have a hard time saying no to people. 🗡️ Wraith, what are your knives' names? (Moral principles that you value - yes, also name the knives) "What is required of you? To seek justice and love kindness" -- This is a paraphrase of a verse from the Book of Micah that I think about a lot "You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." -- Working towards social and economic justice in the US South often feels like hurling yourself at a brick wall over and over again. This helps keep me from giving up. "Deeds, not words." -- Words are important, but you have to back them up with actions. "Drops of waters turn a mill, singly none, singly none" -- You can't do it alone. Lasting change only happens through collective action. Names of the knives.....hmmmmm. If we're sticking with naming knives after saints, I have to go with: Francis (for Francis of Assisi--for challenging the corruption of the Church, plus I like his whole deal with the animals); Pauli (for Pauli Murray, civil rights activist, feminist, and theologian recognized as a saint by the Episcopal church); Dorothy (for Dorothy Day, social activist and anarchist, been proposed for sainthood in the Catholic church); and Ella May (for Ella May Wiggins, a North Carolina union organizer who was killed by an anti-union mob during the Loray Mill Strike in 1929. She's not a saint, but she is a martyr.)

[oldthymefarm]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Big Beds And Little Beds Early-Start Preschool Reader 1965 By Dorothy Z. Seymour.

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: At 98, She’s a Social Media Star by Alex Vadukul

By Alex Vadukul Dorothy Wiggins needed a hobby after the death of her husband. Now she’s big on TikTok and Instagram. Published: November 15, 2023 at 11:00AM from NYT Style https://ift.tt/S25fnP9 via IFTTT

[docrotten]

MONKEY SHINES (1988) – Episode 235 – Decades Of Horror 1980s

“You killed my Bogie! Not with your hands. You had your little demon do it for you.” Her “Bogie” and his “little demon?” That’s a new one. Never heard them called that before. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, Crystal Cleveland, and Jeff Mohr – as they go talk-about with Monkey Shines (1988), one of George Romero’s studio efforts.

Decades of Horror 1980s Episode 235 – Monkey Shines (1988)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master. 

  Director: George A. Romero

Writers: Michael Stewart, George A. Romero

Makeup Department:

Special Makeup Effects: Tom Savini

Special Makeup Effects Assistants: Greg Nicotero, Everett Burrell, Mike Trcic

Special Effects: Steven Kirshoff

Visual Effects: Alexandra Menapace (motion control graphics) (uncredited)

Stunts: David Meeks, Tom Savini, Patricia Tallman, Judy Zazula

Selected Cast:

Jason Beghe as Allan Mann

John Pankow as Geoffrey Fisher

Kate McNeil as Melanie Parker

Joyce Van Patten as Dorothy Mann

Christine Forrest as Maryanne Hodges

Stephen Root as Dean Burbage

Stanley Tucci as Dr. John Wiseman

Boo as Ella

Janine Turner as Linda Aikman

William Newman as Doc Williams

Tudi Wiggins as Esther Fry

Tom Quinn as Charlie Cunningham

Chuck Baker as Ambulance Driver

Patricia Tallman as Party Guest

David Early as Anesthetist

Michael Naft as Young Allan

Tina Romero as Child Playing

Mitchell Baseman as Child Playing

Lia Savini as Child Playing

Anthony Dileo Jr. as Vandal (as Tim DiLeo)

Melanie Verlin as Vandal

Dan Fallon as Allan’s Friend

George A. Romero writes and directs Monkey Shines, an adaptation of Michael Stewart’s 1983 British novel of the same title. Despite the monkey with the clapping cymbals on the poster, this movie has nothing to do with Stephin King. An excellent cast (Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten, Christine Forrest, Stephen Root, Janine Turner, and Stanley Tucci) and detailed storytelling that crosses all the t’s and almost dots all the i’s, might just make this work. And beware if you have a phobia regarding monkeys with sharp objects! You’ve been warned.

At the time of this writing, Monkey Shines is available to stream from Tubi, Pluto TV, and multiple PPV sources. 

Every two weeks, Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s podcast will cover another horror film from the 1980s. The next episode’s film, chosen by Chad, will be The Incubus (1981) from the novel by Ray Russell [Mr. Sardonicaus (1961) and X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)] and starring John Cassavetes.

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans – so leave them a message or comment on the Gruesome Magazine Youtube channel, on the Gruesome Magazine website, or email the Decades of Horror 1980s podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com.

Check out this episode!

[joethetoonfanandoutcast]

Tall woman-little man pairings I adore

Here are a list of tall woman-little man pairings, canon or fanmade, that I adore.

Roger x Jessica (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)

Kermit x Miss Piggy (The Muppets)

Barney x Betty (The Flintstones)

Donkey x Dragon (Shrek)

Fox x Skunk (Skunk Fu; with Skunk being older than canon obviously, either it's an AU or it's a time skip where he's old enough to date Fox)

Fox (Skunk Fu) x William D. Ploohe (Disney Xover OC doppelganger of Winnie the Pooh)

Rita x Dodger (Oliver and Company)

Rita x Oliver (Oliver and Company; with Oliver being older than canon)

Rita (Oliver and Company) x Bolt (film of the same name)

Esme "Sukey" Lane x Baxter Crescent (Sing OC duplicates of Buster and Suki, since shipping MoonLane is pointless)

Esme "Sukey" Lane (Sing OC) x Sylvester (Looney Tunes)

Stanley the cat x Alicia the dog (my Bremen/Sing OCs)

Furrball x Fifi La Fume (Tiny Toons; I think Fifi is like an inch taller than him, though that's not much)

Furrball x Julie Bruin (Tiny Toons)

Gomez x Morticia (The Addams Family)

Buzz x Jessie (Toy Story)

Beast Boy x Raven (Teen Titans)

Beast Boy x Terra (Teen Titans)

Ted Wiggins x Audrey (The Lorax (2012))

Felix x Calhoun (Wreck-It Ralph)

Tails x Zooey (Sonic Boom)

Tails x Barby Koala (Sonic comics)

Tails x Lupe (Sonic AU where Tails is older)

Tails x Blaze (Sonic AU where Tails is older)

Spike x Applejack (MLP:FIM AU)

Shackelford x Dorothy (Clifford's Really Big Movie)

Drake Mallard x Morgana McCawber (Darkwing Duck)

Iago x Thundra (Aladdin)

Timon x Shenzi (The Lion King AU)

Timon x Piper (The Lion King AU)

Cody Maverick x Lani Aliikai (Surf's Up)

Dixie x male version of Zelda (The Fox and the Hound 2 AU)

Twig x Anna (Amphibia AU)

Mike Wazowski x Celia Mae (Monsters Inc.)

Tom (Tom & Jerry) x Brenda Springer (Animalympics)

Leshawna x Harold (Total Drama)

WALL-E x Eve (WALL-E)

Phineas Flynn x Isabella Garcia-Shapiro (Phineas and Ferb)

Chicken Little x Abby Mallard (Chicken Little)

Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio) x Rosie (A Bug's Life)

Lady Kluck (Robin Hood (1973)) x the White Rabbit (Alice in Wonderland (1951))

[cromwellharvests]

Top 100 results from the exhaustive version of that same test. (It actually turned out fairly similar, all things considered).

Rosalind Walker (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina): 88% Debora (Baby Driver): 88% Belle (Beauty and the Beast): 87% Penny (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog): 87% Anna Bates (Downton Abbey): 86% Glenn Rhee (The Walking Dead): 86% Rachel Chu (Crazy Rich Asians): 86% Deanna Troi (Star Trek: The Next Generation): 86% Hilda Spellman (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina): 86% Eliza Hamilton (Hamilton): 86% Linda Martin (Lucifer): 86% Mary Margaret Blanchard (Once Upon a Time): 86% Hernando Fuentes (Sense8): 86% Waverly Earp (Wynonna Earp): 86% Elisa Esposito (The Shape of Water): 86% Pam Beesly (The Office): 85% Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings): 85% Beth March (Little Women): 85% Chien-Po (Mulan): 85% Valentine Wiggin (Ender's Game): 85% Belle French (Once Upon a Time): 85% Charlie Bucket (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory): 85% Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender): 84% Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games): 84% Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer): 84% Maid Marian (Robin Hood): 84% Francis Mulcahy (M*A*S*H): 84% Alexis Castle (Castle): 84% Mamá Coco (Coco): 84% Annie January (The Boys): 84% Skylar (Good Will Hunting): 84% Samwell Tarly (Game of Thrones): 83% Iroh (Avatar: The Last Airbender): 83% Norma Jennings (Twin Peaks): 83% Friar Tuck (Robin Hood): 83% Marmee March (Little Women): 83% Bo Peep (Toy Story): 83% William H. 'Shakespeare' Hill (This Is Us): 83% Monty Green (The 100): 83% Mia Toretto (Fast & Furious): 83% Kara Danvers (Supergirl): 83% Doc (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs): 83% Tracy Mills (Se7en): 83% Helsinki (Money Heist): 83% Dr. Sean Maguire (Good Will Hunting): 83% Elizabeth Burke (White Collar): 83% Chuny Marquez (ER): 83% Aimee Finecky (The Spectacular Now): 83% Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter): 82% Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter): 82% Arthur Weasley (Harry Potter): 82% Georgiana Darcy (Pride and Prejudice): 82% Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice): 82% Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender): 82% Dr. Ellie Sattler (Jurassic Park): 82% Mrs. Hudson (Sherlock): 82% Ariadne (Inception): 82% Esme Cullen (Twilight): 82% Rebecca Pearson (This Is Us): 82% Sara Tancredi (Prison Break): 82% Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz): 82% Dr. Claire Browne (The Good Doctor): 82% Annie Porter (Speed): 82% Sam Button (The Perks of Being a Wallflower): 82% Kala Dandekar (Sense8): 82% Céline (Before Sunrise): 82% Horatio (Hamlet): 82% Angela Montenegro (Bones): 82% Marianne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire): 82% Ally Maine (A Star Is Born): 82% Molly Weasley (Harry Potter): 81% Donna Moss (The West Wing): 81% Kasidy Yates (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine): 81% Ann Perkins (Parks and Recreation): 81% Beatrice 'Beadie' Russell (The Wire): 81% Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1): 81% Alice Cullen (Twilight): 81% Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump): 81% Ted Mullens (Schitt's Creek): 81% Oliver Hampton (How To Get Away With Murder): 81% Ben Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy): 81% Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diaries): 81% Cameron James (10 Things I Hate About You): 81% Marie Kreutz (The Bourne Identity): 81% Dana Polk (The Cabin in the Woods): 81% Andrea Sachs (The Devil Wears Prada): 81% Jane Villanueva (Jane the Virgin): 81% Amy Antsler (Booksmart): 81% Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds): 81% Juliet O'Hara (Psych): 81% Annie Reed (Sleepless in Seattle): 81% Benjamin Button (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button): 81% Hazel Grace Lancaster (The Fault in Our Stars): 81% Dobby (Harry Potter): 80% George O'Malley (Grey's Anatomy): 80% Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings): 80% Kaylee Frye (Firefly + Serenity): 80% Rita Bennett (Dexter): 80% The Oracle (The Matrix): 80% Meg March (Little Women): 80%

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

SP Influences: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Haunted Palace

CONTENT WARNING FOR DISCUSSION OF RAPE (NOT JUST THE FANTASY METAPHOR KIND) AND SLAVERY. ALSO SPOILER WARNING FOR THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963), THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, AND BOTH THE FIRST AND FINAL ARC (INCLUDING THE ENDING) OF STRANGE PARADISE.

Although it never directly copied from other works, the 1969-70 soap opera Strange Paradise appears to have drawn inspiration from several classic works of Gothic fiction. Unlike its more famous cousin Dark Shadows (1966-71), which lifted most of its major plotlines from public-domain horror classics like Dracula and The Turn of the Screw with relatively few changes, the influence of other works on the plot and characters of Strange Paradise generally took a subtler form. Many of the early advertisements and articles promoting the serial compared its protagonist Jean Paul Desmond and villain Jacques Eloi des Mondes (both played by Colin Fox) to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, but--as Curt Ladnier has pointed out--there are only superficial similarities between the plot of the serial’s Maljardin arc and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, making the two works less similar than readers likely expected. Instead, the plot more closely resembles that of another, lesser-known story about a protagonist controlled by his evil counterpart: the 1963 Roger Corman/Vincent Price film The Haunted Palace, a loose adaptation of the H. P. Lovecraft novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

The plot and characters of Strange Paradise have too much in common with those of The Haunted Palace to be mere coincidence. In particular, the character of Joseph Curwen and his characterization in the film strongly resemble the portrayal of Jacques Eloi des Mondes, enough to conclude that Curwen must have inspired his backstory and his interactions with the other characters. While it is likely that Lovecraft’s original 1927 novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward also directly influenced the serial, there is stronger evidence for indirect influence by way of the film adaptation.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

The plot of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward shares a common theme with the Maljardin arc: the evil ancestor from the seventeenth century who returns from beyond the grave and assumes the identity of his lookalike descendant. In both cases, the ancestor was involved in the occult during his lifetime and reviled for his rumored diabolical activities. During his lifetime--which he used magic to prolong--Curwen practiced necromancy, tortured knowledge out of the people he resurrected before murdering them again, experimented on living people, and summoned the god Yog-Sothoth for assistance in his occult activities using spells from the Necronomicon. Two fellow warlocks named Simon Orne and Edward Hutchinson assisted him with his occult studies, and were both still alive when his descendant Charles Dexter Ward brought him back to life. In the early episodes of Strange Paradise’s Maljardin arc written by Ian Martin, Jacques is portrayed as the literal Devil: an accusation about which he often jokes. He has many supernatural abilities, including possession, manipulation of electricity, telekinesis, the ability to magically alter messages written in sand, and--most importantly--the ability to resurrect Jean Paul’s dead wife Erica (Tudi Wiggins), which is why he frees his spirit in the pilot. He has an interest in voodoo, although he himself does not appear to practice it and instead fears its power. Unlike Curwen, no accomplices of Jacques’ return from the dead in the Maljardin arc, although it is possible that Martin intended for the seventeenth-century witch Tarasca, an earlier incarnation of wealthy widow Elizabeth Marshall (Paisley Maxwell), to fulfill this role after possessing Elizabeth.[1]

But these occult matters are not the only common interest that Joseph Curwen and Jacques Eloi des Mondes share. Both character were involved in the more earthly evils of the slave trade. A merchant by trade, Curwen also bought and sold slaves, importing enormous numbers of enslaved people from Guinea into his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island in 1766. He sold few of them, however, and Lovecraft heavily implies that he used most of them in his experiments. The televised version of Strange Paradise never explicitly references slavery (although Jean Paul’s immortal servants Raxl (Cosette Lee) and Quito (Kurt Schiegl) are implied to be Jacques’ former slaves), but the non-canonical book series by Dorothy Daniels does on occasion. In the second book Island of Evil, Jean Paul lists “black gold, another name for the importation of slaves” along with piracy and brigandage as one of the sources of the des Mondes’ family fortune.[2] A flashback sequence in Island of Evil confirms the past enslavement of Raxl and Quito, as well as an African voodoo priest whom Jacques forces to turn Quito into a zombie: the closest event in the Strange Paradise expanded universe to Curwen’s experiments.

Both Jacques and Curwen also met their ends at the hands of locals. In The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Ezra Weeden begins spying on Curwen because he suspects him of illegal activities including witchcraft. Eventually, he turns most of the prominent figures in Providence society against him and they band together to raid and destroy Curwen’s Pawtuxet farm. During the raid, Curwen dies for the first time, but only after devising a spell for his future resurrection. Likewise, in Strange Paradise, Jacques dies after the natives of Maljardin turn against him, although the trigger and cause of his death are different. When Jacques murders his wife, the princess Huaco, by pushing her off the island’s cliff, a group of natives including Raxl and the Conjure Man band together to kill Jacques using a conjure (voodoo) doll and silver pin. These weapons curse Jacques to throw himself from the cliff and keep his spirit "shackled to the Temple [of the Serpent, Raxl’s god]” until the day he tricks his descendant Jean Paul Desmond into removing the pin from the doll, thereby setting him free.

Jacques’ disappearing portrait from Strange Paradise Episode 12.

Also significantly, both The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and Strange Paradise give the evil ancestor’s portrait a prominent role in the plot. In both cases, this portrait hangs at the ancestor’s former residence and disappears either temporarily or permanently when he takes control of the man who resembles him. When Charles Dexter Ward is researching the history of Joseph Curwen, his sources lead him to an eighteenth-century townhouse at Orney Court in Ward’s hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, where Curwen settled after fleeing Salem, Massachusetts. He hires a restorator to restore the painting, has it moved to his study, and discovers some documents of Curwen’s hidden in the wall behind it. When he finally succeeds in resurrecting Curwen, the painting disintegrates into dust: an end which Curwen himself later meets. On Strange Paradise, Jacques’ oil painting sometimes disappears when he possesses Jean Paul, but the show is inconsistent about this cue from episode to episode.[3] In contrast to Curwen’s painting, Jacques’ portrait always returns after he leaves Jean Paul’s body and appears to be indestructible: when Jean Paul sets fire to Maljardin in Episode 65, the portrait survives and later re-appears in the attic at Jean Paul’s childhood home Desmond Hall in Episode 131.

In spite of these similarities, I should note that the method of resurrection differs from one work to the other. In Strange Paradise, Jacques achieves this by possessing Jean Paul: after Jean Paul frees him by removing the silver pin from the head of his effigy, Jacques’ spirit can enter and exit Jean Paul’s body at will. In The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, the title character literally resurrects Curwen, his great-great-great-grandfather, using his essential salts, after which Curwen murders him. Ward behaves as though Curwen has possessed him--he has the speech and manners of a man of the colonial period and knows extremely specific details about the history of Providence--but the pit above his right eye which Ward did not previously possess and the lack of the olive birthmark on Ward’s hip indicate a different body. When Jean Paul opens his casket in the pilot, he finds only the conjure doll and silver pin; the absence of Jacques’ body is never explained and could be for any number of reasons, which we shall not discuss here.

The Haunted Palace

A lobby card for The Haunted Palace asking the question, “What was the terrifying thing in the PIT that wanted women?” (Source)

In 1963, American International Pictures released The Haunted Palace, a loose adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Roger Corman. Due to alleged executive meddling (a theme which should already be familiar to regular readers of this blog), the film was marketed as an adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name, which Vincent Price quotes throughout the film. In the adaptation process, Beaumont made many changes to the source material, the most notable of which was the decision to have Curwen breed human women with the elder god Yog-Sothoth, as alluded to on the lobby card above.[4]

Though an entertaining and visually enthralling film, most of the changes made to The Haunted Palace weaken the plot. In my opinion, Beaumont added too many Hollywood horror conventions during the adaptation process, which did not always work effectively considering the unconventional source material, not to mention left many plot holes unfilled. The dated and sleazy sexual angle which he added to the film makes the cosmic horror of Yog-Sothoth less cosmic and more carnal; whether this makes him more or less frightening depends on one’s personal opinion, but I feel it contradicts his otherworldly characterization in Lovecraft’s works. For the most part, the talents of the director and the actors (especially Price, who is fabulous as always) make up for these problems, but I prefer--and highly recommend--the far more faithful radio drama adaptation by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

The most notable influence of The Haunted Palace on Strange Paradise comes from its characterizations of Charles Dexter Ward and Joseph Curwen. Despite many similarities with The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, the characterizations of both Jean Paul Desmond and Jacques Eloi des Mondes owe far more to the portrayals of the protagonist and villain in the The Haunted Palace than in its source material. In The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, neither Ward nor Curwen shows any romantic or sexual interest in women whatsoever.  Lovecraft’s Ward only cares about antiquities, the local history of Providence, and the story of his ancestor; at twenty-six, he is unmarried and either asexual or simply too absorbed in his studies to pursue any romantic or sexual partner. The sexual orientation of Lovecraft’s Curwen is just as much of a mystery: although he took Eliza Tillinghast as a wife during his lifetime and their union produced a daughter, theirs was an arranged marriage for the sake of elevating Curwen’s social status within Providence society.

Both Price’s Ward and his Curwen, in contrast, show a marked interest in women. While their marriage is never outright stated to be a love match, Ward and his wife Ann (Debra Paget) appear to feel mutual love and devotion and have enough chemistry to imply a mutual sexual attraction. Like a dark mirror of Ward, Curwen shows a marked interest in the sexual and sexualized domination of women. In The Haunted Palace, the people of Arkham consider him a threat primarily because he lures local women to his palace to use in his rituals. While possessing Ward, Price’s Curwen rapes Ann--whom he later offers to Yog-Sothoth as well--and resurrects his former mistress, Hester Tillinghast (Cathie Merchant), who assists him in his sorcery in the film’s climax. If Lovecraft’s Curwen never did any similar actions, he does not mention them in his novella.

In Strange Paradise, romantic and sexual desire for women motivates both Jean Paul and Jacques. Jean Paul resurrects his ancestor neither out of an obsession with his history (as in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward) nor by accident (as in The Haunted Palace), but because Jacques’ spirit promises that, if the recently widowed Jean Paul frees him, he will restore life to his beloved wife Erica (Tudi Wiggins). Many episodes show Jean Paul mourning her death and narrating a tape-recorded journal to her, and he obsesses over protecting her cryogenically-preserved corpse from danger. Jacques romantically pursues several female characters over the course of the Maljardin arc--including Erica, her sister Dr. Alison Carr (Dawn Greenhalgh), and the wealthy widow Elizabeth Marshall (Paisley Maxwell) and her 20-year-old daughter Holly (Sylvia Feigel)--and makes many sexual innuendos about them. After resurrecting Erica, she obeys Jacques as though he were her husband and assists him by murdering most of the guests on Maljardin. This makes her character’s role comparable to that of Hester in The Haunted Palace.[5]

On a more superficial note, neither Jacques nor Curwen wears a costume appropriate to his era of origin. In his portrait and in flashbacks, Jacques wears a side-parted 1960s hairstyle and clothing, including a doublet and lace collar and cuffs, more appropriate for the 1630s than the late 17th century when he lived (1660-1689, according to the plaque beneath his portrait). Similarly out of place, Curwen has short hair and a beard and wears a historically inaccurate lace bib in his portrait and in the prologue at the beginning of the film. Unlike the others, this similarity is almost certainly coincidental.

An even greater similarity, however, can be found in the scene forty-five minutes into the film where Curwen speaks to Charles through his portrait.The scene occurs after the second instance of Curwen possessing him, during which he unearths Hester’s coffin and has his fellow warlocks Simon Orne (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and Jabez Hutchinson (Milton Parsons) deliver it to his cellar laboratory. Ann catches him down there and he sends her away, still possessed by Curwen. When Curwen leaves his body, they have this conversation:

JC: (from painting) "Charles Dexter Ward…" CDW: "Leave me alone! LEAVE ME ALONE!" JC: "I will never leave you alone. Your blood is my blood, your mind is my mind, your body is my body. It will do you no good to resist me. Your efforts grow weaker every day." CDW: "No! NO!" JC: "You cannot keep me out, Ward. My will is too strong." (he possesses Ward again) "Too strong for you, Ward. Too strong for you."

Similarly, most episodes from the Maljardin arc of Strange Paradise feature at least one scene where Jean Paul communicates with Jacques’ disembodied spirit, represented by his portrait. In some scenes, they use a shot of the portrait hanging in the Great Hall; other times, they superimpose Jacques’ painted face over that of his identical descendant. One of the earliest examples of Jacques referring to them as one comes in Episode 5, when he taunts Jean Paul about his attraction to Alison. “She’s so delectable a woman. How could I--you--we--ever resist or let her go?” he says, snickering throughout. During another such conversation in Episode 27, Jacques refers to Jean Paul’s body as “our body” and commands him to rest because he is tired. In still another scene ten episodes later, he complains to Jean Paul that he is “waiting for the use of our body” as Jean Paul begs him not to “enter”; the dialogue in the scene has undertones suggestive of fantasy-metaphor rape, which Jacques’ sickeningly sweet tone of voice underscores. These are only a handful of examples of the recurring theme of Jacques viewing Jean Paul’s body as his own and seeking to dominate it completely.

Comparison of a shot of Joseph Curwen glowering in front of his portrait with a similar one of Jean Paul glowering in front of the portrait of Jacques from Strange Paradise Episode 41.

Surprisingly, unlike in the novella, Curwen's portrait does not disintegrate when he possesses Ward. As Strange Paradise eventually started doing with Jacques’ portrait, Curwen’s portrait remains hanging until the end of the film, when it burns along with the rest of the palace (which begs the question of how it is even physically possible for stone to burn). Jacques’ portrait meets the same apparent end when Jean Paul sets fire to the château and flees Maljardin, but later returns to him at Desmond Hall, seemingly undamaged by the flames. It does not vanish for good until the final week of the show (Episodes 191-195), when a group of characters force him out of it by rubbing his brother’s ashes on his eyes and lips; this drives him out of the painting and into Jean Paul’s body, which he leaves at the end of the penultimate episode.[6]

Still another similarity comes from what is, in my opinion, Beaumont’s most ingenious change to the plot: the implication that all the human townspeople in 19th-century Arkham are reincarnations of identical people from the previous century, not just the necromancers. The same actors even portray their descendants: for example, Leo Gordon plays both Ezra and Edgar Weeden, and Frank Maxwell portrays both Dr. Marinus Willett and his ancestor Priam. Implied reincarnation figures heavily in the original outline for Strange Paradise, with Jean Paul, his sister-in-law Alison Carr, and the young heiress Holly Marshall all having dreams about previous lives on 17th-century Maljardin. Much like Jacques who possesses his descendant, Holly’s mother Elizabeth Marshall may have also been possessed by her previous incarnation, the native priestess Tarasca, under this outline, as foreshadowed in the clips in this video. The second Desmond Hall arc (Episodes 131-195), likewise, involves reincarnation from past ancestors (including the return of Jacques), but this final arc otherwise shares little in common with either The Case of Charles Dexter Ward or its adaptation.

Conclusion

There is strong evidence that Strange Paradise drew inspiration from both The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Haunted Palace for the story about Jean Paul Desmond’s possession by Jacques Eloi des Mondes. We see elements from both the book and its first film adaptation in the serial: Ian Martin’s characterization of Jacques, the possession, and the talking portrait owe more to the film, while the disappearing portrait and certain elements of Jacques’ backstory are more reminiscent of Lovecraft’s original novella. Despite this inspiration, Ian Martin added many other elements to the story of Maljardin that were not present in either work, including the conjure doll and silver pin, the strange circumstances surrounding Erica’s death, and secondary protagonist Holly’s pursuit by several male characters and victimization by a mysterious spirit. The result is a serial combining the plots of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and its adaptation with original ideas to create a unique and--yes--strange new story.

Notes

[1] For more information on the aborted Tarasca storyline, see “The Secret of Tarasca“ and the section of my review of Episode 40 titled “The Lost Episode 40.”

[2] Dorothy Daniels, Island of Evil (New York: Paperback Library, 1970), p. 45.

[3] The Paperback Library novels do not just portray this consistently, but portray the other characters as seeing an empty frame while Jacques is controlling Jean Paul’s body. See also my review of Episode 15.

[4] For an in-depth plot comparison, see the blog post “The Films of Charles Dexter Ward” by Fake Geek Boy.

[5] According to an early newspaper summary for Episode 35, Tarasca would have endangered the life of Jean Paul’s love interest Alison, also shows some signs of possible influence by this subplot. See also this video.

[6] Many of the events of the final month of Strange Paradise are unclear and/or unexplained, so this interpretation should be taken with a grain of salt.

[nonecosiimportante]

THE SHAGGS - PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD (Third World Recordings, 1969)

Se volete ascoltarlo, fate pure, ma sappiate che questo è il disco più brutto della storia del rock. Però ha una storia carina che vale la pena raccontare. Negli anni ‘60 la famiglia Wiggins del New Hampshire era tremendamente povera. Padre, madre e sei figli, otto bocche da sfamare. Non trovando una soluzione il signor Austin, padre autoritario nel tipico stile americano di quegli anni, decise che le tre figlie maggiori dovessero diventare musiciste. Comprò due chitarre e una batteria, mise loro in mano gli strumenti e disse loro di darsi da fare. Riuscì a stipulare un contratto con i locali nei dintorni di casa, e così le tre Shaggs, Dorothy, Betty ed Helen, del tutto incapaci e prive di qualsivoglia talento, cominciarono a fare serate che invariabilmente si concludevano con lancio di prodotti ortofrutticoli sul palco. Ne 1969 il signor Wiggins decise che era giunto il momento di incidere un disco. Fu stampato in 1000 copie, 900 delle quali andarono misteriosamente perdute. Cento di quei dischi furono effettivamente venduti. Le Shaggs continuarono a suonare per qualche anno, finché nel 1975 papà Austin lasciò per sempre la valle di lacrime in cui viveva e le tre sorelle pensarono bene di scomparire per sempre. Nel 1976 Frank Zappa dichiarò pubblicamente che Philosophy of the World era “Uno dei miei tre dischi preferiti di sempre”, scatenando la caccia alle registrazioni superstiti. Furono trovate, ristampate e da lì in poi cominciò un processo di rivalutazione che portò il disco ad essere considerato uno dei più influenti della storia del rock. Ora, che il disco sia indegno è un dato di fatto. Sconclusionato, stonato, senza capo né coda, privo di qualsiasi armonia o bellezza. È però divenuto un emblema del self-made, della rivalsa dell’uomo qualunque, la colonna sonora di esistenze invisibili proprio perché pregno di ingenuità e della forza di chi vorrebbe ma non può, la rappresentazione stessa del sogno americano. Questa è la storia. Ora se volete ascoltarlo, fate pure. Io vi ho avvisato, è veramente brutto.

[argentvive]

Alchemy 101: Marking Your Characters as Heart, Mind, Body

People who have been following me for a while are familiar with this emblem, from Atalanta fugiens, showing the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone.

Michael Maier, Atalanta fugiens, 1618.

I’ve explained the significance of the man and woman, small and large circles, square and triangle at some length.  For a story, we need to focus on the triangle.  In spiritual alchemy, the triangle represents soul, spirit, and body.  Heinrich Khunrath helpfully labeled the sides of the triangle in this emblem.  In red capital letters you have Anima (soul), Spiritus (spirit), and Corpus (body).  

Heinrich Khunrath, Amphiteatrum sapientiae aeternae, 1602

The only fantasy novel I’m aware of where the authors marks his or her characters as Soul/Spirit/Body is Elizabeth Goudge’s The Little White Horse. 

Most commonly, authors mark their male protagonist, the Male Principle of the Work, as heart and their female protagonist, the Female Principle of the Work, as mind.  If they have a companion, he or it will be marked as Body.  If you look back at the Mundus Elementaris that I just posted you’ll see that Sun corresponds to Cor (heart) and Moon to Cerebrum (brain).  

[Someone left a couple of comments recently saying that I had made up all these alchemy rules--to fit my OTPs, apparently.  So I’m posting some emblems again to show how alchemical ideas were developed over centuries, and not created by me lololol.]

The characteristics of a “heart” character are pretty much what you’d expect: courage, self-sacrifice, occasional rashness and impulsivity.  Harry Potter is the perfect embodiment of a “heart” character.  Rowling goes beyond giving him the appropriate personality traits; she has other characters comment about Harry’s “good heart”, or she describes his heart responding in various situations.  Just check the books sometime and see how often “Harry” and “heart” appear close together.  

The characteristics of a “mind” character are if anything even more obvious.  “Mind” characters are knowledgeable, book-smart, and sometimes overly cautious.  Hermione captures the defining features of herself and Harry, the “mind” and the “heart,” in her speech at the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: she is “books and cleverness,” while Harry is “friendship and bravery.”   

An author can of course use BOTH a name and personality traits to mark characters.  In The Alchemyst, Michael Scott calls his female protagonist Sophie Newman. Sophia is the Greek word for “wisdom.”  In fact, several of the images from the famous alchemical manuscript Aurora consurgens depict Sophia/Wisdom.  (Scott’s Sophie is also very smart, very clever.) 

Aurora consurgens, early 1400s

What about the Body character?  There isn’t one in every alchemy story, but when this does appear, the markers are predictable.  Body characters are focused on their bodily needs--they are hungry, thirsty, and, in adult stories, lusty.  And they are often fearful. Think of Papageno in Mozart’s opera, the Magic Flute, who breaks his vow of temperance and starts eating and drinking on stage, lamenting his lack of female companionship.  Or Wiggins in The Little White Horse (he’s a beautiful, vain King Charles spaniel, always focused on his next meal).  Or Ron Weasley, who is constantly hungry. Or Sméagol/Gollum, who eats compulsively though his main lust is for the Ring.

In the Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum used the heart/mind/body triangle in a completely different way.  Rather than marking his protagonist, Dorothy, as heart, as you would expect, Baum assigns heart, mind, and body characteristics to her three companions.  The Tin Man is in search of a heart, the Scarecrow in search of a brain, and the Cowardly Lion in search of “some nerve,” in other words the courage that Body characters typically lack.  

,

In A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin also follows a non-standard path.  His two protagonists, Jon and Daenerys, are not going through their transformational journey together.  They are not Frodo and Sam or Harry and Hermione, with the “mind” character complementing the “heart.”  No, Jon and Daenerys must both be heart; this fact is underlined when other characters refer to Jon or Daenerys having a “good heart.” Both are brave and self-sacrificing, though Dany’s self-sacrificing nature does not reveal itself until she flies north of the Wall to rescue Jon.  Neither Jon nor Dany is particularly clever or wise--perhaps wisdom will come.  

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #16 The Trail of Blood

     “I know how it sounds,” Sherlock Holmes said as he paced in the office, occasionally glancing at the bookshelves lining the walls.  “But there’s no doubt in my mind that Moriarty is now a Vampire, and he is working for another Vampire who is even more powerful than he is.”      Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft Holmes, sat back in his chair behind the desk.  “It does sound rather ridiculous, but in the past few years I have encountered quite a lot of ridiculous things.  How much do you know of my current job?”      “You’re the Director of some secret organization or another, I haven’t really looked into the details of it.”      “I’m the Director of the ESS.  It was started decades ago by Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla and a number of other scientists in order to protect humanity from threats of a scientific nature.”      “Okay?”      “Vampires are hardly scientific.  Even if they are real, they hardly fall under the purview of my organization.”      “Everything that exists has a scientific explanation.  But this will just be an argument of semantics.  Regardless of your purview, they are building an army, and that’s something we have to be ready for.”      “In case you missed it, there are multiple armies that we are already at war with.  I cannot simply take resources away from a war that is very obviously happening, to fight a war that may not be.”      “Are you willing to stake England on that?”      Mycroft sighed.  “I suppose I can give you a small team.  I’ll have to check for certain, but maybe about half a dozen people.”      “Give me a team?” Sherlock asked.  “In case you were unaware, I’m retired.  And even if I wasn’t, this is a bit…”      “A bit what?  A bit outside your purview.”      “Fine, I’ll do this, but only because someone has to, and I can’t trust you to send your best agents on this.”      “Excellent, you can return here tomorrow morning to meet your team.”           The following day, Sherlock returned to the ESS headquarters, and was lead to a small meeting room.  There was a table in the center with chairs around it, but it was otherwise empty of any furnishing.  Mycroft was at the head of the table, and there were six other people seated around it.      “Ah, welcome Sherlock,” Mycroft said.  “Meet your team.  I believe you already know Joseph Wiggins.”      “Ah yes, the old head of the Baker Street Irregulars,” Sherlock said.  “I see you’re all grown up now.”      “Yes, sir,” Joseph said.  “And I am very honored to work with you again.”      “He will be your second in command on this mission,” Mycroft said.  “Next up we have your pilot, Joyce Callaghan.  She’s one of the few that has any experience with the type of jet you’ll be using.  It’s an experimental design that will allow you to travel all over the world in a matter of hours.”      “Just tell me where we need to go, and I’ll get us there in one piece,” Joyce said.      “Yes, staying in one piece would be preferable,” Sherlock said.      “You are also in luck that Dorothy Kingsmill was in town right now, from Australia,” Mycroft said.  “She has some experience with…the seemingly supernatural, and I’m sure she’ll provide some valuable insights.”      “Compared to what I’m used to dealing with, Vampires should be a welcome vacation,” Dorothy said.      “I look forward to hearing more about that,” Sherlock said.      “We also have Jacob McNeil, who was part of a program to make perfect snipers,” Mycroft said.  “I’m not sure how well long range weapons work against these Vampires of yours, but hopefully he will prove to be an asset.”      “I am honored to be serving under you, sir,” Jacob said.      “Then there is Daniel Najam, who didn’t believe you were real until this morning,” Mycroft said.  “But he is a brilliant doctor, which you may end up needing during the course of this mission.” “Sorry about that,” Daniel said.      “To be fair, Mycroft has spent the past few years trying to convince the general public that I am merely a fictional character,” Sherlock said.      “It makes it easier to make my own existence a secret,” Mycroft said.  “And it wouldn’t have been necessary if your friend Watson had left me out of the stories he published about your various adventures.  But either way, the final member of your team is Sally Dallen.  She’s a close combat specialist, which I’m sure will be extremely useful.”      Sally just nodded.      “It’s good to meet you all,” Sherlock said.  “I’m not sure how much my brother told you, but yes, we will be dealing with Vampires.  Recently, I discovered the my old nemesis Moriarty is not dead, as I thought, but in fact undead.  He is a Vampire, and working, somewhat unwillingly, for the Vampire that turned him.  There is apparently some level of mind control.”      “How much do you know about the mind control?” Dorothy asked.      “Assuming the information is accurate, most Vampires must fully obey those that turn them,” Sherlock said.  “Moriarty is one of the rare few that can disobey as long as he is not in the presence of whoever turned him.  And there are an even more rare few that do not have any such compulsion.  But that is why his master has put other safeguards in place to keep an eye on Moriarty.”      “Who is the Vampire that turned him?” Joseph asked.      “I do not know, but whoever it is, is trying to build up an army, and Moriarty is just one of his many recruiters.”      “What is our first step?” Jacob asked.      “Assuming he hasn’t left, we know where Moriarty is,” Sherlock said.  “So the first step is to go in and capture him.”           The following day, Sherlock walked up to the front door of Moriarty’s house, along with Sally.  The rest of the team were hidden in various locations near to the house, covering all sides.  Sherlock knocked, and after half a minute the door was answered by the same servant as the last time he had been here.      “Mister Holmes,” the servant said.  “What are you doing back here?”      Sally grabbed the servant by the collar, and pulled him out into the sunlight, which did nothing to him.  She pushed him to the ground, and he landed on his back.      “Is Moriarty here?” Sherlock asked.      “I will tell you nothing,” the servant said.      Sherlock looked at him.  “You already have.”  Sherlock took out his radio.  “Wiggins, come over here and make sure this one doesn’t escape.”      “Of course,” Wiggins said before running over from the alley he had been in, and pulling the servant up off the ground.  “Let’s go buddy.”      Sherlock looked inside the house, and there was no one immediately visible.  Sherlock stepped inside, with Sally following him in.  They went down the hallway, and by the library that Sherlock had been in on his previous visits.  Moriarty was not there either.  They continued on, and found a staircase up to the second floor.      At the top of the stairs was another hallway, with several doors.  The first they tried was an office, and the second a bedroom, but one that had not seen any use in quite some time.  The third they checked was the master bedroom, and there they found Moriarty, sitting in a chair, reading a book.  He looked up at their entrance, and put it down on the table next to him.      “Ah, I was wondering how long until your next visit,” Moriarty said.      “We have captured your servant,” Sherlock said.      “Have you now?” Moriarty asked, his mouth becoming a grin.      “A member of my team is holding him outside,” Sherlock said.      “Your team?” Moriarty asked.  “I must admit, I did not expect you to put together a team.  With the exception of that Watson fellow, you always seemed to prefer to work alone.”      “Desperate times,” Sherlock said.  “Now, please surrender yourself.”      “Of course,” Moriarty said, as he held his hands out.  “Do you wish to cuff me?”      Sherlock took a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket, and put them on Moriarty, who offered no resistance.  “Let’s go,” Sherlock said, and they led Moriarty outside, after covering him with a blanket to protect him from the Sun.           “Doesn’t that seem a bit convenient how easily he gave up?” Joseph asked.  The team was back on their jet, and Moriarty and his servant were each in one of the holding cells on it.  “Did he even try to stop you?”      “No,” Sally said.      “He wanted to be captured,” Sherlock said.  “As I said earlier, he can partially disobey his master, and once we captured his servant, that meant he no longer had to worry about his disobedience getting back.”      “Why wouldn’t he have just killed the servant then?” Dorothy asked.      “The servant doesn’t check in, then Moriarty’s master sends people after him,” Sherlock said.  “You are all correct to suspect Moriarty of something though.  Getting out from under the hand of whoever he is forced to work for is indeed one of his motivations, but there is likely a lot more than that which he plans to do.”      “Do you want me to question him?” Joseph asked.      Sherlock raised an eyebrow.  “No, I will do that myself.  Although, if you wish to question the servant, you can do so.  Just make sure not to mention that Moriarty willingly surrendered himself.”      “It could give us an advantage to turn them against each other,” Joseph said.      “Perhaps, but at this time we do not know that for certain,” Sherlock said.  “It is important to gather as much information as possible before making a plan.”      Sherlock went to the back of the upper level of the jet, where one of the holding cells was, and sat down outside it.      “So, what do you wish to know?” Moriarty asked.  He was lying on the cot in the cell, looking up at the ceiling.  He did not even bother to look over at Sherlock.      “Who is your master?” Sherlock asked.      “My sire is Dracula.”      “Dracula is a fictional character, created by Bram Stoker.”      “And we are fictional characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or so your brother has much of the world convinced.  Do you think that’s the only time that’s ever happened?”      “Assuming you are telling the truth, what is he planning?  He’s quite obviously building up an army, but to what end exactly?”      “To conquer, of course.  How much, and where first, I do not know, but he wishes to rule, and it is to that purpose that he is building up an army.”      “And what is your plan?”      “My plan?”      “Do you plan to take his place, as the head of this army, if we can get rid of him?”      “Please Sherlock, you know me better than that.  I have no desire to rule the world, or anything so quaint.  I prefer to control things from the shadows.”      “Even still, an army of Vampires would be useful to those ends.”      “I suppose they would at that,” Moriarty said.           Joseph sat down outside the cell that Moriarty’s servant was in, which was in the back of the lower level of the jet.  The servant was sitting upright on his cot.      “So, I don’t believe we ever got your name,” Joseph said.      “You may refer to me as Jervis Albertson.”      “We may refer to you as such?  So that’s not your actual name?”      “It makes little difference to you whether it is my real name or not.”      “Sure thing,” Joseph said.  “What about your boss, what’s his name?”      “You know his name, it is James Moriarty.”      “And his boss?”      “I know not who you refer to.”      “Of course you don’t.”           “Wait, are there any fictional characters that aren’t really real?” Daniel asked after Sherlock had told the team what he had learned from Moriarty.  “First you and Moriarty, and now apparently Dracula?”      “Assuming Moriarty is telling the truth,” Jacob said.      “Yes, assuming that,” Sherlock said.  “I believe he is telling the truth on that, but there is certainly more that he is hiding.”      “Did he give us anything we can use to track down Dracula though?” Dorothy asked.  “Or should we just check Transylvania?”      “Isn’t that controlled by the Axis?” Jacob asked.      “Hmm, yes, that is a slight concern,” Sherlock said.  “But with how fast this thing goes, we should be able to get in without much risk of being noticed.  Joyce, set a course.”      “Understood, sir,” Joyce said.      “What’s your plan for when we get there?” Joseph asked.  “Like, should we really be assuming that he’s returned to his old home, especially considering there’s a novel about him?”      “Even if he is not, it may provide clues as to where he is now,” Sherlock said.      “And what if he is there?” Jacob asked.  “You said he’s putting together an army.  That would be a big enough threat on its own, but if they are within a country we are at war with, we can’t even get local reinforcements.”      “Yes, we will have to be cautious,” Sherlock said.           The plane landed just outside a forest, and then drove into it a bit, to try and hide it from view.      “We’ll split into two teams,” Sherlock said.  “Dallen and Kingsmill will go in with me from one side of the castle, and Wiggins, you lead McNeil and Doctor Najam in from the other side.  Callaghan will remain with the plane.  Make sure it’s ready to leave on a moment’s notice.”      “Yes, sir,” Joyce said.  She remained at the controls, as everyone else disembarked from the plane.      “This is just supposed to be recon, correct?” Joseph asked.      “Yes, Wiggins,” Sherlock said.  “Do not engage in combat unless you have to.  I’m not as spry as I used to be, so my team will go at the castle from this side, why don’t you lead your team around from the other?”      “Yes, sir,” Joseph said.  “Jacob, Daniel, let’s go.”      As those three went off, Sally and Dorothy followed Sherlock.      “So, Agent Kingsmill, what sort of seemingly supernatural things do you have experience with?” Sherlock asked as they walked.      “Greek Gods, sir,” Dorothy said.  “I am the ESS liaison to New Olympus.”      “Hmm,” Sherlock said.  “That’s interesting.  But no experience with Vampires before this?”      “I’m afraid not,” Dorothy said.  “Looking at the literature though, I think I have a grasp on how to deal with them.”      “I guess we’ll find out as we continue on,” Sherlock said.      They got to the top of a hill, and looked towards the castle with their binoculars.      “There’s lights coming from inside the castle,” Dorothy said.      “Yes, and there is some movement,” Sherlock said.  “There is definitely someone in there, possibly a lot of people, but we have a rather limited view of the interior.”           Joseph, Jacob, and Daniel circled around to the other side of the castle, where they climbed up into some trees to get a view, while staying out of sight.      “Definite movement in there,” Joseph said as he looked through his binoculars.  “Not enough windows to get even an idea of how many people there are though.”      Jacob looked through his.  “Give me eight hours of watching this place, and I’ll have a decent estimate, possibly sooner.  It’s just a matter of watching people pass the windows, keeping track of when you see new people, or the same people again, and doing that for every window.”      “If they’re Vampires though, that’ll only work at night,” Daniel said.  “They’ll avoid the windows during the day.”      “Which would also be informative,” Joseph said.  “Even if there are Vampires in there, we don’t know that all of them are.”  He took out his radio.  “Wiggins here, do you read me Mister Holmes?”      “Yes, I read you,” Sherlock said.  “Do you have something?”      “McNeil thinks he can get an estimate on the amount of people inside if he watches for about eight hours,” Joseph said.      “It should only take four hours for myself,” Sherlock said.  “But yes, let’s both our teams work on that, and we’ll compare numbers when we have them.”           Four hours passed, and Sherlock estimated that there were at least a hundred people inside the castle.      “Those numbers are going to be a big problem for us,” Dorothy said.      “Certainly, if we fight them on their terms,” Sherlock said.  “But they do have easily exploitable weaknesses.”      “How many of them have we actually confirmed though?” Dorothy asked.      “I have confirmed that garlic damages them, and a crucifix is useless,” Sherlock said.  “The evidence indicates that sunlight is bad for them, but I have not yet learned how bad.  I am unsure of holy water, though the uselessness of the crucifix makes me doubt it will do anything.”      “So, we need to determine how bad sunlight is then,” Dorothy said.  “And if it’s bad enough, we attack during the day.”      “Not only that, but we concentrate not on attacking the Vampire army, but rather the building they are inside,” Sherlock said.  “Take out the roof and walls, and suddenly the sun may do our work for us.”           “I don’t know if we have enough explosives for destroying that castle,” Joseph said after the whole team had returned to the plane.      “We don’t need to destroy the whole castle,” Sherlock said.  He took out a paper and began drawing the castle on it.  “It’s simply a matter of placing what explosives we do have at the proper locations to maximize the sunlight within the castle.”      “So, we’re going to have to go in then?” Daniel asked.  “That seems a bit risky.”      “We’ll do it during the day,” Sherlock said.  “And we’ll figure out routes to keep near windows as best as possible.”      “And what if not everyone in there is a Vampire?” Dorothy asked.  “Moriarty’s servant wasn’t, so it’s possible they have others working for them that aren’t.”      “Yes, that is something I had considered,” Sherlock said.  “Unfortunately there is not much we can do about that, other than ensuring that we are all well armed.”      Sherlock finished the drawing of the castle, and began marking X’s on it.  “The problem is that we do not know much of the interior,” he said.  “Some of these we can place without going inside, but others will be difficult.”      “We could always try asking Moriarty about the interior,” Dorothy said.  “I’m sure he knows at least some of it.”      “Indeed,” Sherlock said.           Moriarty looked up as Sherlock once again came and sat down outside his cell.  He was holding a large rolled up piece of paper this time.      “Good day, Mister Holmes,” Moriarty said.  “Is there something more you need my assistance with?”      “Perhaps,” Sherlock said, as he put the paper through the bars of the cell.  Moriarty took it, and unrolled it.      “Hmm, this is a decent drawing of Dracula’s castle.  You perhaps missed your true calling as an artist.”      “What we need to know is the layout of the interior.”      Moriarty noticed the X’s on the drawing.  “Ah yes, I see what you are looking to do.  A pen or pencil, if you please?”      Sherlock handed Moriarty a pencil, and he began adding to the drawing, before passing it back to Sherlock.      “It’s a large castle, as you are aware,” Moriarty said.  “So I have only drawn the passages that are necessary for your use, and a few extras, in case exits are blocked.”      “Thank you,” Sherlock said.  “Can I assume then, that sunlight is damaging enough for this plan to work.”      “Oh yes, it is quite damaging.”           After returning to the front of the plane, Sherlock showed the team the map.  “We’ll go to the castle as a group, but with Agent McNeil in a tree over on this side of the castle.  Agent Kingsmill, I understand you have some experience with rock climbing.”      “That is correct,” Dorothy said.      “Do you think you can scale these walls?”  Sherlock pointed to the outer walls of the castle.      “Yeah, that’ll be easy,” Dorothy said.      “Then you’ll go up and over, and let us inside.  We’ll then split up into teams of two,” he said.  “Agents Wiggins and Najam will take this route and place explosives in these five locations.”  He traced a path on the map.  “Agent Kingsmill, you’ll be climbing and placing explosives here, here, and here,” Sherlock said as he pointed to locations on the walls of the castle.  “Agent McNeil will be your partner on the ground, ready to take out any threats that may present themselves.  And finally, Agent Dallen will go in with me, as we will place the final four explosives, along this route.”  He again traced a route on the map.  “Everyone memorize your areas.  Any questions?”      “When do we go in?” Joseph asked.      “Tomorrow, an hour after sunrise,” Sherlock said.  “We want to ensure we have plenty of daylight to use on this.”           The next day, Sherlock led the team down to the castle.  It was a quiet, sunny day, almost seemed peaceful.      “All clear,” Jacob said over the radio.  “I’m not seeing any movement on the outer wall.”      “Agent Kingsmill, you are up,” Sherlock said.      “Right,” Dorothy said as she went up to the wall.  She looked it over, put her hands on it and, and found some protrusions, pulling herself up.  There was an indent, that she used as a foothold, and continued going up, looking for whatever she could use.      “Everyone knows what they are doing when we get in?” Sherlock asked as he looked at the rest of them.  They all nodded.  “Remember, if you have to choose between carrying out your assignments, and getting out of there alive, make sure you get out alive.  If we fail at this, we can try again, but we can’t bring you back from the dead.”      “At least not that we’re aware of,” Joseph said.  “But I mean, we are fighting Vampires, so who knows what is and isn’t actually possible.”      “True.”  Sherlock chuckled.  “But I’d rather we not have to figure that out.”      The doors opened at that point, and Dorothy was standing there.  “Welcome to Dracula Castle, please watch your step, and protect your neck.”      “Let’s go, Agent Dallen,” Sherlock said and Sally followed him, while the others went their own ways.  They went to a set of doors that led into the castle itself, and Sherlock pulled them open.  There were four people directly inside, who seemed surprised at the intrusion.  “Hello, ladies and gentlemen.”      All four of them, two men, and two women, glared at them, and bared their fangs, showing themselves to indeed be Vampires.  Sally attacked before they could though, grabbing one of the men, and throwing him towards the door before he could react.  The second he was in direct sunlight, his skin caught fire, and he started burning, while Sherlock closed the door between them.      The other man went at Sherlock, while both of the women went for Sally.  Sherlock stepped to the side, and used his cane to trip the Vampire.  He then took out a canteen filled with holy water, and began pouring it on the Vampire.  To his surprise, it started burning him, not like a fire, but like an acid.      Sherlock looked over to the side, where he saw that Sally had staked both of the Vampires she was fighting in the chest, and they were both lying on the ground, motionless.  He drove the end of his cane, which he had sharpened into a stake, into the heart of his own opponent, and he too went motionless, as the holy water continued eating away at the body.      “Fascinating,” Sherlock said.  He pulled his cane out of the body, and suddenly, the Vampire was conscious again.  He stuck the cane back in, and it was once again still.  “Hmm, so a stake to the heart merely puts them into a coma-like state.  That’s quite interesting.”           Joseph ran up to a door, with Daniel coming after him.  He opened it a crack and looked inside.  There was no one immediately visible, so he slowly opened it further, and went in, with Daniel following.  The door had led into a kitchen, which was empty of people.  Joseph said as he went over to a door on the other side of the kitchen, and opened it a crack, before closing it.  “Shit, there are dozens of people in the dining room out there.”      “Vampires?”      “There are people that looked like they are strapped to the tables, so yeah, I assume that the ones who aren’t are probably Vampires.”      “Dammit,” Daniel said.  “How many prisoners are there?”      Joseph opened the door a crack again, and looked out for a bit longer before closing it.  “I can see seven, and some of them look to be in pretty bad shape.  Looks like forty or so Vampires though.”      “I…I don’t think we can deal with forty Vampires,” Daniel said.      “We need to get past them though, and I don’t think there are any alternate routes we can take at this point.  So, we’re just gonna have to sneak past them.”      “How?”      “None of them are paying much attention this way.  We should be able to get out the door, and stay low behind tables and make our way around the room.  Just stay low, and stay quiet.”      Joseph opened the door and crept out, crouching as much as he could, while still being able to make quickly and quietly.  Daniel followed his lead as he came after him.  They both moved around the edge of the dining room, and were at the midpoint when Daniel tugged on Joseph’s sleeve.  Joseph looked back at him.      “We can’t just leave these people here,” Daniel whispered.  “We can’t just leave them to be fed on like this.  It’s not right.”      Joseph kept his expression neutral as he shrugged, but he knew Daniel was right.  “Two of us against forty of them.  We can’t beat them.”      “Not in a direct fight, but we’ve got to do something.”      “We will, we will, but first we need to get through here,” Joseph whispered before continuing on, and eventually they reached the closest location to the door out, that still left them hidden.  From this vantage point he could see the door opened up to a hallway outside, which was empty as far as he could tell.  He looked over at the Vampires feeding, and none were looking in this direction.  “Now,” he whispered to Daniel.      They both moved for the door as fast as they could, and went out into the hall, which was indeed empty at the moment.  They hugged the wall to avoid being seen from the dining room as they went down the hall.      “What are we going to do about all those people in there?” Daniel asked.      “We just need to stick to the plan, and take out the Vampires, and then we’ll be able to free the people.”      “It could be too late for some of them.”      “But if we try to free them now, all that’s going to happen is we’ll end up dead, and not able to help anyone.”           Dorothy climbed up the side of the castle, and put the first of her explosives in place.  She continued on, working her way up, and to the right, as she moved towards the second location.  This was a very old castle, something she was grateful for as that meant a lot more handholds, which made the climb easier.  Then she heard the sound of a rifle firing.      “What’s going on?” she asked into the radio.      “I noticed some archers noticing you,” Jacob said.  “By the windows that don’t have direct sunlight on them at this time of day.  Unfortunately bullets only seem to be slowing them down, not putting them down.”      “Try shooting them in the eyes,” Dorothy said.  “They can’t shoot me if they can’t see me, I hope.”      “Good call, I’ll do my best.”           Sherlock continued through the castle with Sally following after him.  They had placed two of their explosives so far, and had so far only had a few encounters with Vampires, and always small groups which Sally had been able to quickly neutralize.      Then as they approached a corner, Sherlock glanced around it.  The hallway went down to a large, ornate door, which was guarded by twelve Vampires.  Sherlock pulled back before he was spotted, and whispered to Sally what he had seen.      “That’s too much for us to take out directly,” Sally said.      “We need to place one of the explosives in that room,” Sherlock said.  “And clearly it belongs to Dracula himself, so here.”  Sherlock handed one of the explosives to Sally, while keeping the other for himself.      “What are you doing?”      “I’ll get in there and place this one,” Sherlock said.  “You continue on and place the final one, then get out of here.”      “No offense, but you’re really old.  If I can’t take out that many, what makes you think you can?”      “I don’t have to take them out.  Just go, that’s an order.”      Sally looked at him for a couple seconds, before nodding, and running off.  Sherlock watched until she was out of sight, and then took a deep breath, before walking around the corner, and towards the door.  The guards all looked at him in confusion.      “I would like to formally announce myself,” Sherlock said.  “I am Sherlock Holmes, and I have come here to see your master.”      “How did you get in here?” one of the guards demanded, as he approached Sherlock.      “With your lax security, how could I not?” Sherlock asked.  “But I am not here to talk with an underling such as yourself.  I am here to see your master, so either let him know that I am here, or kindly step out of my way.”      The guard approaching laughed, as he got up to Sherlock, and looked him right in the eye.  “Oh, you’ll see him all right, after I have turned you.”      “Fine then, go ahead and turn me.  And then you can see for yourself how he’ll react after learning that you turned Sherlock Holmes yourself, instead of letting him do so.”      The guard turned back to the others.  “Any of you heard of this Sherlock Holmes?”      “He’s some kind of detective from England,” one of them said.  “Arch-nemesis to Moriarty, I do believe.”      The guard in front of Sherlock closed his eyes for a second, as a frown came on his face.  “One of you let Master Dracula know that Sherlock Holmes is here.”  He turned back to Sherlock.  “This better not be a trick.”      One of the guards knocked on the door, and was admitted inside.  After half a minute he came back out.  “Master Dracula will see you now, Mister Holmes.”      Sherlock walked past the guard in front of him, and continued on past the others, before going through the door, and it shutting behind him.  The room was large.  There was an extravagant bed in it, but one that looked pristine, like it had never been used.  There was also a desk, at which Dracula was sitting, and writing, but he put the paper aside and stood up to face Sherlock.      “I was wondering how long it would be until you showed up,” Dracula said.  “Moriarty is a useful servant, if somewhat self-serving, but I knew his actions would eventually lead you here, no matter what precautions I took.”      “Well, I do have to stop your plans,” Sherlock said as he walked over to the bed, and sat down on it.  “I do apologize for sitting on your bed though, but I am not as young as I once was, and this trip has been rather exhausting.”      “I can help you with that, you know,” Dracula said as he approached Sherlock.  “Make it so you do not tire.”      “I am not interested in your sales pitch,” Sherlock said as he stood back up, to look Dracula straight in the eyes.      “Your interest is immaterial,” Dracula said.  “By coming here you have already sealed your fate.”           Daniel placed another explosive, while Joseph kept watch.  “Okay, that’s the last of them, now we need to figure out what to do about the prisoners,” Daniel said.      “What we need to do is get out of here, before we set them off,” Joseph said.      “So, we’re just going to leave them to die?”      “The dining room should survive the explosions.  The prisoners will be okay, and a lot easier to save after we destroy the castle.”      “Those that the Vampires don’t finish off by then,” Daniel said.           Dorothy placed the last of her explosives, before climbing back down to the ground.  She ran to the still open gate and went out of the castle walls.      “All set?” Jacob asked her over the radio.      “That I am,” she replied.  “Anyone else?”      “I’m done too,” Sally said.  “But Mister Holmes and I split up, so I don’t know if he placed the last one he needed to or not.”      “Why would you split up?” Jacob asked.      “It was his idea,” Sally said.  “I’m on my way out now, per his orders.”      “We can’t just leave him,” Dorothy said.      “He is the boss,” Jacob said.  “And if he said to leave him, then he presumably has a good reason.”           “Fine,” Joseph said, as he and Daniel walked back towards the dining hall in silence.  “We’ll try something, since that’s the way out anyway.”      “What’s the plan?” Daniel asked.      “What, you don’t have one already?”      “Not really, no.”      “Well, like I was saying, there’s way too many of those Vampires for us to take on, so we’re going to need to get them out of there somehow.  A distraction of some sort, something to get their attention.”      “If we had any more explosives, even just something small, that would work,” Daniel said.      “But we don’t.”  Joseph stopped, and pulled out his radio.  “Jacob, you there?”      “Yeah, I’m here,” Jacob said.      “So are Sally and I,” Dorothy said.  “We’re done and out, where are you guys?”      “We’re on our way out,” Joseph said.  “We’re going to use the same way we came in, through the dining room, but there’s a bunch of people being fed on in here, and we want to get them out.”      “How many?” Jacob asked.      “Seven prisoners,” Joseph said.  “But there were like forty Vampires in there earlier.  If we’re lucky, that was just the breakfast rush, but I don’t know.  Either way we’ll probably need a distraction.  There was a bell in one of the castle towers, right?”      “There’s at least two bells that I can see,” Jacob said.  “You want me to make some noise?”      Joseph and Daniel were right outside the dining hall now.  “Give me a minute,” Joseph said.  He glanced through the door.  There were less Vampires than earlier, but still around thirty.  Out in the hall were suits of armor on display.  He turned to Daniel  “You think you can get in one of those without making any noise?”      “I can certainly try,” Daniel said.           Sherlock and Dracula circled each other, their eyes locked.  Sherlock knew Dracula was simply toying with him.  Between the enhanced strength of his Vampiric nature, and the reduced strength of Sherlock’s elderly body, Sherlock was outmatched physically.  And even from just watching the way Dracula walked, he could tell that his fighting prowess was such that Sherlock’s skills would not be enough to make up for the difference in strength.      Sherlock considered how long it had been.  Enough time for the others to have placed all of their explosives, but that was assuming that none of them had run into problems as well.  But every second he waited, it increased the chances that Dracula would attack him, and that could ruin the plan.      Sherlock made up his mind, and when he was closest to the wall where he needed to stick the final explosive, he sprinted at it, and stuck the explosive to it.  He took out his radio.  “Now, blow it now.”      “What?” Jacob asked.  “Are you out?”      “Now!” Sherlock yelled, even as he felt Dracula right behind him, and the radio was torn out of his hand.           Joseph finished getting inside a suit of armor, while Daniel was only halfway through putting on his own.  He then turned on his radio, just as Sherlock was yelling “Now!”      “What’s going on?” Joseph asked.      “Holmes wants us to blow the place now,” Jacob said.  “I think you guys will be okay in the dining hall, and that’ll make an even better distraction then the bells.”      “Wait,” Joseph said, before he heard the explosions start all throughout the castle, followed by various crashes as the castle fell even further apart then the initial damage from those explosions.      Daniel was still only partially in armor.  His hands and legs were still visible, as the Vampires in the dining room started running out, but none seemed to notice him in their haste.      Joseph waited until no more were coming out.  He had counted twenty-seven that had left.  And as he went in, still armor-clad, there were still four inside.  They looked at him as he came in.  He shot at them with a crossbow, managing to stake two of them through the heart, before the other two were on him.      One of them was trying to grab his arms and hold him in place, while the second started pulling off his helmet.  He tried to get out of their grasp, but the armor made that difficult.  As his helmet was pulled off, that Vampire leaned in towards his neck, when he heard the sound of wood piercing flesh, and the Vampire fell to the ground.  The other one turned to look, just as they too were shot by Daniel.      “Good shooting,” Joseph said as he started taking the armor off.  “Now let’s get these people down and out of here before any more come back.”           Sally watched as the castle crumbled.  “Holmes, do you read?” she asked into the radio.      “I see Joseph and Daniel coming out with the prisoners,” Jacob said.  “And plenty of Vampires, dead or dying throughout the castle.  I’m not seeing any signs of Holmes though.”      “Keep me updated,” Sally said.  “I’m going back to the plane.”  She jogged over to it, and went aboard, going to Moriarty’s cell, after grabbing the map.      Moriarty looked up at her as she approached.  “Ah, welcome, I don’t think I caught your name earlier.”      “You didn’t tell us that this was Dracula’s room,” Sally said as she pointed at the map.      “I don’t suppose I did.  Why?  Did something happen?”      “The Vampires are all dead, or will be soon, but so is Sherlock.”      “That is unfortunate,” Moriarty said.  “Also unfortunate is that Dracula himself has still survived.”      “There’s no way he survived.  He was in his room, as was Sherlock, and even if he survived the explosion, he’d be exposed to the sunlight.”      “Ah, but Dracula is not like other Vampires.  He is not affected by the sunlight in the same manner as the rest of us, and I can sense he survived and is even now escaping.  You’ve delayed his plans, but you have not prevented them.”      “And your plans?” Sally asked.      “You needn’t concern yourself with my plans,” Moriarty said.  “I am, after all, your prisoner.”