In Sherlock Holmes’s novel The Valley of Fear, the secret society at Vermissa is called the Scowrers.
The Scowrers are a violent organization controlling the mining community of Vermissa Valley in the novel’s historical second section. They use intimidation, extortion, and murder to maintain power over workers, businesses, and local officials.
The novel has two connected parts. The first concerns the murder of John Douglas at Birlstone Manor and Holmes’s investigation of the evidence. The second moves to America and explains Douglas’s earlier life as McMurdo, his relationship with the Scowrers, and the forces opposing them.
The Scowrers are fictional, but the setting draws on the history of mining communities and labor violence in the United States. Readers sometimes connect them directly with the real Molly Maguires, but Doyle’s organization is a fictional creation within the novel.