Why Graves, Goblins and Ghosts belong to Christmastime

It was Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ that kickstarted an avalanche of festive ghost stories

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

During the festive season (technically, it’s still the Twelve Days of Christmas, the feast of Candlemas on 2.2 traditionally marking the cutoff point for Christmas!), I like to read A Christmas Carol. It’s a two-tiered pleasure because I know the moment I flip the last page, it’s cinema time. Cocooned in a velvety blanket, steaming mug in hand, I default to the classic Disney version, starring Mickey as Bob Cratchit and Scrooge McDuck (who else?) as Ebenezer Scrooge. You’ve probably got your own go-to versions, like the 40ies rendition or maybe the one starring the Muppets.

Whatever your preference, I’m sure we can all agree on one thing-none of these adaptations are terrifying.

Yet the story, as Dickens envisioned it, certainly is. We just tend to get backtracked by the sentimental elements, such as the descriptions of good food, games, dances and family fun. But A Christmas Carol isn’t just the grandfather tale of cozy fiction-it’s also a story about the great beyond and our existential horror in the face of said prospect.

Consider these lines:

Marley’s face. It was not in impenetrable…