class="smcap">By Oscar Wilde

The Ghost-Extinguisher 51 By Gelett Burgess “Dey Ain't No Ghosts” 69 By Ellis Parker Butler The Transferred Ghost 89 By Frank R. Stockton The Mummy's Foot 109 By Théophile Gautier The Rival Ghosts 129 By Brander Matthews The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall 159 By John Kendrick Bangs Back from that Bourne 175 Anonymous The Ghost-Ship 187 By Richard Middleton The Transplanted Ghost 205 By Wallace Irwin The Last Ghost in Harmony 229 By Nelson Lloyd The Ghost of Miser Brimpson 247 By Eden Phillpotts The Haunted Photograph 275 By Ruth McEnery Stuart The Ghost that Got the Button 295 By Will Adams The Specter Bridegroom 315 By Washington Irving The Specter of Tappington 341 Compiled by Richard Barham In the Barn 385 By Burges Johnson A Shady Plot 403 By Elsie Brown The Lady and the Ghost 425 By Rose Cecil O'Neill

HUMOROUS GHOST STORIES

THE CANTERVILLE GHOST

By OSCAR WILDE

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The Canterville Ghost

By OSCAR WILDE

I

When Mr. Hiram B. Otis, the American Minister, bought Canterville Chase, everyone told him he was doing a very foolish thing, as there was no doubt at all that the place was haunted. Indeed, Lord Canterville himself, who was a man of the most punctilious honor, had felt it his duty to mention the fact to Mr. Otis when they came to discuss terms.

“We have not cared to live in the place ourselves,” said Lord Canterville, “since my grand-aunt, the Dowager Duchess of Bolton, was frightened into a fit, from which she never really recovered, by two skeleton hands being placed on her shoulders as she was dressing for dinner, and I feel bound to tell you, Mr. Otis, that the