children's ghost story - going to a party in a big house

Short story I read as a kid. Possibly I'm mixing it in my memory with other stories. In my memory, a big house shows up in the neighborhood, and holds a great party. It's everything a kid could want. Protagonist(s) want to go to the party, and do; they leave early, somehow, then discover the house was haunted or would have taken them away, or all the kids were ghost-kids, or something like that.

I read this story in a collection, but can't place it. I had thought perhaps in "Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery" or "Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful" but can't verify.

I semi-recall another story that I think was in this collection (how many more vagaries can I include?) -- it somehow reminded me of the characters from The Wind in the Willows but involved, again, something spooky and out-of-character.

-- lquilter

I doubt I'm right...but I'll throw it out there anyway....

The Halloween Tree from Ray Bradbury?

Hmm, I don't think The Halloween Tree is it, but it looks interesting:

Eight boys set out on a Halloween night and are led into the depths of the past by a tall, mysterious character named Moundshroud. They ride on a black wind to autumn scenes in distant lands and times, where they witness other ways of celebrating this holiday about the dark time of year. Bradbury's lyrical prose whooshes along with the pell-mell rhythms of children running at night, screaming and laughing, and the reader is carried along by its sheer exuberance.

(from amazon)

I'll check it out.

-- lquilter

I think I may have given it away to someone...if I still have it, I'll mail you my copy!

Nothing like this in Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful, but it might be another Hitchcock collection.

I found the story -- it's "The White-Haired Children" by Ruth Ainsworth, and it's available in her collection, The Phantom Cyclist.

-- lquilter