There's a short story published in 1893 by the writer Charlotte Riddle.

It involves a brother and sister who are staying in an English country mansion that's not only

dreary and desolate, but also quite possibly they're told, haunted.

They weren't sure what to make of the ghost stories,

but they were even less sure what to make of the strange and eerie sounds

they started hearing in the house.

So at night, the brother would stay up into the wee hours,

his trusty pistol close at hand, just in case.

Until one night, the sister called up to her brother from downstairs, saying,

they're in the oak parlor. They were a pair of ghosts. And when the brother came downstairs to

meet his sister, he saw what she saw. The ghosts were sitting at a table in deep concentration

over a game of cards. The siblings watched, dumbfounded as the game unfolded,

and then escalated into a tense and violent scene between the ghosts,

the end of which left the siblings with a mystery,

which is resolved in the story's surprise ending.

But maybe the most surprising thing about the story, at least to a modern audience,

is that this is a Christmas story. It's called a strange Christmas game. And if you're like

most people, you've probably never heard of it. But don't worry, I'm going to read it to you

at the end of this episode. But first, we've got some work to do.

Nowadays, our Christmases are mainly warm and cozy. They're about reunions and homecomings,

romances and magical journeys and visits from St. Nicholas. But not so very long ago,

and especially for the Victorians, Christmas stories could send chills down your spine

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