9 Christmas Horror Story Collections Jingling all the Way
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to die in a one-night open slay.
Christmas is a time for good ill when horror authors turn their attention to it.
Here are nine Christmas horror story collections perfect to read over the holiday season.
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Table of Contents
Season's Creepings – Ronald Kelly
Season’s Creepings: Tales of Holiday Horror is a Christmas horror collection of ten stories.
Christmas can be the most wonderful time of the year. Candy canes and hot cocoa. Snowmen and sleigh rides. The love and hope that the Nativity brings. Cold milk and warm cookies for Santa. Family, friends, and the cheerful laughter of children.
But, beneath the festive wrapping paper and the gleam and glitter of the lights and tinsel, things less jubilant may lie in wait.
The holiday season can bring love, peace, and benevolence… but it may also spawn a darkness lurking amid the shadowy boughs of the Christmas tree, ornaments that should have never seen the light of day, let along hung on festive branches, and bones that jingle and dance, in search of Santa’s crimson suit… and the flesh that resides within.
"Kim took a chance and turned on the hallway light. She saw it immediately...several drops of blood and a tuft of orange fluff on the carpet in front of the half-bathroom. The door was partially open and it was dark inside."
12 Deaths of Christmas – Paul Sating
12 Deaths of Christmas is a supernatural Christmas horror collection of twelve stories.
Demons from hell. Gods and Devils. Unspeakable monstrosities. Humans with a taste for flesh.
An upscale clothing store that offers its customers more than they bargained for.
A prodigal son returns home for his aunt’s funeral, only to discover that an ancient entity awaits.
A town shelters against the first snow, and the evil it brings. A mad king. A hired assassin. A world in the balance and an eternal force manipulating all of them.
And seven more tales of horror that will forever change the way you experience the holiday season.
Tis the season … to die.
"The Repertory was renowned for elegance most people couldn't afford. Before the Internet, the store served as a bastion of snobbery and pretentiousness, even refusing certain types of people from shopping. That selectivity only enhanced its attractiveness to those who could."
Horror Stories to Ruin Christmas – Various
Horror Stories to Ruin Christmas is a Christmas horror collection of twenty-six stories that started out as stories on the NoSleep Reddit forum.
The first day of Christmas was when the town started to fall apart.
The second day of Christmas was when people started to die.
By the thirteenth day of Christmas, it was too late to go back.
Or was it?
Twenty-six authors combine their talents to tell the horrifying story of Serenity Falls, Wisconsin. Piece by piece, the unsettling truth is revealed, culminating in a dark secret far bigger than any single writer’s imagination. Hope and despair are doled out in unequal measures as the town’s citizens struggle to discover the painful truth.
One day at a time.
"I used to love hearing stories about [my father] when I was younger. I liked to imagine that I'd get to meet him someday, and the two of us would go everywhere I had heard about in mom's stories. It wasn't until I was eight years old that I realized how strained her voice was when she talked about him, or how selfish I was for always bringing him up."
Chill Tidings – Tanya Kirk (editor)
Chill Tidings: Dark Tales of the Christmas Season is a Christmas horror anthology of thirteen classic and rare tales. This is the second collection in the Tales of the Weird series.
The gifts are unwrapped, the feast has been consumed and the fire is well fed – but the ghosts are still hungry.
Welcome to the second new collection of dark Christmas stories in the Tales of the Weird series, ushering in a fresh host of nightmarish phantoms and otherworldly intruders bent on joining or ruining the most wonderful time of the year.
Featuring classic tales from Algernon Blackwood, Rosemary Timperley, Sheridan Le Fanu and Elinor Glyn alongside rare pieces from the sleeping periodicals and literary magazines of the British Library collection, it’s time to open the door and let the real festivities begin.
"Concerning this Jeremy Lester there was a mystery. No man could say what had become of him. He was in the oak parlour at Martingdale one Christmas Eve, and before the next morning he had disappeared - to reappear in the flesh no more."
Dead of Winter – Kealan Patrick Burke
Dead of Winter is a Christmas horror collection of seven stories.
Winter isn’t coming…it’s already here, and with it comes a horror no door can keep out.
It’s there in the yard, in the faces of the snowmen a young boy doesn’t remember building. It’s in the oddly empty streets below Santa Claus’s crumbling sleigh. It’s in the unnatural movement of the snow that suffocates a widower’s town, and in the cold eyes of a lonely man’s estranged children.
Here, there is no holiday cheer, only spine-chilling fear.
"The two men standing in Ryan's backyard were like irises in the eyes of winter. And they were looking right at him."
Twelve Days of Christmas Horror – Rick Wood
Twelve Days of Christmas Horror is a Christmas horror collection with three volumes. It’s available in a box set or as three separate books.
It’s time for your festivities to get frightening.
Volume 1 has twelve stories (one is a three-parter), Volume 2 has nine, and Volume 3 has five.
"The walk had been long and arduous, but there was nothing Joseph could have done to change that. They had a mission. Something they needed to achieve. And it rested on his shoulders."
The 12 Terrors of Christmas – Claudette Melanson
The 12 Terrors of Christmas is a Christmas horror collection of thirteen stories.
Grab a cup of cocoa and make sure the windows and doors are locked tight as you settle in by the fire to enjoy these tales of terror, but be warned: locks have never succeeded at keeping Santa from gaining entry.
If you enjoy a slice of horror with your holiday cheer, this collection of Christmas horror shorts will satisfy all your dark cravings during the holidays and beyond.
"That year marked my tenth Christmas, and on every year I could remember, Santa had come to visit me, waking me in the middle of the night so he could personally wish me Merry Christmas."
Hark! The Herald Angels Scream – Christopher Golden (editor)
Hark! The Herald Angels Scream is a Christmas horror collection of eighteen stories from bestselling and acclaimed authors.
That there is darkness at the heart of the Yuletide season should not surprise. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is filled with scenes that are unsettling. Marley untying the bandage that holds his jaws together. The hideous children – Want and Ignorance – beneath the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The heavy ledgers Marley drags by his chains. In the finest versions of this story, the best parts are the terrifying parts.
Bestselling author and editor Christopher Golden shares his love for Christmas horror stories with this anthology of short fiction from some of the most talented and original writers of horror today.
Ghosts of Christmas Past – Tim Martin (editor)
Ghosts of Christmas Past is a Christmas horror collection of thirteen modern and classic tales.
A present contains a monstrous secret.
An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party.
A shadow slips across the floor by firelight.
A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams.
Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail – so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.
"The letters which I now publish were sent to me recently by a person who knows me to be interested in ghost stories. There is no doubt about their authenticity. The paper on which they are written, the ink, and the whole external aspect put their date beyond the reach of question."
Published: 19 December 2022
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