I'm a Visitor...
I don't know anything about the cult of Sherlock Holmes and I admit that I'm amazed that anyone would spend this amount of time and energy on a website for a fictional detective who was invented over a hundred years ago. And this isn't the only website -- there seem to be scores of them, with people writing articles and new stories about Holmes all the time.
What keeps otherwise normal people interested in Sherlock Holmes? What's the appeal?
It's all about the game
Let's start by assuming you've read the FAQs about why Sherlock Holmes is still relevant today.
As a detective, Sherlock Holmes insists that logic, rationality, and deductive reasoning are his most important tools. "I never guess. It is a shocking habit – destructive to the logical faculty."[SIGN] You can learn a lot about Holmes by reading Sherlockian quotations.
And then let's consider that detective stories and novels, while exciting and entertaining, are not what most people consider to be "real literature." Crime novels have always been a little subversive—something you read on your own, strictly for pleasure. Forbidden in the classroom... and therefore fun.
In 1911 Ronald Knox, a British Catholic priest who not only translated the Bible but also wrote detective stories, gave a paper at Oxford called "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes" (published in his book, Essays in Satire, in 1928). Originally Knox wrote the essay as a satirical attack on the methodology of literary criticism. The mock-serious tone of the essay set the tone for subsequent critical writings on Sherlock Holmes and mock-historical studies in which the actual existence of Holmes, Watson, et al. is assumed.
In 1934, Christopher Morley, an American author and essayist, started the Baker Street Irregulars ("BSI"), a group of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts who became the parent group for many other Sherlockian scions and still meet every January for dinner in New York City. The membership quickly grew to include people with a wide range of professions and interests. Based on how important logic and reasoning were to Sherlock Holmes, Morley and his friends carried on the tradition of analyzing stories about the great detective using his own techniques to explain inconsistencies, gaps, characters and events. In 1946, the BSI started a magazine called the Baker Street Journal in which analytical Sherlockian articles are published. The Journal has published four issues a year since 1946 (except for a brief hiatus in 1950). Critical thinking has always been a hallmark of the Sherlockian world.
Jody Baker has written a nice treatise on the Sherlockian game, "In The Beginning was Ronald Knox." Another good article, "On Playing Sherlockia," appears on Carolyn and Joel Senter's website, Classic Specialties.
Today, the BSI includes more than 300 men and women from around the world. It always meets in New York City every January. Members include writers, ambassadors, teachers, actors, judges, doctors, business people, and many others. Not all Sherlockians are members of the BSI (though several members of the Beacon Society are). Usually people are "invested" as Irregulars after significant accomplishments in Sherlockian writings or in other areas. However, one does not have to be a BSI member to get together with other Sherlockians. There are hundreds of local Sherlock Holmes societies all over the world.
Most "scion societies" of the Baker Street Irregulars are fun-loving literary groups that focus on the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle—primarily his Sherlock Holmes stories. These groups typically meet every month or two, usually for dinner, and discuss a different Sherlock Holmes story. At most gatherings, a member presents a "scholarly paper" or some other type of presentation that raises issues or elucidates various facts that can be found in one or more stories. Members of Sherlockian societies include people from all walks of life: educators, students, authors, health care professionals, business people, legal professionals, government employees, retirees and others.
The Beacon Society is an unusual scion in having the specific goal of educating young people about Sherlock Holmes. Each Beacon member belongs to at least one or more typical scion society but Beacons are united in their commitment to introducing young people to the pleasure of reading and enjoying Sherlock Holmes.
If you'd like to read more, here's a good article from the New York Times.
Have a look around our website!
And if you haven't already, we encourage you to read some Sherlock Holmes stories. Where should you start? Arthur Conan Doyle had his favorite stories, and there have been several polls taken over the years by Sherlockians. You don't have to read the stories in the order they were written to enjoy them, but there are a few classics almost everyone recommends. Sherlockian.net has a great FAQ page about the world of Holmes and Watson that should get you started.