Algernon Blackwood published "A Psychical Invasion" as the opening story in his 1908 collection John Silence, Physician Extraordinary. It introduces Dr. John Silence, an occult physician who takes on cases of genuine psychical affliction rather than ordinary mental illness.
A Swedish woman brings Dr. Silence a strange case: her friend Pender, a humorist writer, has lost his sense of humor entirely after conducting a self-experiment with hashish to test its effects on his imagination. Since the experiment, Pender has felt himself watched and oppressed in his own home, unable to write anything but morbid, joyless prose, and increasingly convinced that some hostile presence is displacing his own thoughts. Investigating with the aid of his psychically sensitive cat, Smoke, and dog, Flame, Dr. Silence determines that the drug lowered Pender's defenses and left him open to a malevolent entity — the lingering psychic residue of a woman who once lived on the site, a magician of great cruelty who was executed centuries earlier for her crimes. Silence moves into the house himself to confront the entity directly, enduring a harrowing night in which the hostile force tries to overwhelm and possess him in turn. Through sheer force of will and psychic discipline, he breaks the entity's hold, freeing Pender from the invasion and restoring his health, spirit, and creative humor.
Host - M.P. Pellicer
www.MPPellicer.com
SUPPORT VIA DONATION
Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Marlene11
LISTEN TO ALL MY PODCASTS www.EeriePodcast.com
Narration by a human, never AI
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nightshade-diary--2765110/support.