6 h 3 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 3 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A room whistles, a house seems haunted, and Thomas Carnacki wants proof before he calls anything a ghost.
In William Hope Hodgson’s linked tales, Thomas Carnacki investigates houses, rooms and families troubled by apparent hauntings. He weighs evidence, tests his guesses and brings strange instruments into places thick with fear. Old books of ritual also have their place. The question is never simple: does something unseen threaten the living, or is someone arranging a trick?
Each account begins with an invitation to dinner at Carnacki’s home in Chelsea, London. His friends gather, and Dodgson records the case as Carnacki tells it. Tales including The Whistling Room, The Horse of the Invisible and The Thing Invisible draw you from that familiar circle into cold rooms, troubling sounds and the uneasy feeling of being watched.
What you’ll discover
- Evidence against the uncanny Follow an investigator who tests strange events rather than accepting the first frightening explanation.
- Instruments beside old rituals Discover cases where practical tests share space with old occult knowledge.
- Fear at the lamplight’s edge Feel how a shadow or an unexplained sound can make an ordinary room unsettling.
- A place at dinner Join Carnacki’s friends as he turns an evening gathering into an account of dread.
- Ghost or human trick Weigh each clue while the boundary between deception and supernatural danger remains uncertain.
Who will love it
Readers who love fireside ghost stories, locked rooms chilled by strange winds, and a hero who photographs the unseen will enjoy this collection. It suits fans of Edwardian atmosphere and careful detection.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Carnacki tells his cases over dinner on Cheyne Walk
- A butler warns Carnacki away from the Grey Room
- Carnacki builds a defense of chalk, water, and light
- A manor in Ireland drips with an old blood curse
- A castle room whistles and no machine hears it
- An old curse follows a daughter's courtship
- Carnacki hears knocks in his own family home
- A haunted dagger strikes in a locked chapel
- Carnacki is an open-minded skeptic
- Fear, ritual, and voice give the tales their power
Who’s who
- CarnackiA ghost finder who lives on Cheyne Walk and investigates hauntings with cameras, seals, and charms, doubting everything until the evidence is in.
- DodgsonThe narrator, one of four friends who come to dinner and hear each case from Carnacki's big chair.
- PeterThe old butler of the Grey Room house, loyal and frightened, who lies awake listening to its door slam.
- WentworthCarnacki's friend, who inherits a lonely manor in Ireland and vows to prove its haunting is nonsense.
- TassocAn American who buys Iastrae Castle and finds a whistling room, while trying to win a bet and a bride.
- Miss HisginsThe eldest daughter of an old Lancashire family, newly engaged and afraid of a legend about a horse.
- BeaumontA young naval officer engaged to Miss Hisgins, who is determined to protect her from whatever stalks the house.
- Sir Alfred JarnockThe nervous old master of a Kentish castle, who guards the only key to his family chapel and its dagger.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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Carnacki, the Ghost Finder
by William Hope Hodgson · 1913
Carnacki sits inside a sealed chalk star as something circles beyond the garlic and blue light.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if a door slammed in the dark at the end of a corridor, and your legs refused to carry you toward it? Carnacki knows that feeling well.
Carnacki, the Ghost Finder at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 25 min2 h 45 min fast, 4 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 49,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1913by William Hope Hodgson
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Carnacki tells his cases over dinner on Cheyne Walk
The book has a frame that repeats in every tale. A card arrives from Carnacki at 427 Cheyne Walk. Four friends come, Jessop, Arkright, Taylor, and the narrator, Dodgson, and they share a sensible dinner. Afterward Carnacki settles into a big chair with his pipe and begins.
He never rushes, and he dislikes being asked about a case before he is ready. Once he begins, he spares no words. He gives rooms, distances, and the exact order of his fears. The friends sit in firelight, warm and safe, while a voice describes cold wind and slamming doors.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1913
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 55 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Hodgson, William Hope. Carnacki, the Ghost Finder. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/carnacki-the-ghost-finder.
Hodgson, W. H. (2026). Carnacki, the ghost finder. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/carnacki-the-ghost-finder (Original work published 1913)
Hodgson, William Hope. Carnacki, the Ghost Finder. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/carnacki-the-ghost-finder.
@book{hodgson2026carnacki,
author = {Hodgson, William Hope},
title = {Carnacki, the Ghost Finder},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/carnacki-the-ghost-finder},
note = {First published 1913}
}
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What is Carnacki the Ghost Finder about?
It is a collection of six tales in which Carnacki, an occult detective, investigates hauntings in old houses, a castle, and a chapel. He tells each case to four friends after dinner, describing cameras, seals, and defensive rituals.
Who is Carnacki and who tells the stories?
Carnacki is a ghost finder who lives on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. He tells his own cases to his friends Jessop, Arkright, Taylor, and the narrator, Dodgson, who also tells the dinner scenes around them.
What is the Electric Pentacle?
It is Carnacki's own protective device, a five-pointed star made of glowing vacuum tubes. He bases it on an old manuscript called the Sigsand and on an experiment with a medium inside an electric current.
The author
William Hope Hodgson
1877–1918 · English horror and fantasy writer
William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918) was a British writer born in Essex, England. He worked as a sailor before becoming a writer. His novels include The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912). He served in the British Army and was killed in France during the First World War.
More by William Hope Hodgson
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