John Buchan (1875-1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician. Buchan was an incredibly prolific writer, producing countless novels and works of non-fiction, many based on his time spent working for the colonial administrator of South Africa. His most famous work is the novel "The Thirty-Nine Steps", but he also dabbled in supernatural stories, which are primarily about places — the haunted homes and wilds of the United Kingdom and the dangerous wilderness of Southern Africa. A number of the horrors encountered have their roots in ancient Celtic and Roman civilization.