A Very Scary Christmas: Ghosts and Early American Christmas Traditions

Before the holiday season was celebrated with festive lights and cheer, it was associated with ghosts and goblins since Christmas falls so close to the longest night of the year. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is the most famous holiday ghost story, but it was tradition throughout English speaking countries to gather and tell spooky tales on the shortest nights of the year. By the end of the 19th century, the custom was so well known that author Jerome K. Jerome wrote in his publication Told After Supper, “whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories,…

Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about spectres [sic]. It is a genial, festive season, and we love to muse upon graves, and dead bodies, and murders, and blood.”

We invite you to resurrect the holiday tradition of ghost stories with us in this virtual program. We will share spooky stories from the museum’s past, hear from attendees, and call upon the expertise of a professional ghost storyteller.

Please note that this event may not be suitable for young audiences.