Scholars believe that the habit of telling ghost stories at Christmas (or at any midwinter festival) dates back thousands of years. The natural darkness lends itself to spookiness, and our imaginations are more open at this time of the year. Here are a few fabulous ghosts from Christmassy literature...
Amongst the indulgence, I see starvation, amongst the
affluence, I see poverty.
The Globe (Isabelle Mills)
She needed reminding of the warm Christmas smells that blew in
through the open doors as they hissed open.
Present (Gemma Dobson)
Peering out of the window I saw the impossible; flickering
candlelight in the abbey, turning the stained glass into jewelled kaleidoscopes,
belying the horror of the night’s events. Midnight Mass was being sung.
Time and Tide (Claire Marsh)
Then, the whole form becoming paler, melted, as it were,
into the moonlight, and faded away.
A Christmas Tree (Charles Dickens)
There comes in a young woman, deadly pale, and with long
fair hair, who glides to the fire, and sits down in the chair we have left
there, wringing her hands.
A Christmas Tree (Charles Dickens)
But how much greater was his horror, when the phantom taking
off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to wear indoors, its
lower jaw dropped down upon its breast!
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
The air was thick with phantoms, wandering hither and
thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went.
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know that
behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while
he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral
hand and one great heap of black.
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
Marley’s face was a dismal shade of green, rather like bad
fish glowing in the dark
A Christmas Carol – Ladybird Children’s Classics (Charles
Dickens)
May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay
it.
A Christmas Carol – foreword (Charles Dickens)
“And I hope to God,” said he, “that she will be with you by
day and by night till an end is made of you.”
Martin’s Close (M. R. James)
Black Ferdie saw that it was as free and relentless as he
was, and that there was a quality if moonlight in its eyes and teeth that his
nerves could not endure.
The Children of Green Knowe (Lucy M. Boston)
“I spy!” he shouted, whisking round to chase them, but they
did not run away, they simply vanished.
The Children of Green Knowe (Lucy M. Boston)
For some reason he felt convinced that until his
great-grandmother returned, not so much as a marble would move in the house. He
felt no such assurance about the garden.
The Children of Green Knowe (Lucy M. Boston)
She played, but it was Tolly who sang alone, while, four
hundred years ago, a baby went to sleep.
The Children of Green Knowe (Lucy M. Boston)
As to whether it found rest once it had shared its burden,
the farmer said it had not been seen since then, but sometimes at twilight his
dogs would start to bark for no good reason, and he always took great care to
get back home before the sun had set.
The Man from No Man’s Land (John Pritchard)
There was a sound coming from out in the yard. It was
half-hummed and sweet like an almost forgotten lullaby or a word stuck on the tip
of your tongue.
The Abbey (Eoin Gough)
I cannot describe the thrill that seized upon me, when, close
at the mouth of the tunnel, I saw the appearance of a man, with his left sleeve
across his eyes, passionately waving his right arm.
The Signalman (Charles Dickens)
Her tradition has become their tradition. It is part of
their love.
Salt Dough Stars (Lorraine Thomson)
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