The Adventure of the Three Krisciunases

"The Adventure of the Three Krisciunases"

A guest blog by Talon King

It was n the first week of January in 2022 when the great Victorian documentary film expert, Mr. Paul Thomas Miller, agreed it was time for me to summon up the assistance of our own "irregulars" to solve the ever growing mystery of Watson's long-hidden documentary footage. I made a call and heard the clumsy footsteps on the stair of Braggins, my useful ally of the Sherlockian streets.

"Gather irregulars for us!" I cried. "Miller and I have riddles to solve!"

I tossed him a quarter, as shillings are had to come by in Peoria, Illinois, and he ran off to his laptop, to gather a group he called "The Sherlock Holmes Realist Society," whom he claimed were hand-selected, each for their particular expertise. "Do I need to give them each a quarter?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "They mostly want to get into the Legion of Zoom, and they need one more scion society meeting. Except Rich Krisciunas. He'll come to anything."

When that Saturday came, Braggins was as good as his word and the recruited Sherlock Holmes Realist Society all lined up upon my screen.

The final count was seven of these "irregulars," and, strangely, three were named Rich Krisciunas.

Early on, before the noon Peoria time start of the meeting, we just had the one Rich Krisciunas, who got into a discussion of weather with Paul and demonstrated how the state of Michigan was his hand and where on his hand he lived. Val Hoski joined in as a fellow Michigander who got "out of hand" and moved away, yet somehow attended the same high school as Rich, which was our first clue that things are just a bit more unusual when Mr. Krisciunas comes around.

Mr. Greg Ruby, who it is said knows all of the Sherlock Holmes internet and watches over it like that Heimdall fella in the Thor movies, came along after that, and then Howard Ostrom. I put on my deerstalker cap for Mr. Ostrom, as I have heard that he likes pictures of people in deerstalker caps, and I have heard of much stranger kinks, let me tell you, so it seemed a small enough thing to oblige him. 

Then the funny stuff started when a second Rich Krisciunas showed up with his video blacked out. We were all very curious, thinking it might have been someone with ill intent, like "Killer" Evans of the multiple funny name folk story. 

Opening up the "Sherlock Holmes is Real" podcast to a larger group always had dangers, as Paul and I knew. Dark rumors swirled about the governmental and corporate entities what wanted to keep Watson's documentary footage from serious analysis. And the first meeting of the Sherlock Holmes Realist Society, a new group carrying forward their mission of analyzing Watson's authentic Victorian documentary footage, was bound to attract some who might not be what they appeared.

Was this second Rich Krisciumas secretly from the BBC?

No, it was just Michael Ellis, who has the style and class of a network commentator, but was familiar to many a Zoomster. We kept on with our work.

Thie meeting's footage was that which can be found on YouTube as "The Case of the Jolly Hangman," and the addition of the SHRS to the discussion definitely yielded new insights. Ever wonder the origin story of "Martha" in "His Last Bow?" Want to see a perfect example of how limited Victorian England's gene pool actually was demonstrated in Lestrade's family tree? Hear Watson's early foley work? We had it all.

And then a third Rich Krisciunas appeared in the waiting room.

We might have had it all, but even when you have it all, you can get extras. And a mystery like that is an extra all its own. But why did we have three Krisciunases? And no Sherlock Holmes among us to solve this Canonically parallel conundrum?

Well, unlike life at 221B Baker Street, sometimes our own mysteries just get solved by the cause of that mystery explaining himself. In this case, the culprit unmasked was . . . well, who else?

Rich Krisciunas.

He had apparently been at a Zoom meeting in the hour previous and handing out his registration link to interested parties. Mystery solved.

The results of January's analysis of Watson footage can be found at on Apple Podcasts, and the like, and also at https://sherlockholmesisreal.libsyn.com/the-footage-of-the-jolly-hangman-and-the-realists , and I think it is good progress in our quest to spread awareness of Watson's documentary films. I might even have to get a little more respectable and trim my hair and shave my beard. (Keeping a moustache though. A man can't give up all his charms.)

Hoping to see you in February!

               -- Talon King