History Main / OccultDetective

::It seems to be, in my compiling this Encyclopaedia of Occultations, I have found that there are a large number of figures throughout history who deemed themselves {{Occult Detective}}s. Now, I have no idea if any realize the redundant nature of the term - 'occult' meaning hidden, while to 'detect' means uncover that which ''is'' hidden - but that title does seem to have the ring of phantasmagoria about it. In fact, most of the men ([[AlwaysMale and I do mean men, as female occult detectives were few and far between]] - perhaps this was merely a front for another male-only society? something to look into) seemed not to believe in the occult wholeheartedly, but rather to amuse themselves in [[AgentScully casting rational explanations]] for mysterious events. To make this even more amusing, a number of them actually ''did'' [[AgentMulder believe in the occult]] and this would often lead to quarrels between those who believe and those who did not.

::It seems to be, in my compiling this Encyclopaedia of Occultations, I have found that there are a large number of figures throughout history who deemed themselves {{Occult Detective}}s. Now, I have no idea if any realize the oxymoronic nature of the term - 'occult' meaning hidden, while to 'detect' means uncover that which ''is'' hidden - but that title does seem to have the ring of phantasmagoria about it. In fact, most of the men ([[AlwaysMale and I do mean men, as female occult detectives were few and far between]] - perhaps this was merely a front for another male-only society? something to look into) seemed not to believe in the occult wholeheartedly, but rather to amuse themselves in [[AgentScully casting rational explanations]] for mysterious events. To make this even more amusing, a number of them actually ''did'' [[AgentMulder believe in the occult]] and this would often lead to quarrels between those who believe and those who did not.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnacki Thomas Carnacki]] stories by William Hope Hodgson. Some of Carnacki's cases are not occult at all; it is Carnacki's trick that he is open to both possibilities.

* ''{{TwinPeaks}}''

-->''Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable[[hottip:*:You're thinking "[[GurrenLagann Row, row, fight the power]]!" now, aren't you?]], let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.''\\

* [[http://thelonelywinds.com/library.php The Lonely Winds]].

* Marvel had an entire AGENCY of these in the Ninties' series Nightstalkers. It was called Borderline Investigations and was run by [[InTheBlood Frank Drake]], [[{{Dhampyr}} Blade]], and [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Hannibal King]].

* SimonArk from the short stories by Edward D. Hoch. Simon looks to be an ordinary man in his sixties but but claims he is actually over 2000 years old, a Coptic priest who travels the world looking for evil -- specifically Satan. It is said that he is cursed by God, that when Jesus carrying the cross wanted to rest, Ark refused him rest and in turn has never known rest himself, doomed to wander the globe forever. However the immortality element is not played up in any way and is just incidental. The Simon Ark stories have supernatural themes, although the crimes in them are always found to have been committed by mundane means.

* Phoenix Wright of ''AceAttorney'' isn't occult himself (nor, technically, a detective), but his assistant Maya is a spirit medium who channels her [[SpiritMentor sister Mia.]] In the second and third games he also carries a Magatama, a device that lets him see the 'locks' around people's hearts when they keep secrets.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnacki Thomas Carnacki]] stories by William Hope Hodgson.

* This trope is actually OlderThanDirt with Pliny the Elder's "[[http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1083.html Letter to Sura]]", about the philosopher Athenodorus investigating a haunted house.

* DirkGently is a subversion, as he doesn't believe in the occult or paranormal; to him it's just an elaborate con.

* KimNewman's Sally Rhodes. In one story it mentions she trained under D'amour. He also has the psychic Richard Jeperson, AKA The Man From The Diogenes Club, his also psychic assistant Vanessa, and the non-psychic but handy-to-have-around Fred Regent; in an earlier period of the Club's 'history', the detective role is taken by Edwin Winthrop and his assistant is Catriona Kaye. Winthrop also appears (along with Newman's vampire heroine Genevieve) in a small role in The Big Fish, in which a hard-boiled pulp fiction detective (who enjoys reading hard-boiled pulp fiction) investigates a case that mixes organised crime and the CthulhuMythos. His actual name is never revealed, but he does, at one point, use an alias that he picked up from a copy of Wierd Tales: HPLovecraft.

-->''Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.''\\

* TheDresdenFiles: Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. With the added twist that not only does he know that all the occult stuff is completely real, but he also cheerfully uses it to blow stuff up.
* {{Nightside}}: John Taylor, Private Eye.
* TheHollows: Morgan, Tamwood, and Jenks though Rachel tends to do more fighting than investigating.
* An awful lot of Nancy Drew's and the Hardy Boys' investigations ''appear'' to be supernatural at first, although they generally wind up busting smugglers or industrial spies or whatever.
* Vicki Nelson of BloodBooks (also in the [[BloodTies TV show]]).

* Harper Blaine from Kat Richardson's ''Greywalker'' series, who actually was a qualified P.I. even before she began having supernatural experiences.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Charles Fort bordered on this. He wrote several satirical books on news stories from around the world that were ignored by Western scientists. Many of the supposedly "impossible" phenomena he wrote on, deemed too ridiculous to warrant inquiry by mainstream scientists, later turned out to be true - for instance: blood-red rains, fish and frogs falling from the sky, and ball lightning.
* DavidIcke has made a career out of researching the British Royalty, the Trilateral Commission, the Council for Foreign Relations, and the Bilderburg Group. He concludes that the movers and shakers behind international banking and governments are in fact [[EmotionEater suffering-eating]] reptilians from another dimension. In his defense, no one has ever held the Baron de Rothschild down for long enough to take a DNA sample, and Nancy Pelosi ''does'' appear to be a lizard.
* Psychologist Ian Stevenson was so impressed by the claims of illiterate Hindu children in India that he devoted the rest of his life to studying [[NearDeathExperience Near-Death experiences]] and {{Reincarnation}}.
* John Lilly was a medical doctor and psychoanalyst who patented many inventions including the sensory deprivation tank. He began to experiment with long periods in the tank, causing vivid hallucinations(?) of communication with extra-terrestrial entities. He began to experiment with [[strike:LSD]] Ketamine (a dissociative aenesthetic, as opposed to a hallucinogenic) and was firmly convinced he could talk with dolphins. The movie AlteredStates is based on his life and experiences, and Wonko the Sane from the Hitchhiker's Guide is an AffectionateParody.

* All the [[{{PlayerCharacter}} PCs]] in ''CallOfCthulhu'' are "investigators" of the {{Cosmic Horror}}s, of course.
** [[{{PlayerCharacter}} PCs]] can also have such occupations as Police Detective, Private Investigator and Parapsychologist. Although some campaigns feature [[{{PlayerCharacter}} PCs]] stumbling across the occult, others have them actively investigate it from the word go.
** The Call of Cthulhu card game also has The Agency, a faction made up of police and government investigators of strange happenings. They're the ones most likely to be [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu trying to punch out Cthulhu]]. Sometimes, [[BadassNormal they succeed.]]

* Gabriel Knight, the titular character in the {{Gabriel Knight}} series of adventure games, who investigates murders related to things such as Voodoo, Werewolves, and Vampires.

* Agents Wolf and Cranium of ElGoonishShive are this, each being a CaptainErsatz of AgentMulder and AgentScully respectively.

* [[InvaderZim Dib]] considers himself a paranormal investigator. However, several other paranormal investigators appear throughout the series with varying degrees of sanity.

* Special Agent Dale Cooper, in ''TwinPeaks''.
* ''[[RandallAndHopkirkDeceased Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)]]'' more the {{Noughties}} remake than the orignal '69-70 series, there the cases were more usually normal crimes... it's just one of the Detectives was a ghost.

[[quoteright:244:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HarryDresdenUploadImge_2608.jpg]]

* All the PCs in ''CallOfCthulhu'' are "investigators" of the {{Cosmic Horror}}s, of course.
** PCs can also have such occupations as Police Detective, Private Investigator and Parapsychologist. Although some campaigns feature PCs stumbling across the occult, others have them actively investigate it from the word go.

-->''She was a hotel detective''\\
''But now she's better connected''\\
''She didn't have to change anything''\\
''Just the stencil on her window''\\
-- '''TheyMightBeGiants''', "She Was A Hotel Detective"

-->''[[GurrenLagann Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable]], let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.''\\

* [[{{ptitle4z9bga17ybyl}} Fouacult's Pendulum]] is a darkly satirical {{Deconstruction}} of this trope.

* Agents Mulder and Scully of TheXFiles.

* Special Agent Dale Cooper, in TwinPeaks

* ''{{Angel}}''

* {{Fringe}}: Special Agent Olivia Dunham, along with MadScientist Walter Bishop and his son Peter, doesn't really investigate "occult" stuff, but rather incredibly strange and bizarre incidents.
* {{Supernatural}} brothers Sam and Dean.
* The Chicago Police Department had an entire division devoted to supernatural investigations. It was SpecialUnit2.

* MadameXanadu
* Batman/Bruce Wayne. Somewhat subverted in that there is always some FridgeLogic explanation for the bizarre events he encounters.

* "[[{{Ghostbusters}} Who you gonna call?]]" Professional Paranormal Investigation and Elimination.
* [[HPLovecraft H. Phillips "Phil" Lovecraft]] from ''CastADeadlySpell''.
** Kind of a subversion, in that he hates magic and refuses to use it at all costs.
*** Plenty of people on this page are "normal" people who simply happen to solve supernatural cases. Considering Lovecraft is literally presented as one of the few people on Earth who doesn't use magic, pretty much every case he deals with would be supernatural in nature.

* Played with in the latest Sherlock Holmes movie [[spoiler: before being subverted]]

* [[TheLeagueOfGentlemen Mark Gatiss]]' character Lucifer Box turns into one despite a straight first book. In his sequel suddenly he's stopping Satan from manifesting on earth.

* DirkGently
** Subversion, as he doesn't believe in the occult or paranormal; to him it's just an elaborate con.

* [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden.]] With the added twist that not only does he know that all the occult stuff is completely real, but he also cheerfully uses it to blow stuff up.
* [[{{Nightside}} John Taylor]], Private Eye.
* [[TheHollows Morgan, Tamwood, and Jenks]] though Rachel tends to do more fighting than investigating.

* [[BloodBooks Vicki Nelson]] (also in the [[BloodTies TV show]]).

* SimonArk from the short stories by Edward D. Hoch. Simon looks to be an ordinary man in his sixties but but claims he is actually over 2000 years old, a Coptic priest who travels the world looking for evil—specifically, Satan. It is said that he is cursed by God, that when Jesus carrying the cross wanted to rest, Ark refused him rest and in turn has never known rest himself, doomed to wander the globe forever. However the immortality element is not played up in any way and is just incidental. The Simon Ark stories have supernatural themes, although the crimes in them are always found to have been committed by mundane means.

* [[TheXFiles Agents Mulder and Scully]]

* [[TwinPeaks Special Agent Dale Cooper]]

* [[{{Fringe}} Special Agent Olivia Dunham]], along with MadScientist Walter Bishop and his son Peter, doesn't really investigate "occult" stuff, but rather incredibly strange and bizarre incidents.

** Ball lightning isn't real.
*** Actually, most scientist agree that while rare, it ''does'' exsist, but no one has any definite evidence to prove how it happens, although there are several theories.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/10_horse.gif
[[caption-width:330:An illustration of two such occult detectives going about their "work."]]