A Ghost Story for Christmas

These ghost stories have nothing to do with Christmas, as a warning to the uninitiated. British tradition just happens to place their telling of haunted tales around the darkest nights of the year. Both Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein include images of ice and snow.

These stories, though, were mostly written by the relatively obscure-to-Americans, turn of the 20th century horror writer, M. R. James (the temptation to call him Mister James is strong). At least the earlier episodes from 1971-1976. I had been wanting to see The Signalman for quite some time, so I'm pleased Shudder has these for the Christmas holiday season. BBC is apparently running the same episodes concurrently.

These aren't "scary" but are atmospheric and are meant to appeal to the sort of people who believe unexplained incidents and the presence of the supernatural might be real. I thought The Stalls of Barchester was creepier than The Signalman, but YMMV. I have actually seen Stigma before, and it's more like an indie feminist folk horror art film.

SPOILER: The "baby heads" in The Ash Tree are kind of ridiculous, but I can see what he was going for. Infants can be perceived as vampiric and draining.

Wow. M. R. James has been lost to time but now I found him. These stories with familiar faces from Harry Potter and game of thrones are are subtle masterpieces. We were watching the new season of Dalgliesh and stumbled upon this gem as we were trying to to saver the power of Bertie carvel. These short yet intricate stories reminded us that a ghost story told well is a bunch like a great detective story. Show made me want to write and write and write. James influenced lovecraft who influenced king who influenced me. This series is definitely worth your time if you love great storytelling. True magic lies in a well told tale.