Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, Volume 5: Three Tales from 1903-1906

The first selection is The Ravings, an anonymous poem printed in the Arctic Eagle on December 25, 1903. Robert W. Chambers supplies the central story, Out of the Depths, published in the 1904 Christmas issue of Collier’s and introduced at the time as a modern ghost story. The episode closes with Wallace Irwin’s poem Old Nick and Saint Nick from the 1906 Christmas issue of Collier’s.

Together, the readings show how holiday supernatural literature could move between parody, unease and full ghost-story suspense. The episode also provides publication context for each work, making it both a seasonal performance and a small tour through early twentieth-century popular literature.