Smoke Ghost
Fritz Leiber, "Smoke Ghost" in Unknown Worlds , Vol. 5 No. 3, October 1941. Read the story here on the Internet Archive Among other things, the story works as a critique of environmental harm attributable to industrialization, and Leiber's conception of ghosts as the personification of twisted aspects of society, the environment, and ourselves is the coolest! This is an eerie tale that leaves us wondering what it wants, when it will return, and what will it look like. What did you think about Mr. Wran's reaction on the roof at the end?