The Christmas Ghost Story Tradition with Dr Kate Cherrell

Dr Kate Cherrell is a writer and broadcaster specialising in the long 19th century and paranormal history. Her academic interests include 19th-century Spiritualism, mourning traditions, the gothic, the monstrous feminine, and death history.

She is the author of Begotten (2025), Memorials to the Dead (2026), and writes commercially on paranormal history for various magazines and publishers. She is co-founder of Not of this Wold festival, director of The Bats’ Ball annual cemetery gathering and sits on the director’s board of Lincoln Book Festival. As a historian, she has co-hosted Haunted Homecoming, Unexplained: Caught on Camera and has provided historical expertise on The Yorkshire Exorcist, Paranormal, and Weird Britain.

In this chat, we talk about the fashion for Christmas ghost stories, where it came from, why television plays such a big role in our fascination with MR James at Christmas, and where the genre might go next!

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