John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an American writer, mainly of humorous fiction, and editor of the popular Harper’s Weekly, as well as the New Metropolitan Magazine. In 1904, he became the editor of Puck, a successful American humour magazine.
Amongst his prolific output are many volumes of supernatural novels and stories, mainly in keeping with his predilection for humour and parody. His short supernatural fiction appeared in three story collections, pictured above and published between 1894 and 1901. Facsimiles of the fully illustrated first editions can be seen here and here. The illustrations from Over the Plum-Pudding can be seen here.
“I thought a mile was the proper distance” [Illustration from ‘The Flunking of Watkins’s Ghost’]
Collected Ghost Stories [Epub]
John Kendrick Bangs, shortly before his death in 1922
Mystery and Imagination 
I read Bangs short story The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall and featured it on my blog for Christmas. http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/the-water-ghost-a-christmas-eve-tale/ I found Bangs’ writing to be quite atmospheric and a really fun one to read aloud during the Christmas season. This author is definitely one who most readers have forgotten.
I love your blog, I always find out something new, and discover some old new writers that are really interesting, like this one.
Thanks! I don’t update it as often as I’d like nowadays, but I’ll definitely keep adding stuff, so watch this space!