Fact: Christmas is full of spooky ghosts.
I love supernatural tales of terror at all times of the year, so why wouldn’t I include them in my Yule celebrations? Here’s a bunch of ghostly Yuletide facts and stories for you to discuss around the fire:
The popular Christmas carol “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” has spooky lines in its chorus:
There’ll be scary ghost stories,
And tales of the glories,
Of Christmases long, long ago.
Charles Dickens’ wrote about four ghosts in “A Christmas Carol,” Past, Present, Future and the often overlooked, Jacob Marley.
Prior to the revival of Halloween and Christmas in the Victorian era, these two celebrations were considered the same holiday. Harvest celebrations extended into November and collided with solstice, winter and year-end festivities. The time between Halloween and Christmas, when the nights got longer and winter descended, was a dark and mysterious time. The veil between the living and dead was thinnest at this time of year.
In pre-Christian times, winter solstice marked the celebration of Yuletide in Northern Europe. Yuletide was seen as a time when spirits and demons walked the earth, a continuance of the dark time of the year that lasted from Samhain (Halloween) until the days began to lengthen.
In Victorian England, ghost stories were often told around the fire on Christmas Eve. Books of ghost stories were one of the most popular Christmas gifts of the era. Modern Brits look forward to the annual “A Ghost Story for Christmas” show on the BBC.
The idea for Christmas trees came from Northern European Pagans who decorated the evergreen trees outside their homes with metal scraps and dried fruit to ward off evil spirits. Pagans in Southern Europe also decorated trees. During the festival of Saturnalia, occurring the week of the winter solstice, trees were decorated in honour of the patron or matron deities of each household.
Anne Boleyn’s ghost makes an appearance at Christmas time. Anne can be seen walking the halls of Hever Castle, her childhood home, every Christmas Eve. Visitors to the castle think Anne is trying to re-live the happy Christmases of her childhood, rather than the horrible circumstances of her death.
From Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven:
“Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly, I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Leonore,
For the rare and radiant maiden who the angels name Lenore.
Nameless here for evermore.”
Do you have a Christmas ghost story? Share it in the comments section!
