S02E22 A Christmas Carol The Spirit of Christmas Future

Classic Ghost Stories

Tony Walker

Fiction, Drama, Science Fiction

4.9 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2020

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A Christmas Carol Part 4: The Spirit of Christmas Future & The End of ItThe Ghost of Christmas Future is the scariest of the ghosts. No jovial sprite he! He's just a heap of black cloak and a pointing hand. At the end, the spirit's hand quivers kindly, but he gives Scrooge no answers. Scrooge, even unanswered, intuits that he will be okay if he mends his ways. I thought that the first scene with the lowly char-folk and undertakers men and old Joe with his greasy fat and mouldy bones was a masterpiece of dialogue. The attitude of the working folk to Scrooge reveals tons about the man. It is this scene that breaks Scrooge even though he thinks it's some other skinflint that has met his end. Dickens withholds the information in a neat little device that we twig who the dead man is far sooner than Scrooge does. We are shouting out, 'Scrooge, it's you lying there you damn fool!' All the while as he wonders why he doesn't see himself. It's darned obvious. Then the last walk to the walled graveyard (and the fact it's walled adds something) to the graveside when we see from Scrooge's faltering steps that at last he realises what the name on the stone will be. The last section, the denouement with happy jokey Scrooge is a nice bit of comic Dickens that I enjoyed reading out. I enjoyed reading the scary bit of the Ghost of Christmas Future too.So that's that. A job well done, I thought, if only that it's done and nothing else. You see I am getting quite Dickensian in my ramblings!I promise you a bit of M R James for Christmas, but if I don't see you before, have a Merry Christmas or a happy Hanukkah. It's a bit late for Diwali, but may any Festival of Light you choose be truly marvellous. And for those of you who don't prefer light, your Festival of Darkness. Actually, I love the winter dark in its stillness and brooding. I love the dark and star-spangled winter skies. I've never seen the Northern Lights, though Sheila says she has. Me, I think it was Dumfries.MusicStart and Middle Music by The Heartwood Institutehttps://bit.ly/somecomeback (Listen on Bandcamp)End music is The Drowning by Dvoynik. Listen and download for https://bit.ly/dvoynikdrowning (free)Free Download Audiobook https://bit.ly/DalstonVampire (The Dalston Vampire)My New Collection of Christmas Ghost Storieshttps://amzn.to/3lViZKg (More Christmas Ghost Stories)The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast Newsletterhttps://bit.ly/substacklanding (On Substack)***If you'd like to show your appreciation for the Podcast, you can buy me a coffee!http://bit.ly/ghostiest (Ko-Fi)Support the showVisit us here: www.ghostpod.orgBuy me a coffee if you're glad I do this: https://ko-fi.com/tonywalkerIf you really want to help me, become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barcudMusic by The Heartwood Institute: https://bit.ly/somecomeback Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Step 4
0:02.0	You tried to get into the lock,
0:16.0	didn't you?
0:17.0	How do the dead comeback, mother?
0:20.0	What's the secrets of dead comeback? Stage 4 Stave 4. The last of the spirits
0:26.6	The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached.
0:32.6	When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee. For in the very air through which this spirit moved, it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.
0:45.4	It was shrouded in a deep black garment which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left
0:51.3	nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand.
0:55.5	But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night and separate
1:00.1	it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.
1:03.4	He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence
1:09.2	filled him with a solemn dread.
1:12.3	He knew no more, for the spirit neither spoke nor moved.
1:17.8	"'I am in the presence of the ghost of Christmas yet to come,' said Scrooge.
1:22.5	"'The spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.
1:27.9	"'You are about to show me the shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen
1:32.6	in the time before us, Scrooge pursued.
1:35.6	Is that so, Spirit?
1:36.9	The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the
1:41.4	spirit had inclined its head.
1:45.3	That was the only answer he received.
	...

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