11 h 17 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the ghost has more to worry about than the people it haunts?
In Humorous Ghost Stories, Dorothy Scarborough gathers English and American tales in which spirits struggle to frighten the living. Some are vain, clumsy or painfully polite. Others find themselves outwitted by people who refuse to shudder. These separate comic hauntings turn a familiar question around: what happens when a ghost cannot get the reaction it expects?
Scarborough opens with a short introduction exploring why people laugh at what once makes them afraid. The collection includes Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost and Frank R. Stockton's The Transferred Ghost. Haunted houses, midnight noises and wronged spirits provide familiar ground, but wit changes the mood. Fear and laughter share the house, and the living can be as troublesome as the dead.
What you’ll discover
- Ghosts with human worries Meet spirits whose pride, shyness and bad luck make haunting less simple than it seems.
- The living turn the tables Watch curious, cheerful or businesslike people unsettle the ghosts who should unsettle them.
- Wilde and Stockton Explore The Canterville Ghost and The Transferred Ghost among this gathering of comic tales.
- Familiar chills, unexpected laughter Enjoy gothic trappings that invite a shudder, then bend toward a joke.
- A scholar's playful subject Follow Scarborough's interest in the supernatural toward the ghost who fails to frighten.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy dry wit, tall tales told by firesides, and ghosts with personalities. It suits readers of short stories, fans of Wilde and Stockton, and anyone who likes a shiver ending in a laugh.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The modern ghost has learned to laugh
- A haunted house meets practical Americans
- The ghost fights back and finds a friend
- Science and business take on the supernatural
- Ghosts with jobs, rules, and bad luck
- Dreams, rum, and a ghost ship in the turnips
- Hoaxes and tricks in the old and new worlds
- Skeptics, lonely ghosts, and faithful widows
- How the tales are told and what they share
Who’s who
- Hiram OtisThe American Minister who buys Canterville Chase and laughs at the idea of a ghost in the house.
- Sir Simon de CantervilleThe proud, tired ghost of Canterville Chase, who takes his haunting seriously and wants peace.
- Virginia OtisA brave, kind fifteen-year-old who feels pity for the ghost and listens when he asks for help.
- Hoku YamanochiA Japanese friend who knows how to catch ghosts and teaches the narrator of The Ghost Extinguisher.
- Eliphalet DuncanA New York lawyer with a hidden Scottish title and two ghosts that quarrel in his house.
- Captain Bartholomew RobertsThe polite ghostly captain whose ship lands in a turnip field and whose rum tempts the village.
- Robert J. DinkleA lonely ghost who wants to haunt a town too sensible to notice him.
- Charles SeaforthA young lieutenant whose trousers vanish at night at Tappington, and who is also in love.
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Racconti umoristici di fantasmi
A ghost in rusty chains is offered a bottle of lubricating oil by an American who will not believe in him.
Medium level10–20 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
What happens when a ghost meets people who refuse to be frightened? Dorothy Scarborough gathers nineteen comic tales of spooks, from Oscar Wilde, Frank Stockton, John Kendrick Bangs, Gautier and more.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The modern ghost has learned to laugh
Scarborough opens with an essay on how ghosts have changed. Old spirits were gloomy and demanded respect, and mortals shook at their clanking chains. The modern ghost keeps his skeleton oiled in a garage, dresses as he did in life, and knows that ridicule is a sharper weapon than horror.
She gives examples as she goes. Bunner's spook repeats the foolish things a young man said that day and grows taller with every cliché. Stockton's ghost is a spare spirit whose living owner is still alive. Middleton's ghost ship settles among a landlord's turnips, and its captain offers a gold brooch to make up for the damage.
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Details
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- 7 h 20 min
- Level
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What is Humorous Ghost Stories about?
It is a collection of comic ghost tales gathered by Dorothy Scarborough in 1921. The ghosts are funny, tricked, lonely, or business-minded, and they meet living people who are practical, nervous, or very sure of themselves.
Which stories are in the collection?
It includes The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, The Transferred Ghost by Frank Stockton, The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall by John Kendrick Bangs, Gautier's The Mummy's Foot, Middleton's The Ghost Ship, and many more.
Are the stories scary?
They offer small shivers, but humor leads. Most tales are short, lively, and told in clear voices, so you can enjoy them in one sitting and read them in any order.
More by Dorothy Scarborough
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