What you should know before your trip
Murder and mystery enthusiasts flock to watch A haunting in Venice (2023) this weekend, the third release in Hercule Poirot’s rebooted franchise that began with the Incredible Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and continued with Death on the Nile (2022).
While the second attempt of Nile was a disappointment compared to OrientThis third attempt will likely prove Poirot’s supremacy as a gummy bear, and we’ll dig into the secrets behind the film’s deeper meanings and its incredible true origins!
This story is not just fiction
It’s worth noting that Agatha Christie was a skeptic, and this particular story – A haunting in Venice (2023) is about spiritualism, séances and the occult – quite a departure from her literary norm. One has to ask the obvious question: Why did she write about something she didn’t believe in? Well, Christie wanted to address that Subject of false spiritualism At the same time, readers are informed of the real, life-threatening dangers associated with organized occultism. During the industrial age that marked the Elizabethan era, and under charcoal-choked, smog-gray skies, London degenerated into something shameful. It was called spiritualism. This elite occultist cadre more or less turned into a mafia that pretended to contact and physically interact with the dead.
None of this was true, of course, it was all supernatural chicanery, smoke and mirrors. At this time, however, the spiritualists were making a financial flop by defrauding kind-hearted widows and widowers into giving up their savings for another moment with their loved ones on the other side.
Agatha Christie saw this insincere cold reading and dark room whispering to herself what a fraud it was and became interested in ways to expose the spiritual charlatans for what they were. Luckily for Agatha, she had a long-time ally in the hard-fought war against false metaphysics – one Harold “Eric Wiesz” Houdini – who ultimately provided the inspiration for the script A haunting in Venice.
Sherlock Holmes wasn’t that great
Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes were theoretical contemporaries, although (in literary terms) Holmes may be slightly older than Poirot. But Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, a firm believer in spiritual occultism. Doyle himself defied contemporary Harry Houdini to specifically dismantle the séance and Ouija group, and so we see the Axis built on two different styles of investigation – Houdini and his abduction and Doyle and what later became Holmes’ investigative deduction and induction should be.
The problem is that Sherlock Holmes wasn’t that great. He was flawed. Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, the world’s most famous detective, was created by a flawed spiritualist and would probably not have solved most of his cases. Unfortunately, his special abilities are referred to as inference, but that is incorrect – and not just because he was a fictional creation.
Holmes’ strong investigative skills also included kidnapping. What is the difference? Deduction that starts from correct premises and leads to conclusions that are entirely true. However, abduction begins with observations from which an attempt is made to draw the simplest and most likely conclusions. Hercule Poirot uses deduction and Sherlock Holmes uses kidnapping – which amounts to a parlor trick, the prototype of what false clairvoyants call “cold reading”. Therefore, astute crime fiction enthusiasts of the time noticed that an inevitable collision was on the horizon!
Hercule Poirot versus Sherlock Holmes?
After leaving show business, Harry Houdini – the well-known and often misbiographical stage magician and escape artist – put all his efforts into systematically dismantling spiritualism and bringing it into disrepute. And that is the core of where Hercule Poirot was born. Agatha Christie viewed Houdini’s crusade as a heroic act aimed at freeing humanity from its mystical occlusion. Inspired by the desire to help this cause – wrote Christie A haunting in Venice as a tribute to Houdini and his righteous fight against false prophets under the guise of spiritualists.
Houdini was often an opponent of the occult and considered himself a true skeptic. He desperately wanted to believe in the continuation of the individual personality after death, but in all his investigations into spiritualism he never found any solid evidence. It is here, opposite and against his contemporary rival Conan-Doyle. That’s right – it was Sherlock Holmes’ father versus the eponymous wizard and the inspiration for Hercule Poirot. Two geniuses who competed against each other on the chessboard of history. What would happen?
A haunting in Venice illustrates what transpires during this great encounter and who falls during the vast spiritual battle in Elizabethan England! Ultimately, it’s about knowing the true crimes and real-life stories behind the inspiration A haunting in Venice will provide a deeper understanding of the plot and characters as well as the settings. Understand that when you watch this film you see not only Poirot, but also Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. These spirits join us in the audience and try to give us a message from the distant past. Regard A haunting in Venice and listen carefully!
