Edith Wharton's Ghost Stories

Did you know that, in addition to her critically-acclaimed novels (Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and House of Mirth) Edith Wharton also wrote ghost stories, many of them written as morality tales? Some of these include:

"Bewitched," 1925

This ghost story is considered "an interesting ghostly counterpart" to Ethan Frome. Similar in some ways to Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand" -- read at your own risk!

"Afterward" From Tales of Men and Ghosts, 1910.

A vengeful spirit from the past returns to strip Ned Boyne of the fortune he has made years ago under questionable circumstances.

"The Eyes" From Tales of Men and Ghosts, 1910.

Reminiscent of Poe's "William Wilson," this short story features protagonist Andrew Culwin, who is haunted by a pair of repulsive, disembodied eyes. Only much later does he realize that the eyes are apparitions from the future, a phantasmal projection of his own wizened conscience as it looks back upon his youthful indiscretions and self-deception.

"The Fulness of Life" 1893

A woman dies and meets her soul-mate, who turns out to be....

"Kerfol" 1916

One of Wharton's best ghost stories: quasi-Gothic architecture, an antiquarian immersion in the Renaissance past, some ghostly dogs — less terror but more haunting than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes ghostly canine tale The Hound of the Baskervilles. "Kerfol" depicts a ruined French estate haunted by the spirits of dogs, animals murdered by the previous owner in revenge for what he wrongly believed was his wife's adultery.

"The Lady's Maid's Bell" 1902

The ghost of a former maid continues to serve her mistress. Seeking to protect the woman, an invalid, from an encroaching danger, the dead maid's spirit rings her bell, but to no avail.

"The Triumph of Night"
A man becomes plagued by obsessive feelings of guilt after failing to respond to a nightmarish vision in which he sees his friend's death planned by a greedy uncle.