’Tis the season … for Christmas ghost stories! In recent years, I’ve been all about bringing back the classic tradition of livening up the winter months by sharing tales of terror. After all, encounters with the spirit world are the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit! You can see some of the seasonally spooky tales I’ve previously recommended here and here. But if those aren’t enough for you, here’s a third round of Christmas ghost stories:
I’ve had ghost stories on the mind lately, and in honor of Women’s History Month, I want to highlight some of the contributions that women have made to this particular genre. Ghost stories in one form or another have been a part of the literary tradition—both oral and written—going back centuries. But the period between the beginning of the Victorian era in the 1830s and the onset of World War I is considered the Golden Age of the ghost story as we know it today. Short fictional accounts of encounters with ghosts abounded in literary magazines and in the form of collected anthologies. Big name novelists and more obscure authors alike turned to writing ghost stories as a fun and reliable source of income in these years, and more than a few of those authors were women. Below are four of my favorites: Continue reading Women and the Golden Age of Ghost Stories
