In Victorian England, from the 1830s until around 1900, telling ghost stories was a big part of how you celebrated Christmas: ghosts, evil spirits and people gone insane!

Your eyes are red and white candy spirals, your brain is mince pie, and Elf on the Shelf, having glared at you for weeks, has returned to his desk job with the surveillance state. We know horror at ...

Marianne Noble, a professor of literature at American University, does a lecture on the history of Christmas ghost stories at a Profs and Pints event.(WTOP/Mike Murillo) During the holiday season, it ...