Victorian ghost stories revive Liverpool's forgotten Christmas tradition

During the Victorian age, it was tradition to tell each other a ghost story during cold, dark, wintry nights. Now, a Liverpool-based arts organisation are resurrecting the practice.

This is the third year that Community Interest Company Arts Groupie have brought Christmas past to the present day with a forgotten festive tradition.

John Maguire from Arts Groupie told LiverpoolWorld: "What's great is we're starting to have repeat people coming back, and we're becoming part of their Christmas tradition. It's something we're going to be doing next year and the year after, and it's just an alternative to walking around in the cold, shopping and buying things that you don't really need."

John said: "Last year, as part of an Arts Council England-funded project, we ran a Ghost Story for Christmas competition, which was fantastic. We got so many great entries, and the top three are available on our website."

Probably the most famous Christmas novel of them all, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is essentially a ghost story. Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

That tradition, as John tells us, "was carried on later by the likes of M.R. James who used to read and write stories and then Susan Hill who of course wrote The Woman in Black and then up to speed now you've got Mark Gatiss of League of Gentlemen who has revived the ghost stories for Christmas on the television by adapting classic stories."

They're also encouraging us to do the same festive period, but if you'd like to see them read their original ghost Arts Groupie will be reading ghost stories on Thursday, December 19, in The Hornby Room at Central Library.

Watch the full video above for more.