Eight M.R. James Stories to Make Your Holidays a Little Scarier - Reactor

Back when he was provost of a university, M.R. James had a special tradition for students. He would read aloud to those who came to his quiet Christmas gatherings, debuting his macabre tales before a rapt audience. In the modern day, while bright holiday cheer might have replaced traditions like reading ghost stories for Christmas, it’s still a treat for horror fans to gather around the fireplace (or the radiator, or the space heater—whatever you have handy) and read from one of the greats.

That said, despite James having an established reputation for Christmas reading, it can be hard to pick the right story: “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad” is fantastic, but a little long for a nighttime read. “Lost Hearts” is short, but full of things you don’t want to imagine just before bed. And “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas” starts with several pages of Latin. With this in mind, here are eight stories you can and should read aloud, if you like your holiday just a touch darker…

“The Mezzotint”

There’s not a lot to “The Mezzotint,” but it works specifically because it’s a minimalist story. The fear comes simply from watching the horrible way the events in the haunted photograph unfold, the scene growing more macabre each time. As each glance fills in the picture, the imagination fills in the blanks, with the grotesque figure dressed as a priest scrambling ever closer to the house and its inhabitants. While (like many of the stories here) the reveal offers some relief, it’s guaranteed to give readers just enough of a chill to last until morning.

“The Haunted Dolls’ House”

Another “observer of haunted artwork” story, “The Haunted Dolls’ House” focuses on the strange events in the titular dollhouse rather than a changing photograph, which takes some of the eerier aspects of “The Mezzotint” out of the picture but still delivers an odd enough ghost story for a Christmas read (especially if someone actually is getting a dollhouse). There’s something that’s just the right kind of scary about a ghost story playing out entirely in miniature, a sinister tale unfolding in front of a full-size human’s eyes, from inside what’s meant to be a pretty toy, creating just enough compelling weirdness to hold an audience when read aloud.

“The Ash-tree”

“The Ash-tree” has everything—quiet atmosphere, weird doings out in the dark, a murder mystery with a solution too strange to be believed, macabre visuals, and of course an unusually dark sense of humor. All these things make it perfect to be read aloud, as none other than the great Christopher Lee handily demonstrates here. The best thing about “The Ash-tree” is that it’s a tale, one as twisted and knotted as the haunted tree at its center. Whether you’re in the mood for a creature story, a murder mystery, a darkly comic gothic satire, or a bit of everything in between, this is one your audience is guaranteed to remember.

“Number 13”

A lot of the stories mentioned thus far are kind of grotesque but for a different sort of tale, “Number 13” has you covered. It’s still unnerving, but in a departure from the macabre images of the previous three, the ghost here is a presence and a hotel room that simply shouldn’t exist. For the most part, the story gets by on atmosphere, with the strangeness of the room that only appears at night and its ominously singing inhabitant taking up most of the plot. It’s light on scares and light on death, which might be just the perfect thing for a Christmas Eve read-along, even if its central questions are left ominously hanging.

“A School Story”

Framed as a story shared between old friends looking back on their old school days and name-checking one of the best “true ghost stories” out there (The Horror of Berkeley Square, referring to what’s been called the most haunted house in London), from its opening pages, “A School Story” is a perfect candidate for a Christmastime ghost story. There’s a full moon, a strange teacher, and a mysterious disappearance—but more than that, thanks to the framing device and the generally ambiguous and unnerving second half of its quick length, it captures the exact feel of a fireside ghost story or campfire tale. It sets up its premise of a teacher and his odd watch-chain keepsake, lays out its haunting, and leaves us with only questions to ponder in the night, just as any ghost (or any good ghost story) always does.

“Casting the Runes”

Another story with the cadence that begs to be read aloud, “Casting the Runes” has one hell of a pedigree behind it. A well-loved classic in the James canon (and adapted as the classic horror movie Night of the Demon), it’s a story that is M.R. James at his droll, strange best. What the horror-focused adaptations miss of course, is the deadpan humor (the villain is introduced terrifying kindergarteners, having offered to entertain them with a magic lantern show), fourth-wall breaks (James jumps scenes by writing “[t]he next scene that does require to be narrated is…”), and byzantine revenge plots. It’s a tale that’s ready-made for an audience, perfect for an evening read.

“The Diary of Mr. Poynter”

One of the quicker selections and one that requires significantly less historical context than some of James’ work, “The Diary of Mr. Poynter” is a short, sharp shock in story form. It’s great for reading aloud, given the accents and voice work James puts into the text, the central image of a two-legged animalistic creature is just on the right side of scary without being gruesome, and despite the shorter length it’s one of the more descriptive stories in the James canon. It might be small, but it definitely packs a punch.

“Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book”

A slower burn, “Canon Alberic” is a story that can be read multiple times while picking up different details, but also one with enough transfixing images that the atmosphere of the story will settle around readers as the evening grows darker. It’s also perfect fit for the long, sometimes lonely evenings of late autumn and winter, as the interplay between the main character and his guide is just weird enough to seem off, with each description of the story’s demon and strange, unsettling noises leaving enough to the imagination that the environment itself can be worked into the story. It allows the audience time to settle in, and gives readers an opportunity to draw on any lurking shadows and ambient noise (or lack of it) to hold them in place while James’ story weaves its spell.