The Turn of the Scrooge
December 5, 2019 5:56 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for really good ghost stories that take place on Christmas besides "The Turn of the Screw" and "A Christmas Carol." What are some other great ghost stories (more spooky, less bloody) that take place around the holiday? Novels or short stories only, please!
Frederick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" might be a candidate. (It is a short story/novella, and the audio version is terrific.)
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:48 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:48 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
For a humorous take on the Victorian Christmas ghost story:
"Told After Supper" by Jerome K. Jerome
Text available from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1993
Audio from Librivox: https://librivox.org/told-after-supper-by-jerome-k-jerome/ (I haven't listened to it myself)
posted by adventitious at 7:32 PM on December 5, 2019
"Told After Supper" by Jerome K. Jerome
Text available from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1993
Audio from Librivox: https://librivox.org/told-after-supper-by-jerome-k-jerome/ (I haven't listened to it myself)
posted by adventitious at 7:32 PM on December 5, 2019
The Christmas Eves of Aunt Elise - Thomas Ligotti.
posted by misteraitch at 1:00 AM on December 6, 2019
posted by misteraitch at 1:00 AM on December 6, 2019
High Spirits is a collection of spooky stories written by Robertson Davies to read out at the UofT christmas party
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:07 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:07 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Death and the Veteran on Nifty Gay Fiction is a gay love story set at Christmas.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:54 PM on December 6, 2019
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:54 PM on December 6, 2019
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - when the hogfather vanishes at hogswatchnight, the anthropomorphic personification of death has to take over to keep a space in the world for belief.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:57 PM on December 6, 2019
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:57 PM on December 6, 2019
Elizabeth Gaskell's The Old Nurse's Story is a Christmastime ghost story published by Dickens in a Christmas collection in 1852.
posted by TwoStride at 2:33 PM on December 6, 2019
posted by TwoStride at 2:33 PM on December 6, 2019
Wanted to make sure you saw these link-rich previouslies:
Oh, Click and I'll Come to You, My Lad: "Montague Rhodes James was an antiquarian, cataloger, scholar (especially of apocryphal books of the Bible), as well as Vice Chancellor of King’s College Cambridge and Provost of Eton College (where he died in 1936). But he is best known for his ghost stories, excellent examples of the Victorian Christmas ghost story tradition."
There must be something ghostly in the air of Christmas: "In Told After Supper (1891), Jerome K. Jerome parodied the tradition of telling Christmas ghost stories, but it's plain to see that he had fun writing them. And horror writer Ramsey Campbell, himself the author of a number of Christmas stories, recently dropped by /r/WeirdLit to list off a few places to find more."
A Ghost Story for Christmas: "For many years the BBC had a tradition of showing a dramatisation of a classic ghost story at Christmas. This tradition is being continued this year with Whistle and I'll Come to You being shown tonight staring John Hurt. An adaptation of the same classic MR James story was shown in 1968 staring Michael Hordern beginning the tradition (1, 2, 3)."
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:51 PM on December 6, 2019
Oh, Click and I'll Come to You, My Lad: "Montague Rhodes James was an antiquarian, cataloger, scholar (especially of apocryphal books of the Bible), as well as Vice Chancellor of King’s College Cambridge and Provost of Eton College (where he died in 1936). But he is best known for his ghost stories, excellent examples of the Victorian Christmas ghost story tradition."
There must be something ghostly in the air of Christmas: "In Told After Supper (1891), Jerome K. Jerome parodied the tradition of telling Christmas ghost stories, but it's plain to see that he had fun writing them. And horror writer Ramsey Campbell, himself the author of a number of Christmas stories, recently dropped by /r/WeirdLit to list off a few places to find more."
A Ghost Story for Christmas: "For many years the BBC had a tradition of showing a dramatisation of a classic ghost story at Christmas. This tradition is being continued this year with Whistle and I'll Come to You being shown tonight staring John Hurt. An adaptation of the same classic MR James story was shown in 1968 staring Michael Hordern beginning the tradition (1, 2, 3)."
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:51 PM on December 6, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Ideefixe at 6:02 PM on December 5, 2019