The Hound of the Baskervilles | |
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Third novel featuring Sherlock Holmes | |
Origin |
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
Type |
Book |
Effects |
Summons Spectral Hound |
Downsides |
Can cause severe injuries and possible insanity (see Effects below for more details) |
Activation |
Reading/Situational |
Collected by |
Pete Lattimer, Claudia Donovan, and Sarah Holmes |
Section |
|
Aisle |
Fiction |
Shelf |
DOY 800.048 |
[Source] |
Origin[]
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third crime book starring Sherlock Holmes. The plot concerns Holmes' return and the attempted murder based off of the legend of a fearsome hound of supernatural origin.
Originally serialized in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is widely regarded as one of the best Sherlock Holmes novels that Doyle has ever written. It has had a number of movies based off of it as well as several television episodes.
Effects[]
This mystery summons a completely invisible hound upon reading. However, it can only be summoned by reading the story of Sir Hugo Baskerville as read by Dr. Mortimer. The reason why is because Sir Hugo was the Hound's first "victim" (according to the legend itself).
When summoned by its reader, the Hound will often (but not always) destroy everything in its path to kill the person it wants. It is unclear as to who it will kill when it is summoned, but if it has attacked a certain family before, (ex. the fictional Baskervilles), it will again.
The people who aren't killed by the Hound are never the same again. Most of them end up with severe injuries from the mysterious creature, while others suffer extreme levels of grief and depression. This is usually caused by both the loss of loved ones and the shock of realizing what caused the death or deaths they witnessed.
But while some mope, others have begun to fight against the creature, hoping to avenge the deaths of friends and family. Unfortunately, this has lead them into insanity as they hopelessly plot the Hound's demise.
The only way to bring it back into its book is to read the chapter where it was killed by Sherlock Holmes and his assistant and chronicler Dr. John Watson.
Collection[]
While investigating a suspicious murder, Agents Pete Lattimer and Claudia Donovan discovered that the bodies of the deceased were killed by either a wolf or large dog. But with no wolves or suitably large dogs in sight, the two Agents found themselves in a pickle.
Not willing to give up yet, Pete used a black light from one of the forensic scientists at the scene to find footprints "of a gigantic hound". He followed these footprints back to their source- a mysteriously open book.
Back in the B&B, he tripped while showing Myka the story. By doing so, he unknowingly released the creature who murdered the people in the house. The invisible menace attacked, but before Pete could become another victim, the Hound was stopped by a strange woman named Sarah Holmes. She pushed Pete out of the way, only to receive some injuries in the process. Myka later neutralized the book before it could do damage.
This story has since been put into the Library. Because of its dangerous nature, it can be used for research purposes only.
Trivia[]
- The Hound tends to misbehave when near artifacts relating to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. The reason for this is currently unclear.
- It has also been known to kill other dogs upon contact, such as the curly haired spaniel in the Conan Doyle story. Whether this morbid tendency started because of that particular dog has still not been discovered. Because of this, it has been kept far away from Trailer at Artie's request.
- Among its more human victims, the majority of them are British. It doesn't matter where it happens to be attacking, or for that matter, when in history. Since the novel's creation, there have been unexplainable deaths that can be linked back to this supernatural hound.
- But these deaths have been always British ones until the book was bought at an online auction and shipped to America. Despite the thrill of new blood from a (previously) unknown location, the Hound still enjoys its traditions.