View source for The Adventure of the Empty House

{{Short description|Short story by Arthur Conan Doyle}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox short story <!--See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]]-->
| name              = The Adventure of the Empty House
| image             = The Adventure of the Empty House 03.jpg
| caption           = Holmes and Watson gaze at a distant bust of Holmes' head, 1903 illustration by [[Sidney Paget]]
| title_orig        = 
| translator        = 
| author            = [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]
| country           = United Kingdom
| language          = English
| series            = ''[[The Return of Sherlock Holmes]]''
| genre             = [[Detective fiction]] [[short stories]]
| published_in      = [[Strand Magazine]]
| publication_type  =
| publisher         = 
| media_type        = 
| pub_date          = October  1903
| english_pub_date  = 
| preceded_by       = [[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]
| followed_by       = [[The Adventure of the Norwood Builder]]
| wikisource        = The Adventure of the Empty House
}}

"'''The Adventure of the Empty House'''", one of the 56 [[Sherlock Holmes]] short stories written by Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as ''[[The Return of Sherlock Holmes]]''. It was first published in ''[[Collier's]]'' in the United States on 26 September 1903, and in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' in the United Kingdom in October 1903.<ref name="Smith 117" />

Public pressure compelled Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his survival after his deadly struggle with [[Professor Moriarty]] in "[[The Adventure of the Final Problem|The Final Problem]]". This is the first Holmes story set after his supposed death at the [[Reichenbach Falls]], as recounted in "The Final Problem".

== Plot ==
On the night of 30 March, an apparently unsolvable [[locked-room murder]] takes place in London: the killing of [[the Honourable]] Ronald Adair.

[[File:The Adventure of the Empty House 02.jpg|thumb|Holmes reunites with Watson. Art by Sidney Paget.]]
[[File:Empt-06.jpg|thumb|Sebastian Moran is arrested. Art by Sidney Paget.]]

[[Dr. Watson]] visits the murder scene. He runs into an elderly deformed book collector, later revealed as Sherlock Holmes in disguise. Contrary to what Watson believed, Holmes won against [[Professor Moriarty]] at [[Reichenbach Falls]], explaining that he spent the next few years travelling to various parts of the world.

That evening, they enter an abandoned building known as Camden House whose front room overlooks [[Baker Street]]. Holmes's room can be seen across the street. In the window is a lifelike [[Wax figure|waxwork]] bust of Holmes in profile. At approximately midnight, a [[sniper]], who has taken the bait, fires a specialised [[air gun]], scoring a direct hit on Holmes's dummy. [[Inspector Lestrade]] arrests the gunman, who is revealed as [[Colonel Sebastian Moran]], Adair's [[whist]] partner and murderer. Holmes describes Moran as having been "the second most dangerous man in London" while Moriarty was still alive.

[[File:The Adventure of the Empty House by Frederic Dorr Steele 5.jpg|thumb|1903 illustration by [[Frederic Dorr Steele]] in ''[[Collier's]]'']]

Holmes speculates that Adair had caught Moran cheating at cards, and threatened to expose his dishonourable behaviour. Moran, who earned a living playing cards crookedly, got rid of the one man who could rob him of his livelihood.

==Publication history==
"The Adventure of the Empty House" was published in the US in ''[[Collier's]]'' on 26 September 1903, and in the UK in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' in October 1903.<ref name="Smith 117">{{harvnb|Smith|2014|p=117}}</ref> The story was published with seven illustrations by [[Frederic Dorr Steele]] in ''Collier's'', and with seven illustrations by [[Sidney Paget]] in the ''Strand''.<ref name="Cawthorne 110">{{harvnb|Cawthorne|2011|p=110}}</ref> It was included in the short story collection ''[[The Return of Sherlock Holmes]]'', which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.<ref name="Cawthorne 110" />
==Inspirations==
Andrew Glazzard has suggested that the author may have been hinting his audience of the [[royal baccarat scandal]] in which [[Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet]], an army officer and tiger hunter, had been accused of cheating at [[baccarat]]. He sued his accusers - the ensuing trial notably saw Prince Edward (later [[King Edward VII]]) take the stand as a witness.<ref name="Glazzard">{{cite web |last1=Glazzard |first1=Andrew |title=Inside the Empty House: Sherlock Holmes, For King and Country |url=https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/inside-the-empty-house-sherlock-holmes-for-king-and-country/ |website=The Public Domain Review |access-date=8 April 2024 |language=en |date=8 January 2014}}</ref>
Glazzard also suggests that the oblique references that Holmes makes about his "missing years" are hints to the explorations of [[Sven Hedin]] in Tibet and [[Francis Younghusband]]'s [[British expedition to Tibet|expedition to that country]], and also to pro-British espionage in [[Mahdist Sudan]].<ref name="Glazzard"/>

==Adaptations==

===Film and television===
This story was adapted as a short film released in 1921 as part of the [[Sherlock Holmes (Stoll film series)|Stoll film series]] starring [[Eille Norwood]] as Holmes.<ref>{{harvnb|Eyles|1986|page=[https://archive.org/details/sherlockholmesce0000eyle/page/131 131]}}</ref>

The 1931 film ''[[The Sleeping Cardinal]]'' (also known as ''Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour'') is loosely based on "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem".

Many elements of "The Adventure of the Empty House" were used in the 1939–1946 [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)|Sherlock Holmes film series]] starring [[Basil Rathbone]] and [[Nigel Bruce]]. In ''[[Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon]]'' (1943), Holmes disguises himself as a German bookseller in [[Switzerland]]. ''[[The Woman in Green]]'' (1945) uses the scene in which a sniper attempts to shoot Holmes from across the street and shoots a wax bust instead, and is apprehended by Holmes and Watson who lie in wait. Colonel Sebastian Moran appears as the villain in ''[[Terror by Night]]'' (1946) as the last of Moriarty's gang.

The story was adapted for a 1951 TV episode of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (1951 TV series)|We Present Alan Wheatley as Mr Sherlock Holmes in...]]'' starring [[Alan Wheatley]] as Holmes, [[Raymond Francis]] as Dr. Watson and [[Bill Owen (actor)|Bill Owen]] as Inspector Lestrade.<ref name="barnes1">{{harvnb|Barnes|2011|p=296}}</ref> The episode is now lost.<ref name="barnes1" />

The story was adapted in 1980 as an episode of the Soviet TV series ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson]]'' starring [[Vasily Livanov]].<ref>{{harvnb|Barnes|2011|p=140}}</ref> The episode has some minor departures: Moran tries to shoot Holmes during his fight with Moriarty (he actually appears in the story before Moriarty, and both Holmes and Watson are aware of his motive to kill Adair from early on), with Holmes pretending to be hit to fake his death, Adair is still alive at the start of the episode, Watson unsuccessfully tries to protect him as instructed by Holmes, and Watson briefly becomes a prime suspect in Adair's murder.<ref>{{harvnb|Barnes|2011|p=142}}</ref>

The story was later adapted in 1986 as an episode of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)|The Return of Sherlock Holmes]]'' starring [[Jeremy Brett]].<ref name="barnes154">{{harvnb|Barnes|2011|pp=154–155}}</ref> The episode is rather faithful to Doyle's story, except that Moran tries to shoot Holmes in Switzerland instead of dropping boulders on him, and it is Watson – not Holmes – that deduces the reason that Moran had for killing Ronald Adair. It was the first episode to feature [[Edward Hardwicke]] as Dr Watson, replacing [[David Burke (British actor)|David Burke]] who had played the role in the preceding episodes (Hardwicke reenacted a scene from "The Final Problem" in a flashback, consisting of Watson at the waterfall shouting to Holmes and reading his letter, which had been performed by Burke).<ref name="barnes154" />

"The Adventure of the Empty House" was adapted as an episode of the animated television series ''[[Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century]]''. The episode, also titled "The Adventure of the Empty House", first aired in 1999.<ref>{{harvnb|Barnes|2011|p=225}}</ref>

In "[[The Empty Hearse]]", the first episode of the third series of ''[[Sherlock (TV series)|Sherlock]]'' starring [[Benedict Cumberbatch]] which aired on 1 January 2014, Holmes returns to London two years (instead of three) after faking his death. Although Watson is surprised that Sherlock is alive, he is furious that Sherlock didn't contact him in the last two years. He reluctantly teams up with Sherlock to investigate an underground terrorist network.

===Radio===

[[Edith Meiser]] adapted the story as an episode of the American radio series ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (radio series)|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]''. The episode aired on 5 October 1932, with [[Richard Gordon (actor)|Richard Gordon]] as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson.<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|p=47}}</ref> A remake of the script aired on 15 October 1936 (with Gordon as Holmes and Harry West as Watson).<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|p=76}}</ref>

Meiser also adapted the story as an episode of the American radio series ''[[The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'', with [[Basil Rathbone]] as Holmes and [[Nigel Bruce]] as Watson, that aired on 29 September 1940.<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|p=95}}</ref> Another episode in the same series that was also adapted from the story aired on 11 April 1948 (with John Stanley as Holmes and Alfred Shirley as Watson).<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|p=251}}</ref>

[[John Gielgud]] played Holmes with [[Ralph Richardson]] as Watson in a radio adaptation of the story that aired on [[NBC]] radio on 24 April 1955.<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|p=287}}</ref>

[[Michael Hardwick]] adapted the story as a radio production that aired on the [[BBC Light Programme]] in 1961, as part of the [[Sherlock Holmes (1952 radio series)|1952–1969 radio series]] starring [[Carleton Hobbs]] as Holmes and [[Norman Shelley]] as Watson, with [[Noel Johnson]] as Colonel Moran.<ref>{{harvnb|De Waal|1974|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldbibliograph00dewa/page/388 388]}}</ref>

"The Empty House" was dramatised for [[BBC Radio 4]] in 1993 by [[Bert Coules]] as part of the [[List of BBC Radio Sherlock Holmes dramatisations|1989–1998 radio series]] starring [[Clive Merrison]] as Holmes and [[Michael Williams (actor)|Michael Williams]] as Watson. It featured [[Michael Pennington]] as Professor Moriarty, [[Frederick Treves (actor)|Frederick Treves]] as Colonel Moran, Donald Gee as Inspector Lestrade, and [[Peter Penry-Jones]] as Sir John.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bert Coules |title=The Return of Sherlock Holmes |url=http://merrisonholmes.com/return.php |access-date=12 December 2016 |website=The BBC complete audio Sherlock Holmes}}</ref>

"The Adventure of the Empty House" was combined with "[[The Final Problem]]" for an episode of ''[[The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'', a series on the American radio show ''[[Imagination Theatre]]'', starring [[John Patrick Lowrie]] as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson. The episode, titled "The Return of Sherlock Holmes", first aired in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Stewart |date=30 April 2019 |title=The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Broadcast Log |url=https://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/classicsh_sw.log.pdf |access-date=16 June 2020 |website=Old-Time Radio}}</ref>

===Other media===
The story, along with "[[The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax]]", "[[The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton]]", and "[[The Red-Headed League]]", provided the source material for the 1923 play ''[[The Return of Sherlock Holmes (play)|The Return of Sherlock Holmes]]''.

In 1975, [[DC Comics]] published ''Sherlock Holmes'' #1, a comic which adapted "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem".<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Study in Sherlock |url=http://www.astudyinsherlock.net/2006/05/28/dc-holmes-1/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430193359/http://www.astudyinsherlock.net/2006/05/28/dc-holmes-1/ |archive-date=30 April 2013 |website=www.astudyinsherlock.net |series=Sherlock Holmes #1 |publisher=DC Comics}}</ref> It was intended to be an ongoing series, but future issues were cancelled due to low sales.

In the last short story in the book ''[[Flashman and the Tiger]]'' (1999) by [[George MacDonald Fraser]], Fraser's anti-hero [[Harry Flashman]] sets out to murder Moran, who is blackmailing Flashman's granddaughter. He trails Moran to Camden House, but instead witnesses Holmes capture him.<ref>{{harvnb|Kingston|2007|page=269}}</ref>

== Baritsu ==
Baritsu is the name given to a form of martial art used to explain how Holmes had avoided falling into the [[Reichenbach Falls]] with [[Professor Moriarty]]. As Holmes himself explained his survival:
{{Quote|We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of ''baritsu'', or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went.}}
In 1982 Fromm and Soames, followed by others including Y. Hirayama, J. Hall, Richard Bowen, and James Webb, suggested that Doyle had meant to refer to ''[[Bartitsu]]'', an eclectic martial art that had been founded by Londoner [[E. W. Barton-Wright]] in 1899: several years after Holmes had supposedly used it, but two years before publication of the story.<ref name="Fromme and Soames, 1982">{{cite book |last1=Fromm |first1=Alan |title=Judo: The Gentle Way |last2=Soames |first2=Nicolas |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-71009-025-6 |location=London}}</ref>

It is uncertain why Holmes referred to "baritsu", rather than "Bartitsu". It is possible that Doyle, who, like Barton-Wright, was writing for ''[[Pearson’s Magazine]]'' during the late 1890s, was vaguely aware of Bartitsu and simply misremembered or misheard the term, perhaps in part due to Japanese phonology's prohibition on consecutive non-nasal consonants; it may even have been a typographical error, a concern about copyright, or a deliberate alteration to match the aforementioned Japanese phonological pattern. A newspaper report on a Bartitsu demonstration in London, published in 1900, had likewise misspelled the name as "baritsu".<ref name="Godfrey, 2009">{{cite journal |last=Godfrey |first=Emelyne |date=5 May 2009 |title=Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Baritsu |url=http://www.historytoday.com/emelyne-godfrey/sherlock-holmes-and-mystery-baritsu |journal=History Today |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=4–5 |url-access=subscription |accessdate=22 February 2018}}</ref>

The Japan Sherlock Holmes Club, formed in 1977,<ref name="redmond">{{cite book |last=Redmond |first=Christopher |title=Sherlock Holmes Handbook: Second Edition |publisher=[[Dundurn Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=9781459718982 |pages=283–284}}</ref> evolved from the "Baritsu Chapter" founded in 1948.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirayama |first=Yuichi |title=East Wind Coming: A Sherlockian Study Book |publisher=MX Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=978-1780923802}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
;Sources
* {{Cite book |last=Barnes |first=Alan |title=Sherlock Holmes on Screen |publisher=Titan Books |year=2011 |isbn=9780857687760 |author-link=Alan Barnes (writer)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes |publisher=Running Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0762444083 |author-link=Nigel Cawthorne}}
* {{Cite book |last=Christopher |first=John |url={{google books|plainurl=yes|id=DFaoAwAAQBAJ}} |title=The London of Sherlock Holmes |date=15 July 2012 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-1568-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=De Waal |first=Ronald Burt |url=https://archive.org/details/worldbibliograph00dewa |title=The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes |publisher=Bramhall House |year=1974 |isbn=0-517-217597 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dickerson |first=Ian |title=Sherlock Holmes and His Adventures on American Radio |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2019 |isbn=978-1629335087 |author-link=Ian Dickerson}}
* {{Cite book |last=Eyles |first=Alan |url=https://archive.org/details/sherlockholmesce0000eyle |title=Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1986 |isbn=0-06-015620-1 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kingston |first=A. |title=Oscar Wilde as a Character in Victorian Fiction |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |isbn=9780230609358}}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Daniel |title=The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide |publisher=Aurum Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78131-404-3 |edition=Updated |orig-year=2009}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wheeler |first=Thomas Bruce |url={{google books|plainurl=yes|id=gui6BAAAQBAJ}} |title=The London of Sherlock Holmes |date=27 September 2011 |publisher=Andrews UK Limited |isbn=978-1-78092-211-9}}

==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline|The Adventure of the Empty House}}
*{{commons category-inline|The Adventure of the Empty House}}
*{{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/arthur-conan-doyle/the-return-of-sherlock-holmes|Display Name=''The Return of Sherlock Holmes'', including ''{{PAGENAMEBASE}}''|noitalics=true}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure of the Empty House, The}}
[[Category:Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle|Empty House, The Adventure of the]]
[[Category:1903 short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories adapted into films]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1894]]
[[Category:Works originally published in Collier's]]