Theodore Wieland hears mysterious voices. Are these the result of delusions, ventriloquism, or divine forces? In this Gothic thriller, novelist Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) portrays a man beset by religious guilt which erupts into mania, making him an extreme danger to others. Brown's fascination with the scientifically bizarre and the macabre was a great influence on 19th century authors Hawthorne and Poe.