Christmas is usually seen as a time of featherlight, warmth and happiness. However, in Europe there is a long tradition of people telling ghost stories during the holiday season.
One of the most renowned Christmas stories, “A Christmas Carol,” is actually a ghost story. Indeed, a well-received production of Mark Gatiss's play is currently being performed under this title A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story at London's Alexandra Palace Theatre. But what is the psychology behind people who like to listen, read and watch ghost stories during Christmas?
There is one critical reason for this Winter Christmas scenery (at least in the northern hemisphere). The compact days and long nights of winter give us the opportunity to reflect on gloomy topics such as the supernatural.
The stark contrast between our balmy homes and the coolness outside can create a sense of liminal space (from the Latin word gluei.e. the threshold) between featherlight and darkness and between the end of the ancient year and the beginning of the novel one. This may encourage reflection on liminal entities that cannot be easily defined or understood, such as ghosts and ghosts.
The religious themes of Christmas also encourage many people to look into the supernatural. Although for Christians the Christmas story is about the joy of Jesus' birth, the specter of His death and resurrection is never far away.
Many Christmas carols mention Jesus' final death, such as We, the Magi, which describes the Magi giving the baby Jesus a gift of myrrh, an herb used to prepare bodies for burial:
Myrrh is mine, its bitter scent
breathes a life full of darkness,
grieving, sighing, bleeding, dying,
sealed in a stone-cold tomb.
Ghost stories, which often involve themes such as judgment and revenge, are often intertwined with religious perspectives on morality. It was argued that the rise in popularity of ghost stories in the Victorian era was partly due to their attempt to instill Christian values in state-of-the-art secular society, best exemplified by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
The psychology of spookiness
The psychological value of the shared experience of ghost stories should not be underestimated. Outstanding author of ghost stories Mr. James he began telling his stories to students and friends at Cambridge University Christmas Eve parties. Meetings like this create the perfect place to share stories. The thrill and suspense of sharing a spooky story can not only be fun, but can also create a sense of connection and shared identity that, as I showed in my tests can benefit people.
Studies have also shown this collective continuity – the ability to preserve values and ideas over time by passing them on to the next generation – improves well-being. Ghost story telling, like all Christmas traditions, is a clear example of collective continuity.
One way to improve well-being is to support people cope with the prospect of their own death. Terror management theory argues that people cope with the fear of their own death by investing in social groups. Essentially, this allows them to defeat death by being part of a collective that is more eternal than themselves: even after they are gone, the group will remain.
BBC/Adorable Media/Joe Duggan
Ensuring that social groups have robust values and traditions (such as storytelling) maintains this sense of transcendence. Ghost story telling adds an additional layer to this continuity. Overall like a horror moviethese stories allow us to explore our fears and reflections on mortality in a sheltered and supportive environment with like-minded people.
Many ghost stories also involve themes of continuity, such as ghosts from the past contacting people living in the present. Ancient winter festival Christmas (which long precedes Christmas) is strongly linked to the idea of continuity and includes ceremonies to honor ancestors.
So where should you start if you want to delve into Christmas ghost stories this year? You can start with some state-of-the-art examples. Master of ghost stories, Mark Gatiss has been writing Christmas ghost stories for the BBC for several years. Its next version Room in the Towerbased on a compact story by EF Benson, will be broadcast on BBC2 at 10pm on Christmas Eve. Interestingly, Benson's love of ghost stories developed through his attendance at MR James storytelling events in Cambridge.
Gatiss's The League of Gentlemen co-writers Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton also created an excellent Christmas ghost story in Bones of Saint Nicholas. It is part of the Inside No. anthology series. 9 and is available on BBC iPlayer. You can also buy DVDs of classic BBC Christmas ghost stories, including Dickens Signaller and Mr. James Whistle and I will come to you.
There are also excellent anthologies of written Christmas ghost stories, e.g Relaxing news. Wishing you all the best for your spooky Christmas season!
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