Set over a hundred years ago in New England, it concerned a young man who went to work for a mortician, and was paid a visit one stormy night by a man who wanted to design his own coffin. He said he'd died before and wanted, essentially, to be buried his own way "this time".

The mortician's assistant and his friend who were there were deeply scared by the man, although they took his money and agreed on a date when the coffin would be ready. The assistant convinces his employer, a devout Christian, to be there at the time when the man picks up his coffin. The man does arrives and does pick it up, literally, and carries it out of the mortuary. The employer and his apprentice follow him to a cemetary (on a cloudy night, of course). The assistant leaves and warns his employer to do the same, saying something supernatural is at work. The boss disagrees, and goes INTO the cemetary, saying that he believes the man is simply mentally ill and needs help immediately.

Later there is a strange confrontation between the coffin-buyer and the mortician, but the latter says "I am a Christian. I believe that we will all be raised from the dead in the future (at the time of Christ's return). But I don't believe in ghosts." There's some interesting developments later in the story that maybe (or maybe not) call the mortician's character into question, but the way the story ends one gets the feeling that the mortician, who survived the encounter in the cemetary pretty much unscathed, was right.