A Ghost Story is Twain's unique twist of the ghost story genre, mocking superstition, and proving he's a master employing satirical wit across his broad range of works. The story begins with a narrator who has taken a room in a neglected building in Manhattan. As the night wears on, he describes feeling a 'superstitious dread.' He is briefly comforted by his fire, but after it dies down he feels lonely. He falls asleep with a foreboding feeling.