The Ghostly Rental

By: Henry James

Narrated by: Lee Ann Howlett

A young theology student discovers an old house while on his daily walks. There appears to be no one living there but something about the house strikes the young man as strange. After observing an old man entering the house, the student eventually befriends the man in order to discover what he can about the old house besides the gossip in the town. The old man once owned the house but now only visits it briefly four times per year. He claims to have killed his daughter with harsh words and now she haunts the house but agrees to meet him four times per year so that she may pay him rent. In return, he is not to inhabit the house. This tale is as much a story of the psychology of people as it is of ghosts. How much do grief, ego, spite, and revenge play into our ideas of ghosts and being 'haunted'? This was an early Henry James story before he wrote "Turn of the Screw."

Public Domain (P)2014 Lee Ann Howlett

A pleasant listen

This lesser known Henry James ghost story is told by a young theology student. The female reader does an adequate job. I recommend it to James fans.