Customer Reviews

Carnacki the Ghost Finder

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read Wm. Hope Hodgson in the Ballantine fantasy reprint series edited by Lin Carter in the 1970's. Therein I discovered a brillant mind of the macabre for the first time, with his "House on the Borderland" and "The Night Land" a new master of the fantastic was given to me. I ended up back in those heady gothick days of ordering a British edition of "Carnacki, the Ghost Finder" and adoring every delicious page. Alternating between supernatural & rational explainations for the phenomena in tow, I was in ghost story heaven! A personal literary belief of mine, is that the ghost story is arguably the best expression of the elegance of the English language extant. Contained in "Carnacki" is the "The Whistling Room" my vote for the best ghost story of all time. An award I do not lightly give.

I read this books first years ago, and only now remembered it is most deserving of a great review. The best description I can give of the stories of Carnacki the Ghost Finder is that he investigates stories with some great, classic gothic set-ups. He's something like a Sherlock Holmes of the supernatural, a concept I absolutely adore.

What's even better is that these stories were written by William Hope Hodgson (much admired by H. P. Lovecraft) in the early part of the 20th century (around 1910), so it still has that incredible Victorian feeling of horror, shrouded in antiquity and mystery, with a fantastic and classically spooky atmosphere. Basically, for gothic gaslight ambience, this is one of the most satisfying books you can read. Since it was actually written so long ago, it has none of the modern contrivances you find in books written today set back in that time.

There are a couple of different versions of Carnacki the Ghost Finder. One has only 5 stories, some have 6, and some have 9. I've read both the 6 story and 9 story version; obviously you should try and procure the 9 story version, which adds The Hog, The Haunted Jarvee, and The Find.

Of the stories, all of them are great reading, but my favorites are "The House Among the Laurels," one of the best haunted house short stories I've ever read, and the very Lovecraftian (though Hodgson pre-dates Lovecraft) "The Whistling Room." Other good stories include "The Gateway of the Monster" in which Carnacki bites off more than he can chew in a demonic encounter; "The Searcher of the End House," a frenetic search for the truth behind a ghost, and the unsettling "The Hog," and the nicely done atmospherics of "The Haunted Jarvee."

But the whole book is great. Check it out if you love that classic gothic atmosphere in your stories.

I read Carnacki years ago as a child, and loved the first mixture of the supernatural and superscience. Carnacki's use of the Electric Pentagram and other devices feels like a Gothic Quatermass. I'm thrilled that they've been published again, and have fallen in love with them all over again as an adult.

So you like tales of the ghostly and supernatural, do you? Well, for the discerning and literate, true terror is much more potent than most contemporary "horror" on the discount shelves. You need to discover the collected stories of M.R. James (there's a really pricey edition out there, but there are also cheaper versions available) and Hodgson's Carnacki stories. I'll just echo the reviewer who thought "The Whistling Room" one of the best, if not the best, ghost stories of all time: One of the scariest reading moments I've ever had came at the climax of that story the first time I ever read it--and even now, years later, it can STILL produce actual physical shivers when read over again. (While I'm at it, if you like James and Hodgson, move on next to Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood. Blackwood's short stories have been collected in two relatively easy-to-find volumes.)

I found the book totally engrossing and chilling. What made it even more scary for me was the fact I've studied the paranormal and have had experience in it. Some of the stories in this book were closer to the truth than a lot of people realise. There's too much detail in some stories than what could be passed as fiction. The Whistling Room is one that tells more than a work of fiction should. Same for The Hog. This book is now among my favourites. Fantastic!

William Hope Hodgson, who died in World War I as an artillery spotter exposing himself to danger, knew how to capture fear, the sheer, mind-numbing terror that can hide in the dark and the imagination. If a mad scientist on a dark and stormy night merged the essenses of Arthur Conan Doyle and Stephen King, the resulting creature would probably write stories similar to Carnacki.

When I discovered this book I was immediately excited from memories of the extraordinary 'House on the Borderland' and the evocative but arduous challenge of 'The Nightland'. Hodgson is a true visionary with imagery that has a vividness unusual for his time (in my experience any way).

In this collection of short stories you will find occult stories that hinted at Charles Williams. But there are stories reminiscent of Conan Doyle too. The fact that both of these were mixed in the one volume was somewhat unsettling in that I never knew whether I was reading a detective story (and they are ingenious) or a true dip into the occult.

other recommendations:
'The House on the Borderland' - WH Hodgson
'The Nightland' - WH Hodgson
'The Place of the Lion' - Charles Williams
'The Devil's Pool' - George Sand

The setup with this story collection is that Carnacki is a ghost buster, and every so often he invites a bunch of mates around for a genial evening at his place, involving dinner and drinks and a smoke, while keeping them waiting for the good bit.

The good bit being a retelling of one of his recent exploits, and pretty good quality stories they are.

Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 1 The Thing Invisible - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 2 The Gateway of the Monster - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 3 The House Among the Laurels - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 4 The Whistling Room - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 5 The Searcher of the End House - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 6 The Horse of the Invisible - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 7 The Haunted Jarvee - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 8 The Find - William Hope Hodgson
Carnacki the Ghost Finder : 9 The Hog - William Hope Hodgson

A supernaturally wielded weapon means Carnacki has to resort to fairdinkum old fashioned plate and chain to survive this investigation.

4 out of 5


"Twice more was the dead cat...," as Carnacki waits in his defense pentacle for what comes, and finds a bet and a ring as part of it.

4 out of 5


Carnacki is actually forced to run away in this case, but discovers that it is really a Scooby Doo story, with nastier than cartoon miscreants.

3.5 out of 5


A noisy monster in a castle, as Carnacki investigates, has origins going back a rather long way.

3.5 out of 5


Carnacki, living with his mum sends her on her way when ghosts appear. Working out what is going on he decides moving is a good plan.

4 out of 5


Not good to be the first born girl in this family, it seems. A Scooby Doo hoaxer gets a bit of a shock in real ghostly fashion, as well.

3 out of 5


Weird electrical phenomena at sea suggest a psychic focus Carnacki tells his listeners.

3.5 out of 5


Rare book shenanigans.

3 out of 5


Carnacki tries out a new defense method in a case involving psychic attack by supernatural swine monsters.

4 out of 5

Wm. Hope Hodgson's Carnacki is thematically Holmes's occultly inclined first cousin, a cerebral, driven man who faces apalling supernatural danger (and some more mundane cases) with Edwardian super-science, self-admitted utter terror, and some truly dubious mediaeval manuscripts as guides.

The stories are great and often genuinely scary despite the somewhat trite language and cardboard characterisation. But Carnacki is refreshingly honest about his fears, making his efforts to deal with the 'ab-natural' often truly heroic.

This edition is well typeset in a large face that makes it very easy to read. Unfortunately, it is missing at least two of the Carnacki stories, 'The Haunted Jarvee' and 'The Hog'. These are admittedly two of the more fantastical of the the set but they are also, in my humble opinion, two of the best ('The Whistling Room' is the third of this troika of terror), so I was disappointed to make this discovery.

I am still looking for a complete collection of Carnacki.

The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) by William Hope Hodgson; this was my first exposure to Hodgson and I found it very satisfying reading... this book was a series of short stories featuring the ghost hunter Carnacki relating his adventures to his friends. Several were found to be hoaxes... but several were not.