Oscar Wilde

The Canterville Ghost Oscar Wilde

The story begins when the American Minister to the Court of St. James's, Hiram B. Otis, and his family move into Canterville Chase, an English country house, despite warnings from Lord Canterville that the house is haunted. Mr. Otis says that he will take the furniture as well as the ghost at valuation. The Otis family includes Mr. and Mrs. Otis, their eldest son Washington, their daughter Virginia, and the Otis twins. At first, none of the Otis family believe in ghosts, but shortly after they move in, none of them can deny the presence of Sir Simon de Canterville. When Mrs. Otis notices a mysterious bloodstain on the floor, she simply replies that "She does not at all care for bloodstains in the living room". When Mrs. Umney, the housekeeper, informs Mrs. Otis that the bloodstain is indeed evidence of the ghost and cannot be removed, Washington Otis, the eldest son, suggests that the stain will be removed with Pinkerton's Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent. When the ghost makes his first appearance, Mr. Otis promptly gets out of bed and pragmatically offers the ghost Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator to oil his chains. Angrily the ghost throws the bottle and runs into the corridor. The Otis twins throw pillows on him and the ghost uses the fourth dimension of space to flee. Disappointed with his first attempt to scare the family, he starts wondering what went wrong. He thinks of his previous successful appearances when he was in his prime form.