Allegedly True Paranormal Stories Revolving Around Christmas
When conjuring up stories of ghostly legends and paranormal encounters, the Christmas season isn't usually what comes to mind. With its tree-filled windows and light-strewn rooftops, Christmas is typically admired as a time for being with loved ones, giving heartfelt gifts, and snuggling up next to a warm fire with some hot cocoa. But what happens when something goes bump in the night and it isn't Santa Claus?
Christmas ghost stories are far more common than many people might expect. In fact, sharing ghost stories from years past was once a Christmas Eve tradition. So before you unwrap any presents, let these scary ghost stories help get you into the Christmas spirit.
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The Legend Of The Mistletoe Bride Haunts England's Bramshill House
The legend of the Mistletoe Bride has been retold for centuries and has taken many forms. While the story's true origin is difficult to determine, many have come to believe its roots are in the disappearance of Lord Lovell's bride at the Bramshill House in Hampshire, England.
Allegedly, Lord Lovell was preparing to wed a young woman related to Sir John Cope, the owner of Bramshill House. This was around Christmastime, so mistletoe hung throughout the mansion, inspiring the wedding party to play a game. The young bride-to-be would hide somewhere in the mansion, the groomsmen would all seek her out, and whoever found her first would get to kiss her. So the bride went to hide, and the wedding party sought to find her. However, the minutes turned to hours, and they still could not find her. Eventually, the game turned terribly serious, as no matter where they looked, she remained missing.
Not until 50 years later did Lord Lovell, still seeking answers to his bride's disappearance, happen upon a secret closet in an upstairs room of the Bramshill House. Inside, he found a wooden chest sealed shut with a lock. Upon opening the chest, he found the nearly unrecognizable remains of his bride.
- Photo: Anonymous / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain2693 VOTES
The Brown Lady Of Raynham Hall Wanders The Passages Every Christmas
The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall has perplexed visitors and paranormal investigators for hundreds of years. Back in the 1700s, owner Charles Townshend married a young woman named Dorothy Walpole. While they lived happily together for some time in Raynham Hall, Townshend soon became paranoid that his new wife was being unfaithful to him. Eventually driving himself mad with jealousy, he decided to hide Dorothy away in the hall, telling all of their friends and family that she had tragically passed.
Dorothy was forced to stay inside the mansion, allowed only to wander through its halls. Not long after, she perished, never having left Raynham Hall after her husband imprisoned her. Ever since her passing, people have witnessed the image of a woman in a tattered brown dress wandering through the halls, and some of these reported encounters are truly horrifying. One visitor, unaware of the Brown Lady's legend, approached a woman in the hall, only to have her look at him "with a glowing face... but where her eyes should have been, there were only empty sockets."
Years later, after numerous other reported sightings, a photographer from Country Life magazine visited Raynham Hall to document it for an article. After snapping a photograph of the central stairwell, he saw within the image a hazy silhouette that many believe is none other than Dorothy Walpole, the Brown Lady.
- Photo: Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005 / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain3498 VOTES
An Old Victorian House Is Allegedly Haunted By An Eccentric Woman Every Christmas
One group of ghosts from the Stark family has created quite a legacy for themselves. The Starks left behind numerous spirits that are now haunting a Victorian home in Ludington, MI, and visitors have reported numerous sightings - particularly around Christmas.
One such specter, Vera Stark, was well known in life for her eccentricities and seems to have brought them with her into the afterlife. Those who claim to have seen her ghost say she appears in the front yard of the home wearing only a fur coat and picking flowers - just as she did in life. In addition, the ghost of one of the Stark daughters - who suffered a terrible mishap in the mansion's gymnasium - can allegedly be seen walking through the halls of the home.
The current owners of the home have even attempted to open it up to historical tours, but they apparently ran into problems: "Our spirits did not care for it being open to the public, and went wild..."
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Alleged Phantoms Plagued A Brooklyn Home During Christmastime
A few weeks before Christmas in 1878, Edward F. Smith was at his home in Brooklyn, NY, when the doorbell rang. He answered the door, but there was no one there. This soon became a nightly occurrence - the doorbell would ring, only for Smith to find no one outside and no signs that anyone had been there at all.
Growing frustrated, Smith "sprinkled ash and flour along the path to the door, expecting to find footprints left behind, but the substances were undisturbed and the noises continued." No matter where he and his family stood around the house, the noises remained unidentifiable. Smith and his family were growing more concerned, as the doorbell ringing turned to aggressive banging on the doors. Eventually, they contacted the police.
The ringing and banging continued, and still no one was able to identify its source. One night, a brick suddenly flew through the window from outside, even though police officers were standing nearby and saw no one.
Although they investigated the home for some time, police were unable to identify the cause of the disturbances. Smith and those who witnessed the strange occurrences ultimately concluded they must be paranormal in nature.
- Photo: Rjm at sleepers / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain5464 VOTES
A Headless Horseman Allegedly Haunts Roos Hall Every December
Roos Hall, a mysterious mansion in the English countryside, is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in England. Located just outside the small town of Beccles in the county of Suffolk, the mansion has accumulated plenty of ghost stories ever since it was first built in the 16th century.
One of the most horrifying stories is that of the headless horseman. Many people may be familiar with this legend, but at Roos Hall, it takes on a life of its own. Numerous visitors to Roos Hall have reported a man on a horse riding toward them on the road, only to discover that he has no head. Allegedly, on Christmas Eve, the headless man is often seen "clattering down the driveway with his phantom coach and four horses."
And this is only the beginning of Roos Hall's ghostly existence: Other rumors claim that there are strange markings inside the hall known as devil's footprints, and some have even reported seeing a girl watching them from the windows.
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A Ghost Supposedly Disrupted A Christmas Party At Alcatraz
Alcatraz, the isolated penitentiary located in the middle of California's San Francisco Bay, closed down in 1963, but tales of those who were once held on the island continue to haunt generations of onlookers and visitors. Often referred to as "the Rock," Alcatraz has gained a reputation for unexplainable and shocking ghost encounters, and one of the most notable was recounted during Christmas.
Back in the 1940s, while the facility was still in operation, the warden at the time, Warden Johnston, decided to throw a small Christmas party at his boarding house on the island.
During the gathering, a few of the guards began retelling the story of a phantom figure who appeared before them "wearing a gray suit, brimmed cap, and sporting mutton-chop sideburns." All the guards could do was stare at the ghostly figure in shock, and before they had a chance to move, "the room suddenly turned very cold and the fire in the Ben Franklin stove was extinguished." And just as suddenly as he had appeared, the phantom man vanished.
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The Ghost Of Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville And His Headless Dog Roam The Streets On Christmas Eve
The story of Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville is brimming with political betrayals. He held the title of Earl of Essex and was a prestigious European landowner during the 1100s. Because of his title, he had great influence over royal politics at the time. However, when a debate emerged regarding the rightful heir to the throne, he chose the losing side and was promptly stripped of many of his assets and excommunicated from the church.
During his excommunication, Sir Geoffrey was slain on the battlefield, but because of his exile, he was not allowed a proper Christian interment, which many believe left his spirit trapped within the earthly realm.
Rumor claims that Sir Geoffrey also left a curse on the properties he owned, stating that, should they ever be taken away from him, ruin would befall his betrayer, and every six years on Christmas Eve, he and a headless dog would haunt the lands draped in a red cloak.
Ever since his demise, people who have visited the properties he once owned - particularly the Pymms Brook Bridge in East Barnet - have reported hearing strange sounds and witnessing the hazy image of a headless dog breaking through the fog, accompanied by a knight in full armor and a red cloak.
- Photo: Michael Klajban / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.08327 VOTES
A Christmas Ghost Is Said To Haunt Bastion Square In Victoria, British Columbia
On December 25, 1890, a disturbing story appeared on the front page of a Victoria newspaper, the Daily Colonist : "...just as the clock was striking midnight, ushering in the joyous Christmas day, a [misdeed] as dark, cowardly and mysterious as ever disfigured the history of this province was perpetuated.”
The target, who went by the name David Fee, was only 21 years old and had been walking to meet his parents for evening mass at the nearby church after attending a costume party. Dressed up in a white clown costume, Fee had just arrived at the corner where the cathedral sat when a man burst out from the shadows and aimed a double-barrel directly at him. The man simply said, "You challenged me!"
Before Fee could speak, the man fired, and Fee perished within moments. Apparently, the man had confused Fee for another man. Ever since that tragic night, Fee's ghost is rumored to roam the streets outside the cathedral, as well as his gravesite.
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A Slain Highwayman Supposedly Reappears Each Christmas Eve
In England, one particularly twisted ghost story harkens back to a tragic event that occurred one Christmas Eve in the late 18th century.
According to legend, there was once a fearsome highwayman, known only as Gilbert, who would wander up and down one of the town's main roads. One evening, the night before Christmas, a man and his daughter were traveling in a horse-drawn coach when Gilbert apprehended them. The daughter was able to exit the coach, but before her father could disembark, the horses became startled and bolted down the road with the man and his coachman in tow.
The two men struggled to get the horses back under control so they could go back and find the man's daughter, who had been left behind with Gilbert; however, when they arrived back at the scene, she was nowhere to be found. Instead, they saw Gilbert hunched over on the ground with a dagger in his side.
Rumor claims that once the coach took off down the road, Gilbert revealed to the girl that he was the one who took her brother's life sometime before. Thrown into a rage by the revelation, she stabbed him and fled the scene.
Local legends say that Gilbert was buried by the side of the road, and every Christmas Eve he can be seen wandering the same road, waiting for the coach with the man and his daughter to pass by again.
- Photo: Paul Hermans / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.010423 VOTES
Anne Boleyn Is Said To Return To Her Childhood Home Every Christmas Eve
Hever Castle, which is nestled deep in the British countryside of Kent, was once home to the Boleyn family. Anne Boleyn , the most well-known member of the family, lived the early part of her life there before she married King Henry VIII. Within a few short years of her marriage, however, Anne was targeted by dissent and gossip within the castle, accusing her of everything from witchcraft to adultery. Eventually, her husband formally accused her of these charges, and she was ultimately executed.
Whether she suffers from heartbreak or homesickness, Anne Boleyn's spirit is said to haunt the halls of her childhood home, Hever Castle. However, she allegedly only appears on one day of the year: Christmas Eve. Rumors persist that "her somber specter is seen drifting silently over the picturesque bridge that spans the River Eden, in the grounds of the home where she knew much happiness."
- Photo: The Era Almanack 1894 / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain11383 VOTES
A Spectral Socialite Is Said To Sing Christmas Carols At The Hotel Bethlehem
Hotel Bethlehem, located in Bethlehem, PA, is home to a number of chilling ghost stories, not the least of which centers around a young girl named Mary Yohe. Born in 1866, Mary, or "May," was raised on the stage, inspiring within her a love for singing and performing from a young age. Her talent gained her much attention, and eventually she found herself performing with great success on stages in Paris and throughout Europe. She even caught the attention of a wealthy lord, who quickly married her and made her a member of the British aristocracy.
Tragically, her success led her down a dangerous path. Her marriage fell apart after the lord who swept her off her feet went bankrupt, and she went on to marry an American soldier who robbed her of much of her wealth. At the time of her eventual passing, reports claimed that she recalled her years in Bethlehem as the best of her life.
To this day, Hotel Bethlehem's visitors claim to see apparitions of a young May Yohe dressed in elegant attire and either singing at the piano or pacing next to the Christmas tree. Some even claim to have heard her faint but recognizable voice singing one of her favorite songs.
- Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain12319 VOTES
Raucous Revelers Are Said To Ring In The Season At The Crescent Hotel
The Crescent Hotel is by far one of the most notoriously haunted hotels in the US. Located along the northern border of Arkansas near the Ozark National Forest, the hotel has been plagued by tragedy and ghost stories since it was first erected in the 1880s.
While there are different legends and ghostly sightings associated with almost every square inch of the hotel's estate, one story continues to astonish visitors to this day. Allegedly, one year during Christmastime, visitors came to view the hotel's Christmas tree, only to find that "the Christmas tree and all its packages were... mysteriously moved to the other side of the room."
This could have been a prank staged by the hotel staff or a visitor; however, the occurrence was accompanied by sightings of various phantom spirits dressed in Victorian-era clothing wandering aimlessly around the hotel's dining room. Some said the spirits appeared to be playful, and they moved the gifts and furniture across the room as a joke. This was seemingly confirmed when the hotel staff reportedly returned the next day, only to find that everything was back exactly where it was supposed to be.
- Photo: Georg Braun, Frans Hogenberg / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain13269 VOTES
The Ghosts Of Poland's Kings Are Said To Gather In A Dragon's Den On Christmas Eve
In the middle of Kraków, Poland, sits the Wawel Castle, which for centuries served as the home of each of Poland's kings after it was built in the early Middle Ages. Since this time, it has been associated with numerous legends and ghost stories spanning as far back as the prehistoric era.
One such legend involves a large series of caves that are rumored to exist under a plot of nearby land known as Wawel Hill. These caves have been explored countless times since they were discovered centuries ago, and they're rumored to hold "a statue of a dragon and millennia of human record." The caves are believed to have been inhabited by humans since the prehistoric era.
The legend says that in the 11th century, King Kazimir - who was just a child at the time - explored these caves and came across a strange tunnel. Inside the tunnel, he claimed to have found a large stone emitting a glowing light, and from this light, a magical, protective energy is said to be emitted throughout Kraków. To this day, local legends claim that the ghosts of all of Poland's past kings meet every Christmas Eve in that very tunnel to confer upon the fate of Kraków.
