Ghost Story Review: "The Transplanted Ghost" by Wallace Irwin

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This is a silly little tale about a man with too much money who has transplanted a Norman castle from England to Perkinsville, Ohio. Thaddeus Hobson, so word on the street is, also, in keeping with ancient autocrats of old, keeps his daughter Anita locked up in the old pile of stone so no young swain dare try to marry her for her (that is, Hobson’s) money. The narrator of the story, one Geoffray Pierrepont, has just received a request from his sweetly demanding Aunt Elizabeth to stop by Gauntmoor Castle in Perkinsville on his way home for the holidays as it has a family connection. As much as he’d like to ignore her, he dare not. When he gets to Perkinsville, he inquiries about what must be viewed as something of an eyesore. “Nothin’ but an old stone barn, where he can set all day nursin’ a grouch,” he’s told by one Mr. Spike who, looks “up at the rampart [of the transplanted castle] defiantly, even as the Saxon churl must have gazed in an earlier, far sadder land. “’It’s romantic,’ I suggested. “’Yes, darn rheumatic,’ agreed Mr. Spike.” All that aside, Pierrepont is surprised to find that Mr. Hobson has actually sent a station wagon around to fetch him. Apparently not only is Mr. Hobson aware of his family connection to the old castle, he has found a use for it. Mr. Hobson is hoping that the name Pierrepont will placate the old ghost who only appears on Christmas night and came along with the castle from the Old World. The story behind the ghost is that he is the shade of a man who fell his death on his way to meet his true love, a lovely young woman locked away from the world by her tyrannical father. While this is not without a grin-worthy moment or two, it is quite silly and ends with a moral lesson taught by a ghost. It is light entertainment, and the bad guy (not really bad, just foolish) is discomfited in a fitting way. Nice, fun read. I’ve been unable to find an online version of the text. ______ Title: “The Transplanted Ghost” Author: Wallace Irwin (1875-1959) First published: Everybody’s Magazine Jan. 1911 Source: ISFDB *An earlier version of this review appear on another site. It has been expanded an updated for its inclusion in myLot.* image attribution: By Lionel Allorge (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or FAL], via Wikimedia Commons