London in the early 1820s, a time of fascination with both the wonders of science and the occult world of ancient Egypt.
Robert Mountford, a young surgeon, learns to use mesmerism to relieve his patients’ suffering. He is a rationalist, familiar with the latest advances in science from the electrical experiments of Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday to the galvanic animation of corpses. However, his rationalism is severely tested when he meets John Fanshawe, a young libertine who is haunted by a story of his lost father’s involvement in an ancient Egyptian reincarnation ritual. Mountford is soon drawn into a dark world in which Fanshawe claims that ominous forces are being invoked to bring the evil presence of his father back from the grave.
London in the early 1820s, a time of fascination with both the wonders of science and the occult world of ancient Egypt.
Robert Mountford, a young surgeon, learns to use mesmerism to relieve his patients’ suffering. He is a rationalist, familiar with the latest advances in science from the electrical experiments of Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday to the galvanic animation of corpses. However, his rationalism is severely tested when he meets John Fanshawe, a young libertine who is haunted by a story of his lost father’s involvement in an ancient Egyptian reincarnation ritual. Mountford is soon drawn into a dark world in which Fanshawe claims that ominous forces are being invoked to bring the evil presence of his father back from the grave.