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   Chapter II of "The Hound of the Bakserviles,"  "The Curse of the Baskervilles," contains all the details of the family curse which haunts the House of the Baskervilles.

   Way back during the "Great Rebellion" (the Puritan Rebellion, 1632-1649) the owner of the Baskerville manor was one Hugo Baskerville. He had become infatuated with a common girl and had kidnapped her but she managed to escape. While fleeing across the moor she was chased by Hugo and his sons who had set their hunting hounds on the poor hapless girl. The poor girl and Hugo both fell off a "goyal" (a cliff) and died. When the others came near the bodies of Hugo and the girl they were amazed to see a massive hound like beast ripping apart the throat of Hugo. It was the same hound which the shepherd boy claimed to have seen chasing Hugo when Hugo was frantically in pursuit of the escaping  girl. After this terrible incident it seems as though all the future generations of the Baskervilles were cursed because most members of the Baskerville family died suddenly under "bloody and mysterious" circumstances.

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   Posted by lit24 on Sunday October 5, 2008 at 8:49 AM