Scary Stories Treasury

Read Time:8 Minute, 9 Second

The Guests Kitty: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The eleventh story in our Scary Stories Book Club Thing is The Guests (which, by the way, I keep wanting to type as Ghests. Maybe it’s because it’s a ghost story, so I keep wanting to put an h in it, or maybe it’s just because my fingers are trying to create a new language. We may never know the truth.)

If you’d like to start from the beginning of our exploration of Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark, start here. The Guests is the last story in the second section of the first volume of the trilogy.

The Guests

A young man and his wife were on a trip to visit his mother. Usually they arrived in time for supper. But they had gotten a late start, and now it was getting dark. So they decided to look for a place to stay overnight and go on in the morning.

Just off the road, they saw a small house in the woods. “Maybe they rent rooms,” the wife said. So they stopped to ask.

An elderly man and woman came to the door. They didn’t rent rooms, they said. But they would be glad to have them stay overnight as their guests. They had plenty of room, and they would enjoy the company.

The old woman made coffee and brought out some cake, and the four of them talked for a while. Then the young couple were taken to their room. They again explained that they wanted to pay for this, but the old man said he would not accept any money.

The young couple got up early the next morning before their hosts had awakened. On a table near the front door, they left an envelope with some money in it for the room. Then they went on to the next town.

They stopped in a restaurant and had breakfast. When they told the owner where they had stayed, he was shocked.

“That can’t be,” he said. “That house burned to the ground, and the man and the woman who lived there died in the fire.”

The young couple could not believe it. So they went back to the house. Only now there was no house. All they found was a burned-out shell.

They stood staring at the ruins trying to understand what had happened. Then the woman screamed. In the rubble was a badly burned table, like the one they had seen by the front door. On the table was the envelope they had left that morning.

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There are two sources that Schwartz sites for this story. One is that of his wife, Barbara Carmer Schwartz, who remembered hearing it living in Albany, NY. The second is from the book Things that Go Bump in the Night (1959) by Louis C. Jones. (1) It was told by Sunna Cooper, and is a little bit more detailed than the story that Schwartz presents in his retelling. Keep in mind that this takes place around the turn of the 20th century.

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There is a story told, round about Albany and Troy (and many other places across the country), which is a kind of folk classic, ranking with stories of the ghostly hitchhiker which we shall meet later on* Of several versions, I like it best the way Sunna Cooper heard it and told it to me.

Fifty years or more ago a man and his wife were traveling by carriage from somewhere in New England to Troy. They had passed Eagle Bridge and Johnsonville before they realized that it was getting much too dark for them ever to reach Troy that night. Just before they reached Spiegletown they saw a light burning in a little house about three hundred yards off the main road and, not knowing how near they were to the village, decided to see if they could get lodgings there for the night. The man pulled the horse onto the little side road and climbed the hill to the house. He knocked at the door. An elderly man and his wife, both of them obviously ready for bed, came to the door. They were a gentle, kindly couple, and while they never took paying guests, they would be delighted to have the travelers spend the night with them. So the horse was put in the barn while inside the house the hostess brewed up a pot of tea and brought out some homemade bread and fresh butter. The four of them chatted a while before the travelers were taken to their room. It was then that the man tried to pay for their lodgings, because, he said, they wished to be on their way early in the morning and their hosts might not be awake. But the offer was vigorously refused; they were not in the habit of taking in paying guests and to pursue the matter would only embarrass them. Leaving it at that, all four went upstairs to bed.

The travelers slept soundly, awakening shortly after sunup. They dressed quietly and with care, and lest they awaken the people who had been so kind to them the night before, they stole downstairs. On a table by the door they placed a fifty-cent piece, which, fifty years ago, was a fair price for their lodgings. They got the horse out of the barn, harnessed it, and drove on to Spiegletown where they had some breakfast.

It was at breakfast that they received their first shock. They were talking to the man who ran the little restaurant where they ate and mentioned the very warmhearted reception they had been given the night before. Just where was this house, he wanted to know. They told him in great detail and watched the strange look which came over his face as they did so.

“But, my good friends, I know the house you mean. A family named Brownley lived there for years.”
“That’s right. That’s the name they gave us.”
“But but that can’t be. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brownleydied in the flames three years ago when that house burned to the ground.”

Then there was a great argument, while each side doubted the other’s sanity. Finally there seemed to be only one way to settle it. The three of them piled into the carriage and drove back the two or three miles to the place where the couple had turned off the road. The horse climbed the little hill, up the three hundred yards
to the same spot where they had gone the night before. But there was, in good truth, no house. There was only the gutted cellar, overgrown with weeds and filled with the burned debris. They stood looking at it for a few minutes when all of a sudden the woman screamed and fainted. There in the rubble was a charred and partially burned hall table with a fifty-cent piece on it.

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And now for the reviews!

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? In my room with the fireplace heater on. Very cozy!
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? I’m pretty sure I would not have fainted at the sight of my money on the table. I definitely would not have screamed.
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My least favorite character was the wife for screaming at the sight of her money on the table. My favorite character was the old woman who brought them snacks before bed.
What did you think of the storytelling style? It’s straightforward and normal. Nothing special to comment about.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? At first I didn’t like it, because I thought it didn’t represent the story at all, since the house was just an empty shell when they went back to it. Then I thought maybe it was what the house looked like when they got there, but then if it looked so disgusting when they got there, I don’t think they’d have knocked at the door to ask for lodgings. I think Gammell pooped out on this one.
Your overall rating: star system from 1-5 and why? ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ I like the idea of old dead people taking care of strangers in need. This is also a classic.

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? In my room with the heater and candle going. It’s like Antarctica outside.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? I don’t believe I remember this story in particular but it’s a similar plot to others I have heard.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? I guess if it was a different time period or part of the country, then stopping to ask for a room to rent wouldn’t be completely weird. But didn’t the coffee and cake taste odd considering it was really old?? C’mon guys.
Which was your favorite and least favorite character and why? My favorite characters were both the young and old couple. My least favorite character was the fire.
What did you think of the storytelling style? This was a nice and short story. That’s all lol.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? The drawing is good but I think this artist talents’ shine more with character depictions.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Great short story with a twist ending!