The Next Monthly Lecture
Christmas Ghosts: the Tradition of Winter Tales
Thu 4th Dec 2025 @ 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

'Marley's Ghost. Ebenezer Scrooge visited by a ghost' by John Leech, Public domain via wikimedia commons.
We've told supernatural tales at midwinter for a very long time. In this talk Kirsty Hartsiotis takes us back to the earliest winter tales of the Middle Ages and the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe. We then explore the lost years of the 17th and 18th centuries, where it’s often thought that Christmas wasn’t celebrated much – but ghost tales at Christmas-tide were very part of the season. In the 19th century many traditional Christmas ghost tales were collected, and even now it’s considered one of the spookiest times of the years. We draw on midwinter tales from all around Britain in this talk and explore links with European midwinter traditions. This is a special Christmas lecture that draws on Kirsty's long experience as an oral storyteller and writer and teller of local ghost and folk tales. You may well come away with a shiver running down your spine and with seasonally spooky stories to share around your fireside at Christmas!
Lecturer: Kirsty Hartsiotis
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EVENT
Christmas Ghosts: the Tradition of Winter Tales
Thu 4th Dec 2025 @ 11:30
VENUE
Stalbridge Hall, Lower Road, Stalbridge
Sturminster Newton,
Dorset
DT10 2NF
United Kingdom.
ORGANISER
The Arts Society Blackmore Vale






