While researching The Hound of the Baskervilles in Devon, Conan Doyle stayed at a local manor house. To immerse himself in the spooky atmosphere, he decided to play a prank on his coachman. In the middle of the night, Doyle snuck out to the stables covered in a dark sheet, making howling noises to mimic the phantom hound. Instead of being terrified, the coachman calmly picked up a stable broom and whacked the future Sir Arthur Conan Doyle over the head, assuming he was a drunk local trying to steal a horse.
