The moody world of Sherlock Holmes tends to exist in our minds a certain way; wrapped in a perpetual fog and gaslight of Victorian London. And yet, the most famous Sherlock Holmes book, The Hound of the Baskervilles hardly takes place in London at all, and Holmes himself is absent for much of the action. Like our memory of fog and gaslight pervading all the stories — even when that’s not the case — the shadow of Baskervilles is long, and in its influence, it can eclipse some even more chilling Sherlock Holmes stories from the classic canon.
To put it another way, The Hound of the Baskervilles does represent a classic, horror-tinged Sherlock Holmes story in one specific way: It mostly takes place in a rural setting, complete with mists and old local legends. But, this slim novella from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is not necessarily the best example of what a “scary” Sherlock Holmes story can accomplish.
So, what are the best hair-raising, frightening, and otherwise outré Holme stories from the original canon? Here are five of the best, but with none of the solutions to the mysteries fully revealed. If it’s been a while since you delved into the world of Holmes and Watson, and the horrors they have witnessed, these stories will remind you why Conan Doyle remains an immortal master of various genres.
“The Musgrave Ritual” (1893)
Among hardcore Holmes fans, this story is formative, and as Holmes might say, instructive, in many ways. If you’re trying to solve the riddle of who Holmes was before he met Dr. Watson, this is one of those rare pre-Baker Street cases, in which Holmes tells Watson the tale many years after the fact. The frame of the story involves Watson complaining about the mess in their flat, which includes the infamous asides about how Holmes leaves correspondence “transfixed by a jack-knife” in their mantlepiece, and that the detective employs “pistol practice” inside closed doors. To put it another way, Holmes is a terrifying roommate, and all TV and film adaptations of Holmes owe much to the opening passage of this story.
But the actual meat of the story is as engrossing as it is original. One of Holmes’ old college buddies, Reginald Musgrave, presents a bizarre problem involving a seemingly meaningless poem that he and his forebearers have been required to memorize. But why is Musgrave’s butler, the elusive Brunton, trying to learn the specifics of this ritual? The answer involves a hidden chamber and an ancient stash, but telling any more would ruin the surprise.
–The Musgrave Ritual can be found in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
“The Sussex Vampire” (1924)
One of the very last Sherlock Holmes stories ever written and published, this one contains Holmes’s admonition to Watson about all things supernatural. When Holmes gets a letter that tells him a person with questions about vampires has been referred to him, the detective is mildly incensed. “Rubbish Watson!,” Holmes says. And calls belief in all things phantasmagorical “pure lunacy,” stating unequivocally that “no ghosts need apply.” And yet, Holmes takes the case anyway.
Basically, the mystery concerns the idea that a father, Mr. Ferguson, believes that his wife, is sucking blood from his young son. There’s a sense of xenophobia from Ferguson in regard to Mrs. Ferguson being Peruvian, but Holmes sees through this idea pretty quickly. The true “vampire” in this case is someone much closer to home, and the wickedness this person is trying to inflict on a young child is much worse than any vampire.
“The Sussex Vampire,” is also notable to folks who like to think about all the hidden Holmes cases that Watson didn’t document. This is the story Holmes mentions “The Giant Rat of Sumatra,” which has spawned many pastiches from various authors over the years. But, of course, the reader’s own hazily imagined version of the Giant Rat of Sumatra is probably still the best version.
–“The Sussex Vampire” can be found in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
“The Devil’s Foot” (1910)
Described by Holmes as “the Cornish horror” and the “strangest case I have handled,” the mystery of “The Devil’s Foot” has a touch of the supernatural in its set-up. In a small cottage on the Cornish peninsula, Holmes and Watson learn that three of four Tregennis siblings, two brothers, and a sister, have been unexpectedly found dead with no apparent cause, seemingly right after a game of whist. Worse still, the looks of hysteria on their faces suggest some bizarre, otherworldly cause of their deaths. Watson describes it like this: “All three of them, the dead woman and the two demented men, retained upon their faces an expression of utmost horror…”
When a fourth sibling dies in a similar way a short time later, Holmes notices a pattern. The secret of the titular “Devil’s Foot,” is, naturally, one of the best parts of the story. And, when Holmes figures it out, one nefarious person accuses the detective of being “…the devil himself!” Holmes’s only response is a smile.
–“The Devil’s Foot” can be found in His Last Bow
“The Copper Beeches” (1892)
If there’s one thing Sherlock Holmes fears more than giant hounds and wicked professors, it’s country living. When Holmes and Watson journey to a countryside estate in Hampshire, Holmes professes his deep mistrust for what he thinks masquerades as charming and quaint, but really conceals countless unsolved crimes. As Watson comments on the beauty of the countryside houses Holmes says: “They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”
This particular countryside mystery is one of the strangest and best Holmes stories overall, mostly because there’s no way you can guess its conclusion upon first reading. A young governess is given a good, high-paying job watching one child at the home of Mr. Rucastle. But, she’s required to cut her hair, wear a certain dress, and stand by a window at a certain time of day. Things get weirder when she finds in a drawer, cut hair exactly like her own. Holmes begins to suspect the house has a hidden room and Mr. Rucastle has a hungry, vicious mastiff that could give Cujo a run for its bloodthirsty canine money.
–“The Copper Beeches” can be found in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
“The Speckled Band” (1892)
The murderer at the end of this story isn’t human! And, although there are numerous scientific inaccuracies in this story — involving what certain reptiles can and can’t do — those issues only make the story more haunting, not less. Much of the mood of various Sherlock Holmes stories can feel creepy, but because this one is a locked-room mystery, all the clues seem to stand out super-vibrantly, even though none of them really make sense until the very end. Holmes and Watson have been hired by Helen Stoner to investigate the death of her twin sister Julia, under bizarre circumstances.
There’s a whistle in the night, and strange saucer of milk, and Julia’s dire warning that everyone beware of “the speckled band.” Holmes’s actions in this story are among some of his most kinetic, captured by Sidney Paget’s wonderful illustration of Holmes as he “lashed furiously” at a very specific creature, which is revealed to be the key to the entire mystery.
In his actions at the end of this story, Holmes comes across as more like a dark vigilante, which seems to predict the coming hardboiled crime movement of the 20th century. Because when one villainous human dies as an indirect result of Holmes’s actions, you can tell the detective isn’t going to lose any sleep over it, quipping “…I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.”
–“The Speckled Band” can be found in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
