The Canterville Ghost is a popular novella by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage.

Summary

American Hiram B. Otis buys the English country house of Canterville Chase, ignoring the warnings that the house is haunted. The ghost, however, is real and is of cowardly Simon de Canterville, who sets about frightening the family out of his ancestral home. The Otises, especially the children Washington and Virginia, are far from frightened by the ghost's manifestations.

Adaptations

The original was an early work of Wilde, published serially in the magazine Court and Society Review in 1887.

A large number of adaptations of The Canterville Ghost have been made, including:

• A 1944 adaptation starring Charles Laughton resetting it in wartime and taking massive liberties with the plot. [1]
• An animated short from 1990 [2]
• A 1997 TV adaptation starring Ian Richardson and Celia Imrie [3]
• Several stage musicals

External links

• cantervilleghost.com Current stage musical.