In an earlier post I dealt with the ancient ghost stories of the Greeks and Romans. One of these in particular is interesting because it gives us the first ghostbreaker, Athenodorus from “Letter to Lucinius Sura” by Pliny the Younger (circa 61-113 AD). In short, Athenodorus, while in Athens, encounters a spirit. He investigates, finds the bones of a murdered man, and puts the ghost to rest. The entire incident is described in a letter without too many flourishes. Pliny ends it with “The above story I believe on the strength of those who affirm it.”
This piece is fascinating when you think of how long certain ghost cliches have existed. Clanking chains, the supposedly ‘true’ story, the haunted house no one will rent, spectral phantoms, murder victims all seem the stock-and-trade of the Gothics of the late 18th Century. But here we find then shortly after the life of Christ! The ghostly image of the dead man rattling chains in agony because of some ancient wrong is at least two thousand years old! I suspect it was even older but Pliny was the guy who wrote it down. (Consider the ghost of Patrocus from Homer’s The Iliad. That was eight hundred and fifty years before Pliny.)
The Golden Age of Comics was fast to use the public domain tale of Athenodorus as a one-page filler for their Horror comics. These versions focus mostly on the ghostly encounter. In the Silver Age, Gold Key was able to stretch the story out to five glorious pages. All the adaptations were written by unknown authors, ghost writers, if you will…
“‘True’ Ghost of Antiquity” (Adventures Into the Unknown #33, July 1952) was written by an unknown author.
“An Ancient Ghost Story” (The Thing #6, January 1953) was written by an unknown author. This version ends with a treasure that’s not in the original. Many later ghost stories (Charlotte Riddell comes to mind) will add that.
“The Philosopher Finds a Ghost” (Out of the Shadows #8, April 1953) was written by an unknown author. This version mentions the chains on the skeleton are the same as those on the specter.
“The Haunted Villa” (Ripley’s Believe It or Not #6, August 1967) was written by an unknown author.We get the whole thing again, except the treasure, in a well-paced tale. (See, it can be longer than one page!) André LeBlanc does a great job of making the ghost look frightening.
Conclusion
In most versions, as in the original. Athenodorus is sitting quietly at his desk, waiting for the ghost to appear. This is often used in later ghostbreaker tales, with the detective bringing a dull and down-to-earth book to read while he waits for an encounter. The reassuring of the investigator is needed so their nerves don’t fray or the give out. Most don’t drink alcohol either, wanting to keep a clear head. (There is the occasional exception who likes a glass of wine to calm them.)
The tradition of the learned man, later usually a doctor, who faces down the inhabitants of the eldritch realms is a pretty old idea. The Victorians and Edwardians would give us Martin Hesselius, Flaxman Low, John Silence, Carnacki, and the Pulp sleuths of Weird Tales, but it was Athenodorus who set the pattern long before Sherlock Holmes ever dwelt in Baker Street or Jules de Grandin cried “Nom d’un petit porc!”.
