Winter is a scary time of year. The days grow short, the nights grow long, and the world goes through a strange transition as living things tunnel under the earth and prepare for their rebirth in the spring. While the earth may look dead on the outside, it is in fact teeming with change, preparing for the new life to come once the snow has thawed.

The Winter Solstice—the longest night of the year—occurs on December 21, just a few days before Christmas. Many use this period of time to reflect upon their shadow selves—the darkness that lies within. For many more, these days represent the unseen, the unknowable, and the supernatural. The longest, darkest night of the year is the perfect time to talk about ghosts.

But why Christmas ghost stories?

In days before electricity and widespread literacy, people’s work days would be cut short by the encroaching nights, and they would gather around the fire for warmth and tell stories to keep themselves entertained. And, of course, the dark cold nights were the perfect time for ghost stories.

While so many oral traditions have been lost through time, the Christmas ghost story has not, thanks in large part to the Victorians. Improvements in printing and increased literacy sparked widespread publication of ghost stories around the holidays, and the public gobbled them up. But this love for the macabre didn’t just stem from the Victorian’s memories of telling ghost stories in the past; this was a time of great technological change, and people were fearful of what that meant for God and country. Remember, this is also the time period that produced classics such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. So it’s no wonder that the industrialized population would gobble up ghost stories alongside their Christmas goose.

And how about today? Why do we still crave scary stories this time of year? The reasons have not changed, and we are still as human as our ancient counterparts. We know the world is changing, transitioning from life to death to life again. We feel the chill in the air. We see our breath in the dwindling sunsets. And we know, next to the twinkling tree and the glittering presents, the shadows, and the ghosts, are near.

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If you choose to listen to this episode, be forewarned: this episode may not be suitable for everyone. These real Christmas ghost stories that we are about to share contain stories of death, dying, childhood trauma, and giraffe urine.

Listen right here:

Or, watch this episode on YouTube:

Why are ghost stories such a big part of Christmas?

Because it’s the spookiest time of year! At least in the Northern Hemisphere, where the nights are at their longest. Winter is here. Days are short. Nights are long and dark. People gather together by the fire for warmth. Is it any wonder that this is a prime time for oral storytelling, especially ghost storytelling?

But, we can thank the Victorians for really making Christmas ghost stories, even real Christmas ghost stories, a time-honored tradition.

During the Industrial Revolution, people moved en masse to the cities. In these unfamiliar environments, Christmas became the commercial enterprise we know it as today.

More people purchasing things also meant more people looking for things to read. Serials and periodicals of the day took advantage by churning out stories as quickly as they could. Ghost stories have always been an easy sell. They’ve got the shock value of good entertainment, and they work well in a short story format.

Victorian printers capitalized on this format to deliver spooky stories to city dwellers already caught up in a buying frenzy. And those individuals in turn began to share their stories to family members during the dark nights of holiday celebrations.

Are ghosts more prevalent in Florida?

Our first story we share in this episode takes place in Florida. And, well, we seem to have a lot of true ghost stories that take place in Florida.

One explanation for Florida’s penchant for hauntings comes from just how strange the state is. For some reason, weirdness and hauntings go hand in hand. You could say all that energy from a diverse population causes a breeding ground for ghosts.

Secondly, Florida is mostly surrounded by water. In fact, a good portion of the state sits right at sea level. And marshlands, lakes, rivers, and swamps pervade most of the state. Many paranormal investigators will tell you that water charges and amplifies ghostly activity.

For Becky and Diana, however, Florida is one of the many places they have called home. And maybe the combined energy of our hosts living in this state helped open a few more portals. We shall never know for sure.

Call it what you will—Florida is haunted AF.

Some of our haunted Florida episodes:

• Sidetable Man Don’t Eat Me!
• It Came Up the Drain!
• Ghosts on Camera
• They Have Their Hooks In You
• You Know An Urban Legend Is From Florida If It Involves Beer Disappearing at Night
• The One Who Still Waits For Her
• The House of Octagons

We hope you enjoyed these spooky real Christmas ghost stories we’ve shared with you today! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a spooky good night!

The post Butt-Dialed from the Afterlife: A Christmas Ghost Story appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Take a listen to some heartwarming, spooky tales, today on Homespun Haints.

About the Guest: Jim Roysdon

Jim is the host of The Innovator Club, a podcast described on the podcast’s website as “a place for innovators to come together, converse, brainstorm, and bring about new innovations in business processes, manufacturing, technology, governance and more.” To listen directly to episodes, visit the podcast site at https://the-innovator-club.buzzsprout.com/

Christmas Ghost Story Episode Summary

In this Christmas ghost story, Jim has what he describes as a “living ghost story,” centered around a conversation he had shortly before his late father passed away. Rather than give too much away on this one, we’re going to just have to tell you to listen to it. You’ll be pretty amazed at this one.

The second story in this episode features a haunted castle in Scotland, where Jim, his wife, and their friend are visited by some former (dead) residents. Because, if you stay in a haunted castle, the ghosts just come with the booking fee.

Lumley Castle

The owners of Lumley Castle do not shy away from its haunted reputation. In fact, the hotel website itself has a page describing Lily Lumley, the “vengeful” ghost that still haunts the castle halls. It seems the ghost that Jim encountered, however, was certainly not vengeful. In fact, she seemed almost comforting. Who she is we may never know.

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post A Christmas Ghost Story appeared first on Homespun Haints.

During Victoria’s reign in the 1800’s, though, Christmas became the celebration that we know today. But what made the Victorians so good at the Christmas ghost stories and haunted tales? And how did these ghost stories become such an important part of holiday gatherings?

Multiple reasons for Victorian Christmas ghost stories

As with most explanations, it turns out that there isn’t just one. Christmas celebrations took off the way they did partly for economic reasons. Due to the Industrial Revolution, many rural residents migrated into the cities for work. Many people found themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, and they craved the old stories that reminded them of home.

Also, a brand new middle class came about from the transition, and they had servants who were routinely using secret passageways and avoiding detection throughout the house as they worked. They were using gas lamps that produced carbon monoxide and caused hallucinations. It was a perfect setting for some brilliant and pretty trippy stories.

All of that said, it was more than just a massive shift in the population of the cities, a resurgence of the holiday, and environmental factors that lead to the birth of this unique genre of literature. It always comes down to giving the people what they want right? Throughout history, storytelling—particularly ghost stories—has been an oral tradition. For as long as there have been humans, we have been telling each other stories, passing them down through generations and creating lore.

The prevalence of the periodical press, though, gave a new outlet to these stories. Ruth Robbins, professor of English literature at Leeds Metropolitan University says that “publishers suddenly needed a mass of content, and ghost stories fitted the bill – short, cheap, generic, repetitive, able to be cut quite easily to length.”

Christmas is back in fashion. People are creating and consuming creepy stories, especially around the Christmas season when the nights are long and dark and everyone is trapped inside. There is a press that is eager for content, and they’re ready to give people what they want: Christmas ghost stories. And with that, we have the birth of a genre and resurgence of a spine-chilling tradition.

Some Christmas Ghost Stories we recommend:

Here are some of the best creepy ghost stories we could find, and they’re definitely worth the read:

The Kit-Bag
by Algernon Blackwood

A young man works for a prominent lawyer who is in court defending a murderer. Ready for a break, he is looking forward to Christmas. When he asks his employer to borrow a kit-bag for his travels, things go very, very wrong.

The Open Door
by Mrs. Margaret Oliphant

When the narrator’s young son starts ranting about an intolerable that recurs outside their Victorian mansion at night, people begin to think he’s losing his mind. Everyone except his father, that is.

Top Image: Winslow Homer. Christmas—Gathering Evergreens and The Christmas-Tree. 1858. Wood engraving on paper, published by published by Harper’s Weekly. The Art Institute of Chicago.

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The art of telling Christmas ghost stories is a long lost tradition, but we seek to bring it back with this episode. After all, nothing brings families together like scaring one another over turkey and hot cocoa!

Stories in this episode include:

1. The orb that may have been ball lightning but was NOT phosphorescent fungi
2. The kitchen ghost
3. The office ghost that had to use the bathroom
4. The possessed Christmas train
5. The little girl ghost who caused mischief,
   – OR – Spiders are not taking over the world
6. The radio DJs from the other side
7. A cat named Ella

We hope you enjoy our family’s stories, and maybe you’ll be inspired to start a new, spooky holiday ghost story tradition of your own.

The post The Holiday Ghost Stories Episode appeared first on Homespun Haints.

And maybe it makes sense. We’re with our loved ones. We’re remembering friends and family and talking about our shared histories. When people gather, they tell stories and revisit the past—and of course, we all love to scare each other. But the connection between the spirit world and Christmas time is a little bit deeper than that.

The darkest day of the year

Winter solstice is the darkest day of the year—the time when the veil between the worlds is thought to be the thinnest. Some believe that this may help blur the line between the living and the dead—that spirits may have particularly good access to the living during the darkest day of the year. Christians chose December 25th for good reason—there is a parallel between the pagan celebrations of the death and rebirth of the sun and the birth of a savior. Perhaps the undead were celebrating at Christmas time before there was a Christmas to celebrate.

Our Best Podcast Episodes of Christmas Ghost and Paranormal Stories

• The Holiday Ghost Stories Episode
• The Weirder The Better
• A Christmas Ghost Story
• It’s the Most Scariest Time of the Year
• Butt-dialed from the Afterlife: A Christmas Ghost Story

A very Victorian Christmas tradition

All of this said, Victorian Christmases had a strong tradition of gathering around a fire and telling ghost stories. It’s a tradition that has disappeared from our modern Christmas repertoire of baking and singing and decorating trees, but British literature is full of scary Christmas stories. British humorist Jerome K. Jerome wrote an introduction to an anthology of Christmas Ghost Stories, “Told After Supper,” in 1891. He said that whenever five to six English-speaking people met around a fire on Christmas Eve, they would tell ghost stories. We even sing about the tradition in “The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year,” which contains the line “There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.”

For some reason, of all of the traditions we’ve kept from the Victorian era of Christmas, this is one that has died off. Yule logs, Christmas trees, and carols have all withstood the test of time, but rarely do people sit around those fires and lights and try to scare the pants off of each other.

More About Creepy Christmas Traditions

• Christmas ghost stories and why the Victorian era was creepy AF
• Why do we tell ghost stories at Christmas?
• Have You Been Naughty or Nice?

So, if you should choose to watch A Christmas Carol and spend some time visiting old ghosts, you wouldn’t be the first. And we’re definitely here for a Christmas ghost story resurgence. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a spooky day!

The post The Long Lost Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories at Christmas appeared first on Homespun Haints.