Introduction   On Racism   Epigraphs   A History of the Pulps   A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z   

Glossary and Character Taxonomy  Breakdown by Country of Origin   Bibliography   Table of Contents    The Best of the Encyclopedia

Orsen, Neils. Neils Orsen was created by Dennis Wheatley (Julian Day, Duc de Richelieu, Gregory Sallust, Lieutenant Schwab) and appeared in four stories in Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts (1943).

Neils Orsen is a Superhuman Big-Headed Dwarf Genius Occult Detective. The Neils Orsen stories combine the purely scientific, "these monsters are merely vibrations!" occult detective stories (ala Dr. Muncing) and the more sorcery and psychically-inclined occult detective stories (ala Dr. Silence and Luna Bartendale). Orsen carries a gun and uses it when necessary, but he also possesses several powerful talismans and knows several rituals and incantations for dealing with "Abhumans" and evil ghosts and the like. Orsen is a Sensitive and can detect psychic "vibrations," even from the long-dead. Several of his enemies are only ordinary criminals, and half of the crimes he is called in to investigate end up being hoaxes, normal crimes disguised to seem like occult affairs.

Orsen is active in America and in England, and during 1940 is active in France against an evil German. Orsen is Watsoned by Bruce Hemmingway, his friend and lawyer (offices in London, Paris and New York). Orsen, a Swede who seems remarkably American in most ways, is "a frail little man with a big domed head and enormous pale-blue eyes like those of a Siamese cat." He is the "seventh child of a seventh child," which is the explanation for his psychic Sensitivity. Orsen’s cat, Past, is intelligent, psychically Sensitive, and can understand Orsen's words as well as obey his commands.

Table of Contents / Annotations / Blog / Books / Patreon / Twitter / Contact me