A Sleeper Bewitched

The next entry in my Supernatural Writings of Stuart Palmer series is the first of two (possibly three) stories about Max Brandt, “ghost layer.” A Sleeper Bewitched: Mr. Crane has been asleep for a month. No one knows why; no one can wake him up. And there’s a strange, disembodied hand hovering over his bed. Mrs. Crane calls in Max Brandt, “ghost layer,” to help save her husband. Brandt started out as a ghost debunker, working with his cousin in the real estate business to rehabilitate the reputations of so-called “haunted houses” for his cousin to sell. A cute idea! And, naturally, in the course of his job, Brandt runs into enough strange phenomena to change his mind about the non-existence of ghosts. Hence, his new sideline as “ghost-layer.” I really like this story, and I also like the idea of a Thomas Carnacki type character who works in real estate. What a great series that could be! As we will see, apparently Stuart Palmer thought so, too. Although the real estate angle never…