eated 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!

D. S.

NEW YORK,
_March, 1921._

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION: THE HUMOROUS GHOST vii

THE CANTERVILLE GHOST 3
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 THEOPHILE 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

_An amusing chronicle of the tribulations of the Ghost of Canterville
Chase when his ancestral halls became the home of the American Minister
to the Court of St. James._

BY OSCAR WILDE

The Canterville Ghost

BY OSCAR WILDE

I

When Mr. Hiram B. Otis, the American Minister, bought Canterville Chase,
everyon