Concept
The Curse of the Baskervilles
Also known as the family legend, the legend, that queer old legend, the curse.
The family legend, set down in 1742 and read aloud by Dr. Mortimer: that since the wicked Hugo's death a spectral hound has haunted and doomed the Baskerville line, many of whom have died sudden, bloody, and mysterious deaths. The manuscript counsels the family to forbear from crossing the moor in the dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted. The level-headed Sir Charles took it with deadly seriousness.
Chapter III. The Problem
Mortimer, a trained man of science, confesses he has come half to believe it, for several moor folk swear they have lately seen a huge, luminous, spectral creature answering to the legend.
Chapter IV. Sir Henry Baskerville
Sir Henry has known the tale since the nursery as the pet story of the family, and has never once taken it seriously.
Chapter VI. Baskerville Hall
Holmes urges Sir Henry to heed the legend's one practical warning and keep off the moor after dark.
Chapter VII. The Stapletons of Merripit House
Stapleton holds that the legend itself, working on the old man's nerves, brought about Sir Charles's death.
Chapter IX. The Light upon the Moor [Second Report of Dr. Watson]
The legend grips Sir Henry in earnest when a long howl rolls over the night moor and the countryfolk name it the Hound of the Baskervilles.
Chapter XIII. Fixing the Nets
Its author, the wicked Hugo, stares from the very portrait in which Holmes finds his crucial clue.
Chapter XV. A Retrospection
Holmes lays bare how the legend was deliberately exploited: a real dog daubed with phosphorus was dressed as the spectral hound to frighten and to kill.
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