I have not read any of those, no—nor any Lovecraft or James. This is Hornung's only overtly supernatural book, so it would be interesting to consider what might have influenced him to go in that direction!
Hornung and James were contemporaries and Lovecraft a generation later, so in terms of influences I would definitely look at James; he would have published his first two collections by the time of the writing of Witching Hill and was a pretty much instant sensation in terms of redefining the modern ghost story.The unwholesome persistence of the past was his recurring theme, which is why he's considered one of the major strains of the substrate of folk horror and the reason I vectored through Monette to think of him.
P.S. Having begun Witching Hill:
"That morning! It seemed days ago, not because I had met with any great adventure yet, but the whole atmosphere of the place was changed by the discovery of a kindred spirit. Not that we were naturally akin in temperament, tastes, or anything else but our common youth and the want in each of a companion approaching his own type. We saw things at a different angle, and when he smiled I often wondered why. We might have met in town or at college and never sought each other again; but separate adversities had driven us both into the same dull haven—one from the Egyptian Civil, which had nearly been the death of him; the other on a sanguine voyage (before the mast) from the best school in Scotland to Land Agency. We were bound to make the most of each other, and I for one looked forward to renewing our acquaintance even more than to the sequel of our interrupted adventure.
"But I was by no means anxious to meet my new friend's womankind; never anything of a lady's man, I was inclined rather to resent the existence of these good ladies, partly from something he had said about them with reference to our impending enterprise."
no subject
Hornung and James were contemporaries and Lovecraft a generation later, so in terms of influences I would definitely look at James; he would have published his first two collections by the time of the writing of Witching Hill and was a pretty much instant sensation in terms of redefining the modern ghost story.The unwholesome persistence of the past was his recurring theme, which is why he's considered one of the major strains of the substrate of folk horror and the reason I vectored through Monette to think of him.
P.S. Having begun Witching Hill:
"That morning! It seemed days ago, not because I had met with any great adventure yet, but the whole atmosphere of the place was changed by the discovery of a kindred spirit. Not that we were naturally akin in temperament, tastes, or anything else but our common youth and the want in each of a companion approaching his own type. We saw things at a different angle, and when he smiled I often wondered why. We might have met in town or at college and never sought each other again; but separate adversities had driven us both into the same dull haven—one from the Egyptian Civil, which had nearly been the death of him; the other on a sanguine voyage (before the mast) from the best school in Scotland to Land Agency. We were bound to make the most of each other, and I for one looked forward to renewing our acquaintance even more than to the sequel of our interrupted adventure.
"But I was by no means anxious to meet my new friend's womankind; never anything of a lady's man, I was inclined rather to resent the existence of these good ladies, partly from something he had said about them with reference to our impending enterprise."
And the other part-reason, Gilly?