Conan Doyle’s baggage contains only a couple dozen mystical stories and novellas— a modest result compared to what he wrote in other genres. Still, for most of his life, he saw the supernatural not as an object of fiction, but as a matter of fanatical belief. His terrifying stories most often carry the mark of either early attempts at penning, or late misunderstandings—so it’s no surprise that they’re little known to a broad range of readers.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft noted Conan Doyle’s ability to “convincingly play the supernatural,” placing him alongside the acknowledged founders of the horror genre: Herbert Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Wilkie Collins, and Henry Rider Haggard.