Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder is a collection of occult detective short stories and is listed as No. 53 in Queen's Quorum: A History of the Detective-Crime Short Story As Revealed by the 100 Most Important Books Published in this Field Since 1845 by Ellery Queen.
During their original run, the magazine that published them boasted: "Complaints continue to reach us from all parts of the country to the effect that Mr. William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki stories are producing a widespread epidemic of Nervous Prostration! So far from being able to reassure or calm our nervous readers, we are compelled to warn them that 'The Whistling Room,' which we publish this month, is worse than ever. Our advertising manager had to go to bed for two days after reading the advance sheets; a proofreader has sent in his resignation; and, worst of all, our smartest office boy--But this is no place to bewail or seek for sympathy. Yet another of those stories will appear in April!"

English writer William Hope Hodgson lived from 15 November 1877 to 19 April 1918. He wrote a lot of essays, short stories, and novels that fall under a variety of overlapping genres, such as science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Many of Hodgson's short horror stories are set on the water, particularly his collection of interconnected pieces known as the "Sargasso Sea Stories," and he exploited his experiences at sea to add realistic detail. The Night Land (1912) and The House on the Borderland (1908), two of his books, have more cosmic themes, although he also wrote other books about the horrors of the sea. Hodgson put a lot of effort into poetry towards the beginning of his literary career, albeit not many of his poems were published while he was alive. He also gained notoriety as a bodybuilder and some attention as a photographer. Aged 40, he passed away in World War I. The son of the Reverend Samuel Hodgson, an Anglican priest, and Lissie Sarah Brown, Hodgson was born in the Essex hamlet of Blackmore End, close to the city of Braintree. He was the second of 12 kids, three of them passed away before they could walk.