[PW] Shortest ghost story in the world?

[Callum Finlayson]

>Hello, all.  I'm looking for the shortest ghost story in the world, which is 
>one sentence long and goes roughly:  "Utterly alone in a pitch-black room, the 
>man wished for a light...and one was handed him." While I have the gist of it, 
>I'm looking for the actual version.  I'm not talking about the one where 
>someone is alone after a nuclear attack wiped out civilization and hears a 
>knock at the door.  I think the first one is much creepier!  Thanks for your 
>help.  Carole

I can't help much, but I believe the original version is:
"He sat alone in the dark, afraid. Someone put matches in his hand." 
Authorship of this is a little difficult to attribute.

The popular version of the other story you mention -- "The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..." -- is generally attributed to Frederic Brown's "Knock" in 1948.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote in about 1870 -- "A woman is sitting alone in a house. She knows she is alone in the whole world; every other living thing is dead. The doorbell rings." 

Personally my favourite version of these stories is Ron Smith's 1957 version -- "The last man in the world sat alone in a room. There was a lock on the door."


  Callum