The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a fictional novel that is part of the part of the Sherlock Holmes series, and was created by Holmes writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story features Sherlcok Holmes and Dr. Watson. Though it was released by after The Final Problem, in which Doyle chooses to kill off Holmes to end his series (Holmes dies in a fight with his archenemy Professor Moriarty when both fall over a cliff), Doyle decided to create this story due to the large popularity over the series. The book was released in 1901-1902 in the Strand magazine. The story, though the main chracter is Holmes, is through the perspective of Dr. Watson, and we can see Holmes' observatory mind through another's eyes.


Basiclly the story takes places in Dartmoor, Devon (country land in England). In this story, Dr. James Mortimer, come to Dr. Watson and Holmes before their meeting with Henry Baskerville and warns them of the legends of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' in which a demonic dog is said to murder all decendents of Baskervilles, and it all began with Hugo Baskerville several hundred years ago. When Sherlock dismays this as stupid and illogical and myths are not real, Mortimer recounts the death of Henry Baskerville's (current resident of the Baskerville Estate) uncle, Charles Bakerville. His body was found, though not physcially wounded, he was dead, and the only abnormality is his distroted face which almost leads people to believe he died of terror. Also on the gorund next to Charles Baskerville was the imprint of a large dog. Long story short, it is a local naturalist (and later revealed the Henry Baskerville's long lost cousin) Stapleton. His idea was to send a half-starved mutt that he bought from Ross and Magles, to attack the Baskervilles. To make the mutt seem more diabolical, he soaked it in phosphorus-ointment (which, combined with oxygen will emit a glowing light, or make thing appear more luminous). However, Holmes, like always, puts the pieces of the puzzle together, and Watson, Lestrade, and himself all wait for the houng to come to Henry in which they shoot and kill the dog. Stapleton escape, thoguh in his escape, he is lost in the fog, and we can safely assume he drowned.



In this Holmes' tale, like all Holmes tales, Sherlock Holmes uses observations and logic to put the pieces of the crime together. This story also includes many red herrings, but Holmes, as he point out to Watson, as the world is full of details, and most people simply do not notice them.

The Case of the Cottingly Fairies

The Case of the Cottingly Fairies: By: Anisha

In 1917 two cousins, Elsie Wright, 16, and Frances Griffiths, 9, produced five famous photographs of fairies. Elsie borrowed her father's camera and went with Frances out to Cottingly Beck, a stream that ran behind the family house. There they took five pictures of themselves with fairies. These photos are currently held at the National Media Museum at Bradford. When the girls returned with the camera, Elsie and her father went into the dark room to develop them. As the second photo with a gnome appeared, Elsie and Frances were banned from using the camera again because her father thought they were just playing with it. Elsie's father thought the pictures were a hoax, until he searched the house and could not find any traces of paper or cutouts that would indicate the fairies were just drawings. After the pictures were publicized, most of Britain believed they were real. However, in 1983, Elsie wrote a letter of confession stating that she drew the fairies and stood them up on hatpins in the glade. That seemed to settle the question of whether the fairies were actually real until Frances claimed that four pictures were fake, but one was real. Even though Elsie and Frances are now dead, the photographs "continue to mystify and fascinate the world".

Christopher Boone believes that these pictures are fake and he proves it. He knows that the paper would move during the exposure because it was very long, proven by the fact that the waterfall in the background of one of the pictures is blurred. Christopher also looked at pictures of fairies in old books and they are wearing tights and dresses and have wings. He researched the story and the interviews with Elsie and Frances, and in one of them, an article in THE UNEXPLAINED, the two of them said Elsie drew the fairies from PRINCESS MARY'S GIFT BOOK, by Arthur Shepperson. From all this Christopher concluded that people sometimes don't want to know the truth, even if it is staring them in the face.

Pictures Below:
(Link: http://www.cottingleyconnect.org.uk/fairies.htm#photos

Dr. Who

Dr. Who is British popular science-fiction television series. Dr. Who, also known as “the Doctor”, is a mysterious time traveller who explores space along with his friends (First Doctor, Second Doctor, etc.). This television series is known for its imaginative stories, cheap special effects, and its use of electronic music. It is also known as one of the greatest television series in Britain, and has one a BAFTA Award in 2006. The series ran originally from 1963 to 1989. It was later re-launched in 2005.

In the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher Boone mentions The Case of the Cottingly Fairies in which he expresses that he believes the pictures were fake because they looked like fairies in old books. He relates this to aliens coming to Earth and looking like Daleks. Daleks are what Dr. Who represented aliens as. They are metal tank objects that are famous for their high pitched phrase “EX-TER-MIN-ATE”. They had a great effect on what people generalized aliens at the time. The classic episode, “Day of Armageddon”,
A typical Dalek

Red Herrings

Red Herrings (Ronald S) Christopher mentions Red Herring on page 71. Red herring is a classic of the mystery and detective genre. Red herring throws the reader off track and it also offers an easy answer to the question, which often tempts the reader to “take the bait”, making the reader a fool if he does. The main red herring is the convict since it is easiest to pin a murder on a convicted murder. “Barrymore’s late-night mischief turns out to be innocent, and the convicted murder turns out to be not involved in the mysterious death”. He talks about Red Herring in the novel, Hound of the Baskerville because he needed guidance while trying to solve the mysterious death of Wellington, his neighbor’s dog. The clues and red herrings in this book relate to Christopher’s own story.