The Grimpen Mire
Even Sherlock Holmes sinks up to his knees in its muck. The meticulous entomologist, Stapleton loses his footing in a frenzy and is consumed. It is a moat that imprisons a demon dog. It creates awe, dread, and arouses an ancient feeling of primacy.
The Grimpen Mire thus described in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of Baskervilles was characterized by the feelings of the characters towards it, specifically John Watson’s view of the landscape.
Watson provided an emotional, rather than a solely logical, point of view of the Sherlock Holmes stories, in order to reveal things to the reader that would otherwise have remained unknown. Watson was clearly afraid of the Grimpen Mire. Besides the constant allusions to the darkness, the warped vegetation, and the dismal coloring of the land, the wilderness of the moor itself is what creates the greatest sense of insecurity. The greatest fears of the book are found in the dangerous, mysterious unknown — the hound, the mire, and the killer. The hound and the killer were revealed and exterminated. But the mire remained.
Victorian society viewed land as a measure of wealth. Whoever had land had power, as every society on earth has had means of attaining power. More and more of the land during this time was being industrialized and utilized for mass farms and production centers. The world was modernizing at an unprecedented pace. In a world of imperialism, bustling cities, and life-changing technological advances such as electricity there were less and less mysteries left in the world. There were less uncovered crevaces to explore.
For millenia, people were afraid of the elements and the traps encased in the landscape, such as quicksand, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, blizzards and other unavoidable natural feats. They were unavoidable. Now, as humanity becomes more aware of the world, it is less afraid of the whims of Mother Nature. It is an innate animal desire. The Baskervilles estate made Henry Baskervilles wealthy. It was wealth at a cost — one that many of his family members paid for with their lives.
As industrialization advanced from the 1800s-present, less and less of the earth had been left unturned by explorers and excavators. This takes away from the mystery and fear of ancient places like the Grimpen Mire. The awe is stripped away in an age of international oil companies, unprecedented demand for coffee, chocolate, tea, and exotic fruits. Though Sherlock is always right in each of his adventures, people don’t always listen to him, sometimes when they do, it’s too late. If the real world had a Sherlock to listen to in times of disaster, we probably wouldn’t heed his guidance either.
