50 Fun Facts About The Hound of the Baskervilles

What does the killer smear on his dog to make it glow like a demon in The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Phosphorus, in a cunning preparation with no smell to spoil the dog's scent, gave it flaming jaws and fire-ringed eyes. Watson's own fingers gleam after he touches the dead animal's muzzle.

What is stolen twice from Sir Henry Baskerville at his London hotel before he ever sees the moor?

A boot goes missing twice: first a new brown one, useless because it had never been worn, then an old black one. The thief needed Sir Henry's scent to set a real dog on his trail.

Beryl, introduced as a naturalist's sister in The Hound of the Baskervilles, is really what to him?

His wife is what Beryl turns out to be, bullied into playing the sister so that her husband could dangle her as bait for Sir Henry. She still tries to warn the heir away with an anonymous letter.

Sherlock's episode The Hounds of Baskerville swaps the gothic family hall for what kind of place?

A military research base, modelled on the real Porton Down, replaces the hall, and a haunted young man named Henry Knight stands in for the heir.

At which Swiss landmark did Doyle kill off Holmes, eight years before The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Reichenbach Falls was where Holmes and Moriarty went over the edge in 1893. The new novel dodged the problem by being set earlier, and its success pushed Doyle to bring the detective back for good.

Which secret relative of the victims is unmasked as the killer in The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Jack Stapleton is really the son of Sir Charles's black-sheep brother Rodger, and he wants the estate. Holmes ranks him among the most cunning adversaries he has ever faced.

Sir Henry Baskerville arrives in London to claim his inheritance after farming in which country?

Canada is where the trustees traced the young heir after Sir Charles died. Sir Henry admits he knows little of British life, having spent most of his life there and in the United States.

In which English county is Baskerville Hall, on the moorland Doyle explored for his story?

Devon is home to Dartmoor, where Doyle explored the tors and bogs in June 1901 with a journalist friend who knew the local legends. The hall itself is invented, though several real houses claim to be its model.

Which honour came to Conan Doyle in the year The Hound of the Baskervilles appeared in book form?

A knighthood came in King Edward VII's Coronation Honours, though not for the detective. Doyle believed it rewarded his pamphlet defending Britain's conduct in the Boer War.

Which actor first played Holmes in 1939's The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Nigel Bruce as Watson?

Basil Rathbone made his debut as the detective here, and the pairing clicked. He and Bruce went on to make fourteen Holmes films together between 1939 and 1946.

Which deadly bog near Baskerville Hall, reputedly modelled on a swamp by Fox Tor, claims the villain?

Grimpen Mire is where the killer vanishes in the dark, presumed drowned while racing for his island hideout. Earlier, Watson watches it suck down a moor pony.

Which forgotten item lets Holmes size up Dr. Mortimer before they meet over the Baskerville case?

A walking stick engraved by friends lets Holmes deduce a young country doctor who owns a dog. Watson tries the same trick first, and Holmes tells him most of his conclusions were wrong.

Which hobby lets the villain of The Hound of the Baskervilles roam the moor at all hours?

Collecting butterflies, net in hand, lets him wander anywhere unquestioned, and he really is an expert. A moth he first described in Yorkshire still carries the alias he was using back then.

What weather nearly wrecks Holmes's ambush on the final night of The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Thick fog drifts off the bog toward the path Sir Henry must walk, forcing the watchers to retreat. The dog bursts out of the white wall so suddenly that they freeze and let it pass.

In the Baskerville legend, whom does wicked Sir Hugo kidnap, bringing the hound's curse on his heirs?

A farmer's daughter climbs down the ivy to escape while Hugo drinks with his friends, and he rides after her with his pack. His companions find a great black beast tearing out his throat.

Which London monthly serialised The Hound of the Baskervilles, with readers queuing for each part?

The Strand Magazine ran the story in nine monthly parts and saw its sales reach their peak. A decade earlier the same monthly had made Holmes a household name with the short stories.

The 'Baskerville effect', named after Doyle's novel, is a claimed rise in fatal what on unlucky days?

Heart attacks are the claimed cause, echoing Sir Charles, who dies of fright at the sight of the dog. Researchers reported more cardiac deaths among Chinese and Japanese Americans on the fourth of each month.

In the Baskerville case, where on the moor does Holmes hide while Watson believes him busy in London?

An old stone hut, left behind by the moor's prehistoric people, gives Holmes a hidden lair while a boy from London fetches his food and clean linen. Watson tracks the stranger there with his revolver ready.

What draws the hound onto an escaped convict instead of Sir Henry in The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Hand-me-down clothes from Sir Henry's wardrobe, passed on by the butler to help the fugitive get away, carry the wrong man's scent. Fleeing the dog, the convict plunges to his death among the rocks.

What does the Baskerville Hall butler hold to a window at night, arousing Watson's suspicion?

A candle at the glass is a signal: an answering light out on the moor marks where food should be left for a man in hiding. Sir Henry and Watson sit up two nights running to catch him at it.

Which Hammer horror star played Holmes in 1959's Hound of the Baskervilles, the first in colour?

Peter Cushing led Hammer's gothic take with André Morell as Watson, his first of several turns as the detective. Nine years later he filmed the story again as a two-part BBC television episode.

Which former Doctor Who star played Holmes in the BBC's 1982 Hound of the Baskervilles?

Tom Baker reunited with producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks, the team behind his first Doctor Who story. His Doctor had already dressed as the detective in a 1977 adventure.

In which country did Sir Charles Baskerville make the fortune that let him restore Baskerville Hall?

South Africa made Sir Charles rich through speculation in gold, and he cashed out before his luck could turn. He had lived at the hall for only two years when he died.

What at Baskerville Hall shows Holmes that the killer is himself a Baskerville by blood?

An ancestor's portrait of wicked Sir Hugo gives it away: when Holmes covers the hat and ringlets, the face is the killer's own. Holmes calls the likeness a throwback, both physical and spiritual.

From which newspaper were the words cut to make the anonymous warning sent to Sir Henry Baskerville?

The Times was unmistakable to Holmes, who knew the typeface of its leading articles at a glance. Only one word of the message was handwritten, because the sender could not find it in print.

Which member of the Baskerville Hall staff is secretly the sister of the convict hiding on the moor?

The housekeeper, Eliza Barrymore, cannot abandon the younger brother her family spoiled as a boy, whatever his crimes. She and her husband smuggle him food and plan to put him on a ship out of England.

Which rooftop possession of old Frankland helps Watson find a hidden stranger near Baskerville Hall?

A telescope, kept for amateur astronomy, lets the old busybody spot a boy carrying food across the moor each day. He assumes the meals are for the convict, but they are really for Holmes.

Which Scotland Yard inspector does Holmes summon to Dartmoor for the final Baskerville ambush?

Lestrade arrives on the London express with an unsigned warrant in his pocket. When the glowing dog appears he yells in terror and throws himself face down on the ground.

What disguise does the spy wear while trailing Sir Henry Baskerville through London in a hansom cab?

A false beard, bushy and black, hides the watcher's face and throws suspicion on the bearded butler back at the hall. He even tells the cabman that his name is Sherlock Holmes.

Which part of Holmes does Dr. Mortimer say he covets when he first brings the Baskerville case?

His skull fascinates the doctor, a keen student of head shapes, who asks to run a finger along it. He adds that a cast would grace any anthropological museum until the original becomes available.

What breed is Dr. Mortimer's pet dog, whose remains turn up in the Baskerville villain's lair?

A spaniel with curly hair wanders onto the moor and never comes back. Holmes had named the breed in the opening chapter from the width of its bite marks, moments before seeing the dog itself on the doorstep.

Where in the grounds of Baskerville Hall is Sir Charles found dead after his nightly walk?

The yew alley, a path between two tall old hedges, was where he strolled every night before bed. That evening he lingered by the small gate onto the moor, as though waiting for someone.

Which artist did Doyle specifically request to illustrate The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Sidney Paget had already given Holmes his deerstalker and cape, details Doyle never wrote. In all he illustrated one Holmes novel, this one, and 37 of the short stories.

Which Holmes novel, the fourth and last, followed The Hound of the Baskervilles over a decade later?

The Valley of Fear closed the run of four novels, with a backstory loosely based on the Molly Maguires and the Pinkerton agent James McParland. Like the Hound, it first appeared as a monthly serial.

Which ghostly dog of Norfolk folklore is one claimed inspiration for The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Black Shuck is said to roam the East Anglian coast, and Doyle took a golfing holiday there in 1901 with the friend who helped him plot the story. The pair probably heard the legend during their stay.

Which future screen Sherlock Holmes played Sir Henry in Hammer's 1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Christopher Lee played the threatened heir, then took the lead himself three years later in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace. He was also Mycroft in a 1970 Billy Wilder film.

Which Sherlock co-creator wrote the 2012 episode The Hounds of Baskerville?

Mark Gatiss felt the novel was so well loved that he had to keep more of its familiar elements than usual. He borrowed the mind-bending gas from another Holmes story, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot.

Which woman is tricked into writing the letter that lures Sir Charles Baskerville out at night?

Laura Lyons, the estranged child of a quarrelsome neighbour, asked Sir Charles for money to fund her divorce. The killer had promised to marry her, then talked her out of keeping the appointment.

From which Dartmoor prison town has the murderer Selden escaped in The Hound of the Baskervilles?

Princetown holds the great convict prison, and after the breakout its warders watch every road and station. Doyle himself stayed in the town while researching the story.

The Baskerville curse dates from which conflict, called the Great Rebellion in the old manuscript?

The English Civil War was the Great Rebellion to royalists such as Lord Clarendon, whose history the manuscript recommends. The paper Dr. Mortimer reads aloud is dated 1742, about a century after the events.

Where was Dr. Mortimer of the Baskerville case a house-surgeon before he moved to Dartmoor?

Charing Cross Hospital fits the initials C.C.H. engraved on the present his friends gave him when he left. Watson guesses the letters stand for a local hunt, and Holmes gently corrects him.

Which journalist fed Doyle the legends behind The Hound of the Baskervilles and shared its royalties?

Fletcher Robinson, a Daily Express journalist, explored Dartmoor with Doyle in June 1901 and received a third of the royalties. He modestly described himself as the story's assistant plot producer.

Which country made the first film of The Hound of the Baskervilles, a five-reel silent in 1914?

Germany got there first with Der Hund von Baskerville, written by Richard Oswald, who directed a version of his own in 1929. A British film did not follow until 1921.

Where on an island in the great bog does the villain of The Hound of the Baskervilles hide his dog?

An old tin mine, long abandoned, holds a chain, a heap of gnawed bones and the skeleton of a smaller animal. Beryl tells Holmes where to look as soon as she is untied.

Which rare bird does the Baskerville villain blame for the eerie moan Watson hears on the moor?

A bittern booming is his suggestion, though he admits the bird is practically extinct in England. The local peasants give the sound another source: the family's phantom dog calling for its prey.

Beryl, the villain's unhappy accomplice in The Hound of the Baskervilles, came from which country?

Costa Rica was her home before the villain, having stolen public money, fled with her to England under a new name. Watson notices her dark colouring and a slight lisp in her speech.

Which wicked squire, buried in 1677 under a heavy slab, is thought to have inspired Hugo Baskerville?

Richard Cabell was said to have sold his soul, and legend has a phantom pack howling round his tomb on the night he was buried. Villagers supposedly put up a building around the grave to keep him in it.

Who got top billing over Holmes's actor in the 1939 Hound of the Baskervilles, as young Sir Henry?

Richard Greene headed the cast list because the studio doubted that a film about the detective would sell. He later found lasting fame on television as Robin Hood.

What did the American publisher do with Doyle's manuscript of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1902?

The publisher split it into pages and sent single leaves to booksellers for their window displays, all as a promotional stunt. Of an estimated 185 to 190 leaves, fewer than forty are known to survive.

At which London hotel does Sir Henry Baskerville receive the anonymous warning to stay off the moor?

The Northumberland is the address on the envelope, though hardly anyone knew he had chosen it. Some Holmes enthusiasts identify it with the building that became the Sherlock Holmes pub near Trafalgar Square.