The History of Telling Ghost Stories at Christmas
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
- In this video, I take a look at the history behind the tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas/Yule. How far back does this tradition go? Was it the Victorians that invented it or does it date back even further? Citing the works of Dickens, Jerome K Jerome, Shakespeare, and others, let's delve into the origins of this spooky custom. Is it time that we revive the custom of telling each other ghost stories by the fire on Christmas Eve?
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Recorded in December 2022.
Music by Albert Schofield.
Footage used from the Polar Express, so copyright to Warner Brothers.
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The Jolly Reiver is my new project aiming to preserve and promote the forgotten folklore and history of rural Britain. Primarily focusing on folklore and legends, you’ll not find me trying to deconstruct these old stories or trying to rationalise them with science and psychology. Instead I will present them as they were always told by our forebears, and leave the conclusions up to you. Videos are filmed on location to show you exactly where these stories took place. 
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Hope everyone has a great Christmas! Don’t forget to tell me what Christmas traditions you and your family have! I’ll be back in January with more videos out in the field.
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@@LanaBeautyxo glad to hear it!
Great video, really liked it. Merry Christmas 🎄 and God Bless. 🙏🏻
We have a ridiculous tradition that began one Christmas in the 80s where my dad for whatever reason got everyone in the immediate family a last minute gift of a pair of those thick, grippy-bottomed socks & then just continued doing so every year until one year about 10 or so years ago when he didn’t. Me and my siblings were all very bothered by this and made it known so he got us all some the next day (Boxing Day in the UK but just the day after Christmas here) It may seem really cheesy and insignificant & maybe it is but I love my drawer full of fuzzy socks when it gets real cold outside like it is right now.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes. It is the preservation of the fire." What a lovely turn of phrase!
As a child, I was always more scared of the four Christmas Carol ghosts visiting me if I had been naughty rather than Santa leaving me coal, hence that was more of an incentive for me to be good.
Yuletide blessings my friend.. always great to hear from you.
Cheers man, really enjoyed your Millenniyule chat this year
There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And carrolling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
This video has such a cozy vibe, and what a lovely fireplace! We'll definitely be telling ghost stories this Christmas, and the only screen in sight will be a fake fireplace video on the TV--wish we had a real one!
glad you liked it mate
It’s tradition for me to watch or listen to M.R. James’s Ghost Stores for Christmas on Christmas Eve. The ones narrated by Sir Christopher Lee are very good.
I agree we all need to switch of our modern devices at least once a year and connect with each other through ghost stories. As a European born national for me this tradition was particular rooted in Santa Clause and his helpers as well as attending church with other children during the cold darker seasons. I never forgot the experience of sitting together and seeing and hearing the sound of thunder and rain reflected through the huge colour glass paneled windows of the church at night. Indeed on a deeper level the winter ghost story tradition is rooted in the preservation of fire in the cold climates. On a biological level we are talking about our kinesthetic modality to feel the sense of touch in relation to feeling warm and cosy around others. The wild hunt tradition seems very influenced by the experiences related to living with and riding on wild animals during the dark winter seasons. I can almost feel the warmth and fear and smell the pheromone coming from the wild animals as if being there when I see these experiences depicted in paintings.
Great video. Thanks for mentioning the Spirit of Yule book!
We've been reading it to our little one this past week, he loves it!
In the recent years I've come across the writings of M.R. James, a scholar who became famous for telling his ghost stories to his students around Christmas time. It was his students who suggested he publish his stories which have become classic horror stories. Seriously there are any number of anthologies that have at least one M.R. James stories included in their collections.
James was the greatest of the writers of ghost stories. Check out LeFanu, the Benson brothers, H R. Wakefield and others of the early Twentieth Century.
My family has brought back this tradition. Every Christmas Eve my father and I each prepare a scary story to share with the family. It's proving a fabulous idea. Each year, more and more people want to join in!
Instead of "Elf on a Shelf" we have "Yorick on a Shelf". Christmas hat on top of his skull. It's quite tatty now. We've had him for over 40 yrs now. For the little ones of our house hold we like to play "Where's Yorick?" My Da always gives them clues. Winner gets to choose which chocolate we all should eat and they have first dibs. We loved this video. Have a awesome Christmas!✨🎄✨
Thank you!
my pleasure
I love this, when my daughter is a little older I will be starting this tradition.
spooky yet cozy, as Christmas should be!
Such a beautifully blended video. I remember my nana and Aunty telling us ghost stories on Yule eve..We'd all sit 'round the coal fire listening,while our Yule tree sparkled. Those were magical times.Sadly as older generations faded,so did this intermittent tradition. Thank you for this well needed video. Yule blessings to you and yours 🎄
Ty for promoting our tradtions!
I went into the woods last night while walking my dog, thought I saw a white spirit ahead...got too scared...went home..should have gone deeper so that I may have had a spooky story to tell.
As I watched this upon Christmas Eve is felt rather appropriate. Certainly a tradition I wish to revive when it's in my power to do so.
I found your channel earlier this year and I love it. We don't really have a Christmas Eve ghost story tradition here in Ireland as far as I'm aware of but we do love ghost/supernatural stories. My grandad used to be very fussy about tidying and sweeping the hearth after everyone went to bed as he said the 'spirits' would come and sit there when everyone else was asleep! I always found that a bit spooky and amusing at the same time. Wishing you a very happy Christmas/Yuletide from Ireland!
I was looking forward to this one, ghost stories are always a great evening past time in the days before and after Christmas. I highly recommend the M R James dramatisations freely available on RUclips.
Also - brewing a Yule Beer has been a tradition since I started home brewing almost 20 years ago, start the brew in October and let it get nice and cold in the barrel in the winter weather.
Thanks Reiver 👍🏻 Cheers all 🍻
sounds great mate!
I agree! I'll happily do my part to revive this tradition, beginning this year.
Excellent, thanks.
cheers man
In a 21st century sense this tradition hasn't really died out for me & my family. We've always watched a Christmas ghost story late at night on Christmas Day after the more easily scared relatives have gone to bed.
This has now inspired me to look up old Christmas ghost stories and try to memorize them for my Christmas/ Yule party with friends.
This is fabulous. It's raining with sleet mixed in, and cold, cold. It's so nice and cozy. Thank you 😊💓 OH, I love that sweet little music box ❤🥰❄
i used to have one of those glass candle windows ! :) love the "ghost stories for christmas" my fave is 'a view from a hill" and "the ash tree"
I found the introduction to these stories very refreshing. I think old fashioned traditions are so important most of them are really intriguing. A bygone time which is so different to our fast digitised life I always look for Christmas ghost stories every year. I always will. That’s my tradition and I love it.thank you to everyone who gives me so much pleasure at this time of year and certainly throughout the year as well.
My mom would read the Night Before Christmas to us every year. I personally love reading and listening to ghost stories around this time. Scary Stories to tell in the dark books are my go to books.
Enchanting, happy Yule🌺
A beautiful, thoughtful video with an important call-to-action. I couldn't agree with you more. Can't wait to follow your adventures in 2023. All the best Reiver. Cheers, Kitty.
Thanks for a wonderful video. My son and myself will be having a fire at the end of my very long garden Christmas eve and I'll be holding court with ghost stories,
Thanks to you.
It's an interesting point you made with Charles Dickens and his most famous of tales in that he might be the one that did revive the tradition in a literary sense because its was he, and not his publisher, that insisted on his book being printed with colour picture leaves so as to enhance the tale.
...so I'm told! It might just be another tale!
Cheers.
:-)
when in his 30s charles dickens lived in ipswich town in suffolk for 3 years and the part in bleakhouse where a person dies from spontaneous human combustion was actually based on real events from 30 yrs before dickens was born when a woman was found dead from shc on a road called rope walk in ipswich town centre
fantastic video! as a ghost story lover i couldn't agree more that we need to revive the tradition of telling ghost stories around christmas. looking forward to watching your new videos. have a wonderful christmas and new year.
Merry Christmas and have a happy New year. Your videos are a welcome respite from the madness of clown world. Thanks for making them.
Fantastic overview of a tradition that I would love to see make a resurgence. Also wonderful to see a mention of Jerome K Jerome, a son of Caldmore, Staffordshire of all places.
A Merry Yuletide/ Happy Christmas and a splendid new year to you; I can't wait to see all that's going to be coming from your revamped project in the coming year(s)!
Loved this one!!
Merry Christmas!
Hope you and your family have a happy Christmas, Reiver. And a wonderful new year.
cheers mate, hope you did too!
Very comfy video, I'm quite jealous of your fireplace lol and its five clocks
Loved this merry video my friend 😊👍👍 I love a ghost story at Christmas🎄..…you are talented story teller indeed! 👏👏👏👏👏😊
Excellent work, as always. Merry Christmas to you and yours. I might record a ghost story myself one of these days...
cheers man, I hope you do!
One of our Christmas traditions is to watch Chas ‘N’ Dave’s Christmas knees up while we decorate the tree! 😅
Wonderful video and narration. Im glad you made a whole episode on Christmas ghost stories. While growing up I always wondered why the Christmas song, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”, mentioned telling scary ghost stories. Has anyone heard of an old belief that on Christmas Eve no ghost would be allowed to haunt anyone so one could tell a good scary ghost story and be able to sleep securely that night knowing they would not be haunted?
Again, enjoyed this video very much!
I read A Christmas Carol every year. My family knows it well.
LOVE The Miniatures Music Box and Video was Lovely!!😊💖 Fondest Memory of Christmas is Decorating Tree w/Homemade Ornaments!😇💖🎅🤶🙏💖
You look very cozy there bro😉all the best from Liverpool dude👌🏻dig ya storys and your narrative creation,well in lar✌🏻
Hello Jolly Reiver - watching your video in December , 2023. Just in response to your Call to Arms : I´m an Oral Storyteller ( working in English ) living here in Madrid , Spain and have hosted Halloween Stories and , just now , Christmas Stories at The Secret Kingdoms Bookshop , Madrid. best to you from Simon Talbot.
Fantastic video Reiver. That tea looked a bit peaky mind.
This is something I've noticed too. We used to spend so much time talking at family gatherings before there were as many screens in the room as people. And it wasn't long before talk turned to the supernatural. I second your proposal that we try to reinstate this tradition. I love an M.R. James story at Christmas. Do you have any favourites?
Anyway merry Christmas to you and yours friend.
Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed. I must say that Dickens remains my favourite, looking forward to discovering new ones as the years go by though! Hope you had a good christmas
I love your channel. Amazing work
I just discovered your channel. Love your videos my friend. M R James are my favourite ghost stories. If you go on RUclips you can find the adaptations of his stories in the 1970s ghost stories for Christmas series. A warning to the curious, Lost Hearts and Whistle and I'll come to you, are all absolutely brilliant.
The Tractate Middoth, Count Magnus and Number 13 are my favorites. Number 13 is set in England instead of Denmark but it's still well done. There is a version of Canon Alberic's Scrapbook set in modern time but still excellent.
Another excellent video, thanks!
Merry Christmas, Jolly Reiver! Thanks for the video
My Mum, my great-grandparents, and my Nana, and Papa always used to me ghost stories when I was little. Seeing as I’m part of generation Z, the tradition hasn’t yet quite died out.
My family is far too vanilla to enjoy Christmas ghost stories, but in recent years I have felt a strong pull to read H. P. Lovecraft's "The Festival" before falling asleep on Christmas Eve, so much so that is has become my own personal tradition. I didn't know that the telling of ghost stories was an English tradition, although I should have been able to figure it out from reading _The Turn of the Screw,_ where the frame story involves the telling of ghost stores on Christmas Eve.
When I was younger and in the SCA, the high point of the year was the Twelfth Night party, although living in the 20th century we would have to make do with the Saturday night closest to Twelfth Night. It's unfortunate that that is another tradition that is fallen by the wayside.
Happy Christmas.Enthralling as ever. Gustav -nice touch.
There's no Christmas without Alistair Sim. No other actor has come close to capturing that transformation. Also, my ghost at Christmas is my dead, empty wallet!
Yes I agree. I just watched his Scrooge film last night on line. I watch it every year at this time. He is just brilliant in the part. As you say no one can touch him as Scrooge.
I definitely agree!! Most of us are so used to the story of _A Christmas Carol_ that we forget what a terrifying experience it would be. Unfortunately it is difficult to find Sim's version on either American TV or streaming services and I hadn't seen it in years. Last night I finally found it on RUclips, and not only does Sim do the best job of imparting the sheer terror of being confronted by the four spirits, it is the best overall movie version of Dicken's story that I have seen.
Awesome 👍!
Do you have any recommended collections of Christmas ghost stories?
Enjoyed this, great work
Great video love a good ghost story at Christmas time. Best wishes for the new year 👻 ✨🕯🎉
Lovely video Jolly Reiver and absolutely love your beautiful fireplace. Best wishes and Merry Christmas to you and your family, and thank you for exploring this wonderful tradition.
AWESOME 😎👍!
Happy Christmas pal 👍
Alright, well done!
Thank you for this, and happy spooky Christmas!
Bella L
Great nostalgic history is family heritage. The city dweller sounds like the evil one, not respecting people's culture. Honor and respect ancestors customs, rituals, and observances. It's community folk art being passed down It's also very creative.
Absolutely lovely video.
You mentioned the BBC's Ghost Stories for Christmas, but I wondered that you didn't mention M.R. James, writer of probably the finest (many of which the BBC dramatised). Check him out if you haven't
Gather around the fire on Christmas eve and tell ghost stories for when the clock strikes midnight it is Christmas and no ghost nor spirit may touch you on Christmas day.
Cool music box!! Where did you get it, please? Or who is made by?
❤
All very well for countries in the Northern Hemisphere where it's the dead of Winter, but here in Australia, and across the "ditch" in New Zealand, we're into Summer where temperatures can climb way up beyond 30 degrees Centigrade(over 100 degrees Fahrenheit), the last thing we want to be doing is sitting around any fires!....... *NO, THANKS!!!*
Well, this was superb. As a Pagan, I am a great believer in Yule and
in the Old Ways. I have so much to say...this has presented, to me, the
true spirit of Christmas. Will you do a tape on Samhain?? There is
much to explore there.
AAAAH !! THE CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES ITS NOW SWITCHED TO " HALLOWEEN" !!!! AN AMERICAN IMPORT !! THANKS FOR YOUR'S . FROM, U.K. (2023).
you have a lot of clocks!
I've always suspected that you tell ghost stories at Christmas because it would be too dangerous at Samhain, but safer after the sun has turned back. It's still a dark time, darker in those days, but the Christ--or the sun has been reborn.
My Christmas tradition is to watch Simpsons with my hot Geordie boyfriend
this channel makes pure chad content keep it up
Aha thank you