Christmas Ghost Stories

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Christmas Ghost Stories

1frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:41 pm

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2housefulofpaper
Dic 13, 2019, 8:33 pm

I think there were a further four "Christmas books" after "A Christmas Carol", none as good, which is probably not surprising but not anywhere near as good, to my mind. They either stray too far into sermonising or (reflecting Dickens' increasingly gloomy cast of mind, no doubt) being really quite dark. The Cricket on the Hearth, The Chimes, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain Hey. i seem to have remembered all the titles! (by the way, I think Michael Caine is an excellent Scrooge in the Muppet version).

I have to confess that we don't tell ghost stories in my family and my taste for them, and TV and radio adaptations, date from when I was already in my twenties.

That said, I don't think you can go wrong with the M.R. James adaptations from the 1970s in the "Ghost Stories for Christmas" series. That said, some critics think The Signalman the best ghost story in the language and the adaptation you linked to the best single entry in the "Ghost Stories for Christmas". The revival this century has been a bit hit and miss but A View from a Hill is good albeit it borrows from a couple of those earlier stories.

Thinking about Christmas stories and I get pulled from straight ghost stories to children's fiction and films with a supernatural element. Ghosts may or my not be present. The Amazing Mr Blunden (original novel The Ghosts by Antonia Barber) and The Box of Delights, for instance.

I don't think you can go far wrong reading M. R. James's stories over Christmas. How many have a Christmas setting though? "The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance" has a travelling Punch and Judy show in it. Do they set up their pitch over the Christmas holiday though? "There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard" explicitly references the "winter's tale" that doesn't get told in The Winter's Tale. Neither of these is among James' best, though.

I think you know Robertson Davies' tongue-in-cheek ghost stories collected in High Spirits.

The Folio Society produced a whole volume of Christmas Ghost Stories a few years back. I'll try to upload a picture of the contents page at some point over the weekend.

Quick look at the Radio Times shows 2019 isn't going to be a bumper year for Gothic and spooky broadcasting. We've got repeats of Northanger Abbey (not sure if it's a reading rather than a dramatisation) and an abridged reading of Dracula's Ghost. Eccentric but more promising may be a spin-off from the long-running agricultural radio soap The Archers. Beginning on 30 December "Jim Lloyd (Archers star John Rowe) enthralls an assembly of Ambridge residents with".."three chilling tales": The Room in the Tower, Lost Hearts, The Monkey's Paw (The Archers did The Canterbury Tales (not the whole thing!!) last year.).

3housefulofpaper
Dic 14, 2019, 8:35 am



- here's the contents page for the Folio Society anthology of Christmas ghost stories.

4Rembetis
Dic 14, 2019, 8:39 am

>2 housefulofpaper: The M R James short story 'Martin's Ghost' is this year's new Ghost Story for Christmas, adapted by Mark Gatiss, starring Peter Capaldi - BBC4 on Christmas Eve 10pm. We also have the new 'Dracula' - BBC1 9pm on 1 & 2 & 3 of January.

I agree with you about Dickens' follow ups to 'A Christmas Carol'. My favourite of the bunch is 'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain', which I have read a few times. He subsequently did special Christmas editions of his periodicals 'All The Year Round' and 'Household Words'. There are some great stories there, none better than 'The Signalman', which first appeared in 'All The Year Round' in 1866, the Christmas Edition, with a set of themed stories under the umbrella title 'Mugby Junction' (Hesperus books republished this in 2005).

My family don't tell each other ghost stories at Christmas either. I think this oral storytelling tradition was commonplace in the past, when there was no mass media and many people were illiterate. There is anecdotal evidence for example, that Dickens' Christmas stories were often read aloud by one member of the family to the rest; and that poorer families shared their copies with other families. Indeed, the first Christmas edition of Dickens' 'Household Words' in 1852, was called 'A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire'; and starts: "He was very reluctant to take precedence of so many respected members of the family, by beginning the round of stories they were to relate in a goodly circle by the Christmas fire...". This collection included the first publication of Elizabeth Gaskell's ghost story "The Old Nurses Story'. In 1853, Dickens Christmas edition was called 'Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire.'!

'The Amazing Mr Blunden' is one of my favourite childhood films. I still watch it about every other Christmas. Magical film.

5housefulofpaper
Dic 14, 2019, 12:49 pm

>4 Rembetis:
Thanks for reminding me, also Channel 5 have an adaptation of one of Susan Hill's other ghost stories at some time over the holidays (I just checked and it's an adaptation of The Small Hand, 9:00 pm on Boxing Day.)

I think a number of classic ghost stories (including some on that contents page above) owe their existence to Dickens commissioning them from other writers for his periodicals. He would not write the whole thing but create a frame story where a number of characters could contribute a tale...a tale which would be authored by, e.g. Mrs Gaskell or Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Of course Dickens did also contribute stories himself. The year when the frame story concerned a range of people met with at the fictional railway station of Mugby Junction is where "The Signalman" comes from.

6frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:40 pm

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7frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:40 pm

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8konallis
Editado: Dic 14, 2019, 1:48 pm

In children's books, The Children of Green Knowe is a beautiful Christmas ghost story of the non-frightening kind..

9frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:40 pm

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10frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:40 pm

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11frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:40 pm

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12alaudacorax
Dic 18, 2019, 9:03 am

Oo! So many 'long meaning to's and new 'wanna reads' in this thread. Not to mention old favourites I haven't thought about for years, like the Dylan Thomas in >6 frahealee:

13WeeTurtle
Dic 21, 2019, 2:04 am

>3 housefulofpaper: I just listened to "The Phantom Coach" on Horrorbabble while driving home. Not so Christmasy, but winter for sure, and some new love sweetness.

I am also of the opinion that The Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaptation of the story, after having read the story finally. It might not be the most visually accurate, but it captures the spirit best in my mind. And dang but I can never get those songs outside of my head once I start thinking about them.

"It's the singing of a street corner choir
It's going home and getting warm by the fire
It's true wherever you find love it feels like Chriiiiiiistmaaaaaaaas!"

14frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:39 pm

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15frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:39 pm

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16housefulofpaper
Feb 5, 2020, 7:11 pm

>15 frahealee:

There's often an incredible amount of work that goes into designing film and TV. Scroll back about a month on Richard Wells (@Slippery-Jack) / Twitter for some examples of the work he did on the BBC's recent Dracula.

I haven't read or seen The House With a Clock in its Walls, but I did buy the book as a Christmas present for one of my nieces.

17frahealee
Editado: Jun 21, 2022, 8:39 pm

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