‘Tis the season to be jolly, sure, but whether you bah humbug the holidays or simply need a break from Michael Bublé, there’s a spookier way to celebrate this time of year. Ghost stories aren’t just for Halloween. In fact, if you asked your everyday neighbourhood Victorian, you might be surprised to learn that haunting tales have long had a place among traditional winter festivities. As a supernatural mystery writer, I can’t help but think this is an ideal way to welcome the long, dark December nights. So if you want to trade the Christmas cheer for some Christmas fear, put a little horror in your Hanukkah, some quake in your Kwanza, or have a soul-rattling Winter Solstice, come gather ‘round my festive fireside while I regale you with three of my favourite supernatural stories. And probably throw in a few more alliterations for good measure.
The Winchester Mystery House
Was it a dark and stormy night when Sarah Winchester moved into the house that would eventually become a labyrinth of dead ends and lost souls? Probably not. This is California we’re talking about. But for the sake of a good ghost story, let’s say it was. It would certainly set the tone for what was to come.
You see, Sarah Winchester had it rough. Like many ghastly tales, this is as much a story about ghosts as it is about grief. In the late 1800s, Sarah lost her infant daughter, her gun manufacturer husband, and a good deal of her immediate family in relatively short order.
The story goes that in her grief Sarah sought the guidance of a medium, who informed her that she was being tormented by the spirits of all who had died at the hands of her husband’s guns. In order to protect herself from these vengeful souls, she was instructed to build a house full of confusing passages and nonsensical rooms, and to never stop building. And so she did, all the way until her death in 1922. The house still stands in San Jose, California and can even be visited today. Whether it was truly built as the result of a supernatural curse or because of an unusual manifestation of grief is anyone’s guess, but hopefully Sarah and her ghosts have finally found peace.
The Greenbriar Ghost
Like Sarah Winchester and her mystery house, this story features another heartbroken mother spurred into action. Though in this case, that action involves less contractors and grouting.
In West Virginia way back in 1896, Elva Zona Heaster, who went by Zona, found herself married to the inexplicably named Edward Stribbling Trout Shue. It wasn’t long into their union when Zona was found dead. Despite Edward’s odd behaviour following his wife’s death, including interfering with an attempted examination of her body by a local doctor, Zona’s passing was determined to be from natural causes.
But like any good restless spirit, Zona wasn’t about to let the truth be buried with her. Instead, according to legend, she did what every adult woman does when they encounter a problem they can’t quite figure out themselves: she called her mom. Or more accurately (at least by ghost story standards), she appeared to her mother and insisted her death had been caused by her husband, and that it was up to Mary Heaster to prove it.
Thankfully, this being the late Victorian era, when Mary approached the county prosecuting attorney with the story of her daughter’s ghost, she was met with enough belief to reopen the case. Eventually Zona’s body was exhumed and discovered to have had a broken neck, and Edward was convicted of murder. Zona’s ghost may have moved on from Greenbriar, but a historical marker still haunts the area for her, its final sentence reading “…Only known case in which testimony from ghost helped convict a murderer.”
Anne Boleyn and the Tower of London
If you’re looking to enjoy a less expensive version of the hit musical Six, why not join me for a walk through the Tower of London? What it lacks in catchy musical numbers it more than makes up for in famous ghostly residents, including the ill-fated second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn.
Despite that little bit of inconvenience with the church Henry went through in order to divorce his first wife and marry Anne, Henry did what Henry did best and decided to swipe left on yet another match. Unfortunately for Anne, this came in the form of infidelity accusations, an arrest for treason, and a bloody end to her short life. She was taken to the Tower of London in 1536 where she was beheaded and buried on the property.
These days, legend has it, she’s putting on as much of a show as her Broadway counterpart, making ghostly appearances around the Tower. Though these apparitions aren’t quite as family friendly as the musical version. It’s said that Anne’s ghost often roams the halls and grounds of her final resting place without her head—both a constant reminder of her horrific fate and a level of pettiness I aspire to in my afterlife.
But luckily for Anne, she never has to worry about being lonely. Other famous ghosts spotted around the Tower include the tragic Lady Jane Grey, England’s shortest reigning queen, Guy Fawkes, who’d plotted to blow up Parliament that one time, and even a bear said to have belonged to Henry III.
And there you have it, three ghosts to help get you into the holiday spirit. It seemed to work for Scrooge, anyway!
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