«The Haunted Dolls' House» by M.R.James

"The Haunted Dolls' House" is a short ghost story by the British author M.R. James. It first appeared in print in the March 16, 1923 issue of the magazine Empire Review. It was republished in 1925 as part of the anthology A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories.
The story concerns an antiques dealer named Dillet who acquires a beautiful antique dolls' house for a relatively low price. The dolls' house comes complete with dolls which represent servants and a family made up of two children, a father, a mother and a grandfather. At one o'clock in the morning, Dillet sees a ghostly drama play out in the dolls' house. It shows how the mother and father murdered the grandfather by poisoning him and the consequences of that crime. the author's death in the November 1936 issue of the literary journal London Mercury.
The story's unnamed narrator and protagonist describes a ghostly event from his childhood. As a boy, the narrator lives in a rectory in the countryside. Next to the rectory is a small wood known as the Plantation. Although he is not really certain why, the narrator becomes increasingly scared of the Plantation and starts to have nightmares connected to it.
It is widely believed that "A Vignette" is based on a genuine experience from M.R. James' boyhood. As a child, M.R. James lived in the Suffolk village of Great Livermere where his father was rector. A small wood in Great Livermere known as the Oldbroom Plantation is reputed to be haunted.