Long before the supernatural detectives at the center of television shows such as Medium and The Ghost Whisperer hit the airwaves, there was "detective of the occult" Thomas Carnacki, the fictional detective created by William Hope Hodgson, author of the novel The House on the Borderland. The Carnacki tales center around the eponymous detective’s uncanny ability to get to the bottom of hauntings and other mysterious paranormal disturbances.