- Occult detective
Occult detective stories combine the genres of the
detective story with supernatural horror fiction. Unlike the traditional detective the occult detective is employed in cases involvingghost s,curse s, and othersupernatural elements. He or she is often a doctor inclined to metaphysical speculation.History
The first fictional occult detective was Dr Martin Hesselius, five of whose cases are featured in
Sheridan Le Fanu 's short story collection "In a Glass Darkly " (1872). The next prominent figure in this tradition was DrAbraham Van Helsing fromBram Stoker 's "Dracula " (1897) followed byAlgernon Blackwood 'sDr. John Silence andWilliam Hope Hodgson 'sCarnacki , the Ghost Finder. Though never large, the occult detective sub-genre grew to include such writers asSeabury Quinn (with his characterJules de Grandin ),Manly Wade Wellman , andJack Mann . Pulp writerRobert E. Howard created stories about Steve Harrison, an occult detective in the "Strange Detective Stories" magazine.In the 1970s there were a number of generally unsuccessful attempts at occult detective television series. Examples include; "
The Norliss Tapes " (1973) withRoy Thinnes as a reporter investigating the supernatural; "Fear No Evil " (1969) and its sequel, "Ritual of Evil " (1970), starringLouis Jourdan as psychologist David Sorrell; "The World of Darkness" (1977) and its sequel, "The World Beyond " (1978), starringGranville Van Dusen as a man who battles the supernatural following his ownnear-death experience ; and a British production, "Baffled! " (1973) starringLeonard Nimoy andSusan Hampshire as a pair of ghost-hunters. The most successful effort of this period was "" (1972) withDarren McGavin which was made into a short-lived television series.More recently, "
The X-Files " picked up these same themes. Other examples areDoctor Spektor fromGold Key Comics andJohn Constantine from the comic book series "Hellblazer ", "Constantine", a film inspired by the comic, and "Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro ", a Japanesemanga , as well as the Japaneseanime Yu Yu Hakusho .External links
* [http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Occult.htm Occult Detectives in the Wold Newton Universe]
* [http://www.gwthomas.org/ghostbreakerindex.htm The Ghostbreakers: The World's Largest Compendium of Occult Detectives]
* [http://occultdetectives.wetpaint.com/ The Occult Detective Armory]
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