Sir Eustace Carmichael was a British gentleman who was found murdered in his home under mysterious circumstances in 1895. His death occurred some months following the sensational suicide of Emelia Ricoletti, and was one of at least seven crimes popularly attributed to her vengeful ghost.
Background[]
On the afternoon of December 18, 1894, Mrs Emelia Ricoletti publically committed suicide on the balcony of her home while wearing her wedding dress. Some hours later her husband, Thomas Ricoletti, was murdered in the street in Limehouse by a woman wearing dressed in a wedding gown. Though the culprit escaped, before his death Mr. Ricoletti identified his assailant as his wife Emelia, a description confirmed by the cab-driver who had conveyed her to the scene of the crime. The sensational nature of the crime and its supernatural attributes quickly took hold in the public imagination and were widely disseminated by the papers, popularizing a narrative of Mrs Ricoletti as a vengeful ghost attacking unfaithful or abusive husbands. In the months following her death several further murders were attributed to the "Bride" murderer, including a sea-captain, a viscount, and a peer of the realm.
Crime[]
Sir Eustace was a wealthy gentleman who lived with his wife, Louisa, and two children, Daniel and Sophie, on a large estate in the English countryside. The couple seemed to have a strained relationship, with Sir Eustace patronizing his wife and keeping many secrets from her.
One morning Sir Eustace received a blank envelope containing five orange pips, which visibly shocked him though he refused to discuss the matter with his wife. Two days later Sir Eustace reported seeing the figure of the Bride in the garden, and again encountered the figure while wandering in the manor's labyrinth one morning some days later: this apparition was also seen by his wife, and told Sir Eustace that he would die that night. Indeed, later that night Sir Eustace was stabbed to death with a dagger using considerable force.
Trivia[]
- The orange pips are a reference to The Five Orange Pips, where they likewise serve as a crucial clue connecting the criminals to a murky past in America; similarly, however, in that story Sherlock Holmes discovers this too late to save the victim.