Born in 1884 Jessie Douglas Kerruish was a regular contributor to The Weekly Tale-Teller, a paper publishing short stories, she often set her tales in North Africa and the Near East. She went on to publish two story collections and two novels before eventually publishing her English-set supernatural story The Undying Monster. Initially received well, and even inspiring a film years later, this macabre and imaginative tale has been viewed as a real classic of its genre.