The Thing Invisible

by William Hope Hodgson

The Thing Invisible" is a short story by William Hope Hodgson. William Hope Hodgson (15 November 1877 - April 1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including 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, including his series of linked tales forming the "Sargasso Sea Mythos." His novels such as The Night Land and The House on the Borderland feature more cosmic themes, but several of his novels also focus on horrors associated with the sea. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved renown as a bodybuilder. He died in World War I at the age of 40. In 1899, at the age of 22, he opened W. H. Hodgson's School of Physical Culture, in Blackburn, England, offering tailored exercise regimes for personal training. Among his customers were members of the Blackburn police force. In 1902, Hodgson himself appeared on stage with handcuffs and other restraining devices supplied by the Blackburn police department and applied the restraints to Harry Houdini, who had previously escaped from the Blackburn jail. His behavior towards Houdini generated controversy; the escape artist had some difficulty removing his restraints, complaining that Hodgson had deliberately injured him and jammed the locks of his handcuffs. Hodgson was not shy of publicity, and in another notable stunt, rode a bicycle down a street so steep that it had stairs, an event written up in the local paper. Despite his reputation, he eventually found that he could not earn a living running his personal training business, which was seasonal in nature, and shut it down. He began instead writing articles such as "Physical Culture versus Recreative Exercises" (published in 1903). One of these articles, "Health from Scientific Exercise," featured photographs of Hodgson himself demonstrating his exercises. The market for such articles seemed to be limited, however; so, inspired by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle, Hodgson turned his attention to fiction, publishing his first short story, "The Goddess of Death," in 1904, followed shortly by "A Tropical Horror." He also contributed to an article in The Grand Magazine, taking the "No" side in a debate on the topic "Is the Mercantile Navy Worth Joining?" In this piece, Hodgson laid out in detail his negative experiences at sea, including facts and figures about salaries. This led to a second article in The Nautical Magazine, an expose on the subject of apprenticeships; at the time, families often were forced to pay to have boys accepted as apprentices. Hodgson began to give paid lectures, illustrated with his photography in the form of colorized slides, about his experiences at sea. Although he wrote a number of poems, only a handful were published during his lifetime; several, such as "Madre Mia," appeared as dedications to his novels. Apparently cynical about the prospects of publishing his poetry, in 1906 he published an article in The Author magazine, suggesting that poets could earn money by writing inscriptions for tombstones. Many of his poems were published by his widow in two posthumous collections, but some 48 poems were not published until their appearance in the 2005 collection The Lost Poetry of William Hope Hodgson.

Genres: Mystery, Horror, Short Stories, Audiobook

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. Hodgson served with the British Army durng World War One. He died, at age 40, at Ypres, killed by German artillery fire.

Reviews

[Bobby Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And then, all at once, I had a horrible sense that something was moving in the place.” — The Thing Invisible

First published in 1912, and a year later collected in English writer William Hope Hodgson’s, Carnacki, Ghost-Finder, The Thing Invisible is a fun and atmospheric read perfect for a dark and stormy night. Thomas Carnacki was a detective who specialized in investigating crimes and events which, at least on the surface, appeared to have only a supernatural explanation. He apparently neither believed nor disbelieved, and as shown in this story, was as fearful as the next man when confronted with an otherworldly possibility. This is the only story in the series I really felt this way about. The others seemed darker, and there were always pentagrams and other occult things of the time. To me, they had a darker tone, but not the fun mystery atmosphere of this one.

Hodgson uses an after-the-fact explanation to great effect as he invites four friends by note (not three, as stated in Penzler’s Locked-Room Mysteries) to join him for an accounting of his most recent hair-raising case. The device is a touch of genius by Hodgson, giving the reader a sense of sitting next to Jessop, Arkwright, Taylor and the unnamed narrator who begins the story before Carnacki recounts the ghostly case.

The setting is wonderful: a chapel next to the castle of Sir Alfred Jarnock in South Kent. Carnacki has just returned and spins an atmospheric tale for his friends, detailing his adventure as he attempted to get to the bottom of a knife attack on Jarnock’s butler, Bellet. The attack happened at night, but in full view of the Rector, Jarnock and his son. No one else was in the chapel. More disturbing, the weapon which hangs in the church and struck Bellet’s left breast with great force, is the Waeful Dagger, which has a reputation for being haunted. On the dagger is an inscription about vengeance and striking, and a carved talisman. The dagger is said to have the ability to act on its very own…

After speaking with the principals, and concluding from an inspection of the roof that there is no secret, obscured way into the chapel to explain the presence of an outsider, Carnacki knows he must spend an evening in there alone. Jarnock Sr. believes it’s too dangerous, and he may be correct. But Carnacki finds a way around his objection. Armed with a revolver, and protected only by a knight’s suit of armor, he waits in the dark, hoping to discover one way or the other whether there is a supernatural explanation, or an earthly one. This is where Hodgson is at his very best:

“I stepped out of the pew into the aisle, and here I came to an abrupt pause, for an almost invincible, sick repugnance was fighting me back from the upper part of the Chapel. A constant, queer prickling went up and down my spine, and a dull ache took me in the small of the back, as I fought with myself to conquer this sudden new feeling of terror and horror.”

Will Carnacki survive the night? What happens when the knife goes missing, on its own? Will either of the plates from the camera Carnacki has set up capture what lurks in the Void? Only those four men Carnacki shoos out the door once his tale is told — and of course the reader — will ever know the truth.

Fun, spooky, humorous and exciting, this is a wonderful story which had me wanting to read more of Carnacki’s accounts. The Thing Invisible, however, turned out to be the only one up my alley as per mood, content, and solution; the other Carnacki stories had too much occult stuff, and were extrememly repetitive in nature. The Thing Invisible however, is a fun little novelette, an old-fashioned tale perfect for a dark and stormy night. Enjoy.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first introduction to Thomas Carnacki, a detective that investigates paranormal activity and I was pleasantly surprised. This short story was full of action and I do not know if he intended for it to have humorous elements but it did to me. Well done, well done indeed. Will continue reading this older but oh so wonderful series of Carnacki’s adventures very soon.

[King Crusoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

So. "The Thing Invisible". What a story. What a brilliant, brilliant story.

"The Thing Invisible" was the 6th of the Carnacki the Ghost-Hunter (or Ghost-Finder, depending who you ask) story published, but it was the first Carnacki tale in my collection. I'm unsure of the reasons why, but I didn't mind starting here regardless, as I was assured that the stories are all unrelated enough that reading order doesn't matter.

"The Thing Invisible" was fantastic though. Genuinely. The prose? Smooth as butter. The mystery? Intriguing. The unraveling of the mystery? Gripping. Carnacki as a main character (and effective narrator)? SUPER engaging.

I can't really speak too much beyond the fact that this 20 page story felt like maybe 5-7. It went by so quickly, had such a satisfying conclusion, and did so well in the technical department that I can scarcely come up with a complaint. This might just be my favorite short story I've read this year so far. There's some good competition there, but it is definitely up there.

Given how much of a success this was, I cannot wait to continue with Carnacki. It is disappointing that there's only 9 of these stories, as I would love to have a Sherlock Holmes level of prevalence with this character, solely based on this one short tale. The only thing that confounds me about "The Thing Invisible" is how...middle-of-the-road of a reception it has. It doesn't have very many outright negative reviews (0 ratings at 1-star at the time of this review, and very few at 2-stars), but it also doesn't have very many highly positive reviews (the 5-star ratings are pretty low as well); the majority of ratings at least here on GoodReads are 3-stars (though with a healthy dose of 4’s which is nice)...and I can't say I understand the lack of more 5’s.

Either way, I absolutely loved this one, and highly recommend it personally.

[Suki St Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird Fiction Book Club 13-Story Challenge
#4: William Hope Hodgson

The Thing Invisible (A Carnacki Story) by William Hope Hodgson

4.8⭐

From The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places: The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Volume 2 edited by Jeremy Lassen

[PinkPanthress · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an early night, just past midnight and a Caturday as I finished reading The Thing Invisible.


I liked this short story. I was a tinyyy bit unhappy about the ending… EVEN though it was a good one, so I could easily forgive. ^_^

Also as a side note, this is the first installment of 9, written by Hodgson.
Carnacki is a paranormal/occult detective and tells his friends (Dodgson, Jessop, Arkwright and Taylor) about his cases and what occured while investigating, in his flat at No 472 Cheyne Walk in Chelsea (London).

If you would you would like to enjoy this one, too. Here are two links.
One for you ears here -> The Thing Invisible
And this to read -> The Thing Invisible

I used both links by reading it while listening at the same time, it's like a transcript and I enjoyed doing so.

[Anjan Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was good

[Mina]

boringt

[Omar Amat · Rating 3 out of 5]

will definitely read the other Carnacki stories

[Terrible Book Club · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Episode 103, we read The Thing Invisible using the Eye of Argon rules with our friends the Antiques Freaks! Is it an invisible horse again? Does the horse have a knife? Are these butlers also gay, but for knives? Have your Carnacki bingo cards at the ready!

Content Warnings: Our usual barnyard language, plus: knives/stabbing, guns, and a bit of Victorian gore.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

rounded up from 1.5 because I'm nice

really wasn't into the narrator repeatedly turning to the audience and literally asking very slight variations on "can you imagine how I felt?" "You get it, right?"

[Etain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the ending was pretty fun but the "haunt night" was so boring in this one.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75⭐

[Billy Martel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely basic Carnacki stuff. Fun enough, but at this point it’s a pretty wrote formula.

[Shteblanc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Final Carnacki story is quite enjoyable in its simplicity and methodical approach

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoy the Carnacki series, this one felt a bit lacking for me. A haunted dagger must be investigated after a near catastrophe for the butler.