set in sixteenth century Bremen. A wealthy merchant named Melchior dies suddenly and his son Francis inherits his father's wealth. Francis foolishly squanders his inheritance. Francis spies a neighbour's daughter, a spinner named Meta, and falls in love with her. With an eye towards regaining fortune and earning Meta's hand in marriage, Francis sells his last possessions, purchases a horse, and sets out on a journey. On his journey, Francis seeks shelter in a castle, despite rumours that the castle is haunted. In the middle of the night, Francis is awakened and sees the ghost of a barber sharpening his razors. The ghost motions to Francis, who complies and sits in front of the spectre. The spectre "placed the shaving-bib round his neck" and proceeds to remove all hair from Francis's head. Sensing that the spectre wants something, Francis "beckoned the phantom to seat himself in the chair", after which Francis shaves the spectre. The ghost had been a barber during his life, whose lord would play "all sorts of malicious tricks" on strangers, including preparing a bath for guests, then having the barber shave guests beards and heads closely before suddenly throwing them out "with raillery and ridicule". One victim, a holy man, cursed the ghost to haunt the castle until someone "without being invited or constrained, shall do to you, what you have so long done to others". In return for Francis having freed the ghost from the curse, the ghost tells Francis to return to Bremen at the Autumn equinox and wait for someone who will tell him what to do. At the appointed day, Francis meets a beggar who tells Francis of a dream in which an "angel stood at the foot of my bed" and told the beggar where to find buried treasure. Francis recognises the location from its description as a garden that had belonged to his father. Francis re-purchases the garden and discovers the treasure. His fortune restored, Francis proposes marriage to Meta, who accepts. Later publications Neither Tales of the Dead nor Fantasmagoriana received second editions during the remainder of the 19th century, and thus remained unavailable for most of the 20th century. The books were printed anonymously, however, and so the individual stories were reprinted many times in various collections. Horace Welby's 1825 Signs before Death, and Authenticated Apparitions contained "The Storm" under the title "The Midnight Storm: (From the French)",