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Spiritual Maladies & Ancient Hauntings
The Occult Tales of Margery Lawrence
commentary by J.F. Norris
Why is it that the majority of the occult detective are always physicians? Or psychiatrists? Or therapists of some sort? Granted there is a strong influence of John Silence hiding in the shadows whether or not the writer is courteous enough to acknowledge Blackwood's "grandfather of occult detectives" In a straight detective story the private eye or other investigator is merely seeking the solution to a mysterious crime. Nab the killer or thief & the problem is over. All is set right. In an occult mystery the culprit more often than not isn't even human & the problem has deeply;y scarred the "victim." Several writers have chosen physicians as their occult detectives to become caretakers of the soul. It is not only a crime or mysterious occurrence that must be put right — there is the healing of a psyche that must take place.
Take Margery Lawrence's creation Dr. Miles Pennoyer. He owes much to John Silence. (In fact, Lawrence credits both Blackwood & Dion Fortune's Dr. Taverner as being major influences in her writing these stories). Here is a near perfect clone of Blackwood's physician of the extraordinary. Pennoyer appears in one collection of short stories ‚ Number Seven Queer Street (Robert Hale, 1945) ‚ in which he battles a Chinese demon, the ghost of a suicidal architect, a sinister sorcerer, a snakelike apparition, & many other strange & weird entities. Like Silence, Pennoyer travelled in the Far East & underwent vigorous training in the mystic arts. Like Silence he takes clients who are troubled by matters that are beyond the understanding of medical science & beyond the scope of the law.
He says to his chronicler Jerome Latimer:
"I have been trained not to disregard phrases, however apparently trivial, that come into mind. They are indicative ‚ descriptive perhaps, is a better word ‚ of impressions; & though words may not be ;important, impressions most certainly are." (p.17)
Here is the key to Pennoyer's approach to solving or even diagnosing his client's problem. Unlike many of the rational detectives of mystery & crime fiction these occult or psychic detectives rely heavily on intuition. And truly there is something to be said of the "gut instinct" even if some of the occult detectives also claim to have extrasensory perception. In Miles Pennoyer's case his special vegetarian diet is key to maintaining his special skills. Having a body unpolluted by meat or alcohol helps heighten his senses & aids in communication with psychic forces. Is this Margery speaking to us here? Perhaps she too was an avid vegetarian teetotaler. It certainly is mentioned often enough to seem like proselytizing.
For the most part, Pennoyer (and one assumes Lawrence) is interested in matters of the heart. Of the seven very long tales in Number Seven Queer Street nearly all of them deal with some aspect of love relationships. Pennoyer spends most of the story trying to figure out what psychic connection must be fixed before two troubled parties can finally be at peace. Often one of the parties is human & the other is not — always some element of the supernatural or occult is at play. There is the demon lover who haunts the man in "The Case of the Bronze Door;" the strong bond between a Scottish maid & a stray dog that leads Pennoyer to believe the dog is a reincarnated human soul in "The Case of the Ella MacLeod;" & the curious whip-like mark on George Kynaston's arm that has some link to a ghostly manifestation in "The Case of the Young Man with the Scar." Perhaps the best example of this psychic connection problem occurs in "The Case of the White Snake."
In this weird tale an orphanage is haunted by nightly visits from a spectral snake. It seems to be fixated on one particular charge — Colette — a 4 year old girl rescued from a bombed village in France. Pennoyer stays up late as a guardian & notes the snake is in fact an emanation that takes the form of a cord or cable that runs the length of the courtyard outside the girl's bedroom window & ends at the window of a guest house. Lawrence's point in seen quite clearly here:
"Anything from the Other Side is apt to look sinister to people who don't understand it & its reason for appearing ....what does emerge is that there is a strong psychic link... If you had psychic insight you would see that husbands & wives, lovers, sisters & brothers, parents & children who truly love each other are linked by a sort of psychic umbilical cord." (p. 121)
In "The White Snake" that cord literally takes shape to connect the child between herself & a loved one who happens to be staying on the grounds of the orphanage. Pennoyer elaborates further when Latimer scoffs at the psychic link claim.
"But even if there's no link of this life between them...that does not mean there is no connection between their souls, their older selves. There may be a very strong connection there that dates from some previous life. A connection that is still so strong that in sleep it reaches out blindly, gropingly, hungering to renew the link that once existed unbroken between them." (p.121)
By this third tale in the collection the reader sees that Lawrence intends her stories to transcend the horror element in favor of human emotion & sentiment. She uses motifs of ghost stories & weird tales to introduce unusual "psychic relationships" that have gone awry. Pennoyer enters the picture to "heal" those relationships in a sort of occult therapy session. He even has a bag of tricks — the so-called bogey bag — to help him out when straight intuition & human intervention will not solve the problems. Latimer describes the bag as "containing all sorts of oils & unguents, queer-looking metal contraptions, robes & headgear, various documents & a book or two, packets of herbs, odd-looking amulets, all manner of things that might be needed by my colleague in his frequent battles with the Forces of the Outer Dark." (p.147) That's some kind of suitcase!
Another recurring theme in Lawrence's collection is that of redemption best illustrated in the second tale "The Case of the Haunted Cathedral." This is a rather overly complex story that starts out as a straightforward haunting story but soon becomes a story of a hidden crime. Pennoyer visits the cathedral & witnesses not one but two separate manifestations. It appears that the cathedral may be haunted but the ghost is haunted by another ghost! The answer lies in a hidden diary & the solution calls for an elaborate exorcism. The plot is convoluted & asks the reader to swallow a bit too much all at once.
I rather liked "The Case of the Moonchild" which is very Rohmeresque in its baroquely detailed depiction of the occultist Father Aloysius who has an affected manner & dress similar to the villains in Fire-Tongue and The Brood of the Witch Queen. He is even accompanied by a bodyguard who seems to have escaped from the extras cast of a Fu Manchu story. There is Svengali-like mesmerism, a jeweled cross with inscribed symbols of an ancient cult, & the discovery of a pillow stuffed with the leaves of a Greek plant called the Diktamnos. This story, unlike the others, is focused on an occult plot & reaches its climax in a richly detailed, eerie ritual performed on the moonlit grounds of a girls' academy. Also, Jerome Latimer narrates this story from his own point of view & for once takes an active part in the storyline. Probably because it abandons the love relationship motif (although the psychic link element is still present) I found this story to be one of the better tales as far as an entertaining thriller. I am a sucker for the bizarre & love stories that are plot driven rather than character studies.
Our ol' pal & critic Everett Bleiler, however, prefers the final story "The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe" as the best example of Lawrence's handling of the supernatural. In it we are treated to yet another child with a problem that is beyond normal comprehension & regular doctors & priests have been unable to explain. Ev is not too kind with Margery. His entry in The Guide to Supernatural Fiction on this book says she has a nice touch with creating stories but that they are often "drowning in words." I will agree with him on that point. She has an unnecessary habit of veering off on tangents that do nothing but annoy the reader & distract from the main point. But here in Leannabh Sidhe the tale is fairly uncluttered (she does need an editor to trim her laundry list of repetitive descriptive phrases, though) & is probably even better as a genuine mystery story than any of the others.
The plot is a sort of weird/occult spin on what some may know as the "Bad Seed" subgenre. Patrick Flaherty, the bad child, is not exactly a murderer but he is responsible for unfortunate accidents that befall anyone who crosses him & some of those accidents prove fatal. He used to be a happy-go-lucky boy, but a strange transformation overcame shortly after his father died in a car accident back in Ireland. Now Patrick grows irritable & angry at the mention of his former homeland. He spends most of his time playing with animals (except dogs; they shun him everywhere) & intimidating nearly every adult he encounters. Only his aunt & a servant of all work have the courage to face up to him & his antics. Patrick's mother has been reduced to a timid yes-woman completely in her son's power & has turned to her sister, Miss Cargill, for advice on how to return Patrick to his normal boyhood instead of the strange otherness this thing not quite human he has become. Enter Dr. Miles Pennoyer who will play the part of Patrick's new tutor in order to observe his behavior & interaction up close.
Of all the tales in the volume, "Leannabh Sidhe" is the best constructed mystery story. True there is a strong supernatural element, however, the story overall is written in a manner to tease the reader, to get him asking questions just as a lover of whodunits would: What exactly happened to Patrick? Why does everyone refer to him as a "thing" & not a boy? What is in that sketchbook he keeps secret from everyone? Why does he continually make fun of his own name & claim to have a different one? There are many more questions an astute & curious reader will ask throughout this well written, suspenseful tale all of which will be answered. A clever reader who has a knowledge of Celtic legends & mythology will be able to outguess Pennoyer before he announces to Miss Cargill his final diagnosis & cure for Patrick.
"Leannabh Sidhe" is a strong story, but I still prefer the lurid nature of "The Moonchild" over this drawn out affair that is bogged down with multiple third hand narratives by characters who have overheard conversations — yet another motif of the mystery/detective story. Pennoyer must travel all the way to Ireland & hunt down a seemingly insignificant maid to get a first hand account (finally!) & receive the final piece to the puzzle of Patrick's transformation. But by that time, all the clues have been presented & the reader is fairly certain what & who is responsible for the bizarre personality change. However, the climax — rather Lovecraftian in its descriptions — in which Pennoyer must perform an ancient ritual armed with occult tools from his bogey bag & ending in a face-off with Patrick's true father is well worth the wait.
Page citations are to Number Ten Queer Street by Margery Lawrence, Robert Hale, London, 1946. (2nd prtg.)
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