American author Charles Willing Beale's horror book The Ghost of Guir
House was first released in 1897. This is a pretty erratic "story" that
alternates between a theosophical philosophy explanation and a gothic
romance. A captivating romantic plot is balanced by a sense of mystery
and possibly even evil, and there are three main characters that are
really well-developed despite being slightly quirky. The plot is kept
alive by the author until the very end of the book, but it is shelved by
protracted discussions on occult concepts like hypnotism and
emanationist between two of the characters. The book starts out as a
respectable ghost story before turning into a societal critique that
extols the virtues of socialism. Charles Willing Beale wrote a gritty
mystery romance titled The Ghost of Guir House. But instead of writing
in the traditional Gothic style, the author explores moral,
psychological, and then theosophical considerations. Long conversations
between the three people in the book-who are encased in a spooky
house-include the author's thoughts.