Today's subject is one of the most enduring Occult Detectives, William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost-Finder.
Thomas Carnacki was a true detective. Unlike other occult investigators, he would systematically eliminate every possible mundane explanation before exploring a supernatural solution to a case. And while Dr. Hessilius may have been the first to enlist the scientific method in the battle against the supernatural, Carnacki was the first to incorporate technology. In addition to the hoary tomes and rites used by other ghostbusters, Carnacki employed then-modern tools such as photography and electricity (the "nanotech" of his age). His most famous device was the electric pentacle, a souped-up version of the traditional occult symbol that was proper steampunk.
It's this techno angle that's led Carnacki to enjoy a mild resurgence in recent years, but it's the stories themselves that are key to the character's longevity. Hodgson is one of the key figures in horror literature, and his Carnacki stories are imaginative and tense. While the lead character is rather sketchily drawn, the fact that Carnacki is fallible and often overcome by fear himself help make him a ghostbreaker readers can identify with.
Despite the character's influence - and public domain status - there have been almost no attempts to bring Carnacki to the screen. The sole exception is an episode of the classic ITV series, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, that adapts Hodgson's "The Horse of the Invisible". Donald Pleasence plays Carnacki as a boffin, an engineer rather than a scholar, who consults ancient texts and historical records as if they were instruction manuals. It's a great portrayal and I wish Pleasence had gone on to a Carnacki series.
"The Horse of the Invisible" is available on DVD as part of the first Rivals of Sherlock Holmes collection. (The whole series is well worth your time.) And the episode is also available on YouTube, at least for now. Watch it while you can!
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