The Valancourt Book of ​Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume Four

The Valancourt Books of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories #4

by Christopher Philippo (Editor)

Victorian-era Christmas ghost stories are associated primarily with Charles Dickens and other British writers, but for this new volume, editor Christopher Philippo has discovered that the tradition of telling and publishing ghostly tales at Christmas flourished in the New World as well. These tales are set in places that are familiar and yet foreign to us—Gold Rush-era San Francisco, old New Orleans, the barren and frozen plains of Iowa and the Dakotas, the early days of the Puerto Rican commonwealth. Like their British cousins, these stories make perfect winter reading by candlelight or the fireside. This selection includes more than a dozen rare tales, most never before reprinted, along with a number of macabre Christmas-themed poems, and features a number of contributions by women and African-American authors.

“He turned and beheld a low black figure, with a body no higher than his knees, with a prodigious head, in the brow of which was set a single eye of green flame like a shining emerald, and with hands and arms of supernatural length.”—Joseph Holt Ingraham, “The Green Huntsman; or, The Haunted Villa: A Christmas Legend of Louisiana”

“There was a crash of the outer door​—then a staggering and uncertain step in the outer room. It approached the sick-room​—the latch lifted​, the door swung open​—and then​—my God! what a spectacle! Through the open door there stepped a figure​, not of Mrs. Hayden, not of her corpse, not of death, but a thousand times more horrible​, a thing of corruption, decay, of worms and rottenness.”—Anonymous, “Worse than a Ghost Story”

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Christmas, Classics, Ghost Stories, Ghosts, Gothic

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2020

About the author

A historical society's website of merely 10 pages was turned by Christopher Philippo into an encyclopedic one of over 750 spanning the 17th-20th centuries. His research about forgotten 19th C. suffragist Caroline Gilkey Rogers secured a grant for a historical marker placed near her former home. He has helped with gravestone conservation in municipal, family, Catholic & Jewish cemeteries of the 18th-20th centuries in New York's Capital District, work recognized in newspaper articles & podcasts & visible from Google Satellite. He wrote the entry on Mad Love (1935) for Horror 101: The A List Of Horror Films and Monster Movies , edited the The Valancourt Book of ​Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume Four, and Five. .

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, as always. The poetry didn’t really do anything for me but the stories are extremely good and all completely new to me.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

full post here: https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/202...

You need look no further than the announcement of "the Best Ghost Story" contest (reproduced on p. 74 in this book) as advertised in New York's Evening World, December 23, 1889 issue to see that ghost stories, "in Keeping with the Christmas Holidays," were alive and well in America. In this book, rather than drawing on the Victorian British tradition of telling ghostly tales at yuletide, editor Christopher Philippo makes the case throughout that the Christmas ghost story tradition was also going strong in America during the same time.

Volume four is a fine mix of stories, ghostly and otherwise, set at Christmas time along with a few poems, Christmas-themed advertisements and holiday-based newspaper articles of the period. As with the best anthologies, it starts out with a bang, whetting the appetite for what follows with Joseph Holt Ingraham's "The Green Huntsman; or The Haunted Villa," a "Christmas Legend" hailing from Louisiana that was originally published in 1841, then later got "an English stamp of approval" in 1858 with its appearance in the Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser of December 24. Throughout the remainder of the book you'll encounter more of the supernatural with werewolves, old Nick himself, a demonic jack in the box, and of course, it just wouldn't be Christmas without ghosts.

I may be wrong since I haven't read every anthology of Christmas ghost stories ever published, but at least in my experience this is the first time someone has taken the time to put together a volume such as this one. Given that I've never seen anything like it before, it is a most welcome addition to my home library as well as a book I'm recommending to everyone. Do not skip Mr. Philippo's informative and excellent introduction, and above all, do not feel badly if you miss out on this book at Christmas time because it makes for great entertainment any time of the year. Nicely done!

[Nina The Wandering Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I wonder even now that I dare describe it—think of it—remember it. I wonder I believed it then, or do now–that I did not go mad or drop down dead. Through the open door there stepped a figure, not of Mrs. Hayden, not of her corpse, not of death, but a thousand times more horrible, a thing of corruption, decay, of worms and rottenness.”

Another Valancourt Victorian Christmas Ghost Story anthology completed! I love that this has become a personal beloved reading tradition for me every winter. This might also be my favorite volume of the bunch after volume one!

Favorite Stories/Poems:

The Green Huntsman by Joseph Holt Ingraham
Worse Than a Ghost Story by Anonymous
The Christmas Ghost by Lucy A. Randall
The Frozen Husband by Frank Ibberson Jervis
The Devil's Christmas by Julian Hawthorne
Warned by the Wire by Louis Glass
The Haunted Oak by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service
Poor Jack by H.C Dodge
A Cubist Christmas by Kate Masterson

[Ends of the Word · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long winter nights, cold evenings around a fire, and an age-old and surprisingly widespread belief that spirits roamed around Christmas… these are the ingredients which likely led to the usage of telling ghost stories during the festive season. In the Victorian era, this tradition took a literary turn. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is, essentially, a work of supernatural fiction, as are the rest of his Christmas books (except, perhaps, The Battle of Life). But Dickens was hardly an exception, and there were myriad authors, some better known than others, who contributed to the genre. This tradition culminated in the stories of M.R. James (1862 – 1936), originally conceived as Christmas Eve entertainments to be read out to friends and later published in critically acclaimed collections. In the 1970s, the producers of the “BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas” series turned to “Monty”’s stories for inspiration, cementing the link between Christmas and ghosts in the popular imagination.

Devotees of supernatural fiction have long been aware of this connection but, for some strange reason (possibly, due to the hype surrounding Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of The Mezzotint for the BBC), it seems to have been suddenly “rediscovered” by mainstream publications around Christmas 2021: from the Guardian to the Spectator, from the History Channel website to the religious journal First Things. In a round-up of “ten best Christmas books”, Esquire deservedly mentions Valancourt Books’ collection of “Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories”. I say “deservedly” because the book featured in the Esquire article is actually just the first of a several volumes of Victorian festive chillers issued by this publisher. The series is currently in its fifth instalment and, along the way, Valancourt have unearthed and revived many forgotten stories by obscure and less-obscure author.

Volume 4, edited by Christopher Philippo, provided me with plenty of ghostly fun over Christmas 2021. Admittedly, Philippo gives a rather generous interpretation of “Victorian”. He does not concentrate on British authors, as the term “Victorian” would suggest, but instead draws material from US magazines and newspapers of the 19th Century, in which a parallel Yuletide custom of ghostly fiction appears to have been equally thriving. It is this American context which made this volume special to me. It is clear, when considering the collection holistically, that US authors were seeking to create (or recreate) a homegrown repertoire of supernatural fiction for a country which was still relatively young. And so, we find the traditions of the ghost story and the wider “Gothic” tradition transplanted to distinctly American settings, from the New Orleans of Joseph Holt Ingraham’s “The Green Huntsman” to Gold-rush era San Francisco in F.H. Brunell’s “The Ghostly Christmas Gift” to Porto Rico in Hezekiah Butterworth’s “Camel Bells or The Haunted Sentry Box of San Cristobal”. It is also interesting to note the multicultural influences at work here, with immigrant Continental traditions providing a distinctly un-English feel to some of the stories (for instance, “The Werwolves” is clearly inspired by French legends on the loup-garou). Apart from Robert W. Chambers, known to aficionados of the weird tale as the author of The King in Yellow, the featured writers practically forgotten, even though some of them (such as Lucy A. Randall and Julian Hawthorne, son of the better-known Nathaniel) were widely published during their lifetime.

Philippo casts his net wide and, apart from the stories, also includes an early example of flash fiction (the surprisingly contemporary-sounding “Desuetude”), verse (including a Jack-in-the-Box-shaped poem by HC Dodge), and perhaps more strikingly, several unusual news items from newspapers of the era, often with a garish element. This captivating and entertaining collection is complemented by an opening essay by the editor and by brief but informative introductions to each of the pieces.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...

[Magdalena Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so disappointed with this volume and I kind of feel cheated, lol, having loved the first three books in this series, which were full of brilliant christmassy ghost stories. Volume Four is just a bunch of forgettable pieces, put together just to make another book - there's no heart, and definitely no christmas spirit (no pun intended, I'm just annoyed). From the start, in the intro, the editor talks how loosely he treats the Victorian period and the set dates and how he actually chose to bend them in order to be able to fit some stories into this volume and call it 'Victorian'. So they're not quite Victorian as the title lets us believe. A half of it is poems, not stories, which is not what you expect from this book and the title. There's also so many stupid fillers/snippets from newspapers about people being shot, which is just plainly unnecessary and has NOTHING to do with the English ghost story tradition. I don't know, or care at this point, whether it's the fact that these are all from North America and Canada, but they're just very random and forgettable. There's a handful of stories here that I enjoyed a bit, but even these were not christmassy. The Volume Four is such a con, and it's such a shame as it seems that the editor/publishers couldn't care less as long as this 'Victorian ghost stories' book sells. Whatever.

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fourth volume in my very favorite book series is of the expected high quality! This one focuses specifically on stories from the U.S. from the Victorian period through World War I, and that did make me resist a little. My reviews and book list show I'm still largely the 19th century Brit Lit best snob I was in college, despite the deeper understanding I have now of the history and the wrongs of the time period. I'm just bringing up to say that once I got over my initial instinct of "ugh, 19th century American short stories!" I liked it a lot. And I think others have instincts like that as well, although it may be from thinking that earlier works are boring, or the language difficult, or what have you. You don't have to read things you really don't like, but it can also be good to get past your snap prejudices.

Anyway, the stories are mostly fairly short, taking place all across the country, (New England, the Dakotas, the Sierra, American occupied "Porto Rico"), and are interspersed with some really fascinating brief articles from real newspapers, about deaths from Santas catching on fire, and especially on people being shot and killed by neighbors when they went to play Santa. I guess this is just our heritage.

Among my favorites are Julian Hawthorne's morality tale, "The Devil's Christmas," which is kind of like a "Twilight Zone" episode, Luke Sharp's "The Blizzard" (whose doomed, in-over-their-head pioneers seem surprisingly realistic for fiction), and Stephen Leacock's "Merry Christmas," in which Santa is suffering PTSD, and questions how Christmas traditions can even continue in the face of tragedy. While still having some genuine humor.

Long story short: I'm a total sucker for a Christmas ghost story at an old English manor house, and this collection is a little different, but equally good for a cold winter night, and offers different perspectives on the times along the way. So definitely recommended for your spooky Christmas bookshelf!

[Niki (nikilovestoread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by far the poorest of the Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Story collections. The short stories and poems were taken from a variety of American newspaper sources mostly and the quality is highly variable. I rated 16 of the 27 short stories and poems at 4 or 5 stars, so there is some I really enjoyed, but quite a lot that I did not. Of course, I generally don't care for poetry and there were a lot of poems included. Honestly, I think British writers may have just excelled at writing ghost stories more than their American counterparts.

My favorites from the collection include:
Worse than a Ghost Story - Anonymous
The Christmas Ghost - Lucy A. Randall
A Sworn Statement - Emma Feances Dawson
The Blizzard - Luke Sharp
Christmas Wolves - Pierre-Barhélemy Gheuse
The Werewolves - Henry Beaugrand
Out of the Depths - Robert W. Chambers
Old Nick and Saint Nick - Wallace Irwin
Merry Christmas - Stephen Leacock

[Eggp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wife has the last word
don't DIY a chimney
ghosts love party games.

[Lady Megan Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, a nice collection, but not as good as the first.

My favorites:

The Green Huntsman by Joseph Holt Ingraham

The Christmas Ghost by Lucy A. Randall

A Sworn Statement by Emma Frances Dawson

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all four volumes, and while I still enjoyed the other three, I feel like this one had better stories. A lot of the stories were very timely, most likely on purpose, and Christopher Philippo chose very well! I loved the added poetry as well.

[Joseph Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume four of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories contains stories, poems, and snippets of news articles from the US and Canada. As I have mentioned in other reviews, I prefer darker horror tales, and this volume doesn't disappoint. I was especially impressed by the truly frightening Worse Than a Ghost Story. Other highlights for me include A Sworn Statement by Emma Frances Dawson, Luke Sharp's bizarre The Blizzard, Pierre-Barthélemy Gheusi's macabre Christmas Wolves, and The Werewolves, a very disturbing tale by Henry Beaugrand.

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing beats volume two! But this is a great entry in this series. This volume features mainly American and Canadian writers, including Stephen Leacock.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some good stories in here. This volume focused on stories from American sources. It was cool to have some of the lonely, frontier twist to winter ghost stories.

I only took off a star because I felt like they didn’t keep it to Victorian time frame.

On the plus side, the last story, with the timeline bumping up into the First World War, was worth it. It was a really special and inspiring voice from the past. The editor tied it in with the challenges he faced putting the collection together during 2020.

[Jesse Stclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't care for the poems (there were quite a few) and I feel like the stories were mostly weaker than the two other volumes of this collection I've read (somehow missed #3 oops). But the editor's commentary is really really informative and fun. I loved the extra newspaper clipping tidbits throughout.

[Ceallaigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You have had, I do not doubt, good reader, more than once that strange, uncanny feeling that there is some one unseen standing beside you in a darkened room, let us say, with a dying fire, when the night has grown late, and the October wind sounds low outside, and when, through the thin curtain that we call Reality, the Unseen World starts for a moment clear upon our dreaming sense.” — from “Merry Christmas” by Stephen Leacock

Aha! The *American* Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories edition! 😅 *Much* more sinister stories, as they take place in the lands newly colonized by the United States—so lots of settler attitudes and racist language—and just generally much more dismal stories than their Irish and British counterparts of the earlier volumes. Still very interesting to read and fwiw the introduction does appropriately address imo the problematic nature of both the content of the stories and the context of their creation by racist settler colonialists on stolen lands so, at least we’re all able to be on the same page about that.

Click here to read my full review on storygraph complete with my full thoughts, further reading suggestions, and favorite quotes!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

CW // racism, genocide, misogyny, settler-colonialism, murder, body horror, child death, gun deaths, fire deaths (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are precious few ghosts in this book of ghost stories. Lots of Vampires and werewolves and evil dwarves, but only like 3 ghost stories. There are a ton of poems and a lot of weird newspaper articles about Christmas Day murders or accidental deaths that have also nothing to do with ghosts. There are two very good stories at the very end. "The Christmas Ghost" by Anna Alice Chapin is an excellent ghost story. And "Merry Christmas" by Stephen Leacock is a heartbreaking story of Christmas during WWI — it is ghost adjacent though not truly a ghost story. The rest of the book you can just skip.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it seemed like the perfect time for reading ghost stories, I was simply not in the mood for reading any short stories. My preference is a novel that envelops me in a good story that I think about between reading. I should learn to read one or two short stories in between books, use them as a palate cleanser. But I won’t. The stories in this collection were a mixed bag: some good, some not so good, and none that had any jump scares.

[Max Mars · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai apprécié le retour des mini-introductions de chaque histoire et l'inclusion de poèmes parmi les nouvelles.

Le ton est un peu moins sérieux que celui des autres volumes et plusieurs nouvelles datent du début du 20e siècle.

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly forgettable stories, including one (The Werewolves) that is egregiously racist. Did you really need to include that one, Valancourt?

[WendyB · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this edition of ghost stories. Not as good as the previous collections and it had these weird bits of old advertising and news items stuck at the end of the stories.

[Gary Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some good/fun stories here and there in this collection, but I guess I'm just not a fan of American writing from this time period.

[Ravenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delighted to find that this collection of ghostly tales and poems are just as wonderful as the others. The last story was extremely poignant, and one of my absolute favorites in the collection.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A completely new kind of read for me & had no clue there was a world of Victorian- era ghost stories as Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is the only one I’ve ever known. This was filled with shorts taking place in this country in a similar time period. I kept thinking, “This is my favorite story,” then would read the next & that became my favorite story. Appreciated the introduction before diving in to this entertaining compilation.