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These stories were printed together as ''Carnacki the Ghost-Finder'' in 1913. A 1948 Arkham House edition of ''Carnacki the Ghost-Finder'' edited by August Derleth added a further three previously unpublished stories. The stories are in part inspired by the public taste for eccentric consulting detectives, after the manner of Sherlock Holmes . Carnacki lives in a bachelor flat in Cheyne Walk , Chelsea , and has a narrator sidekick, very much in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's detective. Whereas the Holmes stories never made use of the supernatural, except as a red herring, this is the central theme of Carnacki. The character of Carnacki was probably inspired in part by Dr Hesselius, a supernaturally inclined scientist who appeared in short stories by the Irish fantasy writer Sheridan Le Fanu , notably the early and influential vampire story Carmilla . Each of the Carnacki stories tells of an investigation into an unusual Haunting , which Carnacki is charged with, not only understanding, but also ending. He employs a variety of scientific methods in his investigations, as well as resorting to more traditional folk-lore. He is not dogmatic, and always uses evidence to draw his final conclusions, so that in some stories he decides the haunting is real, whilst in others it is staged or faked by an adversary for various reasons. This variety makes the stories suspenseful, as we are never sure if the ghosts are real or not. The stories were influential on later horror and fantasy writers, notably Seabury Quinn and Algernon Blackwood , both of whom had their own supernatural detective characters ( Jules De Grandin and John Silence respectively). LIST OF STORIES
"The Horse of the Invisible" was adapted as an episode of the 70s British TV series, ''The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'', and starred Donald Pleasence as Carnacki. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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