Sherlock Holmes Halloween Special - The Secret of Jack O'lantern

It was the 29th of October 1933, three days before Samhain, when the gateway to the Otherworld stood wide open, and the dead were honoured whilst one simultaneously had to protect oneself from evil spirits, when Inspector Wolfford appeared at Holmes and Watson's in Baker Street asking for help. The midwife Mrs Hughes was found dead in her flat. Around the corpse, five pumpkins had been placed, each carved with a grotesque face and brightly illuminated. Several inconsistencies immediately caught Holmes's eye, and thus the case presented a puzzle even for the master detective and his assistant...

There was another death to mourn. The teacher Joseph Ross. Holmes and Watson found the crime scene identical to that of Mrs Hughes the day before, with the exception that instead of five pumpkins, only four were arranged around the corpse. Holmes thereupon feared that, following the pattern, one would have to reckon with at least three more bodies in the coming days. It was essential to find the perpetrator as quickly as possible. But a dream of Dr Watson's made everything appear in a new light...

Holmes and Watson were now in possession of a slip of paper that revealed the Christian names of the next two victims. But how were they to explain to Inspector Wolfford where they had got the list? Particularly as receiving this list defied all logic from the outset. Moreover, there remained the question of who was meant to be the third and final victim, as this was marked only with a question mark. When Holmes and Watson finally came upon the third victim, the vicar Blake Bancroft, Holmes was struck by a dreadful suspicion about who might be concealed behind the last victim. And this suspicion filled Watson with pure terror...

The fourth corpse led Holmes and Watson to a hospital. The nurse Nancy Rogers had been killed in the same manner as her predecessors. Around her body now stood only two pumpkins. The evening thereafter, Watson had another of those terrifying dreams. When he finally awoke, he was able to present Holmes with a gift from the Devil himself. And this present pointed to only one possible perpetrator...

Holmes now knew who the culprit must be. Based on Inspector Wolfford's interrogations, Holmes could quickly establish a connection. Holmes and Watson were thus on the perpetrator's trail, but would they arrive in time? And who would ultimately represent the fifth and final victim?