Dr. Muncing, Exorcist

by Gordon MacCreagh

Many of the earliest occult stories, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text

34 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2011

About the author

Gordon MacCreagh might have been the real life inspiration for Indiana Jones. Born in Indiana, he went on an expedition to find the lost Ark of the Covenant in Abyssinia, explored the Amazon jungles, collected big game animals for a circus and was a writer and lecturer

See http://pulpflakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012...

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in the Sept. 1931 issue of Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror magazine. Found at PG Australia. A fun horror story featuring an investigator of the supernatural. Plenty of action.

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, here's another one in the old Sherlock Holmes mold, a little bit like Smith & Petrie in “Fu Manchu” and Raffles & Bunny in Hornung's “Raffles”, we have Dr. Muncing and Jimmy. They've only got the single adventure, but the relationship is there.

“Carnacki the Ghost Finder” was perhaps somewhat similar, but he worked alone and didn't have much dialogue beyond narrating his experiences. MacCreagh manages to create his horror story almost entirely with dialogue, since Muncing is talking throughout about the nature of elementals and spirits and how modern man has become ignorant of them.

A big part of the appeal, for me, was how Dr. Muncing openly berated the family for dabbling in seances while not fully understanding them. He knows his stuff, he goes around cursing ordinary ignorant people for fools, and he runs headlong up against the evil spirit he hunts.

It's a short one, but I enjoyed it. The continuous stream of dialogue made it feel very present.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror, short story, great ending. Love it!!

[Per · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://archive.org/details/StrangeTa...
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/160...

Part 2, The Case of the Sinister Shape, is available here:
https://archive.org/details/StrangeTa...
https://freeread.com.au/@rglibrary/Go...