Ghost story enthusiasts in the Victorian Era were accustomed to the telling of ghost stories on Christmas night, although the custom of telling ghost stories at this time goes back to long before Ebenezer Scrooge.

According to religious studies professor Justin Daniels at the University of Pennsylvania, “Christmas as celebrated in Europe and the U.S. was originally connected to the ‘pagan’ Winter Solstice celebration and the festival known as Yule. The darkest day of the year was seen by many as a time when the dead would have particularly good access to the living.”