Spooky Advent: 3rd December

Today's window is Stigma, one of the two more 'controversial' films in the BBC's original Ghost Story for Christmas strand (along with John Bowen's The Ice House, the following year's offering) in that it has a modern day setting, so has none of the old world spooky charm of an M R James retelling, and its themes are from anything seasonal. Written by Clive Exton, and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, this is one of those 'middle class family moves from the city to a rural cottage and disturbs something ancient and evil' type of stories. It's graphic portrayal of the unfolding of these events, meted out upon the unfortunate wife and mother of the family Katharine (Kate Binchy) goes somewhere towards explaining its 11pm broadcast time on 29th December 1977.

Spooky Advent: 2nd December

Green Tea by Sheridan le Fanu. This long short story, or short novella centres on the descent into madness of the Reverend Mr Jennings, as observed over time by his friend Dr Martin Hesselius who Rev Jennings initially approaches with regard to a mysterious illness he's suffering from. As the story progresses, we learn of Rev Jenning's partiality to green tea, which he feels aids his (fairly obsessive) studies into the metaphysical. This habit may or may not have lead to the appearance of a spectral monkey, glimpsed first one evening in an omnibus. The monkey, if you'll forgive me for mixing animal metaphors, proceeds sporadically to dog his every move, enticing him to commit acts of violence against others and himself. The conclusion of the story is dreadful and seemingly inevitable... it's more of a tale of the weird than a ghost story as such, and can be read really as the tragic and hopeless observance of one man's observance of his friend's downward spiral into mental illness. Yeah, not very Christmassy I know.

Spooky Advent: 1st December

Lost Hearts by M R James. This is one of James’ more horrific stories, brilliantly adapted for the screen by the BBC in 1973 for their ghost stories at Christmas strand, available to watch on YouTube. Orphaned Stephen goes to live with his much older apparently benevolent but actually completely batshit cousin Mr Abney, who has v sinister plans for the aforesaid organ of his young charge. Two of his former victims pop up at intervals to warn Stephen of his impending fate. Terrifying and melancholy.