Once again I ask: "Scary ghost stories" at Christmas?

[mac56]

"It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year".

"There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow..."

Fine. I'm down with all that. But:

"There'll be scary ghost stories....."?!

I've never gotten an adequate explanation for that odd bit of Christmas party planning. Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" is the only one I can think of.

Is it something I've missed out over all these years?!

[MorningGlow]

1. It was a Victorian tradition

Lots of people told ghost stories at Christmas during that era; Dickens' story survived as the most famous.

On edit: "Ghost stories were an integral part of the Victorian Christmas. Read around the fire, they were a popular home amusement in those households that could not afford the expense of the theatre or concert going. Many stories were specifically written for such evening entertainment. The ghostly tales of M.R. James (1862-1936), for instance, were originally composed for reading on Christmas Eve at King’s College, Cambridge; they were first published as Ghost Stories of an Antiquary in 1904. Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) wrote 'whenever five or six English-speaking people meet around a fire on Christmas Eve they start telling each other ghost stories.' "

http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/dec2007.html

[BlueIris]

5. Huh. Didn't know that about M.R. James.

Interesting.

[Aristus]

2. Ever hear of Charles Dickens?

He wrote, not only the most famous Christmastime ghost story, but one of the most famous ever.

[mac56]

7. umm.. you mean the Dickens I referenced in my original post?

Yeah. Heard of him.

[lizziegrace]

3. Christmas Carol

Ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. :)

At least that's my take on it.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. I always was puzzled by that too....

...but yeah, A Christmas Carol and such. I guess. Booo!!!!

[grannylib]

6. My husband and I were just talking about that the other night!

WTF is that all about?? I know it's never been a tradition in OUR family, at least, not until "Nightmare Before Christmas" came along *lol*