The stories by Eden Phillpotts and Richard Middleton in this collection show the diversity of the English humor as associated with apparitions, and are entertaining in themselves. The Canterville Ghost, by Oscar Wilde, is one of his best short stories and is in his happiest vein of laughing satire. This travesty on the conventional traditions of the wraith is preposterously delightful, one of the cleverest ghost stories in our language. Zangwill has written engagingly of spooks, with a laughable story about Samuel Johnson. And there are others. But the fact remains that in spite of conceded and admirable examples, the humorous ghost story is for the most part American in creation and spirit. Washington Irving might be said to have started that fashion in skeletons and shades, for he has given us various comic haunters, some real and some make-believe. Frank R. Stockton gave his to funny spooks with a riotous and laughing pen. The spirit in his Transferred Ghost is impudently deathless, and has called up a train of subsequent haunters. John Kendrick Bangs has made the darker regions seem comfortable and homelike for us, and has created ghosts so human and so funny that we look forward to being one—or more. We feel downright neighborly toward such specters as the futile “last ghost” Nelson Lloyd evokes for us, as we appreciate the satire of Rose O'Neill's sophisticated wraith. The daring concept of Gelett Burgess's Ghost Extinguisher is altogether American. The field is still comparatively limited, but a number of Americans have done distinctive work in it. The specter now wears motley instead of a shroud, and shakes his jester's bells the while he rattles his bones. I dare any, however grouchy, reader to finish the stories in this volume without having a kindlier feeling toward ghosts!
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: THE HUMOROUS GHOST
THE CANTERVILLE GHOST BY OSCAR WILDE
THE GHOST-EXTINGUISHER BY GELETT BURGESS
“DEY AIN'T NO GHOSTS” BY ELLIS PARKER BUTLER
THE TRANSFERRED GHOST BY FRANK R. STOCKTON
THE MUMMY'S FOOT BY THÉOPHILE GAUTIER
THE RIVAL GHOSTS BY BRANDER MATTHEWS
THE WATER GHOST OF HARROWBY HALL BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS
BACK FROM THAT BOURNE ANONYMOUS
THE GHOST-SHIP BY RICHARD MIDDLETON
THE TRANSPLANTED GHOST BY WALLACE IRWIN
THE LAST GHOST IN HARMONY BY NELSON LLOYD
THE GHOST OF MISER BRIMPSON BY EDEN PHILLPOTTS
THE HAUNTED PHOTOGRAPH BY RUTH MCENERY STUART
THE GHOST THAT GOT THE BUTTON BY WILL ADAMS
THE SPECTER BRIDEGROOM BY WASHINGTON IRVING
THE SPECTER OF TAPPINGTON COMPILED BY RICHARD BARHAM
IN THE BARN BY BURGES JOHNSON
A SHADY PLOT BY ELSIE BROWN
THE LADY AND THE GHOST BY ROSE CECIL O'NEILL
