THREE handwritten drafts of a 1894 lecture Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave on spiritualism on his North American tour went for more than double the estimate at auction.

Best known as author of Sherlock Holmes, the ex- Hindhead resident was also interested in Spiritualism and joined the British Society for Psychical Research to investigate the movement scientifically. A New York auction house estimated the drafts would go for $4,000 to $6,000, but they were snapped up for $10,652.