A contemporary cartoon showing the Hammersmith Ghost scare of 1803-1804.
Along with Hallowe’en the Christmas period is one of the two great seasonal times for ghosts in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn and winter were long associated in the cultures of ancient Europe with both customary feasting and belief in the return of the dead. Amid the merriment, every generation produces and shares fresh stories of how the dead keep coming back at mid-winter, belief further sustained by a vigorous British literary tradition of fictional tales meeting the annual demands for supernatural thrills.
A case can be made that real experiences of phantoms may peak during the darkest months of the year. Many reasons can be advanced for this. Depending on one’s pre-existing perspective, the case for ghosts being more active can be made on psychological, cultural, psychical and spiritual grounds. Personally, I even wonder if there is a physiological component whereby our bodies and brains may become more attuned and receptive to the psychic realm in periods of prolonged darkness, especially if the mind is relaxed.
What can certainly be said with certitude is that many of the most famous ghosts and hauntings of the last few centuries occurred against the backdrop of the Christmas season, proving apparitions remain on duty through the holidays and may even ramp up manifestations.
On 19 January 1643, the lawyer John Greene of
