Elliott O'Donnell

Elliott O'Donnell claimed descent from Irish chieftains of ancient times, including Niall of the Nine Hostages[3] and Red Hugh, who fought the English in the sixteenth century.

Returning to England on the SS Elbe, he worked there as a schoolmaster and trained for theatre in London at the Henry Neville Studio, Oxford Street.

He wrote several popular novels, including an occult fantasy, The Sorcery Club (1912)[3] but specialised in what were claimed as true stories of ghosts and hauntings.

Many of O'Donnell's books possess autobiographical sections in which he reveals a desperate struggle to escape early poverty (such as the plight of the three protagonists at the beginning of 'The Sorcery Club').

These revelations, coupled with both his employment of actors such as C. Aubrey Smith to help stage hauntings, and the fact that he did not leave any notes relating to his studies after his death, suggest that he embellished or perhaps even invented many of his supposed experiences.