Did Sherlock Holmes' creator send his widow a message from beyond the grave?

At 7pm on Sunday July 13, 1930, some 10,000 people squeezed inside the Royal Albert Hall excitedly awaiting the appearance of their hero, Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - even though he was already dead. The writer had passed away after suffering a heart attack just days earlier on July 7, aged 71.

But following the great man's burial, the Spiritualist Association had wasted no time in organising a mass séance, determined to see if Conan Doyle, a noted fan of spiritualism, might return to pass on a message from the "other side".

At the eerie event, his widow Lady Jean Leckie Conan Doyle even took to the stage with four of his children. They sat alongside an empty chair reserved for Conan Doyle himself, complete with his name card.

Joining them was a celebrated clairvoyant, Estelle Roberts, who would soon dramatically announce: "He is here!"

Over the years, the Royal Albert Hall has hosted everything from the Proms to pop concerts, political rallies, sumo wrestling and a boxing bout featuring the Krays. Conan Doyle himself was even a judge at a bodybuilding contest there in 1896.

But the iconic West London building has also been the venue for 50 séances and spiritualist events. Most sensational of all these was the one held 95 years ago this summer - and its drama was worthy of a Sherlock Holmes mystery story. Did Conan Doyle's spirit really return, as alleged? And just what was the message he apparently passed to his widow Lady Conan Doyle?

Now, as the bizarre spectacle is set to be reconstructed for a special event at the Hall, hosted by TV presenter Danny Robins, we can reveal what we do know about that strange night.

Doyle himself was a firm believer in psychic phenomena. Born a Catholic in 1859 in Edinburgh, he began attending séances and ghost hunts as a young doctor.

By the First World War, and at that point famous for his Sherlock Holmes stories and novels like The Lost World, he'd also become convinced his children's nanny had psychic powers.

The death of his eldest son Kingsley in the conflict strengthened his growing belief in spiritualism - the idea that the living and the dead can communicate. He believed it was a gift from God to comfort to the bereaved.

In contrast to his fiercely rational fictional sleuth, Conan Doyle would readily believe that the Cottingley Fairies, supposed snaps of a girl with the mythical creatures taken in 1917, were genuine. They were later exposed as a hoax.

He published 20 works on spiritualism - believing them more important than his fiction - and was convinced that he'd been in touch with everyone from his dead son to fellow author Joseph Conrad.

Lady Conan Doyle, his second wife, was also a believer. Following his death, she said: "I am certain that in his own time and his own way he will send a message to us."

It certainly seemed fitting that, with her blessing, Conan Doyle should be the subject of a séance himself. Thousands flocked to the free memorial event at the Royal Albert Hall, where an attempt would be made to contact his spirit. Lady Conan Doyle appropriately wore grey, not black.

Danny says: "Conan Doyle loomed so large for those interested in the paranormal. He was often pilloried in public for his spiritualist beliefs, but he stuck to his guns. A week after his death, the public gathered to see him return.

"So, it was quite a high-stakes, tense night. People wanted to see the proof! The ultimate response to his critics would have been to return on the night."

After opening tributes and a two-minute silence, Roberts - who'd been a favourite medium of Doyle's - took to the platform. It was widely believed that only a few "spirit-sensitive" individuals could contact the dead. "Mediums were the rock stars of the day," adds Danny.

Conan Doyle's son Adrian said the family would know if he really did appear: "There are tests which my mother knows, such as little mannerisms of speech which cannot be impersonated and which will tell us it is my father, himself, who is speaking."

The raven-haired Roberts quickly had the audience captivated, swaying back and forth with her eyes closed, head twitching.

She announced that multiple spirits were present in the Hall, adding: "They are pushing me like anything."

Among those she claimed to be present was the spirit of suffragette Emily Davison, who had died in 1913 after walking out onto the track at the Derby in Epsom, Surrey and being hit by a horse.

Then Roberts suddenly pointed at Conan Doyle's empty chair, announcing that the author's spirit
had entered the auditorium, too. She said: "He is wearing evening clothes."

Appearing to follow an invisible figure that was coming towards her, the 41-year-old cocked her head to listen, shivered, then ran over to Lady Conan Doyle.

Those sitting nearby heard her whisper: "Sir Arthur told me that you went into the hut this morning [the one at Doyle's home where he wrote]. Is that correct?"

An enraptured Lady Conan Doyle replied: "Why yes?"

As the tension mounted, Roberts continued: "The message is this. 'Tell Mary...'"

But at this moment, the Hall's organ suddenly burst into life, drowning out the rest of the message, apparently directed towards the author's eldest daughter. After that, the meeting was quickly brought to a close.

Whatever the rest of the message, the widow believed it was genuinely from her husband, saying that she was, "sure he has been here with us. It is a happy message, one that is cheering and encouraging. It is precious and sacred. You will understand that it was secret to me".

Adrian added: "The spirit message answers all the tests which my father and mother had agreed upon before his passing. I can only agree with mother that the message is of so intimate a character it cannot be made public, even to our closest friends."

Meanwhile, Roberts said: "I saw him first during the two minutes' silence. He walked across the platform and sat in the chair.

"There was no doubt at all. I saw him quite plainly. He was sitting in the chair... then came across and gave me his own message. His message came in his own clear voice and I understood it perfectly."

Sadly, we don't know its full contents to this day. But was all quite what it seemed? Lady Conan Doyle herself acted as the medium at a séance in 1922 attended by her husband and his then friend, escapologist Harry Houdini.

She claimed to have summoned up Houdini's late mother, using a Ouija board, who passed on Christmas greetings. But the illusionist was sceptical, as his mother had been Jewish and only spoke Yiddish. The episode sparked a rift between the friends as Houdini went on to try exposing mediums as frauds.

The timing of the music at the Royal Albert Hall event seemed rather convenient as well. One reporter quipped: "I should like to have heard Sherlock Holmes examining the medium... for the methods that were employed were hardly reminiscent of Baker Street." As Danny points out: "There were a lot of people who had skin in the game."

But the event certainly made waves. Royal Albert Hall archivist Alicia Kirkbride says: "Within the spiritualist world, it was seen as a significant event. The fact that he was said to be 'there' in spirit form was quite something."

And it wasn't quite the end of the story. In 1934, it was claimed that at another mass séance, Conan Doyle's spirit had not only returned, but that his voice had been recorded, saying: "Take care of my boys and my good wife, Jean."

Danny won't be using a medium at his own reconstruction of the Albert Hall séance this October, but says: "I think it's a really interesting way to explore our interest in ghosts. I'm a sceptic who wants to believe."

Ironically, of course, it's Conan Doyle's characters like Sherlock Holmes who truly have become immortal.

Danny adds: "Conan Doyle certainly lives on in many ways. He's remembered for his fictional works, but not so much for his work on trying to prove there was life after death.

"This show is a reminder of how big a part of his life it was."

Fright Night, with Danny Robins and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, takes place at the Royal Albert Hall the night before Halloween. Tickets and information can be found at royalalberthall.com