Very little further is known of Colonel and Mrs Moran. The great detective himself implies the Colonel is still alive in 1914. The parish record of their marriage seems to have been lost, I know as I have looked for it. However, I can volunteer the following information, as it came from my grandfather, who was born in 1905. I would like to say there is a happy ending to this story, but there isn't. As you may remember, Mrs Moran was of an advanced age, far too advanced to be having children. She died giving birth to my grandfather, James Moran (this choice seems a little distasteful if I am correct after whom they named him) who was brought up mostly by nurses and governesses as far as my father could gather and as a result was rather a distant man, and equally distant to his children, my father, Sebastian, and my two aunts, Gertrude and Eugenie. My great grandfather never spoke to his son about this or any of his exploits, which is a great pity, considering. Nothing further is known of Dr van Helsing, or even whether their attempt at leashing in the Count was successful, but I assume it must have been, as we're not all vampires now, are we? It has become a tradition for the eldest son in our family to become a doctor (apparently my grandfather was particularly fond of his cousin Jack and decided to emulate him), but then I hear this sort of thing happens a lot in medical families. My maternal aunt Sarah is a nurse and my sister is a surgeon. My nephew, unfortunately, wishes to join the army. - D. M.
NOTES
1. In 1907, the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society joined with several other smaller societies and formed the Royal Society of Medicine, thusly shortening their name to less of a mouthful.
2. Dr William Wynn Westcott was a member of the Freemasons, the Societas Rosicrucian in Anglia (of which he was elected Supreme Magus in 1892) and Mme. Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society. He founded the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn with two fellow Rosicrucians, one of whom was Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. He also wrote several medical papers on suicide and alcoholism and was appointed Deputy Coroner for Northeast London and Central Middlesex in 1881.
3. Sir William Withey Gull, one of the possible suspects in the Jack the Ripper case, (whom I am sure did actually clean his scalpels) died in 1890, apparently of a stroke, and was buried in Thorpe-Le-Soken, Essex in an unusually large grave in the churchyard behind the Bell Inn. If you are ever in the area, please give my regards to the landlady.
4. There is some controversy as to whether Lord Byron or John Polidori was the author of 'The Vampyre'. When it was published in 1819, it was attributed to Byron, who later refused to acknowledge it as his, due to the bad blood between him and Polidori. Polidori stated that he had written it based on a tale Byron had told in the much publicised stopover in the villa by Lake Geneva where Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' was engendered.
5. See 'The Adventure of the Empty House', Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and 'Flashman and the Tiger', George MacDonald Fraser.
6. The Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) was developed after the third Boer War and used as the standard British rifle from 1902 through the Great (First World) War. It was probably finally taken out of commission due to arms developments in the Second World War. Colonel Moran must have had one of the very first ones. A jezail is a local-made Afghani rifle.
7. See Lovecraft's 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key' and Brian Lumley's 'The Burrowers Beneath'.
NOTES
1. In 1907, the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society joined with several other smaller societies and formed the Royal Society of Medicine, thusly shortening their name to less of a mouthful.
2. Dr William Wynn Westcott was a member of the Freemasons, the Societas Rosicrucian in Anglia (of which he was elected Supreme Magus in 1892) and Mme. Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society. He founded the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn with two fellow Rosicrucians, one of whom was Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. He also wrote several medical papers on suicide and alcoholism and was appointed Deputy Coroner for Northeast London and Central Middlesex in 1881.
3. Sir William Withey Gull, one of the possible suspects in the Jack the Ripper case, (whom I am sure did actually clean his scalpels) died in 1890, apparently of a stroke, and was buried in Thorpe-Le-Soken, Essex in an unusually large grave in the churchyard behind the Bell Inn. If you are ever in the area, please give my regards to the landlady.
4. There is some controversy as to whether Lord Byron or John Polidori was the author of 'The Vampyre'. When it was published in 1819, it was attributed to Byron, who later refused to acknowledge it as his, due to the bad blood between him and Polidori. Polidori stated that he had written it based on a tale Byron had told in the much publicised stopover in the villa by Lake Geneva where Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' was engendered.
5. See 'The Adventure of the Empty House', Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and 'Flashman and the Tiger', George MacDonald Fraser.
6. The Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) was developed after the third Boer War and used as the standard British rifle from 1902 through the Great (First World) War. It was probably finally taken out of commission due to arms developments in the Second World War. Colonel Moran must have had one of the very first ones. A jezail is a local-made Afghani rifle.
7. See Lovecraft's 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key' and Brian Lumley's 'The Burrowers Beneath'.