The Inexperienced Ghost by H. G. Wells. Short summary

5 seconds

Clayton met a ghost who could not pass into eternal life, though he knew the necessary passes. Clayton spied the ghost’s movements. He repeated the passes in front of his friends and fell dead.

1 minute

Gentleman Clayton slept alone in the outhouse of the club. He climbed the stairs and stumbled upon a ghost. The ghost was rather pathetic. When he was alive, he was a frail man, a handyman at the school. He died when he went down into the basement with a lighted candle, which reeked of gas.

His whole life was as ridiculous as his death. He was shunned by his peers, failed exams, and got rejected by girls. He decided to «appear to a mortal,» but here, too, he failed: Clayton was not the least bit intimidated by his pathetic «Boo!»

The ghost became so upset that he burst into tears. Clayton got involved and began to ask what was wrong. It turned out that the ghost could not cross over to the other world, even though he knew the necessary passes to do so. Clayton said that the ghost lacked confidence in his movements. It began to do the passes and eventually disappeared.

The audience began to ask Clayton if he had memorized the passes. He repeated the motions. On the last pass, Clayton dropped dead.