Why are there not enough Christmas ghost stories?
This is what I asked myself during another bout of winter/holiday blahs. I don’t hate Christmas (not the way I used to, anyway – long story) but some of the schmaltzier trappings (50s nostalgia, ugly, uncomfortable sweaters, relentlessly cheerful carols) put me off.
So it was with great joy that I learned that the Victorians had a tradition of Christmas-themed ghost stories.
And why not? You’ve got everyone huddled around a fire during the darkest and coldest time of year with a pile of mixed Christian and pagan traditions going on. Pre-tv specials and internet memes, what else can you do but tell ghost stories?
So I went in search of something in addition to “A Christmas Carol”. My friends (and the internet) did not fail me:
- Valancourt has, count ’em, one, two, three volumes of ghost stories gathered from Victorian periodicals.
- Bookriot’s list includes Valancourt’s first volume plus many more modern stories.
- Goodreads’ Creepy Christmas list is more horror than creepy, but it does include Christopher Moore’s The Stupidest Angel, which has zombies and dead Santas, whee!
- The Paris Review found 5 stories you can read for free (public domain FTW)
- And for more recent historical fiction I’m looking forward to A Christmas Carroll and The Ghost of Madison Avenue.
So what will you be huddled around the fireplace (and looking over your shoulder) with this season?
Oh yes! My annual re-reads!
“Mistletoe & Mayhem: Horrific Tales for the Holidays” anthology edited by Richard Dalby. A mix of eras, from Victorian to modern. http://jlsjlsjls.freehostia.com/booklist/subject/record1955.html (linking you to description of my personal copy so you can see table of contents)
“It Ate Billy on Christmas” by Roman Dirge. Monster rather than ghost but still a classic for the gruesome inner child in all of us: http://jlsjlsjls.freehostia.com/booklist/subject/record2753.html
“Overtime” by Charles Stross. A Christmas tale set in his Laundry Files series; any story that describes Santa as “the Filler of Stockings, who oozes through chimneys and ventilation ducts every Dead God’s Birthday-eve to perform unspeakable acts against items of hosiery.” Free online version at the Tor website: https://www.tor.com/2009/12/22/overtime/ (note that this is just one story in their “December Belongs to Cthulhu” collection, all of which are freebies on the Tor site: https://www.tor.com/series/december-belongs-to-cthulhu/)
And “Hogfather” by Terry Pratchett. No ghosts but the Auditors do a pretty good job of doing scary ghost things: http://jlsjlsjls.freehostia.com/booklist/subject/record1425.html
The only other Christmas book I own is a history of folklore/traditions. Which, come to think on it, has its own little darknesses …