Bored Clerk here. The object that the player is holding is a dark lantern/bullseye lantern, which was the Victorian equivalent of a modern flashlight. You often have it described in stories set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
I appreciate all the good reviews; however what I provided is already more background than the story itself provides. The original story is simply about a man taking shelter in an old house and being attacked by a possessed coat, nothing more. It is only afterward that he finds out it belonged to a vicious and cruel man who harmed everything that came under his hand.
Thanks again for the good reviews; a lot of work went into this one.