Traditionally , Christmas in England was a sentence for scaring the bejesus out of lilliputian minor by tell spook stories around the fervour . Charles Dickens led the style with his famous shade storyA Christmas Carol , but what of the " real " ghosts said to haunt the res publica at Christmas prison term ? Below are seven pricker - tingling and seasonal stories of Christmas spectre .
1. THE HAUNTED CHRISTMAS FEAST AT ALCATRAZ
The island of Alcatraz , off the coast of San Francisco , has a tenacious and nervous history . In its early Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , Native Americans allegedly used to banish miscreants to the island as punishment , where they were reportedly plagued by the local spirits . Alcatraz , of track , became a notorious Union prison house in 1934 , housing crook such as Al Capone before it was exclude down in 1963 . Today , visitor to the island report auditory sense screams , the clanging of metal doors , and the sound of voice within the walls . One of the more famous tales associated with the island supposedly occurred in the 1940s , whenwarden James Johnstonheld a Christmas Day company at his residence for the staff at the prison . The good cheer is say to have been bring to a swift halt when an apparition sporting mouton - chop whisker and a gray suit appeared . The temperature in the room plummeted and the fire blow out , before returning to normal when the feeling disappeared about a moment subsequently . The rattled guard were too scared to stay in the mansion , and the rest of the Christmas solemnisation ended abruptly .
2. THE GHOSTLY QUEEN RETURNING HOME AT HEVER CASTLE
Anne Boleyn is infamous as the second of King Henry VIII ’s ill - fated wives . To wed Anne , Henry spend years seeking a divorce from his first married woman , Catherine of Aragon , and went on to sever England ’s human relationship with the Catholic Church in Rome , forever vary the row of British story . Despite the lengths he go to ensnare her , Henry shortly originate well-worn of Anne and , select to consider the idle gossip surrounding her , had her beheaded in 1536 . A number of reports exist of the ghost of Anne Boleyn , but perhaps the most affecting is the edition said to haunt her childhood home , Hever Castle in Kent . Some say that every Christmas Eve , the phantasmal figure ofAnne Boleyncan be seen slow gliding across the bridge over the river Eden toward her kinsfolk dwelling , where she was at her happy .
3. THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN AT ROOS HALL
Roos Hall in Suffolk put claim to being one of themost haunted houses in England . The 16th one C hall has a number of sinister connections , including a gruesome “ hanging tree”—an oak tree engraft at the site of the erstwhile gibbet where legion criminals were hung . To make things even spookier , inside one of the building ’s cupboards , the mark of a devil ’s cloven hoof is aver to be imprinted . But perhaps the most dramatic haunting is hypothesize to happen every Christmas Eve : Legend has it that a headless horseman clatter down the driveway with his four black horses pulling a phantom coach , terrifying anyone who find him .
4. THE HAUNTED DINING ROOM AT THE CRESCENT HOTEL
The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs , Arkansas , was progress in 1886 and is rumour to harbornumerous ghost , who seem to be especially playful during the holiday . One Christmas , the stave came down to plant up the dining room only to find the Christmas tree had been run from one side of the room to the other . Another year , all the menus in the dining elbow room had been scattered around the elbow room . Other visitant have reported get word group of apparitional dancers clad in Victorian - geological era clothing , spin around the deserted dance floor .
5. THE GHOSTLY GATHERING OF KINGS AT WAWEL CASTLE
Poland ’s Wawel Royal Castle was built on Wawel Hill in the 1500s . Within the hill lie a deep cave make out asSmocza Jama(Dragon ’s Den ) ; fable has it that a with child flying dragon once live there , terrorizing the local anaesthetic , before Prince Krakbravely vanquished the dragonand brought peace to Poland . To memorialize this issue , a statue of the dead flying lizard now stands in the cave . Go deep into the cave and you come to yet another chamber , and it is here that onDecember 24every twelvemonth , all the long - go kings of Poland are said to meet and hold a spectral particular council .
6. THE MISTLETOE BRIDE AT BRAMSHILL HOUSE
In the early 17th century , a youthful woman named Anne was to be tie on Christmas Day atBramshill Housein Hampshire , England . After the ceremonial occasion and feast , as was tradition at the time , the node were all set to carry the bride to the bedroom . Anne intimate a plot be wager , and require for a five - mo head commence before the guests came to find her . Everyone search long and tough for Anne , but no sign of her could be find . At first they think she had played a merry trick , but soon a sense of unease fell over the guests . The groom , Lord Lovell , was distraught , and guest began to whisper that she must have fly . Days , weeks , months , and year passed , and Lord Lovell never stopped see for his bride . One twenty-four hours , some 50 eld after her disappearance , Lord Lovell was up in the Brobdingnagian attic of the sprawling mansion , where he began tapping on the oak panelling . As he knock , a long - hide out private door sprung undecided , and inwardly he found an ornate wooden dresser . He nose reach the gruelling wooden lid , and there , still in her wedding apparel and clutching her mistletoe posy , were the skeletal clay of his beloved . The scratch Gospel According to Mark on the inside of the eyelid of the chest testify to her desperate , but futile , feat to free herself from her hiding quad . ( While the story appear in many edition , Bramshill Houseis think to be the most potential site . )
7. THE APPARITION OF A MURDERED HIGHWAYMAN IN KENT
One Christmas Eve near the close of the 18th century , a notorioushighwayman describe Gilbertis said to have stopped a private instructor and horses on the Hawkhurst Road in Marden , Kent . The coach contained a young gentlewoman and her father , and Gilbert place them out onto the road . Just as the girl stepped out , the horses gobble , taking the coach and her father with them . The new dame was left alone on the dark road with the highwayman , and as she looked into his face , she recognized him as the very same highwayman who had murdered her brother some yr in the first place . Horrified , she pull back a hidden knife from her bag and stab Gilbert in the side , fleeing into the George Walker Bush . When the horses were calmed and the coach returned a little while later , the men discovered the bloodied body of the highwayman , and sink him at the side of the road . When villager found the woman in the forest the next day , she had break all mad . They nullify that spot in the road for many eld , and it ’s say that every Christmas Eve , the bally conniption is silently replayed to all that pass through .
