Okay, listen.
The other day I’m upstairs at the Raven, buzzing around, taking pictures and fixing books. Doing the media specialist thing.
I look across the cafe at the little stage, and I see Mr. Bones poised at the piano all festive-like. Here he is.
And I found myself thinking, as I always do around this time of year, what Andy Williams meant when he sang:
“There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories…”
What ghost stories?
‘A Christmas Carol’ counts, of course. It boasts no less than four ghosts in its cast of characters. So that’s one accounted for…what else is there?
I’ve always wondered, but never googled.
Til now.
It turns out that gathering around the fire and telling ghost stories was a part of the Christmas holiday for Victorians. And since most of our own generally accepted holiday traditions stem from how Victorian England got down for Christmas, it’s included in “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.
And it goes even further back than that. Before Christmas was even a thing, the Yule celebration was more popular than it is today. People would gather together and tell stories of winter, death, and rebirth. It makes sense that ghost stories would occur on the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice.
This, sadly, is a tradition that seems to have died out.
(No pun intended. Really.)
I suggest that we bring it back.
Last year, my sisters and I did. We told scary stories on the ride home back from my grandfather’s house. It was partly because we were ruminating on the lyrics of this song, partly because who doesn’t like a good ghost story, and mainly to keep my sister from panicking as we drove home in a blizzard.
Let’s continue this fabulous tradition, and allow me to get the ball rolling by asking a question:
Do you think the Raven Cafe is haunted?
I’ve been asking current and past employees this last week for their thoughts on the subject. The answer seems to be pretty divided, with some saying that they’ve never witnessed anything supernatural here (or ever) but would love to.
For those that have experienced something otherworldly within these walls, the general consensus seems to be that activity tends to happen after we’re closed and it usually happens upstairs. After hours, bells have been heard in the air above the gift corner. Chairs are heard moving around of their own accord, but upon investigation nothing has actually moved. A vase once crashed to the floor while no one else was up here and nothing was around to move it.
What do you think?
I would love to hear your spooky stories, either about the Raven or random ones!
Scary ghost stories at Christmas. Bringin it back.
-Jessica, your Media Specialist