Moon Mausoleum
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
Why did we stop telling ghost stories for Christmas? In the olden days, it used to be a tradition to gather around and tell each other ghost stories in Victorian England. Often set in cold and dark castles or somewhere far remote in the cold icy night. Here are some perfect short stories you can read for free, perfect for Christmas time.
Why did we stop telling ghost stories for Christmas? In the olden days, it used to be a tradition to gather around and tell each other ghost stories in Victorian England. Often set in cold and dark castles or somewhere far remote in the cold icy night. Here are some perfect short stories you can read for free, perfect for Christmas time.
The tradition of telling ghost stories during Christmas times is an old one, especially during the Victorian era Big Britain and northern Europe. Big names like Charles Dickens with his famous “A Christmas Carol” is one example.
Today many of these classics have fallen into the public domain and are free to read and share for everyone. Here we have collected some horror or ghost stories that are set in Christmas times and perfect for the dark and snowy evenings.
First published in 1820 in Irving’s masterpiece, The Sketch Book, The Christmas Dinner is a charming tale by the great American writer behind such timeless classics as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Painting the scene of a Christmas dinner spent at the table of Bracebridge Hall, a countryside manor, the merry songs and stories of the dinner table echo with jollity of Christmases long past. A charming yet melancholic tale where the narrator joins a traditional English Christmas dinner at an old country house, filled with merriment, ancient customs, and the bittersweet shadow of absent loved ones. A ghostly warmth rather than outright horror.
First published in 1820 in Irving’s masterpiece, The Sketch Book, The Christmas Dinner is a charming tale by the great American writer behind such timeless classics as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Painting the scene of a Christmas dinner spent at the table of Bracebridge Hall, a countryside manor, the merry…
One of James’s lesser-known but fascinating tales — set at Christmas, it’s presented as a series of letters about a disturbing Punch and Judy show, a mysterious disappearance, and a spectral visitation on Christmas Eve. It first appeared in print in the June 4, 1913 issue of the magazine Cambridge Review. It was published again in 1919 as part of the anthology A Thin Ghost and Others.
Christmas Re-union is a short story found in the collection NOT EXACTLY GHOSTS by Andrew Caldecott, upholding the old tradition of christmas ghost stories. This is a bit of a newer publication and were published in 1947. During a holiday gathering, old family secrets surface, leading to a sinister revelation about a long-dead relative — and a chilling presence that suggests some sins don’t stay buried.
Christmas Re-union is a short story found in the collection NOT EXACTLY GHOSTS by Andrew Caldecott, upholding the old tradition of christmas ghost stories. Published in 1947
In this chilling tale by J. S Le Fanu, the death of a corrupt church sexton on Christmas Eve unleashes supernatural events in his churchyard—as though his spirit lingers, disrupting the holy peace. First published in 1871.
A ghostly card game? During Christmas times? Yes! Charlotte Riddell was a well known writer of her Victorian times, at least, her stories was as she published them under a mans name. This one was published in 1863. Siblings inherit a haunted estate and, on Christmas Eve, witness the ghostly reenactment of a long-forgotten murder, finally revealing the truth behind a century-old disappearance.
A ghostly card game? During Christmas times? Yes! Charlotte Riddel was a well known writer of her Victorian times, at least, her stories was as she published them under a mans name. Published in 1863.
Set on Christmas Day, this Gothic moral thriller follows a man who murders his way into an antique shop, only to be visited by a mysterious figure—perhaps a devil, perhaps a savior—who challenges his soul’s darkest impulses.
Between the Lights is a short horror story published in 1912. Between the Lights is a part of a short story collection “The Room in the Tower and Other Stories” also published in 1912. At a Christmas house party, a man recounts a vivid vision he experienced during a game of hide-and-seek — of a formless, malevolent figure moving in the gathering gloom, blurring the line between memory and premonition.
Between the Lights is a short horror story published in 1912. Between the Lights is a part of a short story collection “The Room in the Tower and Other Stories” also published in 1912.
At a cozy inn on Christmas Eve, guests trade spooky stories—until a real, bloodstained intruder named “Jerry Bundler” appears, turning festive warmth into true fright.
The Kit-Bag by Author: Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) This is from “Pall Mall Magazine”, December 1908. A legal clerk preparing for a holiday getaway finds himself tormented by the spectral presence of a hanged murderer whose belongings — including the titular kit-bag — may still carry his restless spirit.
The Kit-Bag by Author: Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) This is from “Pall Mall Magazine”, December 1908.
Set in snowy Ukraine on Christmas Eve, this folkloric tale follows a trickster devil who wreaks havoc in a village while a young man seeks to win his beloved’s heart under supernatural influence.
The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain is a novella by Charles Dickens first published in 1848. It is the fifth and last of Dickens’s Christmas novellas. The story is more about the spirit of Christmas than about the holiday itself, harking back to the first in the series, A Christmas Carol. The tale centres on a Professor Redlaw and those close to him. A somber professor makes a Faustian bargain to forget his sorrows, but soon realizes erasing grief means erasing compassion, as a ghost teaches him that sorrow is essential to humanity.
The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain is a novella by Charles Dickens first published in 1848. It is the fifth and last of Dickens’s Christmas novellas. The story is more about the spirit of Christmas than about the holiday itself, harking back to the first in the series, A Christmas Carol. The tale centres on a Professor Redlaw and…
The Portent of the Shadow or just The Shadow is set during a Christmas gathering of friends, one guest tells of a terrifying, supernatural encounter involving an otherworldly shadow that leads to madness and death. Classic Edwardian Christmas ghostliness.
This is a christmas ghost story by feminist writer Elizabeth Gaskell. The main themes of this story are patriarchal power, aristocratic pride and the repression of women. It is a story of abuse,- physical violence and mental cruelty. As with all Gothic stories, the protagonist is taken out of mainstream culture into an isolated world which becomes terrifying .A nurse recounts a chilling memory from her youth when she and her young charge encountered the restless ghost of a banished child on a snowy Christmas Eve, doomed to roam the grounds of a crumbling mansion.
This is a christmas ghost story by feminist writer Elizabeth Gaskell. The main themes of this story are patriarchal power, aristocratic pride and the repression of women. It is a story of abuse,- physical violence and mental cruelty.
Horror: A True Tale is a short story written by John Berwick Harwood in 1861 for Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine and is a perfect example for a classic Christmas Ghost Story from Victorian times. A traveler spends a winter’s night in a desolate room where an unseen, oppressive horror presses close in the darkness — a disembodied presence that leaves both physical and mental scars.
Horror: A True Tale is a short story written by John Berwick Harwood in 1861 for Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine and is a perfect example for a classic Christmas Ghost Story from Victorian times.
During her short lifetime Buisson published one novel, Put to the Test (1865), Her second novel, A Terrible Wrong: A Novel (1867) and short stories were published after her early death. Various of her writings appeared in Belgravia, a magazine edited by her friend the novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. This is were the short story The Ghost’s Summons were published in 1868. A doctor receives a midnight summons to attend a dying man, only to discover his mysterious caller was already dead — a ghost ensuring justice is served from beyond the grave.
Ada Buisson (26 March 1839 – 27 December 1866) was an English author and novelist remembered today for her ghost stories.
During her short lifetime Buisson published one novel, Put to the Test (1865), Her second novel, A Terrible Wrong: A Novel (1867) and short stories were published after her early death. Various of her writings appeared in Belgravia, a…
A Christmas party game of hide-and-seek takes a sinister turn when one player unwittingly hides with a ghost — a pale, silent figure whose tragic story is revealed too late.
Smee is a short story by A.M. Burrage, telling the haunting ghost story of a group of people playing hide and seek in a house were a girl died playing the very same game.
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