Why Christmas Ghost Stories Were Once a Victorian Tradition?
What marketers can take from the tradition?
Imagine Christmas Eve in Victorian England. The nights are long and cold, fireplaces are blazing in parlors across the country, and families — hungry for entertainment — gather together. But instead of cheerful Christmas carols or holiday stories, they share… ghost stories.
True. While today’s festive season is filled with warm lights and fond nostalgia, the Victorians once made telling spooky stories at Christmas a cultural ritual — so much so that magazines published special holiday issues filled with macabre tales.
Why were “ghost stories” once a part of Christmas, and what can this strange tradition teach modern storytellers and marketers about creating memorable narratives?
George Cruikshank. The Christmas Game (The Ghost). Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.
Victorian England: How Ghost Stories Became a Christmas Ritual
So, the tradition of passing on stories with supernatural themes by word of mouth had long existed in Europe, but it was in the 19th century that it gained particular popularity in England. But why did this happen?
The tradition of telling ghost stories was commercialized through magazines. With the advent of steam-powered printing presses, stories no longer needed to be memorized or learned; they began to be published in books or Christmas magazines, where many could read them (as literacy also developed).
In the 19th century, many magazines and weeklies in Great Britain published special Christmas issues — “Christmas numbers” — printed only before Christmas and featuring ghost stories. These were published in the magazine “Household Words” from 1850 to 1858, and then in “All the Year Round”, edited by Charles Dickens, from 1859 to 1867. These issues were more expensive than the standard issue.
Classic Authors and Christmas Ghost Tales Beyond Dickens
In 1863, the first Christmas story in this genre (Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”) was published (combining the Christmas tradition with the “ghost story” genre). Incidentally, it’s one of my favorite Christmas stories.
John Leech’s original illustrations brought Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” to life in 1843.
But it wasn’t his only story; he later wrote a lot about ghosts. He also edited and proofread the work of other authors who wrote in the same genre.
The story was published just before Christmas, on December 19th, and sold an incredible 6,000 copies in a very short time. The book featured many beautiful illustrations created especially by John Leech, and surprisingly, they were in color — a true gem for the time!
Besides Dickens, popular ghost story writers included:
- Elizabeth Gaskell, known for her short, gothic fiction (The Old Nurse’s Story).
- Walter Scott is included in collections of Victorian Christmas horror stories.
- John Berwick Harwood wrote unusual Gothic stories with a mystical atmosphere.
- Ada Buisson wrote ghost stories.
- Ellen Wood loved gothic elements.
- Margaret Oliphant wrote with atmospheric supernatural events.
- A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories, a classic of the ghost story genre, was read on cold winter evenings (though he is a 20th-century writer).
Why Ghost Stories Fit the Christmas Season?
Such stories weren’t so much about fear as they were about learning, morality, reflections on life, memory, and family values. The stories were often tied to the Gothic aesthetic and religious traditions of the time.
For example, “A Christmas Carol” shows how an evil, greedy, and callous person, through an encounter with the ghosts of Christmas (past, present, and future), changes their attitude toward life and others and becomes imbued with the Christmas spirit. The person literally changes overnight. Nowadays, it’s common to tell sweet, saccharine stories at Christmas, leaving scary stories for autumn and Halloween.
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Marketing Lessons From Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories
The history of Victorian Christmas ghost stories exemplifies how an emotional story can become a cultural phenomenon and a commercial product. Publishers printed and sold ghost stories as annual winter merchandise because they knew that emotion, a unifying force, is what people buy again and again.
Holiday periodicals commissioned ghost stories for their special Christmas editions because readers wanted to experience emotion and connection during the darkest time of year — and were willing to pay for it. What gave these stories their longevity was their emotional engagement — the way they brought families together around the fireside, evoking reactions, discussions, memories, and imagination.
This is precisely what successful brands strive for today: creating emotional experiences that people remember, return to, and share. The Victorian editor was one of the first marketers to create mood and meaning — not just text.
When Coca-Cola and other brands create holiday campaigns, they’re not just selling a drink — they’re selling the feelings of warmth, nostalgia, togetherness, and festive traditions that audiences associate with the holiday.
The lesson of Victorian winter nights is simple: stories shape culture, and culture shapes markets. It is the narratives that capture our hearts that transform products into traditions and brands into experiences.
Just as those savvy Victorian editors focused on creating mood and meaning to turn words into a profitable tradition, I’m focused on creating things that are interesting and valuable — not just for reflection, but for enjoyment. I believe in giving people something truly special. Perhaps you’ll find something cute or useful here to brighten your own celebrations? 🦝
Do you love Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”?
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