“Neither have I made any inquiries respecting either the antecedents or subsequent history of the house in which we made so disturbed a sojourn. I was content with what I knew, and have here related as clearly as I could, and I think it a very pretty puzzle as it stands.”
These are the final words in LaFanu’s story An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House. This story reads much different than any of the other stories we read in that he merely states the events as they happened. LaFanu describes the occurrences of the ‘ghosts’ or what some servants believed to be robbers. He describes all oddities witnessed by the different occupants of the house as they stated and adds nothing, no thought as to what is behind the odd events that have been happening since the family has moved into the ocean front house. Events ranged from a flickering candle with an unexplained shadow, numerous sightings of unfamiliar beings, and the reoccurring presence of a very sickly looking woman often seen searching around both inside and outside the house. All events lead up to the discovery of a human jaw in the backyard of the house.
The family soon after moves from the house and the conclusion of the story is that stated above. All events of the story are left unexplained, the reader is never told whether all events were supernatural, or actually that of robbers. Also the discovery of the human remains was never concluded, we are not told who they belong too or how they got there. LaFanu masters the art of horror in this story by playing on the reader’s imagination. By leaving everything up to debate, the story is in a sense as terrifying as the reader wishes it to be. The story is ‘a very pretty puzzle as it stands’.
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