Hypnogoria on the Christmas Ghost Story

The fascinating Hypnogoria blog has done an exhaustive overview on the traditional Christmas ghost story and its media adaptations, especially on television. Particular attention is rendered to the haunting and wintry works of two weird fiction masters: M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu. "Ghost Stories for Christmas" is a veritable exhumation of the weird's public face, seasonally appropriate even as this year's prime holidays are being buried.


It is almost equally as thought provoking when considering what the article doesn't say. The migration of the purely spectral weird onto television is the main place it continues to flourish, securing James and other artists a sort of immortality. This comes well after the classic ghost story peaked under James, then blurred into stranger territory, New Weird motifs, and psychological horror with Robert Aickman and his successors. Today, Reggie Oliver is one of the sole literary exceptions who continues to produce tales resembling the classic ghostly model.

In any case, Hypnogoria's post is a stimulating catalog that touches on weird literature and its expansion into new mediums. A real gem amid the rich and growing community of online scholarship on the outre.

-Grim Blogger