Reviving the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, Christmas Ghost Stories gathers spine-chilling classics from Dickens, Gaskell, James, and more, for some late-night Christmas reading.
Long before television specials and festive blockbusters, Christmas Eve was the night of spectres, and it was traditional to share tales of the supernatural and uncanny by the fireside. In this collection of Christmas ghost stories, you’ll find haunted houses, phantom carriages, sinister goblins, and spectral warnings.
These tales were written to be read aloud, to be shared, and to haunt you long after the last candle has burned low. Now gather close and let the shadows grow long. The ghosts of Christmas are waiting to speak, if you are willing to listen.
Reviving the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, Christmas Ghost Stories gathers spine-chilling classics from Dickens, Gaskell, James, and more, for some late-night Christmas reading.
Charlotte Riddell, 1868
When John Lester unexpectedly inherits the long-abandoned Martingdale estate, he and his devoted sister Clare find themselves lifted from poverty into the comfortable life of country gentry. But their excitement soon turns to unease as strange stories surface about the former owner, Jeremy Lester, who vanished mysteriously one Christmas Eve decades earlier.
Dare to enter Martingdale Hall? Read the Christmas ghost story here.
"It was on just such a Christmas as this that Mr. Jeremy disappeared."
An Irish-born writer celebrated for her ghost stories and realist novels, Charlotte Riddell (1832–1906) often set her tales in haunted houses and desolate estates. She was a leading voice in Victorian supernatural fiction, admired for her blending of eerie atmosphere with domestic realism.
B. M. Croker, 1893
An empty London house stands mysteriously unlet, despite its handsome façade. Those who live nearby speak of sinister noises in the night and strange revelries behind the shuttered windows. One sceptical gentleman agrees to spend Christmas night within its walls and discovers that the revelry of the dead is not easily ignored.
Step across the threshold and read the Christmas ghost story here.
"I stooped and looked through the keyhole… and another eye—a very strange, fiery eye—was glaring into mine from the other side of the door!"
Born in Ireland but long resident in India, Bithia Mary Croker (1849–1920) was a prolific author of novels and short stories. Her supernatural tales frequently reflect colonial settings and anxieties.
Marjorie Bowen, 1933
In a ghost story of fine detail and gothic imagination, a genteel houseguest encounters more than prized china in the old-fashioned house, ‘Hartleys’, across the marsh. Bowen’s story is a masterclass in creeping unease.
"Particularly at Christmas—for you can laugh as you like, that is the correct time to see a ghost."
A prolific writer of historical novels and supernatural tales, Bowen—a pseudonym of Gabrielle Campbell Long (1885–1952)—was admired for her gothic imagination.
Algernon Blackwood, 1908
Still reeling from the horrors of a gruesome murder trial, a young barrister eagerly prepares for a much-needed Christmas holiday in the late hours of the evening. But as he packs his borrowed kit-bag, he realises with a creeping dread that the luggage brings with it a presence that will not be ignored. Blackwood at his most terrifying.
"It is difficult to say exactly at what point fear begins, when the causes of that fear are not plainly before the eyes. Impressions gather on the surface of the mind, film by film, as ice gathers upon the surface of still water"
One of the most celebrated masters of supernatural fiction, Algernon Blackwood’s (1869–1951) stories often explore psychological terror and wonder of the unknown. His Christmas ghost stories remain classics of the genre.
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Charles Dickens, 1837
Before A Christmas Carol, Dickens gave readers this comic but cautionary tale. A gravedigger who despises Christmas is carried off by goblins on Christmas Eve, forced to confront visions of his own miserliness. Half grotesque, half playful, it’s an early glimpse of Dickens’s genius for blending social conscience with the supernatural.
"A coffin at Christmas! A Christmas box! Ho! ho! ho!"
One of the greatest novelists of the Victorian age, Charles Dickens (1812–1870) combined social commentary with a deep fascination for the supernatural. His ghostly tales helped cement the link between Christmas and ghost stories in the popular imagination.
Andrew Caldecott, 1947
A schoolmaster returns for a Christmas gathering, only for secrets from the past to re-emerge in spectral form. One of the few mid-century Christmas ghost stories, Caldecott’s tale shows the tradition persisting well into the twentieth century.
"There may be possibilities too in the Christmas cracker if the right people pull it and the motto has the right message…"
A British colonial administrator and author, Andrew Caldecott (1884–1951) wrote ghost stories reflecting the enduring popularity of supernatural fiction well into the twentieth century.
H. P. Lovecraft, 1925
Returning to his ancestral town for Christmas, a man expects cheer but instead discovers an ancient, blasphemous ritual. Lovecraft’s tale is one of his most overtly seasonal pieces, merging gothic festivity with cosmic dread.
"Black gravestones stuck ghoulishly through the snow like the decayed fingernails of a gigantic corpse."
An American writer whose cosmic horror reshaped twentieth-century horror fiction, H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) combined gothic atmosphere with terrifying visions of the unknown.
Elizabeth Gaskell, 1852
One of Gaskell’s finest ghost tales, this story is told by a nursemaid to her charges. Set in a lonely Northumbrian manor on the approach to Christmas, strange music echoes from a broken organ, and ghostly visions begin to haunt the household.
"As winter drew on, I was almost certain that I heard a noise as if someone was playing on the great organ in the hall… yet the organ was broken and ruined within."
Best known for her social novels such as North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) also excelled in Gothic and supernatural fiction. Her ghost stories, often steeped in atmosphere and moral reflection, remain some of the finest of the Victorian era.
Amelia B. Edwards, 1866
A chance encounter between two passengers on a winter train journey sets the stage for this ghostly mystery. What begins as a seemingly mundane meeting soon spirals into a prickling brush with the supernatural.
"They were there one moment—walking in the gaslight—and the next they were gone."
A novelist, journalist, and pioneering Egyptologist, Amelia B. Edwards (1831–1892) wrote gripping supernatural tales alongside her travel writings. Her ghost stories showcase her mastery of suspense.
Hugh Walpole, 1933
In this quiet but devastating tale, a marriage is shadowed by the presence of a dead wife. As snow falls relentlessly outside, it becomes a symbol of grief, guilt, and supernatural intrusion.
"The pale face like a moon-lit leaf, the long grey clothes, and something obstinate, vindictive, terribly menacing in its pose."
An accomplished novelist of the early twentieth century, Hugh Walpole (1884–1941) was also a skilled writer of macabre tales. His short stories are admired for their atmosphere of quiet dread and psychological subtlety.
Discover more ghostly tales in our Fantasy and Horror collection:
Boasting some of the finest supernatural tales ever written these Christmas ghost stories summon spirits from the Victorian hearthside to be retold in eerie tradition on the night before Christmas. From Charles Dickens’ mischievous goblins to Elizabeth Gaskell’s haunted halls, M. R. James’ spectral warnings and H. P. Lovecraft’s nightmarish visions, these haunting stories will make your Christmas Eve unforgettable.
