The Victorian era saw a revival of the Christmas Spirit as well as a surge of curiosity regarding spirits of a rather different nature. Oddly enough, these two fascinations became inextricably intertwined by, in large part, the work of one man, Charles Dickens. Dickens’ seminal ghost story, A Christmas Carol, was not only a hit in his homeland of England, but it also gained significant transatlantic recognition and influence in America.  However, since The Carol is relatively well-known, this project will examine some of Dickens' lesser known Christmas works which he published in both book and periodical format.  Throughout these pieces there lingers a curious supernatural presence which not only harkens back to an older literary tradition, but also reflects the rising trends in popular Victorian practices.  Dickens' fantastically strange, yet decidedly moral Christmas tales earned him a place in both European and American hearts as "the man who reinvented Christmas,"but as time has elapsed over these much beloved stories, so have the spirits - both merry and dreary alike - faded from popular consciousness.

Dickens had not stumbled upon something new by coupling Christmastime with scary ghost stories, in fact this tradition was centuries in the making. The phrase “a winter’s tale,” while most commonly associated with William Shakespeare’s play of the same title, found its origins some time before the playwright of Stratford-upon-Avon decided to make it immortal and was usually used in reference to a story with a supernatural theme. As early as 1589, British playwright Christopher Marlowe makes reference to the telling of winters’ tales in his play The Jew of Malta (Belsey 4). However, there is reason to suspect that these references go back as far as medieval times and the Scandinavian sagas where, according to legend, the “haunting season” begins in December, peaks around “yuletide,” and finally fades away around March (Belsey 5). All of these traditions most likely date back even further to the pagan origins of Christmas where the Winter Solstice was believed to be the day when the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest. Dickens’ story is in part a revival of this tradition of weaving fantastical and sometimes frightening tales around a warm fireside on a cold winter’s night when families had little else to occupy them but their imaginations. Unlike today, where the meaning of this phrase has all but fallen by the wayside, it would have been common knowledge back then that a winter’s tale was comprised of supernatural content. Perhaps this is why A Christmas Carol was so popular, it combines both Victorian sensibility in its moral and sensation in its ghosts.