The Occult Detective Megapack: 29 Classic Stories

This is a good, though not great, collection of ghost/mystery/horror stories. It starts with “The Pot of Tulips” by [a:Fitz James O'Brien|8405350|Fitz James O'Brien|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and concludes with “Incense of Abomination” by [a:Seabury Quinn|263531|Seabury Quinn|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. My personal favorite is “What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien.

A summary of some of the stories:

“What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien – I was introduced to this story in another Megapack volume of short stories, and then listened to a very good LibriVox recording of it. O’Brien was an excellent writer whose career – and life – was cut short by the Civil War. The landlady of a boarding house decides to take over a supposedly haunted residence. All but two of her boarders go along with her, treating the whole thing like a lark:

“Of course we had no sooner established ourselves at No. —— than we began to expect ghosts. We absolutely awaited their advent with eagerness. Our dinner conversation was supernatural. One of the boarders, who had purchased Mrs. Crowe’s Night Side of Nature for his own private delectation, was regarded as a public enemy by the entire household for not having bought twenty copies. The man led a life of supreme wretchedness while he was reading this volume. A system of espionage was established, of which he was the victim. If he incautiously laid the book down for an instant and left the room, it was immediately seized and read aloud in secret places to a select few. I found myself a person of immense importance, it having leaked out that I was tolerably well versed in the history of supernaturalism, and had once written a story the foundation of which was a ghost. If a table or a wainscot panel happened to warp when we were assembled in the large drawing-room, there was an instant silence, and everyone was prepared for an immediate clanking of chains and a spectral form.”

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your point of view – nothing happens and the new residents begin to suspect the stories of a ghost were pure hokum – or at least until one night when the narrator has a strange and terrifying encounter.

One of the first uses of invisibility in fiction.

“Green Tea” by [a:J Sheridan Le Fanu|26930|J. Sheridan Le Fanu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1410336850p2/26930.jpg] – A decidedly creepy story about a vicar who is haunted by an increasingly sinister and terrifying black monkey.

“It is a small monkey, perfectly black. It had only one peculiarity— a character of malignity— unfathomable malignity. During the first year it looked sullen and sick. But this character of intense malice and vigilance was always underlying that surly languor. During all that time it acted as if on a plan of giving me as little trouble as was consistent with watching me. Its eyes were never off me. I have never lost sight of it, except in my sleep, light or dark, day or night, since it came here, excepting when it withdraws for some weeks at a time, unaccountably.

“In total dark it is visible as in daylight. I do not mean merely its eyes. It is all visible distinctly in a halo that resembles a glow of red embers, and which accompanies it in all its movements.”

Jennings cannot escape the thing, which is slowly, but surely destroying his life and his sanity. I wonder if, like “The Turn of the Screw,” the case can be interpreted as a true haunting or simply a person going mad. All in all, a chilling story.

“Aylmer Vance and the Vampire” by [a:Alice and Claude Askew|12911076|Alice and Claude Askew|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] – An interesting, but not perfect, tale of a family curse, vampirism, and possibly ghosts. A young man comes to Aylmer Vance for help – his health is failing and his wife is convinced her family curse is to blame. Paul Davenant married Jessica MacThane despite the fact that whenever a MacThane marries outside their family, their spouse dies young from what appears to be a wasting disease. Of course, things aren’t quite that simple.

The “Carnacki the Ghost Finder” series by [a:William Hope Hodgson|51422|William Hope Hodgson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246727581p2/51422.jpg] – an interesting, though not scary (at least to me) series. The six stories in this collection are in the public domain. There are three other stories that were publish many years later that are not included here, probably for copyright reasons. Carnacki is a sensible, level-headed, very proper English ghost hunter, whose stories do not always involve “real” ghosts. Sometimes there’s a living person pretending to be a ghost for some nefarious reason. The stories are well written and enjoyable.

The “Flaxman Low” series by E. and H. Heron (Kate and Hesketh Prichard, mother and son) – this ghost hunter series predates W H Hodgson’s, but Carnacki and Flaxman are rather similar. Flaxman Low is called out to investigate strange, unearthly happenings, usually at mansions or ancient family homes. The stories are well written, but very similar to Carnacki’s adventures. You could change out the names of the characters and no one would know the difference. That doesn’t say much for the characters’ personalities.

The “Steve Harrison” series by [a:Robert E. Howard|66700|Robert E. Howard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1210954603p2/66700.jpg] – excellent stories with a mixture of action, adventure, and horror. Steve Harrison is intelligent, brave, resourceful, and quick on his feet. Imagine a 20th century Conan working as a detective. While I was reading “Fangs of Gold,” I kept thinking of “The Ghost Breakers” with Bob Hope and “The Zombie” episode of “Kolchak” The Night Stalker.” I am really surprised that these colorful, fun stories aren’t better known.

The one “clunker” for me was “The Uninhabited House” by [a:J. H. Riddell|7709125|J. H. Riddell|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], which I found tedious, overlong, and not scary in the least. It was a relief when it was over with.