Christmas is the time for a classic ghost story. At least in my mind it is, probably because I can remember the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas always just starting as I was being led up to bed on Christmas Eve as a child. Later I remember reading ghost stories and finding something cosy about them; they weren’t really frightening in any way and I would associate them with the typical atmosphere of being safely snuggled up, the curtains drawn and a fire glowing. In adult life, add to the mix a glass of port and a fine cigar.
Here’s a passage from possibly the classic Christmas ghost story:
‘by this time you will fully understand, sir,’ he said, ‘that what troubles me so dreadfully is the question, What does the spectre mean?’
I was not sure, I told him, that I did fully understand.
‘What is it warning against?’ he said, ruminating, with his eyes on the fire, and only by times turning them on me. ‘What is the danger? There is danger overhanging, somewhere on the line. Some dreadful calamity will happen. It is not to be doubted this third time, after what has gone before. But surely this is a cruel haunting of me. What can I do?’
Can you guess what it is? Clue: if you were a child in the 1970s and were allowed to stay up and watch Ghost Stories for Christmas, think of Denholm Elliott in the role of the troubled man.
Can’t say I’m familiar with that, but I missed the seventies by eleven years. I do agree that Christmas seems to be a time for ghost stories. I’m looking forward to reading “A Christmas Carol.” I’ll probably read it at night.
I remember how, several years back, a friend and I were channel-surfing late one Christmas Eve and came across a cable network showing “The Exorcist.” It was so odd that I actually wondered if it was really Halloween—”The Exorcist” is the last movie I’d expect to find on Christmas Eve. Then I just sat back, watched it, and mulled over things like “irony” and cable station employees who have had a little too much eggnog.
Brandon Saturday December 2, 2006
Horror films are similar to ghost stories in their cosiness, although only to a certain extent. I can happily snuggle up to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee on Christmas Eve, although much less so to The Exorcist, and I dare say cable networks will be showing the likes of Saw and Wolf Creek for seasonal entertainment before long.
Leave it late for A Christmas Carol, it really is the best time to read it. And, talking of Dickens, the passage is from his classic ghost story The Signalman.
Stephen Saturday December 2, 2006
Yes, when I read the passage all I could think of was … ‘Well, I don’t read ghost stories but I WILL be reading the Christmas Carol so I get some points don’t I??
Nessie Saturday December 2, 2006
Yes, points all round. Especially as my clues were based around a 1970s TV adaptation which I can’t expect everyone to have seen.
And I suppose A Christmas Carol is the classic Christmas ghost story.
Stephen Saturday December 2, 2006
