"...In the manner of thrusting the corpse up the chimney, you will that there was something excessively outre --something altogether irreconcilable with our common notions of human action, even when we suppose the actors the most depraved of men."  -- C. Auguste Dupin

Dupin, from "The Murder in the Rue Morgue", is the first detective character in literature. Edgar Allan Poe was intent on detection so Dupin does not really become an "occult" detective. Still, the story and the character are crucial to the development of the sub-genre so I have included it. Dupin appeared in two other stories after "Rue Morgue" but neither is of a supernatural nature. Leon Ames plays him in the 1931 film with Bela Lugosi.