Xmas ghosts are stirring
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toffph.bsky.social
Xmas ghosts are stirring
@toffph.bsky.social
890 followers 470 following 3.6K posts
anthologist of Victorian Christmas ghost stories
local historian and gravestone conservationist
H. C. Dodge & shape poem collector

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20841298.Christopher_Philippo/blog
https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/477914
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toffph.bsky.social
Punchy speaker! (Just dipped into a newspaper archive curious about other examples. I'm sure your book is very interesting!)
"Fourth of July at Abington." The Liberator. July 11, 1851. [Parker Pillsbury speaking] 'This is the day for orations and sermons; but our nation has preached a perpetual sermon since the war of the Revolution, and it has been, in the words of Jefferson, the most cruel and unrelenting tyranny. The Revolution itself was a failure; the Declaration of Independence was a failure; Washington himself was a failure, and so were Jefferson and Adams, and all the lesser men of their day. We are told that Washington fought throughout the war "without any compensation," and he has been lauded for his generosity and self-sacrifice. But did you ever think how many men and women toiled all that time for Washington without pay? Did you ever think that hundreds of slaves labored all that time, and before and afterwards, for Georgo Washington, and that he took by force the proceeds of their toil? How much honor is he entitled to for his generosity? https://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Boston%20MA%20Liberator/Boston%20MA%20Liberator%201848-1851/Boston%20MA%20Liberator%201848-1851%20-%200629.pdf
January 23, 2026 at 6:28 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Surprised on some level there were two Rock Against Bush albums, listenable if perhaps not especially memorable, yet now...? But maybe there's some rough equivalent with a less obvious title?
Rock Against Bush vol 1 and 2 CD covers; show cartoon of GWB with hands over ears making displeased face, speaker with DISSENT as the brand, green background for first, orange for second
January 20, 2026 at 9:51 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Has www.donotcall.gov been killed? The page does not display like an active one should.

Getting SO MANY calls from Ava from Consumer Transparency Group originating from all around the country, different number every time.
? [missing image] Federal Trade Commission Back to ftc.gov | Español Resources | Privacy Act Statements | Home ? [missing image] ? [missing image] ? [missing image] menu • More Information • Privacy Act Statement • En Español • Home
January 20, 2026 at 7:14 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Someone's probably ready to go.
Werner Herzog photo from https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-into-inferno-herzog-review-20161023-snap-story.html
January 10, 2026 at 8:39 PM
toffph.bsky.social
I thought he'd been on The Simpsons but no, guess just Mulder and Scully.
Scully and Mulder on the Simpsons. Mulder's FBI ID has a reclining almost-nude of himself.
January 10, 2026 at 7:18 PM
toffph.bsky.social
So he does overwriting recurrently, but he's also messy with the ink sometimes too. He could've written W out of habit here (or W-like M), then made this Mu (the possible u seems especially dark), though that still leaves some stray marks unaccounted.
detail of scan of 1910 US census under discussion, different contrast settings
January 9, 2026 at 4:04 AM
toffph.bsky.social
Enumerator Harvey A. Dean wrote an Mu on another page w/very W-like M, FWIW, last line here Ada Anthony. On other pages he's sometimes written notes like H Wf &c & then filled in Head & Wife, which resulted in overwriting sometimes. And page of interest to you's messy esp lines 69-73 cols 1-4.
Screencap of portion of 1910 US census from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRVZ-94FM?view=index&cc=1727033&lang=en&groupId=
January 9, 2026 at 3:58 AM
toffph.bsky.social
Touchy subject for some - even prompting a county supervisor to claim that the county historian's remarks on history must first be cleared by a board committee.
Salty remarks get historian crisp orders by Barbara Lombardo [Bad photocopy of newspaper article about Saratoga County Historian Violet Dunn contradicting Mary Lou Whitney's claim that her husband's great grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt touched off the invention of the potato chip. Letter from Town of Charlton Supervisor F. W. Hequembourg of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors to Senior Historian Edmund Winslow at the NYS Museum regarding records bn county historians, and the Board Chairman's threat of a gag on Violet Dunn for contradicting Mary Lou Whitney about the origin of potato chips.
January 2, 2026 at 12:57 AM
toffph.bsky.social
Sadly useless compared to what it is evidently is meant to be! www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...
December 31, 2025 at 7:52 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Terrible shame Britbox or Shudder didn't acquire it. I'd rather it had stuck to the story's end too. Still prefer CGS set during the holidays rather than merely published then; this one just qualifies by virtue of Jan. issues being on shelves early.

I liked Kier-La Janisse's short better by far!
If you are going away for Christmas-here's a pleasant journey to you! The fulfiment of our kindly wish can be ensured if, before boarding the train, you take the precaution of purchasing a copy of the JANUARY PALL MALL MAGAZINE that best of travelling companions. Then, absorbed in its pages, you will forget the worrying crowds, the vagaries of the weather, and the tedium of the journey. There is much of interest in the January "Pall Mall." A good, old-fashioned, creepy ghost story by E. F. Benson; a society love story by Marie van Vorst; some weird tales of " Ancestral Memory" by Lady Frances Gresley; and many other stories. A GOOD ALL-ROUND NUMBER The articles are equally attractive. H. M. Walbrook contributes a delightful paper on the Russian Dancers, which is accompanied by some beautiful pictures, and F.A. H. Eyles writes entertainingly about Professor Reinhardt and the great Olympia Spectacle, This article, also, is magnificently illustrated. Altogether there are more than a score of Literary Contributions by Popular Writers and a host of Fine Pictures. N.B.-If you are not going out of town you will find the January Pall Mall equally attractive when perused by your own fireside. Price SIXPENCE of all Bookstalls, Book-sellers, and Newsagents. Pall Mall Gazette. Dec 23, 1911: 5.
December 31, 2025 at 5:48 AM
toffph.bsky.social
Poe knew what's up.
Many of Edgar Allan Poe's fantastic stories like "William Wilson" first appeared in the 1830s and '4os in the annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present, published by Carey & Hart, but they were not set during the season. In his youth, Poe did impersonate a ghost on Christmas Eve, though. He'd tried startling men at a gentlemen's whist club that included Dr. Philip Thornton and Gen. Winfield Scott, and Poe had laughed heartily when caught." [James Albert Harrison, "New Glimpses of Poe." The Independent. September 6, 1900.] Philippo, Christopher. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories. Volume Four. 2020. [See also: "American publishers started issuing deluxe gift books each year around Christmas. Poe contributed to several installments (1836, 1840, 1842, 1843, 1845) of the most popular of these, The Gift: A Christmas and New Year’s Present. He also contributed to The Baltimore Book: A Christmas and New Year’s Present in 1838, The Opal in 1844 and 1845, The Missionary Memorial in 1846, and the May Flower in 1846. The Irving Offering and the American Keepsake published his works immediately after his death." https://poemuseum.org/christmas-in-poes-time/ and "Poe's Writings in The Gift" https://www.eapoe.org/works/editions/agft001c.htm ]
December 28, 2025 at 5:13 PM
toffph.bsky.social
"Don’t submit Christmas ghost stories in June, nor in December; the right time is about August, when the October magazines are going to press."
Joseph, Michael. Short Story Writing for Profit. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1924. 176.
Don’t submit Christmas ghost stories in June, nor in December; the right time is about August, when the October magazines are going to press
December 28, 2025 at 4:01 AM
toffph.bsky.social
"Dangers of Snapdragon; Several Persons Burned; Death of One of the Injured." Newcastle Guardian. December 30, 1893: 6.
DANGERS OF SNAPDRAGON. SEVERAL PERSONS BURNED. DEATH OF ONE OF THE INJURED. A peculiar and somewhat alarming accident occurred on Christmas night, at the Hoyal Surrey Hospital, Guildford. A party was in progress in one of the wards, and whilst having a snapdragon a gentleman threw some spirits on the dish. The flames instantly burnt up, and enveloped several of the guests. The fire was quickly extinguished by means of blankets, but not before two choir boys, an attendant, and a clergyman bad been badly burned. One of the choir boys died on Wednesday from the effect of his injuries. He was ten years old, and a son of a local stationer named Hook.
December 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
toffph.bsky.social
"A Santa Claus Killed; Professor Saunders, a Deaf Mute, Killed by His Nephew." Christmas real-horror from 1895, disturbingly common sort of story. "6 Shooter" segment in Christmas horror anthology The 12 Slays Of Christmas (2016) does similar, though it may really be Santa Claus. Merkin gun culture.
A SANTA CLAUS KILLED. Professor Saunders, a Deaf Mute, Killed by His Nephew. Jackson, Miss., December 25,-Professor L. W. Saunders, a deaf mute, and for many years a teacher in the state deaf and dumb asylum, was shot and instantly killed tonight' at 7 o'clock by his nephew, C. R. Young. Professor Saunders was to act Santa Claus at the Christmas tree gotten up for the amusement of the deaf and dumb children in the institute, and called by Mr. Young's house in his Santa Claus garb. His knock at the door was heard and Mr. Young, the only occupant, demanded "Who is there?" a time or two, and receiving no reply fired through the door at what he supposed was a burglar. Professor Saunders dropped Inside the hall and died in two minutes. The 44-caliber ball had passed clear through his body. Professor Saunders is a brother of Captain R. L Saunders, world's fair commissioner from this state, and was highly respected, both as a man and teacher of deaf mutes. The affair is the most deplorable in the history of Jackson and Mr. Young is crazed with grief. Atlanta Constitution. Dec 20, 1895: 1 col 4.
December 25, 2025 at 4:36 AM
toffph.bsky.social
"Ghosts on Christmas Eve" Australia, 1908 #ChristmasPoetry Rather more melancholy ghosts than creepy ones!
Ghosts on Christmas Eve. — WRITTEN FOR THE CHRISTMAS Week.) Ghosts of a buried past! Why have you come to-night? Go! visit fairer scenes, Hearts that are free and light; For mine, alas! is sad and sore, For the love and joy that can come no more. Ghost of a buried love! Love of the long ago, Cold is my withered heart, Cold as the drifting snow; That with the willow branches wave, In other climes above its grave. Spirits: who seem to me like Friends I’ve loved and lost; Who now to this dark, dreary earth From spiritland have cross’d, Loved memories; my spirit holds you dear, The one green spot within a desert drear. Ghosts of the future, say To me what shall it bring. Will peace and joy be borne, Or grief; upon its wing! Will shadows gather in the evening light, And deeper grow with shades of coming night! Ghost of a wasted life! Come in the waning light. Haunts with a nameless dread Like voices in the night. Life’s hours like precious pearls I see, Lost, one by one, in eternity! Angels of Christmas Eve: Say is there lasting bliss, For troubled wear souls, In such a world as this? Tell me, then flee away at morn, Sing out the joyful strains A Prince of peace is borne. IRISHWOMAN. Bowen Hills. The Telegraph [Brisbane, Qld]. December 22, 1888:10 col 6
December 25, 2025 at 2:54 AM
toffph.bsky.social
PHOTOCRIME Who Killed Santa Claus?
How good a detective are you? Can you solve this unusual Christmas Eve Murder Mystery?
By Henry Johns
Long Island Sunday Press. January 9, 1938: 4.
PHOTOCRIME Who Killed Santa Claus? How good a detective are you? Can you solve this unusual Christmas Eve Murder Mystery? By Henry Johns Ten photos, very contrasty digital scans of microfilm of newspaper, show different scenes, captions describe location and actions of people. https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/Jamaica%20NY%20Long%20Island%20Daily%20Press/Jamaica%20NY%20Long%20Island%20Daily%20Press%201938/Jamaica%20NY%20Long%20Island%20Daily%20Press%201938%20-%201330.pdf
December 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
toffph.bsky.social
"Sect strings up effigy of 'devil Santa Claus" 1980 #ChristmasHorror
Nothing like a kangaroo court and a hanging by a religious sect with its own "school," church "justice."
20 The Daily Press Utica, Friday, Dec. 19, 1980 "Some days it just doesn't pay to cross the Arctic Circle Sect strings up effigy of 'devil Santa Claus BURLINGTON, N. C. (AAP) - To the 125 members of the Truth Tabernacle Church, Christmas is the work of the devil and Santa Claus is an imposter. They even tried Santa and hanged him in effigy recently. The Christian sect allows no Christmas trees and no presents. Elder R. R. Robertson said the church has its own school and does not allow the children to watch television. he said the boycott of Christmas is because Dec. 25 is the birthday of Tammuz, a pagan god. Jesus was actually born in September, Robertson said. During the trial on Sunday, 10 charges were read against Santa- dubbed Satan Claus by church members. He was found guilty on all counts. No one testified in Santa's defence. Santa was accused of child abuse by urging parents to buy liquor instead of clothing, of lying and saying he is Saint Nicholas, of causing churches to practice Baal religion unknowingly, and of causing ministers to lie about Christ's birthday. After the charges were read and sentence pronounced, an 8-foot dummy in a Santa suit was taken to the nearest tree and hanged as about a dozen children looked on giggling.
December 23, 2025 at 8:16 PM
toffph.bsky.social
"Santa effigy hung" in 1975. I wonder how many fanatics have done this sort of thing over the decades, or centuries. I found another in 1980 where it shows a pastor stringing one up in front of children. #ChristmasHorror
The Citizen Auburn N.Y. Monday December 22, 1975 - 12 [Contrasty b&w digital scan of microfilm of newspaper showing Santa claus hanging from perhaps a homemade scaffold, sign reading "King of the Lies Satan Claus Rev. 22: 14+15" captioned "Santa in effigy An inflatable Santa Claus hangs in effigy in front of the residence of Allen Cutcher near Longwood, Fla. Cutcher says that Santa is the Satan of Christmas (AP)" Headline of article, cropped, reads "Santa effigy hung"
December 23, 2025 at 8:03 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Convents supposedly don't ask questions when new nuns mysteriously appear....
Scene from Nuns on the Run
December 23, 2025 at 5:45 PM
toffph.bsky.social
#HorrorMoviesForTheHolidays #29 dir. Moira Armstrong: had Ignorance & Want, and depicted rarish passage "The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went." Decent 58m TV adaptation, though finale rushed.
Ignorance and Want, Christmas Present, and Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1977) "The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost" depicted in A Christmas Carol (1977)
December 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Bothersome, given how easy it is to credit. State aloud, have text at video's end or in the video description, whatever. Some things, Scott's "The Tapestried Chamber" being an early print CGS are generally known. That it wasn't written for Xmas less so, but the 1830 Letters review rather obscure.
Scott hadn't really meant for the tapestry chamber to be published at Christmas time. But the association was so strong that by 1830 a review of his study on witchcraft and the supernatural letters on demonology and witchcraft complained that he hadn't published it at Christmas in the fireside months. The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. December 12, 2025. "Forgotten Tradition: Chilling Christmas Ghost." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6oSoEatJQ Tentatively one might identify as a turning point T. H. Bayly's "The Mistletoe Bough" and J. G. Lockhart's "Little Willie Bell" (1827) in this volume, and back in volume one Sir Walter Scott's "The Tapestried Chamber" (1828). The stories were received well enough to garner wider circulation through immediate reprints by other publications. They received some criticism by bluenoses afraid of fostering belief in ghosts, but such complaints generally diminished over the decades. As noted earlier, the already morbid song soon had a ghost added to it on stage. Scott's story hadn't been written with Christmas reading specifically in mind; he'd originally planned to include it in his own Chronicles of the Canongate: Nonetheless, the association was created; a mere month later a writer called it to mind among a "train of associations" in a letter under the heading "A Few Ghosts for Christmas-Time." Philippo, Christopher K. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories Volume Five. Valancourt Books, 2021. Apart from referencing traditional ghosts, the letter mentioned the Scandinavian nix water sprite or Bäckahäst brook horse, "Der Wilde Jäger" by Gottfried August Bürger (1747-1794), The Fairy Mythology (1828) by Thomas Keightley (1789-1872), and George Barrington's History of New South Wales (1802). Scott's ghost was the only one that had been made available at Christmastime. The inclusion of the others suggested that if one wasn't a natural storyteller then any weird fiction at hand might do. In fact, such a sentiment was expressed in a review of Scott's Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq. (1830): We are very angry with you, friend Murr[aly, for publishing this delightful volume in September. Why not about Christmas and the fire-side months, when it would indeed most charmingly entertain the family groups now scattered at watering-places, in country quarters, and on tours of pleasure. Cheltenham Journal and Gloucestershire Fashionable Weekly Gazette, Sept. 27, 1830, p. 4, col. 3. Philippo, Christopher K. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories Volume Five. Valancourt Books, 2021.
December 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM
toffph.bsky.social
It *would* be a good video on #ChristmasGhostStories, if only The History Guy had cited the sources he used. To omit his sources in a video he had offered early for his paid Patreon supporters is especially !@#$%^. E.g. one of a number of instances from @valancourtbooks.bsky.social
By 1865, the frame story in the mysterious Christmas box and What Came Out of It, published in the Birmingham Daily Post, purported to have an inventor present a magical box which could produce stories and done so for the famous magazines like Dickens. all the year round and once a week. The Birmingham editor challenged the box to tell a story with a murder, something horrible, you know, appropriate to Christmas. The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. "Forgotten Tradition: Chilling Christmas Ghosts." December 10, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6oSoEatJQ the frame story in "The Mysterious Christmas Box, and What Came Out of It," an anthology that appeared in the Christmas Day 1865 Birmingham Daily Post. The note announced the arrival of an Inventor presenting the titular object to an Editor, a magical box could produce stories or poems upon request and that had done so for All the Year Round, Chambers' Jour-nal, and Once a Week, among others. The Editor challenged the Box to create poems and stories in various styles, including the comic style of Tom Hood, a mystery with a happy ending, a murder: "Something horrible, you know - appropriate to Christmas" Philippo, Christopher K. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories Volume Five. Valancourt Books, 2021. Screencap from https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheHistoryGuy showing The History Guy in a colorful suit in a dark room with the caption: Watch Mojo is a No No Stealing from other creators is worse than AI. November 3
December 22, 2025 at 6:48 AM
toffph.bsky.social
Yule Be Miserable's a good album!

Have a large collection of Christmas CDs that are good in order to avoid the repetitiousness and uninspired programming of holiday radio.
Photo of liner notes to Yule Be Miserable CD by Harvey Pekar; text of inset on back' 'Tis the season to be jolly? Hardly! The holiday season is really the time for dysfunctional families, useless knickknacks, and expanding waistlines. Why fool yourself with the run-of-the-mill music of the season and its sugarcoated themes of love and understanding? Add a dash of reality to your holiday proceedings while thumbing your nose at the putrid sentimentality with music that cries out "back off and leave me alone!"
December 19, 2025 at 7:29 PM
toffph.bsky.social
alt text cont'd.
In this way, Vicente Álvarez inverts the conventions of the crime novel, creating a character who, in this case, senses a crime just around the corner and who, aided by a beautiful professor from his university and a computer expert, tries to anticipate the intentions of the pro-Nazi organization. Thus, investigating something he himself may not even believe in, the protagonist speculates on the possibility that Himmler visited Montserrat Abbey seeking a copy of the book capable of unleashing all the forces of Hell, and he also speculates on the possibility that a man, Markus Thaler, is repeatedly faking his death to avoid leaving any clues about his whereabouts. Weaving together stories read in old books, searching for photographs from bygone eras, and interviewing elderly women who lived through World War II, the detective will explore many of the great mysteries of our time, from the Nazis' scientific-esoteric organization—the Ahnenerbe—to the possible magical power of the SS rings. From the Voynich manuscript to Hitler's secret children; from the Royal Blood symbolized by the Holy Grail to the Treasure of Arimathea; from human trafficking to the filming of snuff movies. There is no mystery or metaphysical matter that doesn't find a place in the theories of book investigator Conceiro, who in this first adventure will be compelled to fight against an organization whose sole aim is to establish a Fourth Reich thanks to the power of the Nazi Necronomicon. In this way, Vicente Álvarez demonstrates his unconditional passion for books, telling a captivating story where everything, absolutely everything, unfolds among the shelves of some library. The author pays a well-deserved tribute to a writer sidelined by literary critics: H.P. Lovecraft.
December 19, 2025 at 6:33 PM
toffph.bsky.social
Google translation of the author's page.
www.vicentealvarez.com/index.php?op...
The Nazi Necronomicon Nazi Necronomicon Smuggled loves, hidden loves, eternal loves, Miles Davis, lost treasures, book auctions, betrayed friendships, dangerous neo-Nazi organizations, Lovecraft and his incredible and imaginative world, Nazi esotericism, the game of Snakes and Ladders… The novel “Perhaps the world is nothing more than a giant printing press producing thousands and thousands of copies of The Necronomicon.” *** Here is one of the most original crime novels written in recent years. Vicente Álvarez begins with The Nazi Necronomicon the series of adventures of the strange investigator Ariel Conceiro, a librarian at Valle-Inclán University who once aspired to be a writer and who today, weary of his work, never misses an opportunity to enjoy a Miles Davis song, a Vega Sicilia wine, and an open book. This character bases his life on reading, often of incunabula discovered after years of research, and possesses a remarkable mind for connecting the dots gleaned from hundreds of readings. As he defines himself: “I am a Goth. I love alchemy, magic, cathedrals, monsters, and mysteries. I am a Templar. The last one.” Through his bookseller friend Matías Palermo, Conceiro discovers the existence of a Nazi-adapted version of the magical, esoteric, and perhaps diabolical Necronomicon so often imagined by H.P. Lovecraft. This book could presumably open the doors to a parallel universe inhabited by malevolent beings intent on erasing life as we know it. Now, a pro-Nazi organization intends to use it for its own purposes. Faced with such a possibility, Conceiro doesn't hesitate to embark on an investigation aimed at preventing a criminal act: the use of the aforementioned book.
December 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM