The Toll-House

The Toll-House is a haunted-house short story by W. W. Jacobs, first published in 1902 and later collected in Sailors’ Knots (1909).

It follows four friends—Jack Barnes, Meagle, Lester, and White—who decide to test their skepticism by spending a night in an abandoned toll-house with a grim local legend: the place has “taken toll” of at least one life from every group that stays there.

What begins as banter and bravado turns unsettling as doors seem to close on their own, uneasy sounds and footsteps move through the corridors, and an inexplicable drowsiness overtakes two of the men. By dawn, the survivors awaken to find a body at the foot of the broken stair, leaving open whether the night’s terror was supernatural—or the deadly power of suggestion.

Compact and atmospheric, The Toll-House explores skepticism, peer pressure, and fear, balancing psychological tension with classic ghost-story chills for a quick, unsettling read.

"Lester and White finished their cups with irritating slowness, pausing between sips to sniff the aroma, and to discover the sex and dates of arrival of the "strangers" which floated in some numbers in the beverage. Mr. Meagle served them to the brim, and then, turning to the grimly expectant Mr. Barnes, blandly requested him to ring for hot water."