5 h 54 minAudiobook4 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 best company in a lonely churchyard is already dead?
In Olive Harper’s The Sociable Ghost, a newspaper reporter finds himself among the old graves of Trinity Churchyard after dark. His midnight journey leads into company that is not quite alive. Yet this is a ghost story where curiosity and wit matter more than terror.
The reporter brings a questioning eye to a place filled with traces of other lives. The ghost brings something less expected: a sociable spirit. Harper turns the lonely churchyard into a setting for gentle gothic humour, where the dead can seem less frightening than the living.
What you’ll discover
- A ghost with company manners Meet a sociable presence that gives the familiar ghost story a lighter, more welcoming turn.
- A reporter among graves Follow a curious witness whose habit of looking and questioning suits this strange midnight adventure.
- Gothic shadows, gentle laughter Enjoy a tale that draws on churchyard gloom but aims for a smile rather than dread.
- Lives beneath the stones Consider the names and memories that make an old city churchyard more than a lonely place.
- A brisk supernatural escape Step into a short comic tale where lively storytelling keeps the darkness from growing too heavy.
Is it for you?
This tale suits readers who enjoy gentle gothic humor, old churchyards, and the ghost stories of the nineteenth century. It may be less suited to anyone who wants real fear, deep psychology, or a long and complicated plot.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A churchyard after dark sets the scene
- A reporter is the right witness
- The dead are not what you expect
- Wit makes the gothic gentle
- Time and memory lie under the stones
- A short tale in an old tradition
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- 15-minute summary
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The Sociable Ghost
by Olive Harper· 1903
A newspaper reporter encounters ghosts in a city churchyard.
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A churchyard after dark sets the scene
Stories of this kind begin with place. An old churchyard, with leaning stones and worn names, is the natural home of the ghost story. Its silence and its age make a reader ready for anything.
The author draws on the mood that nineteenth century readers knew well. Night, cold air, and the sense of many lives gathered under the ground all belong to the genre. The setting does the first work of the tale before any ghost appears.
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The author
Olive Harper
1842–1915 · American novelist and translator
Olive Harper was an American novelist and translator. She was born in 1842 and died in 1915. Her books include The Sociable Ghost. She lived during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, writing fiction as well as working as a translator.
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What is The Sociable Ghost about?
It is a short comic ghost tale by Olive Harper in which a reporter spends a night in an old churchyard and meets a ghost who is friendly instead of fearsome.
Who wrote The Sociable Ghost?
Olive Harper wrote it. She was an American writer and journalist who died in 1915, and she wrote fiction and articles for newspapers and magazines.
Is The Sociable Ghost a horror story?
Not really. It uses gothic settings such as a churchyard at night, but its tone is witty and gentle, closer to comedy than to terror.
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