Trivia / The Landlady

• Referenced by...: The titular character served as the inspiration for Ms. Scrubbit, a villain who tricked travelers into indentured servitude in the film Wonka, a prequel to another, more famous Dahl story.
• What Could Have Been: Dahl once wrote that he originally intended to write the story as a traditional ghost story, but, being unhappy with the ending, rewrote it to cut out supernatural elements, although he didn't divulge exactly what they were. One popular theory is that the landlady was a Wicked Witch who turned her victims into animals before stuffing them, hence the focus on her beloved pets.