19 humorous ghost stories anthologies

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