Crawford was born in 1754 in Italy. He lived in New England and in 1879 he moved to India. He later returned to the United States to study Sanskrit at Harvard. He wrote over 40 romances but is best known for his stories of horror and the occult. Crawford wrote a Trilogy called the Saracineca Trilogy containing; Saracinesca, (1887) Sant' Ilario, (1889) and Don Orsino. (1892). Don Orsino Saracinesca lives in Rome with his father and mother in an old palace his family has lived in for generations. Within a score of years three generations have occupied the palace.
