A Ghost Story — Mark Twain (Summary)

A Ghost Story — Mark Twain

Samuel Longhorn Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and Lecturer. He began his career writing light, humorous verse, but he became a chronicler of the vanities, hypocrisies and murderous acts of mankind.  At his mid-career, he combined rich humour and social criticism and master of rendering colloquial speech that help to create and popularise a distinctive American literature built on American themes and language.

The short story “A Ghost Story” is based on the infamous 19th century hoax of the Cardiff Giant, in which a petrified giant was carved out of stone and buried in the ground for others to discover. As news spread about the discovery of the Cardiff Giant, people came in droves to pay money to see the giant. 

The short story begins when the narrator rents a room in New York City, in “a huge old building whose upper stories had been wholly unoccupied for years”. He sits by the fire awhile and then goes to bed. He wakes in terror to discover that the bed covers are being slowly pulled toward his feet. After an unnerving tug-of-war with the sheets, he finally hears footsteps retreat.

He convinces himself the experience was nothing more than a dream, but when he gets up and lights a lamp, he sees an enormous giant’s like footprint in the ashes near the hearth. He goes back to bed, terrified, and the haunting continues throughout the night with voices, footsteps, rattling chains, and other ghostly demonstrations.

Eventually, he sees that he is being haunted by the Cardiff Giant, whom he considers harmless, and all his fear dissipates. The giant proves himself to be clumsy, breaking furniture every time he sits down, and the narrator chastises him for it.

The giant explains that he has been haunting the building, hoping to convince someone to bury his body — currently in the museum across the street — so he can get some rest. But the ghost has been duped into haunting the wrong body. The body across the street is Barnum's fake, and the ghost leaves, deeply embarrassed.

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