Showing results by author "William Hodgson" in All Categories

Carnaki has a reputation as a ghost hunter. When a house seems haunted by a malignant spirit or a family suffering under a curse, they call for Carnaki, the only man able to help.

It was a dark and starless night when a schooner becalmed in the Northern Pacific is a approached by a rowboat whose occupant although nonthreatening refuses to be seen. We find out who this hideous appearing creature is, and how he and his fiancée came to be marooned on an island inhabited by a strange fungus.

"The House on the Borderland," tells the story of an unnamed protagonist who discovers a manuscript written by a previous occupant of a remote and decaying house on the edge of a vast and mysterious abyss. The manuscript details the strange and terrifying experiences of the previous occupant, who is drawn into a world of cosmic horror and ancient evil.

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' (1907) is the first published novel by William Hope Hodgson. The horror story is written in an archaic style, and is presented as a true account, written in 1757, of events occurring earlier. The narrator is a passenger who was traveling on the ship Glen Carrig, which was lost at sea when it struck "a hidden rock". The story is about the adventures of the survivors, who escaped the wreck in two lifeboats. The elements of horror are present in the form of monsters.

This is a very unusual book, wherein the majority of the story is contents of an ancient diary found by two friends on a fishing holiday while on the grounds of an old dilapidated house. The moldy manuscript has inscribed tales of strange things seen and heard. There are horrible creatures and huge monsters described as though they were old gods of mythology.

Our ‘fight of flight’ response is something hardwired into the primitive part of our brain. Our need to survive, to outlive whatever danger poses, that immediate threat to our lives is little short of a marvel. Everything else is abandoned in order to survive. Whilst in modern times that ability has been somewhat modified and ‘reasoned’ away to an extent, in past years it’s what usually kept you alive. In this volume people struggle valiantly to survive and to exist no matter the extent of the threat they face.

William Hope Hodgson was an early British writer of supernatural and fantasy fiction, becoming an inspiration for later writers such as Clark Ashton Smith and others. This story, from 1907, tells the tale of a series of mysterious deaths and a strange creature at a local water tower.

Published in 1905, A Tropical Horror takes place on the high seas, where a creature takes over a ship, preying on the frightened sailors and ravaging the vessel.

A weird tale that anticipates the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. There's terror on the high seas when crewmen on a ship encounter a man whose body is slowly being absorbed by a gelatinous cosmic horror.

A steam yacht is sailing the North Atlantic when they spot a mysterious light. Upon investigation, they discover a derelict cargo ship but when they board, superstitions soon turn to very real fears for the safety of the crew.

Enter the mysterious and terrifying world of The House on the Borderland by William Hodgson and discover a novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat! Follow the story of a man who becomes trapped in an ancient and otherworldly house, as he confronts the horrors that lurk within its walls. With its atmospheric setting, spine-tingling plot, and themes of cosmic horror, The House on the Borderland is a must-listen for anyone who loves a good horror story. So why wait? Start listening to The House on the Borderland today and let Hodgson's writing terrify and captivate you from start to ...

First published in 1910, The Horse of the Invisible tells the tale of Carnacki, a ghost detective investigating the haunting of a country house that threatens the wedding of the Hisgins Family's daughter and her fiance. The source of the apparition must be found before the soon-to-be-wed woman is driven mad, or even to her death. Carnacki does not suspect supernatural forces are at work in this case, but even a ghostbuster can be wrong.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. The zenith of Empire is bookended by two catastrophic wars that slaughter vast swathes of humanity. And yet authors manage to record and create fragile libraries of humanity, its talents, its dreams and increasingly its nightmares.

A spine-chilling collection of fantastical and enchanting classic short stories. 'The Wolf Book' by Henry Chapman Mercer; 'Absolute Zero' by Morgan Robertson; 'An Uncommon View of It' by W. C. Morrow; 'The Baumoff Explosive' by William Hope Hodgson; 'Absolute Evil' by Julian Hawthorne; 'The Dolls' Castle' by Henry Chapman Mercer; 'The Legend' by Edith Wharton; 'A Tropical Horror' by William Hope Hodgson; 'Castle Valley' by Henry Chapman Mercer; 'Passing of a God' by Henry S. Whitehead.

Bullion! is the ultimate locked-room mystery. A ship transporting gold bullion is travelling from Melbourne to London. The gold is packed into chests and stored in a separate locked and sealed room. But mysterious whispering is heard in the night and chests seemingly disappear and return, leading the crew to think they’re losing their minds. Can the second mate get to the bottom of the mystery?

William Hope Hodgson began his working career as a seaman, where he learned to fear and hate the sea. This short story takes place in the laboratory of a scientist who is in contact by one-way wireless telegraph with an unnamed friend who is on a ship trapped in a terrible storm. The sea becomes an evil thing, and the entity is determined to destroy the living, and the ship they came on. But before death comes to those aboard the doomed vessel, it brings out the very worst in the passengers.

Tonnison and Berreggnog make a fishing holiday to the remote village of Kraighten in rural Ireland. On the third day of their stay, they stumble upon the ruins of a strangely shaped house on a large lake. They discover the moldering journal of the Recluse, an unidentified man who recorded his last days in the house before its destruction. The Recluse begins his journal with descriptions of how he acquired the house, along with his daily life with his sister and his faithful dog, Pepper. He started the diary to record the strange experiences and horrors occurring in and around the house.

Known for his nautical themes, William Hope Hodgson begins this story with a small rowing boat in distress and its sailor regaling a tragic tale. This story differs from many in the botanical gothic genre in that it features sinister fungi, as opposed to the traditional vines, flowers or trees.

William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) was an English author of horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Hodgson used his experiences at sea to lend authentic detail to his short horror stories, many of which are set on the ocean. He became one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. He died in World War I at age 40. 'A Tropical Horror' is the vivid story of a ship which is attacked by a hideous sea serpent.

“The Gateway of the Monster” is a story featuring Thomas Carnacki, a detective who investigates cases of an occult or supernatural nature. It is one of five tales of Carnacki's ghost-hunting exploits that first appeared serially in The Idler magazine in 1910 and were published together with one more as the collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder in 1913. After a good dinner, Mr. Carnacki relates his experiences of ghost finding to his limited circle of four friends whom he has summoned to his home in Chelsea.