An American family goes to England to live and to learn how the British live. Moving into a haunted house, despite being told it was haunted, Oscar Wilde begins to have fun not only with the Americans’ way of life but with the British as well, injecting humor at every moment and satire especially of the Americans. In the end, the ghost becomes significant. Through him, young Virginia learns about life and death and that love transcends it all.
The short story continues to be popular. It became a movie in 1944 with Charles Laughton, and several other movies have been released as recently as 1997; it has also had many television renditions.