The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Christopher Philippo (ed. https://www.amazon.com/Valancourt-Victorian-Christmas-Ghost-Stories/dp/1943910561 Romances and magical journeys and visits from St. Nicholas. “The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories” During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Reply. Typically, Victorian Christmas ghost stories are set at the peak of the Christmas season amongst the backdrop of bleak, wintery weather conditions. The Christmas issues of the magazines he edited, Household Words and (after 1859) All the Year Round, regularly included ghost stories—not just A Christmas … They’re about reunions and homecomings. But we know different. The Christmas ghost story is something of a great British tradition, of course. You are cordially invited to join us for a special reading of Victorian ghost stories on Sunday, December 20th, 2020 at 4:00pm EDT. Traces of this now-forgotten tradition occasionally appear in noticeable places at Christmastime, although their significance is generally overlooked. During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for … The Victorian era was a virtual heyday for Christmas ghost stories. Christmas Ghost Stories: The Ghost of Christmas Past Goes Further Back Than You Might Realize. The Christmas ghost story tradition is usually associated with Charles Dickens and Victorian England, but-apparently unknown to historians and scholars-Christmas ghost stories were extremely widespread and popular in 19th-century America as well, frequently appearing in newspapers and magazines during the holiday season. Boroughs of the Dead tour guides will celebrate the 19th century tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas with a reading of haunting holiday tales! The spectral tradition shows up in many Victorian novels, A Christmas Carol being just one of them. Welcome once again as we continue the Victorian tradition of ghost stories for Christmas! Why was that the case, and what made these authors so good at telling ghost stories? The Christmas ghost story tradition is usually associated with Charles Dickens and Victorian England, but -- apparently unknown to historians and scholars -- Christmas ghost stories were extremely widespread and popular in 19th-century America as well, frequently appearing in newspapers and magazines during the holiday season. Indeed, it has become the quintessential example of the subgenre, having been animated several times (one of the most notable was the Oscar-winning version by Richard Harris and produced by Chuck Jones [Looney Tunes, etc. Do you have a favorite? These authors specialized in telling spooky stories during the holiday season. HJ Blenkinsop. December 2, 2015 at 3:09 pm. Telling ghost stories on Christmas was a tradition for hundreds of years. Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘ The Old Nurse’s Story’ epitomises this as it is set in amongst “the stillness of the dead-cold weather.” Boo! The practice of gathering around the fire on Christmas Eve to tell ghost stories was as much a part of Christmas for the Victorian English as Santa Claus is for us. Now for the first time thirteen of these tales are collected her England has a strong tradition of Christmas ghost stories, and these eerie tales of yesteryear will bring a chill to your holidays. We answer all of those questions and more in this look to Victorian Christmas ghost stories. Both Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell, two British authors kept the genre alive with wonderfully written ghost stories for Christmas. Here, Marley's ghost surprises Ebenezer Scrooge in an illustration from the first edition of the classic tale. New printing technologies brought the costs of books down to a … A True Ghost Story- Mrs. Molesworth. Many people were enjoying their Christmas day – but the Ghost made sure that Ebenezer saw some in particular. First published in London in 1888 “One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she’s dead.” I myself have never seen a ghost (I am by no means sure that I wish ever to do so), but I have a friend whose experience in this respect has been less limited than mine. A thoroughly enjoyable and informative article. “A Strange Christmas Game,” by J. H. Riddell (1863) Even spook-story enthusiasts tend not to know that a goodly amount of Victorian ghost fiction was written by women. 1. A very good thing about a great Christmas ghost story is that you will be frightened, but the new people you have come to care about tend to live to see another Christmas. Victorians enjoyed ghost stories because they gave them hope that their spirit could live on even when their body didn’t. However, some of the best Christmas stories came thanks to 19 th-century Victorians. Settle in for a frightening and festive tale. If you want to revive the Victorian passion for Christmas Ghosts, you can read a selection of twenty traditional Victorian ghost stories, all set at or around Christmas, in The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories (Volume 2). According to SmithsonianMag.com, telling holiday ghost stories is a tradition that dates back to the time before Christmas was commercialized during the tail end of the Victorian … “Marley was dead, to begin with,” says Charles Dickens in the most famous Christmas ghost story. Ghost stories are usually associated with Halloween, but this Christmas tradition has its origins in Victorian times. The ghosts of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol might be the best known spectres from Victorian times, but in fact the Victorians loved tales about phantoms and apparitions both before and after the small novel was published. Thank you for this article, it helped me understand the Victorian ghost story I was illustrating. ), The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, Volume Four There wasn't much hope of Christmas spirit this year, but I did get to read the fourth volume of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories. Historians, as is their way, tend to dismiss the likes of Charles Dickens telling and re-telling A Christmas Carol in public performances as merely a passing fad of the past. It’s unclear how long this custom has been around, but it saw a significant resurgence during the Victorian era, due in large part to Charles Dickens and his famous ghost story, A Christmas Carol (1843). The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. According to The Guardian, Christmas Eve was the night everyone got together and told the scariest ghost stories … The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals. Mention the words ‘Christmas ghost story’, and most people will automatically think of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Nowadays our Christmas stories are mainly warm and cozy. The Ghost of Christmas Present showed Scrooge – turkeys, geeze, oysters, pudding, pies, punch and much more- enough to create a beautiful Victorian Christmas dinner. Love me some Victorian Christmas ghost stories! A new collection of twenty ghostly tales of Yuletide terror, collected from rare Victorian periodicals Seeking to capitalize on the success of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), Victorian newspapers and magazines frequently featured ghost stories at Christmas time, and reading them by candlelight or the fireside became an annual tradition, a tradition Valancour Of the many lost traditions of the Victorian era none is more forgotten than the telling of ghost stories. While modern Christmastime stories include watching movies like the Ten Commandments and The Wizard of Oz, families were telling different stories during the Victorian era. Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black has a frame narrative; the narrator tells the story to his friends on Christmas Eve. It was a Victorian tradition to gather around the fireplace or by a candlelight, post christmas dinner, and tell ghost stories, both to scare themselves and to entertain.

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