Harold “Hal” Ellson (1910 – October 31, 1994) was an American author of pulp fiction whose work primarily focused on juvenile delinquency, a field in which he has been described as “one of the most popular” writers and as “legendary.”

Ellson was a social worker, recreational therapist, and nurse’s aide at Bellevue Hospital, where he encountered the adolescent psychiatric patients on whom he based much of his fiction; he subsequently stated that many of the patients viewed him as a “father confessor”, and eagerly told him their stories while trusting that he would not report them to law enforcement.

Harlan Ellison cited Hal Ellson’s work as having inspired his own interest in juvenile delinquency — an interest which led directly to the writing of Ellison’s first novel, Web of the City. Ellison also stated that in the earliest days of his career as a writer, he was often mistaken for Ellson writing under a pseudonym — and that decades later, when Ellison had become much more known and Ellson’s career had waned, Ellson was often mistaken for Ellison writing under a pseudonym.