History Main / OccultDetective

* In ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'', these are the {{Hero Antagonist}}s to your own VillainProtagonist. As the player attempts to [[ImmortalitySeeker attain immortality]], [[ImmortalityImmorality usually through illegal and immortal means]], Hunters from the Supression Bureau will be sent to track them and turn their Notereity into evidence that can be used to imprison them.

%%%* Vicki Nelson of ''BloodBooks'' (also in the [[Series/BloodTies TV show]]).

* The protagonist of the argentine horror comic Martin Hel, created by Robin Wood.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' features the Newspaper Club, who do on occasion investigate supernatural occurrences. Since all the students attend a Monster Academy (except for Tsukune, the normal highschooler pretending to be a disguised vampire or other creature) most of the culprits are fairly obvious and much of the real plot centers on harem-based romantic comedy.

* 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 Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic and was firmly convinced he could talk with dolphins. The movie ''Film/AlteredStates'' is based on his life and experiences, and Wonko the Sane from the Hitchhiker's Guide is an AffectionateParody.

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

* Mallory Hope, titular character from ''Hope'', another strip appearing in ''TwoThousandAD'' also set in the 1940s, this time a private investigator delving into the occult side of Hollywood.

* Nearly half of the ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' adventure games have her investigating spooky events, and one suspect in "Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon" is a TV ghost-hunter himself.
* Like previous [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Lovecraftian related or inspired stories]], [[PlayerCharacter The Hunter]] from ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' is an occult detective, but in this case it's [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] The Hunter originally came to [[EldritchLocation Yharnam]] with the intention of getting cured of an unknown disease, but after waking up on [[CrapsackWorld The Dream]] they set out to kill monsters and discover the mysteries of the town, how succesful they are however, given that [[EverythingTryingToKillYou the town, it's inhabitants and more are incredibly aggresive]] is dependant on the player.

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%%* [[spoiler:Ayase Yue]] in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' became one after the TimeSkip.

* Creator/MarvelComics had an entire ''agency'' of these in the 1990s series ''Comicbook/{{Nightstalkers}}''. It was called Borderline Investigations and was run by [[InTheBlood Frank Drake]], [[{{Dhampyr}} Blade]], and [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Hannibal King]].

* Cal Macdonald from SteveNiles' ''CriminalMacabre'', as well as series of novels. Cal takes illicit drugs and befriends a network of ghouls to assist him in his cases. Policemen do not really care to be involved with Cal.

* ''Comicbook/UsagiYojimbo'':

* ''Comicbook/HieronymusBorsch'' by Danish comic creator Mårdøn Smet is a FunnyAnimal example -- though a decidedly [[DarkerAndEdgier adult]] one. Imagine Disney creators making a comic for Vertigo.
* Comicbook/DoctorStrange. He has a number of artifacts which make this much easier, particularly the Eye of Agamotto.
* Sara Pezzini from ''Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}''. While she gets to fight against countless demons, monsters and supernatural creatures lurking inside New York, everybody at the NYPD thinks she just happens to be a detective who gets too many weird cases.

* The ''Comicbook/HoaxHunters'' investigate supernatural phenomena and cryptids. Then, after finding them (they usually do), they do their best to cover them up, using their TV show to denounce whatever it is as a hoax.

* Many {{Main/Dhampyr}} qualify as this, using their sorcery and inherited powers to track and destroy vampires attacking animals and people, thus making this trope Main/OlderThanPrint (the dhampir stories are at least 800 years old.)
* An Main/OlderThanFeudalism main/UrExample example is found in Pliny the Younger`s "[[http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1083.hmtl Letter to Sura]]" about the philosopher Athenodorus investigating a Main/HauntedHouse.

* David from ''Literature/{{Haunted 1988}}'' investigates ghosts though he doesn't believe in their existence.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has The Sealing Club duo: Marybery Hearn (student of Relative Psychology), and Renko Usami (student of Super-unifying Physics). They mainly give a glimpse of how dangerous and terrifying Gensokyo is from the view of a {{muggle}}.

** The player character of the ''Videogame/DarkParables'' is a variant of the trope. She works for a detective agency that specifically solves mysteries connected to ''fairy tales'', and thus naturally she encounters a plethora of magical items, characters, and disasters.

* Nearly half of the VideoGame/NancyDrew adventure games have her investigating spooky events, and one suspect in "Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon" is a TV ghost-hunter himself.

%%%* "Witch Hunters" in fourth episode of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. It's a ShoutOut to the FanTranslation, [[http://witch-hunt.com Witch Hunt]].

%%%* ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'': John Taylor, Private Eye.

* Creator/SimonRGreen loves this trope, having given us John Taylor of the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' series as a solo example, a trio of haunting-investigators in the ''Literature/GhostFinders'' series, the fantasy beat-cops Hawk and Fisher from the ''Haven'' stories, and Eddie Drood from the ''Literature/SecretHistories''.

* ''Series/LostGirl'' has [[main/HornyDevils succubus]] Bo reluctantly becoming an Occult Detective, who specializes in cases involving the fae.

* The protagonist of the argentine horror comic "Martin Hel", created by Robin Wood.

See also HunterOfMonsters, whose occupation is to hunt the paranormal (though the two may overlap).

* Comicbook/DoctorStrange ... sometimes. He has a number of artifacts which make this much easier, particularly the Eye of Agamotto.

* An UrExample OlderThanFeudalism is found in Pliny the Younger's "[[http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1083.html Letter to Sura]]", about the philosopher Athenodorus investigating a haunted house.

* ''Series/LostGirl'' has succubus Bo reluctantly becoming an Occult Detective, who specializes in cases involving the fae.

* ''Literature/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 [[IncendiaryExponent uses it]] [[DestructiveSavior to blow stuff up]]. He provides the page image for a reason, and in recent books he's more of a magical cop, having joined the White Council's wardens. He provides the current page image because, aside from maybe Abraham Van Helsing, he is possibly the best known, and has probably the most IconicOutfit. He even manages to make the BadassLongcoat practical instead of just a fashion statement - it's enchanted to be magical Kevlar.
** First a detective, then a cop, now a supernatural [[spoiler: knight, warden,]] and by all indications, [[spoiler: ChosenOne]].

* ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'':
** Charles Carr, perhaps the foremost occult detective and investigator in the setting. No real mystic power to speak of, though he has a strange way of being able to affect mystic creatures with mundane attacks when such actions are needed. He got into occult investigations because of an encounter with a truly horrific demon when he was a child. He is known in the mystic community as a knowledgeable scholar of the occult, and as an effective exorcist and monster-fighter, to the point that most supernatural "monsters" fear to encounter him when they wouldn't otherwise fear a high-powered superhuman.
** Nicholas Chandler, age 14, is perhaps the only "monster slayer" more feared than Charles Carr. At age eight he used a baseball bat to kill a menacing spirit he still considers as "the Boogeyman" to this day. Nick is considered the "creepy little kid" in his neighborhood and is distrusted by parents and children alike... until the children come to him telling stories of strange things bumping around their windows at night. He lives with his parents and has said he wants to be a museum curator when he grows up.

%%%* Edward Carnby from every version of ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark''.

* Played with in ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009''. Basically everybody but Holmes thinks [[BigBad Lord Blackwood]] actually has magical powers, but Holmes remains devoted to logic. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth", and all that.

* A group of Dutch children's book writers called ''Het Griezelgenootschap'' (The Horror Society) wrote two ChooseYourOwnAdventure-style books featuring a boy who takes over his uncle's business of being a private detective specialized in supernatural problems, like demons and vampires.