By Merritt Ver Steeg

My favorite thing about fall and winter is the long nights. The hours of darkness are perfect for reading Stephen King or watching horror movies on Netflix, and I’m not the first to think so. The English have a fine tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas gatherings, which explains a lot about A Christmas Carol. In that spirit, here are three classic ghost stories for long winter nights:

1)   “Smee” by A.M. Burrage.

It’s Christmas Eve, and a group of friends have gathered for a party. They decide to play a game, and Jackson suggests something called “Smee,” but refuses to play himself. When the others ask why, Jackson tells them the story of the last time he played Smee with 12 of his friends. Or was it 13?

2)   “Gabriel-Ernest” by H.H. Munro

Van Cheele is walking through the woods on his property when he meets a young trespasser. But there is something wrong with him. Something sinister. Something that may have to do with the string of disappearances plaguing the town.

3)   “The Mezzotint” by M. R. James

Mr. Williams buys and curates architectural drawings, blueprints, and engravings for a university museum. A colleague of his convinces him to order a rather expensive print of an old country house, sight unseen. When the print arrives, Mr. Williams is not impressed, and baffled as to why it cost so much, but as he shows it to his friends, he begins to realize that this is not an ordinary print, and this is not an ordinary house.