Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance

M. R. James is best known for his scholarly, understated ghost stories in which antiquarian curiosity gradually opens the door to something ancient, intelligent, and hostile. Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance (1911) is one of his most structured “estate horror” tales, blending rural English inheritance fiction with occult symbolism hidden in architecture and landscape design. At its core, the story follows a young government clerk who unexpectedly inherits a country estate and discovers that its maze, temple, and neglected garden conceal something far more deliberate - and far more dangerous - than decorative eccentricity.