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Today, we don’t associate Christmas with the paranormal. Let alone see it as a time for ghost stories. Those traditions are for Halloween, right? Well, that’s not how it used to be. It’s oddly delightful that the most famous Christmas story of our time is also a ghost story. For hundreds of years, telling ghost stories on Christmas was a tradition. Some believe that the tradition pre-dates Christmas itself.
The History of Christmas Ghost Stories
Wait, so how in the world did ghost stories make it into Christmas tradition in the first place? This goes back to ancient times back to the pagan roots of Yuletide.
When winter came around, the nights got longer. People spent a lot of time indoors together and telling ghost stories was a popular past time. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Winter was considered a time when Mother Nature was sleeping and everything is “dead”, so to speak. The Earth is going through its process of rebirth during the Wintertime. From a psychological standpoint, people start thinking about death and lost friends and loved ones during the darkest time of the year. Since we’re stuck inside, we have a lot more time to reflect.
Also, it helps that the candlelight created spooky shadows in the darkness. Let’s not forget that the Victorians had an obsession with death as well!
Before Christmas, Winter Solstice and Yule were celebrated. During this time of year, folks considered the veil to be thinner. This means that ghosts have better access to the world of the living. Even during medieval times, Christmas and Yule were a time for telling ghost stories.
Cancel Christmas
The Puritans wanted Christmas out of the holiday narrative. It was a time of debauchery and other sinful activities with lots of indulgences. We’re talking about food, drink, and physical activities. The Puritans wanted it gone, no exceptions. In the mid-17th century, Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell admonished Christmas. He said this based on the argument that the Bible doesn’t condone it. He also included that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. Well, he isn’t wrong. Christmas was put on December 25th to appease those celebrating Yule and Winter Solstice.
Before Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, he wrote several other Christmas ghost stories. If you look them up, their plots and themes were eerily similar. They all include a man who despises the holidays, and they change by the end of the story.
Christmas in Dickens’ time was unimportant. People rarely took the day off. The Industrial Revolution had a lot to do with that. However, when A Christmas Carol was published, Britain commercialized Christmas. It resembles the holiday we celebrate today. Dickens certainly had a hand in that.
The Decline of Christmas Eve Ghost Stories
Dickens eventually stopped writing Christmas ghost stories, and that contributed to its downfall. In fact, Dickens thought that he killed Christmas and that its ghost was haunting him. You could argue that Dickens was responsible for the sentimental value of Christmas we have today.
The commercialized Christmas we celebrate today in the United States is based on Victorian customs. Christmas cards, Christmas trees, stocking stuffers, caroling…that’s all Victorian England. Of course, their roots being from pagan customs. But, one tradition didn’t come over; ghost stories on Christmas Eve. Today, we get ready for Santa on Christmas Eve instead of gathering around the fireplace telling spooky stories.
When Dickens took a step back from writing Christmas ghost stories, other authors tried to fill in the void. But they didn’t have that panache that Dickens possessed. Those ghost stories didn’t take off like A Christmas Carol.
Why Didn’t This Tradition Come to the United States?
Today, ghosts and ghost stories stay in the month of October. Well, at least traditionally. We don’t see ghosts and spooky decor during November and December. Since some of America’s earliest long-term settlers were Puritans, it’s not shocking that Christmas ghost stories didn’t become popular.
Granted, America had Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe. However, their stories are rarely associated with winter, let alone Christmas. Irving tried though. He’s responsible for creating our modern depiction of Santa Claus.
Another piece of this puzzle is the immigration of Irish and Scottish immigrants to America. What exactly did they bring? Well, Halloween.
It is a weird blend of Irish and Catholic traditions with Samhain and All Souls’ Day merged. For years, Halloween was a holiday for the Scots. They actually tried their hardest to disassociate Halloween from ghosts and make it more about Scottish tradition. It didn’t catch on. As we know today, their attempt was unsuccessful. Ghosts and all things spooky eventually transferred to the famous fall holiday.
Popular Christmas Ghost Stories
Did you know that The Turn of the Screw was a Christmas ghost story? Yes, the same Turn of the Screw that Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor is based on. The book by Henry James opens with a group of men telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve.
Another Fun Fact: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven takes place in December. It’s a Christmas ghost story!
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
‘Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door –
Only this and nothing more.’Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
Excerpt from The Raven, 1845
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.”
One of the latest pieces of evidence of Christmas ghost stories came from 1915. Since then, it seems the ghosts and spooks of the winter went to Halloween for good.
So, who do we blame? The Puritans and Halloween.
Sources
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-do-ghost-stories-go-christmas-180961547/
https://historydaily.org/christmas-ghost-stories