Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost recap

American diplomat Hiram Otis buys the haunted Canterville Chase and moves in with his wife and four children. The resident ghost, Sir Simon, expects to terrify them, but the practical adults offer cleaning products and medicine while the twins answer his performances with traps and jokes. Humiliated and exhausted, Sir Simon withdraws. Virginia, the one Otis who treats him with kindness, finds him grieving and learns that he cannot rest until someone weeps for his sins and prays for his soul. She follows him into a supernatural darkness and disappears, returning at midnight after helping him obtain forgiveness. She then leads both families to his hidden remains. Sir Simon receives a Christian burial, the dead almond tree flowers, and Virginia keeps the jewels he gave her. She later marries the Duke of Cheshire while preserving the private truth of what the ghost showed her.

American minister Hiram B. Otis purchases Canterville Chase from Lord Canterville, brushing aside a warning that generations of the Canterville family have seen its ghost. He moves in with his wife, their sons Washington and the twins, and their daughter Virginia. The housekeeper, Mrs Umney, shows them a bloodstain in the library said to mark the place where Sir Simon de Canterville murdered his wife centuries ago. Washington removes it with a commercial stain cleaner, but it returns the following morning. Its reappearance unsettles the family without persuading them to treat the haunting with the reverence Mrs Umney expects.

The library stain continues to return, sometimes in unlikely colors. Sir Simon finally appears in chains, but Mr Otis calmly offers him lubricant to stop the noise, while the twins throw a pillow at him. The ghost retreats in outrage and recalls the impressive fear he once inspired. His next elaborate appearance ends with Washington firing a toy pellet and the twins pursuing him. When he tries to wear an ancestral suit of armor, its weight brings him crashing down, and Mrs Otis offers him medicine. Sir Simon plans theatrical revenge, especially against Washington and the twins, but the family repeatedly frustrates him with tripwires, falling objects, and ambushes. He is further humiliated when a terrifying figure in the corridor proves to be a false ghost built by the twins.

After more traps and failed performances, Sir Simon becomes frightened of the twins and largely abandons his haunting. Virginia later finds him alone and despondent. He admits killing his wife but also says her brothers starved him to death. More than revenge, he now wants the sleep of death, which has been denied him. He explains an old prophecy: an innocent child must weep for him and pray for his soul before he can be forgiven. Virginia condemns his past but pities his suffering and agrees to help. She follows him through a hidden opening and vanishes. Her family searches the house and surrounding countryside without success, while Mr Otis fears she has been abducted.

At midnight Virginia reappears, pale but unharmed, carrying a casket of jewels given to her by Sir Simon. She leads the Otises and Lord Canterville through a concealed passage to a chamber containing the ghost's chained skeleton and the remains of the food and water once placed beyond his reach. Outside, the dead almond tree has flowered, a sign that Virginia's tears and prayers have secured his forgiveness. Sir Simon is buried in the churchyard with a solemn funeral, and Lord Canterville permits Virginia to retain the jewels. She later marries Cecil, the Duke of Cheshire. She never fully explains her hours with the ghost, saying only that he taught her about life, death, and the strength of love.

Virginia returns at midnight carrying a casket of jewels and leads her family to a hidden chamber, where they find Sir Simon's chained skeleton. The blossoming of the dead almond tree confirms that her compassion and prayers have won forgiveness for him, allowing him to rest. The Otises arrange a solemn funeral, and Sir Simon is buried in the churchyard. Lord Canterville insists that Virginia keep the jewels the ghost gave her. Years later she marries Cecil, now the Duke of Cheshire. When he asks what happened during her disappearance, she says that Sir Simon taught her the meaning of life and death and the power of love, but she keeps the details of her encounter private.