Bird of ILL Omen -The Gothic Tales of Catherine Crowe Edited by Ruth Heholt

                                            From the British Library of the Weird



Catherine Crowe (1790-1872)  has been called the 'first ghost hunter' or the 'first paranormal investigator'. A fluent German speaker, Mrs Crowe translated The Seeress of Provorst (1829) by prominent German scientist Justinus Kerner ( who discovered botulism and somnambulism). She was also inspired by other German scientists such as Heinrich Jung-Stilling, Karl Eschenmayer, Joseph Ennemoser, and Gotthilf Henrich von Schubert. All who were interested in the spirit world as an extension of their own research. 

Mrs Crowe also wrote a series of novels published from around 1841  including, The Story of Lilly Dawson ,The Adventures of Susan Hopley  or Circumstancial Evidence ( her most famous work), The Adventures of a Beauty, Linny Lockwood.  The 'Household Words' magazine, whilst edited by Charles Dickens,published three short stories by Mrs Crowe in 1850 DICKENS JOURNAL ONLINE

 Perhaps her lasting achievement was  The Night  Side of Nature or Ghosts and Ghosts Seers, published in 1848. This two volume work is an extensive collection of reports and anecdotes concerning what is broadly categorised as 'paranormal' : Unexplained warnings of imminent death or ruin, apparitions , doppelgangers, trance states, and most significantly a classic chapter about poltergeist activity. 1848 has become a year zero for modern day hauntology, with  revolutions that hit many European capitals that year,whilst in the USA the Fox Sisters's' other worldly encounters effectively launched Spiritualism.

Unfortunately her breakdown after a seance  held in Edinburgh,1854, saw Mrs Crowe run through the streets of Edinburgh naked or partly clothed ( sources differ) claiming to be fighting off harmful spirits, has received undue attention, overlooking her achievements. After receiving medical treatment, Mrs Crowe did resume her writing career with some success.


This particular collection of Mrs Crowe's work is superb, covering both her horror short stories and her paranormal research. Introduced by Professor Ruth Heholt who has written an extensive study titled Catherine Crowe :Gender, Genre and Radical Politics (Among the Victorians and the Modernists). (2020).  

Several short stories evoke the European past. The Monk's Story looks at Somnambulism and the wandering Undead. A Story of a Weir-Wolf , set in 16th/17th France, takes in sorcery, lycanthropy with Sit Walter Scott type romance. But also a warning about gullible individuals making false assumptions about black magic taking place.  The Lycanthropist is concerned with a wolfman and crosses over to vampirism. The Poisoners: Frau Gottfried  concerns frightful murders taking place in Bremen 1825. The Dutch Officer's Story is a soldier's tale about a ghost hound appearing in the 1830 war. The Italian's Story opens in what appears to be late 16th century and concerns how a person can be destroyed by avarice and greed. Shades of Ben Jonson's Volpone. The Sheep Farmer's Story is essentially Scottish folk-horror. 

There are extracts of paranormal happenings collected by  the author  from The Night Side of Nature and also  Ghost and Family Legends (1859). What is quite endearing is how accounts are reproduced as reports, not over analysed or even explained. Quite unusually, Mrs Crowe's rendition of her own possible supernatural encounter emerges. 

One of the strongest aspects of this book is that it combines the attraction Mrs Crowe felt towards a European past, with her acknowledgement of how 'The Night Side' runs parallel to the Present, ready to intrude. Highly recommended. 

Bird of Ill Omen -The Gothic Tales of Catherine Crowe  is available from The British Library shop, and on line shop (below), and usual retail outlets.  A kindle version is also available via Amazon UK 

More Catherine Crowe links

At The Circulating Library   Database of Victorian Fiction 1837-1901 entry for Catherine Crowe 

Paranormal Women  Entry for Catherine Crowe 

Whatshername Podcast   Episode dedicated to Catherine Crowe. Halloween , 2025. 


Other 

The British Library Tales of the Weird    Guide to the Series. 

Dickens Journal on line    Entry for Catherine Crowe 

Related Blog Post 

A Walk to the Night Side of Nature  Post about Catherine Crowe from this blog (2023) 


Other Blogs by Michael Bully 

A Burnt Ship  17th century War & Literature 

World War 2 Poetry   As stated on the tin. 


Would like to welcome all visitors to this blog from so many countries, and thank them for their interest. 
Still hoping that these terrible wars, which our plaguing our world, will cease. 
Stay safe everyone
Michael Bully

Worthing, England 

6th April 2026

Social Media 

Instagram  mrbleak5 Mr bleak

I  am trying to update news about this blog and other 19th century history on Bluesky : Do join me. 

Michael Bully @bleakchesneywold.bsky.social


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reputation of Prince Albert Victor ( Prince Eddy) and the Cleveland Street Affair 1889

Image
    Extract adapted from a  longer (unpublished) piece -'Podge and Prejudice- The Fall of Lord Arthur Somerset '  "Reputation, reputation, reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial." Cassio in  Othello Act 2 Scene 3 Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward or 'Prince Eddy', was born on 8th January 1864, the eldest son of  (Albert) Edward Prince of Wales, or 'Bertie'  and Princess Alexandra of Denmark : Whilst pregnant, Princess Alexandra took part in some frantic sledging across the ice at Windsor, which may have induced a premature birth of up to two months. Baby Eddy weighed about four pounds when born. COOK And Prince Eddy, though second in line to the throne, predeceased both his parents and his grandmother Queen Victoria, dying from influenza shortly after his twenty eighth birthday, on 14th January 1892. His younger brother  became King George V in 1910, when their father Edward VII died.  Ir's hard ...
Read more

'After London Or Wild England-' Richard Jefferies (1848- 1887)

Image
                                              A catastrophe novel from 1885  I finally caught up with local folk band Bird in the Belly at The Ropetackle, Shoreham by Sea, on 24th January 2025: The band specialise in finding obscure ballads, along with pursing the histories of lesser known subjects. The first blogpost of 'Bleak Chesney Wold'  - There Was No Hope In this World -was inspired by the Bird in the Belly song  45 George Street . And the last CD by the band 'After The City' (2022), has led to another post, this time looking at a work by Richard Jefferies. 'After London or Wild England' by Richard Jefferies (1848- 1887), published in 1885, is a most disturbing read. Sometimes classed as 'dystopian' but is probably closer to catastrophe fiction.  Opening with an unnamed narrator reports on a calamity that occurred forty years previously : Somethin...
Read more

Branwell Brontë 'The Afghan War'

Image
                                     Poem published 7th May 1842 in the 'Leeds Intelligencer'                                        Lucasta Miller referred to Mrs Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bront ë  and the shaping of the Bront ë s's reputation in the following terms : " The legend it laid down-three lonely sisters playing out their tragic destiny on top of a windswept moor with a mad misanthrope father and doomed brother". MILLER Whilst in the guide to The Bront ë s, 'The Brontethaurus', John Sutherland stated "My brilliant boy', Patrick (Bront ë ) called his only son Branwell. Brilliant, but doomed. Before terminally incapacitated by drink, drugs, self pity, and sexual incontinence". SUTHERLAND  Of course the overall Bront ë  'legend' is open to a challenge. Jus...
Read more