CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY SUGGESTED READING LIST XI (2023)

Christmas is a time for ghosts, and not just those four (including Marley) who paid Ebenezer Scrooge a visit either. Countless other revenants choose the onset of winter’s frigid chill as their moment to exert uncanny influences upon the living. Examples of such unquiet souls are evidenced in many of these festive chillers below.

THE LIST:

1. “The Christmas Banquet” by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1846) – An annual banquet is held for the most forlorn and miserable people walking the Earth. Hosted by the skeleton of its founder, the mix of people seated at the table change through the years, but all are confounded by the presence of a young man named Gervayse Hastings who seems to have everything and no obvious reason for despair. Still, each year he is invited anew. (Found in Christmas Ghosts edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell)

2. “The Demon Spell” by Hume Nisbet (1894) – A man attends a seance at Christmas time and experiences an unusual haunting soon afterwards. You can listen here for free: https://horrorbabble.bandcamp.com/album/the-demon-spell

3. “Mustapha” by Sabine Baring-Gould (1904) – A group of American and British tourist visiting a hotel in Luxor, Egypt decide to replicate their favorite customary Christmas meals for everyone to enjoy. Things take a brutal turn after a brash Englishman named Jameson plays what he believes to be a harmless practical joke on a local Muslim man named Mustapha. This joke forces Mustapha to inadvertently break a vow for which he’d sworn would cause him to cut his own throat. After he follows through on this tragic promise, his spirit seeks vengeance on Jameson. (Found in Horror For Christmas edited by Richard Dalby)

4. “The Gardener” by E. F. Benson (1922) – While vacationing at house near a golf course for the Christmas holiday, Hugh Grainger notices an abandoned gardener’s cottage near a footbridge. Even though it’s vacant, he feels a dark presence lurking around it which eventually produces audible and physical manifestations. Hugh’s wife Margaret uses a planchette to communicate with this grim spirit. (You can listen here for free https://youtu.be/RcBV7DzejTI?si=vFKcGJxerAtDEfLl)

5. “A Christmas Game” by A. N. L. Munby (1950) – A medical student returns home to celebrate Christmas with his family and is surprised to find his father has invited an older gentleman named Fenton to join them for the holiday. His father knew Fenton from years before and upon hearing he had no one with which to spend Christmas, he invited him to join. The family enjoys their time dining, playing games and opening presents until evening arrives and they darken the room for father to tell his annual scary story while objects are passed around to represent gory things related to the story. The game has a surprisingly horrific effect upon Fenton. This is an excellent Christmas horror tale, full of descriptions of festive celebrations as well as terrifying ghostly manifestations. (Found in Christmas Ghosts edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell)

6. “The Rag-and-Bone Men” by Steve Duffy (2000) – In the days leading up to Christmas, a Lithuanian living in London begins to notice eerie, thin figures following him in the wintery streets. He’s haunted by memories of twenty years previous during WWII and the horrible fate of captive Jews in Germany being taken to a place they are told is called Padernice, but it is a place which doesn’t actually exist. This spooky, very somber tale is beautifully written. (Found in Ghosts: Recent Hauntings edited by Paula Guran)

7. “Christmas Wish” by Rose Blackthorn (2019) – Lindsey is a young girl who’s terrified of Christmas causing her to repeatedly wake up screaming in the middle of the night in the days leading up to it. She explains to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend that tiny monsters come muttering into her bedroom during the nights of that season. Believing it’s just her imagination, they both try to comfort her but soon come to realize she was telling the truth. (Found in A Tree Lighting in Deathlehem edited by Michael J. Evans and Harrison Graves)

8. “The Merry Makers” by Paul Finch (2020) – This tale follows a man who has a car accident while attempting to drive to a meeting in the snow on a frigid Christmas Eve. With his car disabled, his cell phone dead, and not knowing where he is, he sets out seeking help and shelter from the cold. He heads toward a place that has light coming from it. He’s granted admission into the house by a mute woman and her odd, older brother. The man of the house says they don’t celebrate Christmas even though everyone thinks they do because the house is named Mistletoe Hall. He appears to be working hard to keep the stranded motorist from leaving before morning. Despite the his initial claims, Christmas is indeed recognized in Mistletoe Hall, only in a horrific, bizarre way. Paul once again proves his mastery of the Christmas Horror Story here. (From Paul’s collection The Christmas You Deserve)

9. “Holly” by Marc Damian Lawler (2021) – On Christmas Eve 1959, Michael Cornish discovers an attractive young woman named Holly Wilkinson lying on the ground with a badly broken leg. After some flirtations, he offers to help her, setting a grim spectral loop into motion. (Found in Christmas Under the Covers edited by Marc Damian Lawler and can be heard here for free: https://www.hypnogoria.com/gl_holly.html )

10. “Aunt Hetty” by John Linwood Grant (2022) – During a Christmas party he’s hosting, a man talks with an old dowager sitting in a corner by herself away from the warmth of the fireplace. She is a distant relative who tells him the story of a tragedy she witnessed in that very hall some 70 years previous during the winter of 1857 when she was only fifteen years old. Her tale is a somber one involving a mischievous cousin of hers who had a psychic connection to fire. This is a well-told, quietly eerie story. (Found In Christmas Gothic Short Stories anthology from Flame Tree Press)

Merry Christmas to all!

Article by Matt Cowan

Previous Christmas Horror Reading Posts:

2022: https://horrordelve.com/2022/12/13/christmas-horror-story-reading-list-x/

2021; https://horrordelve.com/2021/12/13/christmas-horror-story-reading-list-ix-2021/

2020; https://horrordelve.com/2020/12/07/christmas-reading-list-viii-2020/

2019: https://horrordelve.com/2019/12/09/christmas-horror-story-reading-list-vii-2019/

2018: https://horrordelve.com/2018/12/10/christmas-horror-reading-list-vi-2018/

2017: https://horrordelve.com/2017/12/11/christmas-horror-story-reading-list-v-20170/

2016: https://horrordelve.com/2016/12/04/christmas-horror-stories-reading-list-4-2016/

2015; https://horrordelve.com/2015/12/07/christmas-horror-reading-list-2015/

2014:https://horrordelve.com/2014/12/05/christmas-horror-story-reading-list-2014/

2013a:https://horrordelve.com/2013/12/22/christmas-horror-stories-list-2013/

2013b: https://horrordelve.com/2013/11/28/christmas-ghost-stories-reviving-a-dead-tradition/

Sparrowhawk: A Victorian Ghost Story by Paul Finch Review: https://horrordelve.com/2020/12/21/sparrowhawk-a-victorian-ghost-story-by-paul-finch-review/

Appalachian Winter Hauntings Anthology Review: https://horrordelve.com/2014/12/18/appalachian-winter-hauntings-review/