The Canterville Ghost

The first night that the Otis family stays at the Chase, there is a violent storm. The next morning, the blood stain is back in the library. Washington is certain that its return can’t be due to the detergent he used the previous evening, and that it must, therefore, have been caused by the ghost. He cleans the stain twice more, and in the morning, it always returns. Hiram starts to think he may have been too hasty in judging that the ghost wasn’t real, Lucretia wants to join the Psychical Society, and Washington writes a letter to Mr. Myers and Mr. Podmore about “the Permanence of Sanguineous Stains when connected with Crime” (6).

On their third night at Canterville Chase, the family goes for a drive before supper, and then talks about various topics far removed from the blood stain, the ghost, Sir Simon, or anything relating to the supernatural. They go to bed at eleven o’clock, and at precisely one in the morning, Hiram is woken by a clanging sound and footsteps that appear to be getting closer to his room. He grabs a vial and goes out into the corridor to meet the ghost, who wears bedraggled, antique clothing, and chains.