When we decided we wanted to do a whole Gothic Solstice event, we knew one thing for sure – we wanted to talk about Victorian Christmas ghost stories. We’d talked about them a bit before (and even weighed in on them for the History Channel last year!), but we wanted to do a deep dive… and to show you how they’re connected to Gothic literature!

Christmas used to be THE time for ghost stories, especially in mid-1800s Britain, but most of the time, nowadays, people don’t really associate Christmas with anything scary at all. You’re much more likely to see an elf or a reindeer than a ghost or giant, child-eating cat around the holidays… which, frankly, is a shame because a lot of the old stories are scary, hilarious, bizarre, or all the above!

The one exception, of course, is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which has remained popular despite the declining connection between the holiday and ghosts in general (we’re partial to the Muppets version ourselves… what, it’s REALLY good!) It’s gotten so dire that we’ve heard people WONDER why there are ghosts in the story at all!? Dickens would be crushed, y’all.

To give you a taste of what we’re bringing to the solstice event, we’ve put together a little mini-book of Christmas ghost stories featuring three of our favorites from Dickens, Algernon Blackwood, and Charlotte Riddell. They’re captivating, eerie, and weird… and we absolutely love them.

In case you didn’t already grab it earlier this week, you can click here to download your mini-book now!

Can’t wait for tomorrow and want even MORE ghost stories to tide you over? Check out our earlier post on the subject from 2019!

P.S. You have until TONIGHT at midnight ET to register for our big GOTHIC SOLSTICE event – grab your tickets now if you want to come! And if you can’t make it live, you can always watch the replay!