This is in an excellent pamphlet edition by Helios House Press for the Miskatonic Literary Society for the H.P.L.H.S. Nice typography and black-and-white illustrations by Evelyne Sequeiros. A decent story from 1859. You can definitely see the forerunner of the Lovecraft stories, even down to the narration and type of madness. ( )

(1859)
A very Hammer-Horror feel to this short horror story.
The proprietress of a boarding house decides to move the location of her premises from Bleecker Street to a bit further uptown, 26th St. She's got a great deal, because the house she's moving into is reputed to be haunted.

Her boarders are more enthused than otherwise about the move. Indeed, it sparks a veritable craze for the supernatural. The common area is all abuzz with the possibility of ghosts.. but for quite some time, nothing unusual occurs.

However, one night, after two men have been smoking perhaps a bit too much opium, something does happen...

No morals or allegories here, just a fun, spooky story. Loved the New York City setting. ( )

Quite reminiscent of Ambrose Bierce, this story has a lot going for it, but falls short of achieving lasting horror. A landlady and her boarders move into a reputedly haunted house, but fail to experience any ghostliness until the narrator has a horrific experience one night. As horrible as this experience is, it seems to have no connection with the previous reports of a haunting. And the reaction of everyone to the occurrence, apparently assuming it will happen only once, is inexplicable. ( )