The Hurdy-Gurdy Man is a chilling new horror novel by David Turnbull, inspired by 1960s London, Scottish folklore and dark history. He tells DAVID SAUNDERSON how the story came to life.
A young woman fleeing an abusive home. A crumbling mansion on the edge of Hampstead Heath. An eccentric benefactor hiding a terrible secret.
These are just some of the dark threads woven through The Hurdy-Gurdy Man, the new horror novel by South London writer, tour guide and researcher David Turnbull.
Turnbull has published more than 150 supernatural short stories in magazines and anthologies. His fascination with folklore, dark history and London’s hidden corners has also shaped his guided walks and research.
The Hurdy-Gurdy Man follows Turnbull’s previous small press horror outings, HUSks and Maggie’s House.
Set during the summer of 1969, the novel follows Kath Dunn, who leaves her home near Berwick-upon-Tweed hoping to start a new life. Instead, she falls under the spell of the mysterious Gordon Urquhart-Scott and his decaying mansion overlooking Hampstead Heath.
For Turnbull, the story began with a song.
“It all started with Donovan’s 1968 song Hurdy-Gurdy Man,” he says. “It has an unsettling, surrealistic feel and has featured in several horror films.
“It got me thinking about who this Hurdy-Gurdy Man might be, and whether there was some nefarious intention behind the ‘songs of love’ he is apparently bringing.”
That idea gathered pace after he discovered Harry Plunket Greene’s Edwardian recording of Schubert’s Hurdy-Gurdy Man.
“This too had a dark, unsettling tone,” Turnbull says. “I knew then there was a monster lurking in the dark recesses of my imagination, straining to be unleashed.”
The summer of 1969 proved the perfect backdrop.
“The Summer of Love was over, bubblegum pop was on the wane, and darker days were waiting around the corner,” he says. “That became a metaphor for what unfolds in the story.”
The era also helped shape the novel’s central characters.
“Kath is a bit like the girl in the Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home,” Turnbull says. “She arrives in London with rose-tinted glasses before everything quickly turns sour.”
Although the novel opens in Piccadilly Circus, Hampstead Heath soon becomes its centrepiece.
“I chose the area because there are lots of big, anonymous houses set back from the road where anything could be going on behind closed doors,” he says.
Turnbull also found inspiration in one of horror’s greatest classics.
“Hampstead Heath is where Lucy Westenra preys on children after becoming the ‘Bloofer Lady’ in Dracula. That idea of something monstrous hiding behind an innocent nickname found its way into The Hurdy-Gurdy Man.”
The novel’s supernatural threat comes from the Redcaps of Scottish Borders folklore.
“I grew up not far from Hermitage Castle, which is reputed to have been home to the cannibalistic Redcaps,” Turnbull says. “Those stories fascinated me as a child.”
His own family history even crept into the book.
“The Turnbull family were said to ride out from the wonderfully named Fatlips Castle during the days of the Border Reivers,” he says. “In the novel, the Urquhart-Scotts inherit that dark bloodline.”
Beneath the horror lies a story about class, privilege and exploitation.
“I was once a union official, so class consciousness and social justice are deeply ingrained into my DNA,” Turnbull says.
“The girls realise they have no chance of exposing what’s happening because they’re on the wrong side of the class divide. That ultimately forces them to take matters into their own hands.”
Turnbull also researched London’s long history of homelessness.
“For as long as there have been homeless people on London’s streets, there have been predators who prey on them,” he says. “The true story of Roger Gleaves and his so-called homeless hostels was a major influence.”
Even the novel’s title carries sinister overtones.
“In some parts of Europe, the hurdy-gurdy is considered the devil’s instrument,” Turnbull says. “Its haunting drone was the perfect fit for Gordon Urquhart-Scott.”
Asked which scene was hardest to write, Turnbull doesn’t hesitate.
“The ritual slaughter of Little May,” he says. “She’s the most innocent of the girls, so writing her brutal demise wasn’t easy.”
After publishing more than 150 short stories, Turnbull says writing a novel allowed him to explore his characters in far greater depth.
“I certainly couldn’t have told Gordon Urquhart-Scott’s story in 5,000 words,” he laughs.
He’s already working on another tale rooted in Scottish Borders folklore. This time it draws on the legend of Sawney Bean and the horrors of the First World War.
The Hurdy-Gurdy Man by David Turnbull is available from Amazon.
