Elliott O’Donnell

Elliott O’Donnell (27 February 1872 – 8 May 1965) was an English author known primarily for his books about ghosts.

Biography.

He claimed to have seen a ghost, described as an elemental figure covered with spots when he was five. He also claimed to have been strangled by a mysterious phantom in Dublin (however, no permanent effect would seem to have been suffered).

He was born in England in Clifton (near Bristol), the son of Irishman Reverend Henry O’Donnell (1827–1873) and Englishwoman Elizabeth Mousley (née Harrison); he had three older siblings, Henry O’Donnell, Helena O’Donnell and Petronella O’Donnell. After the birth of his fourth child, the Rev. Henry O’Donnell traveled to Abyssinia while awaiting advancement to a new parish. Here, he was said to have been attacked by a gang and robbed and murdered. Elliott O’Donnell claimed descent from Irish chieftains of ancient times, including Niall of the Nine Hostages and Red Hugh, who fought the English in the sixteenth century.

O’Donnell was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, England, and later at Queen’s Service Academy, Dublin, Ireland. Intending initially to take entry exams at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst to join the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), he traveled in the United States instead, working on a cattle range in Oregon and becoming a policeman during the Chicago Railway Strike of 1894. Returning to England on the SS Elbe, he worked as a schoolmaster and trained for theatre in London at the Henry Neville Studio, Oxford Street. In 1905, he married Ada O’Donnell (1870–1937) and served in the British army in World War I, later acting on stage and in movies. His first book, written in his spare time, was a psychic thriller titled For Satan’s Sake (1904). From this time onward, he worked as a writer.

He wrote several popular novels, including an occult fantasy, The Sorcery Club (1912), but specialized in what were claimed to be true stories of ghosts and hauntings. These were immensely popular, but his flamboyant style and amazing stories suggest that he combined fact with fiction. O’Donnell wrote for numerous magazines, including Hutchinson Story Magazine, The Novel Magazine, The Idler, Weekly Tale-Teller, Hutchinson’s Mystery-Story Magazine, Pearson’s Magazine, Lilliput, and Weird Tales (the last during 1930).