The Curse of Capistrano is a 1919 serialized novel by Johnston McCulley and the first work to feature the fictional Californio character Zorro (zorro is the Spanish word for fox). It would be later published as a book in 1924 under the title The Mark of Zorro.About McCulley: Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 Ottawa, Illinois - November 23, 1958) was the author of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Many of his novels and stories were written under the pseudonyms Harrison Strong, Raley Brien, George Drayne, Monica Morton, Rowena Raley, Frederic Phelps, Walter Pierson, and John Mack Stone, among others. McCulley started as a police reporter for The Police Gazette and served as an Army public affairs officer during World War I. An amateur history buff, he went on to a career in pulp fiction and screenplays, often using a Southern California backdrop for his stories.