{"id":730,"date":"2018-12-24T14:37:33","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T14:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=730"},"modified":"2018-12-24T14:37:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T14:37:41","slug":"the-ghosts-of-christmas-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=730","title":{"rendered":"The Ghosts of Christmas Present"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Twelve Apostles on Ilkley Moor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we enter another festive\nseason here in the UK, typically characterised by darkness, rain, drizzle and a\ngeneral sogginess that extends beyond the obligatory serving of overcooked\nsprouts, our thoughts often turn to visions of a land mantled in crisp snow\nheld in the grip of a harsh frost. Sprouts, for some reason, seldom feature in\nthis wintry idyll, possibly because Dickens thought it too cruel to inflict the\nwindy pleasures of this diminutive brassica upon even so poor a family as the\nCratchets. It is therefore to fiction that we habitually turn to seek the\n\u2018true\u2019 atmosphere of Christmas that the British climate so obdurately denies\nus. More often than not, the sought-after shivers are thus supplied not by the\nweather, but by means of the ghost story which, unlike in America, is more\nclosely associated with yuletide than with Halloween. It would seem to be\nDickens himself who is to a considerable extent responsible for this\nassociation, for A Christmas Carol<\/em> is\nby far the most well-known and popular Christmas story if we discount the\nNativity itself, and perhaps manages to encapsulate the essence of the Christian\nmessage more effectively than the four Gospels combined.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC has over the years helped\nto popularise the association of the ghost story with Christmas, adapting a\nnumber of the masterful works of M.R. James for the small screen, as well as Dickens\u2019s\nThe Signalman<\/em> which remains one of my\nfavourite adaptations to this day. As for the James stories, the two screen versions\nthat I find most satisfying would probably be A Warning to the Curious<\/em> and The\nStalls of Barchester<\/em>. When I first saw these, at rather a tender age, they\nmade quite an impression on me, and have remained lodged in the darkened\nrecesses of my imagination ever since. There they lurked for the span of four\ndecades, quietly fermenting and bubbling away, providing part of that creative\nmulch that would prompt me to try my hand at penning a few ghost stories of my\nown which, so it happened, have often clustered around this darkest time of the\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lionel Smallwood, the snobbish\nand dismissive theatre critic who encounters his nemesis in the Minster of\nGrimstone Peverell, would not have been out of place amongst the members of the\nCritics\u2019 Circle who meet their cruel and bloody fates at the hands of a\nvengeful Edward Lionheart, played by Vincent Price in his magnificently\nover-the-top comedy horror Theatre of\nBlood<\/em> released in 1973. That said, it is not some aggrieved actor who\nproves to be Smallwood\u2019s nemesis, but a mysterious guide named Agnes, who seems\nto be something of a fixture whenever the Christmas market returns to her small\nDorset town, and the scent of mulled wine wafts about the market square. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pair of Gothic tales, that in\npart seek to channel the spirit of Wilkie Collins, also possess key scenes that\nunfold over the Christmas period. The first of these linked stories \u2013 At Fall of Night<\/em> \u2013 happens to open at\nthe close of 1843, the same year in which A\nChristmas Carol<\/em> was published, but unlike Dickens\u2019s tale fails to provide\nany message of hopeful redemption. It will have the ladies gasping for breath,\nunfastening their corsets, and reaching for the smelling salts. Its follow-up \u2013\nEpona<\/em> \u2013 possesses a climactic scene\ninvolving the wild riot of the chase in a Boxing Day hunt, at which the\neponymous spirit makes a dramatic appearance in a moment of vengeful triumph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next brace of related stories\n– Old Crotchet<\/em> and its sequel Old Crotchet\u2019s Return<\/em> – possesses as its\nsupernatural setting a venerable and yet modest country pile in the county of\nSomerset during the 1920s. The focus of the events that unfold is the now\nlargely forgotten highpoint of the Christmas season: Twelfth Night, or more\nspecifically Old Twelfth Night. Although the tone here encountered is much\nlighter than that found in some of my other pieces, there are chills to be had\ncourtesy of a couple of spirits, both residents of Hinton St Cuthbert Manor\nthese last few centuries past. At least two female guests have found a certain\nbedchamber more rewarding than they could possibly have expected, whereas the\nother spirit, who views the house very much as her own, takes a distinct\ndislike to any young lady who might cross the threshold of her domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shall now close by wishing you\nthe most merry of Christmases, and a happy New Year. If you should be in the\nmood to read a tale or two from amongst those mentioned above, I hope that they\nshould afford you a few shivers, as well as a few laughs along the way in many\ncases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.E. Bulstrode<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agnes of Grimstone Peverell<\/em> and Old Crotchet<\/em> are included in the collection Anthology: Wry Out West<\/a><\/em>, available from Amazon as a paperback or in Kindle. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Fall of Night <\/em>and Epona<\/em> are included in the collection Uncanny Tales from the English Shires<\/a><\/em>, available from Amazon as a paperback or in Kindle. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Crotchet\u2019s Return<\/a><\/em> is available from Amazon as a paperback or in Kindle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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