LOST TRAVELERS ARE IDEAL victims of supernatural events and horrific entities, whether vampires, monsters, or ghosts, and even those who escape unscathed have a scary story to tell, like the late night perambulator in this excellent little story. Vincent O’Sullivan (1868–1940) was born to a wealthy family in New York City and attended Columbia Grammar School, then moved to England and graduated from Oscott Roman Catholic College before attending Oxford.
In 1894, he began to contribute stories and poems to The Senate magazine, resulting in a collection of the poems; in 1896, A Book of Bargains, one of the most important early collections of supernatural fiction, was published by his friend Leonard Smithers, a key figure in the Yellow Book decade of the 1890s. O’Sullivan was the only American of significance in the Aesthetic Movement, which was led by Aubrey Beardsley, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Dowson, and Arthur Symons. Like so many of his circle, O’Sullivan’s work was filled with morbidity and decadence. In later years, his style reflected changing tastes and he wrote with clarity and precision. O’Sullivan used his means to help friends, notably Wilde after his release from prison, and his wealth was eventually dissipated. Of his friend O’Sullivan, Wilde once wrote that he is “really very pleasant, for one who treats life from the standpoint of the tomb.” There was strong negative reaction to his support of the despised Wilde, resulting in a largely closed market for O’Sullivan’s work. He was reduced to dire poverty late in life and died in a pauper’s ward in Paris shortly after the German occupation.
“The Burned House” was first published in the October 1916 issue of The Century Magazine; it appears to have remained uncollected until the publication of Master of Fallen Years: The Complete Supernatural Stories of Vincent O’Sullivan (London, Ghost Story Press, 1995).