That familiar lyric about “scary ghost stories and tales of old glories” isn’t just poetic flair. Long before Christmas became bright lights and playlists, it was a season for storytelling . . . especially stories that touched the supernatural, the sacred, and the unseen. Long winter nights invited reflection, and reflection often turned toward spirits, angels, judgment, redemption, and hope. Here are 12 Christmas-connected ghost and supernatural stories, one for each day of Christmas, along with where you can read them online.

There’s something extra unsettling about a creature that shows up when the world feels the merriest—like the middle of a snowy December, during a family trip to cut Christmas trees. That’s exactly when one unique cryptid made its one and only recorded appearance. In the quiet woods of Derry, New Hampshire, a man encountered something small, green, and very much not of this world. Was it a goblin, an alien, or a forest spirit? Check out what we know about our Creature Feature Friday: the Derry Fairy!

Two men from Portland, Oregon, tragically lost their lives in Gifford Pinchot National Forest during a search for Sasquatch. The incident highlights the risks of exploring remote wilderness areas unprepared, particularly in harsh winter conditions.

Ghost stories at Christmas? It's tradition! From Dickens’ Marley’s Ghost to spooky classics by M.R. James and Algernon Blackwood, this 12-hour collection from Classic Ghost Stories Podcast is packed with holiday haunts to listen to while you settle in for a long winter’s nap.

The holiday season is often celebrated with traditions of joy, generosity, and storytelling, including the long-standing custom of sharing ghostly tales during Christmastime. As the classic lyric reminds us—“there’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago”— these chilling narratives have been a part of the season’s folklore for centuries. From eerie apparitions to unexplained phenomena, the season of goodwill has a darker, mysterious side woven into its history. Are they only holiday legends, or real ghosts of Christmas past? On this Friday the 13th, here 13 haunting Christmas tales as chilling as the winter air.

If you’ve ever found yourself in a cozy cabin on a snowy night, gazing out into the frosty wilderness, you might have wondered what might be lurking just beyond the trees. Maybe a bear, maybe an Abominable Snowman, or maybe the Winter Werewolf, a beast both feared and revered in wintry folklore!

The following written confession was shared via Reddit: So this happened to me when I was around 10 years old. This little story haunts me to this day and I can still see it all happening in my head…I expected to see a lot of presents lying under the tree, but instead I saw a big shadow, like something big was lying infront of the tree. I stared at it for a little while, when it suddenly begins to move, it was definitely not human…