Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant is a fictional character and a

supporting character A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo a ...

in a series of stories (1938–41) by American author

Manly Wade Wellman Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903 – April 5, 1986) was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as '' Astounding Stories'', '' Startling Stories'', ''Unknown'' and '' Strange Stories'', Wellman i ...

(1903–1986). Pursuivant is a retired

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

who investigates mysterious

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

events.

Fictional character biography

Pursuivant is more a mentor to and helper of characters who have become embroiled in occult adventures than a hero per se. He first appears in the short story "The Hairy Ones Shall Dance," first published in 1938 in the weird-fiction

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printe ...

''. Pursuivant is described as a man of great height and girth, with bulbous eyes and nose and a drooping blonde moustache. He lives in a small town five hours from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and is sufficiently wealthy to be attended by a manservant. He is intelligent and well-read in

matters. A biography of Pursuivant is presented in the short story "The Black Drama," which presents him as having been born in 1891, retired in 1919, had studied at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and was decorated while serving in U.S. intelligence during World War I. Until he passed it on to Wellman's later character, John Thunstone, Judge Pursuivant possessed a sword-cane with a

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

blade said to have been forged by

Saint Dunstan Dunstan ( – 19 May 988), was an English bishop and Benedictine monk. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised. His work restored monastic life in En ...

. The blade is inscribed with a text from

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

chapter 5 in the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

, "''Sic pereant omnes inimici tui''" – "thus perish all your enemies". The sword-cane, which was especially potent against

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf–humanlike creature, either purposely or after bei ...

and other supernatural creatures, was passed on when Pursuivant's advanced age made him too weak to effectively wield it."The Third Cry to Legba," ''Weird Tales'' Although referred to in several stories, Judge Pursuivant only actually appeared in four short stories or

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

s by Wellman: "The Hairy Ones Shall Dance" (1938), "The Black Drama" (1938), "The Dreadful Rabbits" (1940), and "The Half Haunted" (1941) – all originally published in ''Weird Tales'' – and as a supporting character in Wellman's 1982 Silver John novel ''The Hanging Stones'' and the John Thunstone novel ''The School of Darkness''. All Wellman's Judge Pursuivant short stories have been collected in ''

Lonely Vigils ''Lonely Vigils'' is a collection of fantasy, horror and mystery short stories by American author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1981 by Carcosa in an edition of 1,548 copies, of which the 566 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author ...

'', and later in ''Fearful Rock and Other Precarious Locales'', Night Shade Books (2001). Judge Pursuivant also appears as a supporting character in the story "Chastel", not collected in the above volume but in volume one of that series (''Third Cry to Legba and other Invocations''), originally published in ''The Year's Best Horror Stories VII'' (1979). Judge Pursuivant and his book, "The Unknown that Terrifies" is mentioned in "The Poltergeist of Swan Uppin", a short story of

Jules de Grandin Jules de Grandin is a fictional occult detective that, from 1925-1951, starred in 92 short stories and one novel by Seabury Quinn in the pulp magazine anthology series ''Weird Tales''. In the pages of ''Weird Tales'', Quinn also authored a serial ...

by Seabury Quinn.

Bibliography

*"The Hairy Ones Shall Dance," ''Weird Tales'', January, February, and March 1938 *"The Black Drama," ''Weird Tales'', June, July, and August 1938 *" The Dreadful Rabbits", ''Weird Tales'' 1940 *" The Half Haunted", ''Weird Tales'' 1941

References

External links

Voice of the Mountains
- fan site - site has no content 23 July 2024 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pursuivant, Keith Literary characters introduced in 1938 Characters in short stories Fictional judges Fictional paranormal investigators Manly Wade Wellman characters