In the last few decades, perhaps one of the most interesting Victorian Christmas traditions has been almost completely lost from memory: The telling of frightening ghost stories in the cold and dark air on Christmas Eve..
“Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories,” wrote British humorist Jerome K. Jerome as part of his introduction to an anthology of Christmas ghost stories titled “Told After Supper“ in 1891. “Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about specters.”
One verse of Andy Williams’ classic Christmas song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” for instance, clearly says, “There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.”
The season of darkness that begins on Halloween did not end there.. no. no… our distant ancestors were frightened of that impending doom that darkness brought.. we can hang as many lights and gigantic inflatable decorations as we want… the truth is the night is still encompassing. It eats away at us.. it creates turmoil in our serenity..
And, as people do, we adapt.. we adapted in olden times by telling and re-telling ghost stories…
One no better is A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens.
In the spirit of telling ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago, I present for your enjoyment: A CHRISTMAS CAROL.this is the 1935 film Scrooge starring Sir Seymour Hicks in an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This is the first sound version of Dickens’ Christmas classic… It features Hick’s in the role he made famous on the Stage. This version is forgotten in comparison to more popular contemporary versions. But the beauty of the old black and white will inspire that chill to the spine that we all crave during the coldest season of the year..
