Happy Halloween, everybody!

And more than that, welcome to another season of Christmas Past, our ninth one together.

Whether you're a new or long-time listener, I'm happy to have you along for an all-new season of backstories to Christmas traditions,

sharing your Christmas memories, and a few surprises along the way.

Yes, it is still Halloween, and we're only two

months into the Burr months. We're still largely in pumpkin spice mode, but there are 55 days

left until Christmas, or, to put it another way, 55 days left to bask in the warm glow of

the Christmas spirit. So for people like you and me, the Christmas

season is here, and it can peacefully coexist along with the jack-o-lanterns and miniature candy bars.

In fact, Halloween is the perfect time to kick things off, because it gives us a chance to

honor that classic Christmas tradition of sharing a ghost story. Our Victorian forebears

really loved their ghost stories, for all occasions, but perhaps especially for Christmas.

Many magazines of the era published ghost stories specifically for the Christmas season.

Those stories didn't necessarily involve Christmas, but they were meant to be enjoyed on

Christmas Eve, adding

an extra chill to a cold winter's night.

Though that tradition has faded, it's not gone altogether, and that's thanks in part

to my friends at Bibli Oasis Publishing.

Every year they publish a series of classic ghost stories beautifully illustrated by the

acclaimed artist known only as Seth. It's become a yearly

tradition here on Christmas Pass to start the season off with a story from their current series.

Today it's a story from the British writer L.P. Hartley. It first appeared in a collection of short

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