Fearsome Fiction

Big List of Christmas Horror Books

Plow your way through these Christmas horrors

We’re adding to this list all the time so make sure to keep coming back if you’re a Christmas horror fan.

If you know of any Christmas horror books that aren’t on this page, please tell us about them.

Merry Christmas

Table of Contents

Christmas Horror Novels, Novellas, and Short Stories

TitleByYearPages

25 Candles

Each December, candles are lit to mark the days until Christmas. This year, with every new flame, tragedy strikes again. Fires. Disappearances. Death.

Baxter, Iris

2025

240

25 Days

Psychological horror. The Gray family finds themselves dragged into a deranged game of Secret Santa.

Jacobson, Per

2024

358


Advent of Evil

Welcome to Marshport, Maine, a quaint, little coastal town preparing for their annual Winter Wonderland Festival. But beneath the lights and holiday cheer, something evil is stirring, and it’s not a mouse.

Donnelly, Scott

2025

285

All I Want for Christmas is You!

Pyschological horror. I try to be good. I don't want to be this monster. I am Santa, I am Santa, I am Santa.

Guidroz, C.M.

2022

121


All Through the House: The Novelization

Slasher horror. The neighborhood is once again gripped by terror as a sadistic killer, cloaked in a grotesque Santa mask, embarks on a bloody rampage.

Millican, Joshua

2024

164


Alternative Christmas Carol, An

Extreme horror. What if the visits turn Scrooge darker still?!

Shaw, Matt

2022

100


Candy Cain Kills

Slasher horror. Candy Cain is slashing through the snow with a very long naughty list.

McAuley, Brian

2023

172


Candy Cain Kills Again: The Second Slaying

Slasher horror. She's making a list... and chopping it twice!

McAuley, Brian

2024

144


Christmas at Wheeldale Inn

Gothic horror. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox find themselves out in a freezing storm, lost, injured and penniless upon the moors. Salvation comes in the form of Wheeldale Inn: the highest public house in Yorkshire.

Amor, Gemma

2022

117


Christmas Eve Carnage

Slasher horror. An ex-con with a bone to pick plots his revenge, while a malevolent Christmas elf rises.

Lynch, John

2023

184


Christmas Eve Carnage 2: Sprinkles Lives

Slasher horror. Sprinkles is back.

Lynch, John

2024

172


Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill

Supernatural horror. Luke Herzinger was the sole survivor of the infamous Herzinger Family Massacre. After a decade away, Luke has come home to face his past and battle the evil that still resides in the old family home on Haunted Hill.

Smith, Bryan

2015

94


Christmas Fear

Psychological horror. Christmas Day takes an unexpected turn for Tommy and Jacqueline when they come downstairs and find a strange man and woman standing in their living room.

Shaw, Matt

2022

30


Christmas Horror Story, A

Psychological horror. With a belt of knives round his waist, a writhing bag on his back and a Santa-sized appetite, he’s a little…different to the St Nick you might be expecting.

Gregory, Sebastian

2014

77


Christmas Killer, The

On a cold winter morning in December, Detective Mitchell found himself at the center of a brutal and terrifying killing. Little did he know, it was just the beginning of a killing spree.

Mitchell Fletcher, J.R.

2023

470

Christmas Massacre, The

Albert Kinney isn’t your typical holiday enthusiast. He doesn’t deck the halls; he drenches them in blood.

Russo, John A.

2025

146

Christmas Morning Massacre, The

Slasher horror. Two murdered girls. A killer that was never found. The small town of Raven Hill is not as perfect as it seems.

Rabadi, Nasser

2022

113


Christmas Night of the Scurry Furry

Toy horror. The hot holiday toy, Scurry Furry, comes to life and begins wreaking havoc.

Reyes, E.

2023

62


Christmas to Remember, A

Extreme horror. Choose your own horror adventure. With seventeen premature endings, an ultimate 'revenge' ending and an ultimate 'happy' ending - there are numerous ways to shape this evolving story.

Shaw, Matt

2012

128


Christmas Vengeance

He won’t stop until every Santa Claus is dead.

Berry, Brian G.

2024

167

Christmas with the Dead

Zombie horror. Meet Calvin, a man determined to bring the Christmas spirit back to his zombie-infested town, even if it means risking life and limb to hang up those Christmas lights.

Lansdale, Joe R.

2024

246


Dark Days of Christmas, The

Grýla, the Icelandic, cannibalistic “Christmas witch”, takes center stage.

Masterton, Graham & Mogielska, Karolina

2023

114

Dead of Christmas, The

At the festive North Pole, Nick and Carol, toymakers and secret Government Agents, guard a deadly secret-hidden nukes beneath the toy shop.

Favro, Tory

2023

134

Eve

Psychological horror. Santa reaches out to children in their dreams, according to Eve, and learns all they truly want.

Shaw, Matt

2019

15


Everything is Temporary

Psychological horror. What's truly mysterious is Tom's year-round hatred for Christmas.

Cohn, Jon

2023

252


Father Christmas Vs. The Abominable Snowman

Extreme horror. Will Joe even make it to Christmas this year?

Phillips, Harrison

2024

113


Gingerbread Men, The

Psychological horror. Eric abandons his fiancé, Eleanor, at the Edinburgh Christmas market, and follows a mysterious woman back to the hotel she owns in the Highlands. Here he meets the men that staff the vacant rooms. Men like him. Men with something to hide…

Corrance, Joanna

2022

304


Good Year, A

LGBTQ+ horror. The twelve days of Christmas are beginning – the time when, according to local folklore, creatures known as kalikantzari come up from Hell to wreak havoc.

Loizou, Polis

2022

144


Grimm Curiosities

Ghost horror. A young woman inherits her father’s curiosity shop and all its ghostly secrets

Fisher, Sharon Lynn

2024

299


Hail Santa

Supernatural horror. There is something in the small mining community of St. Nicholas in northern Canada. Something strange and inhuman. Something cruel and powerful and very, very, hungry.

McNee, John

2023

288


Haunting of Jeremiah Scrooge, The

Ghost horror. The three Spirits of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet To Come had once haunted Jeremiah Scrooge with phantasmical journeys through his past, his present, and his future.

Brown, Robert Dwight

2023

296


Humbug

Every Christmas brings another murder, but this year’s case is different. A brilliant psychopath, dubbed “Humbug” by the press, has made a tradition of killing an entire family every December 25th.

Marano, Luciano

2025

134

I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street

Supernatural horror. When Douglas finds an eerie strand of lights slithering through the sewer, he unwittingly unleashes merry terror upon his neighborhood’s tacky lights contest.

Farthing, Ben

2023

146


I Killed a Vampire for My Christmas Break

Allen’s hopes of a monster-free life are crushed when he discovers that a vampire has come to town, and wants more than just blood.

Whittaker, Sam

2024

319

I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus

Zombie horror. How does the leader of a failed zombie civil rights movement from California rescue a group of his undead brethren and help a lonely Breather girl as he hides from a band of medical researchers while disguised as Santa Claus?

Browne, EG

2014

208


I'll Be Alone For Christmas

After an unexpected breakup, Romee heads to a remote cabin for the Christmas break. But from the moment she arrives, and ominous presence clings to her.

Mulligan, Kristin

2024

143

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Supernatural horror. It’s the most wonderful time of the year – except for Harold Trapp. With sales numbers plummeting, he and his company rush plans to create the perfect Christmas gift: the Hans and Heidi dolls.

Sinnott, Dorian J.

2020

317


Krampus: The Yule Lord

Dark fantasy horror. One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer.

Brom

2015

368


Krampus' Tree Farm

Nik Stein lives in a town called Santa’s Village, but he doesn’t like Christmas. He is getting ready to move away when he meets someone who puts all of his plans on hold.

Winchell, Shawn

2022

173

My Darling Girl

Psychological horror. A woman takes in her dying, alcoholic mother and begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.

McMahon, Jennifer

2023

32


Naughty List, The

Megan's mum brings down an old Christmas decoration from the loft – a vintage elf named Jingles, with a too-wide smile and glass eyes that seem to follow you across the room.

Campbell, Don

2025

181

NOS4A2

Supernatural horror. Charles Talent Manx likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls 'Christmasland'.

Hill, Joe

2013

720


Red Christmas

Zombie horror. Preston races against the clock through a pitch-black mall riddled with undead in hopes of collecting the final decoration needed to finish his tribute to his mother.

Sullivan, Alice B.

2022

51


Return of the Living Elves

Zombie horror. When Christmas supply warehouse manager Jimmy tries to help new employee Tommy find a last-minute gift for his girlfriend, they accidentally unleash a long-forgotten and very seasonal genetic experiment with a taste for human flesh.

Asman, Brian

2022

160


Saint Nicholas

Dark fantasy horror. The origin of one of history's most iconic figures is not a fairy tale. It is not a story for children, to be told by the fire on a cold night. It is a story of pain and fear, of death and rebirth. But most of all, it is a story from a nightmare.

James, Bryan

2013

62


Santa Took Them

Psychological horror. No one in Holly Brook has forgotten the horror that unfolded on Christmas Eve ten years ago. Now, a terrifying blizzard descends upon the small isolated town and teens begin disappearing.

Malmborg, William

2015

306


Season of Secrets, The

Determined to spend one last festive season with her ailing mother, Alison, her daughter Grace, and Anthony her brother make the journey back to the town where they grew up. However, Grace’s imaginary friend is along for the vacation too.

McCluskey, DE

2025

224

Secret Santa

Comedy horror. The Office meets Stephen King, dressed up in holiday tinsel, in this fun, festive, and frightening horror-comedy set during the horror publishing boom of the ’80s.

Shaffer, Andrew

2020

216


Silent Night, Deadly Night

Official novelization of the 1984 Silent Night, Deadly Night movie.

Muñoz, Armando

2025

400

Sleigh, The

YA cannibal serial killer horror. Every December for the past decade, a cult of serial killers the press calls the Christmas Cannibals has crept in under cover of darkness and left half-eaten corpses in their wake. The investigation leads to an ancient evil whose roots are wrapped around the most iconic Christmas figure of all.

Hawthorne, Max

2022

328


Snow

Supernatural horror. The blizzard begins on Christmas Eve, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Todd Curry joins three other people in renting the last four-wheel drive available and they set out into the blinding snow.

Malfi, Ronald

2021

216


Snowball

Supernatural horror. A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm.

Bastianelli, Gregory

2020

256


Snowball

Dark fantasy horror. Brandon and Erin begin a new family tradition by introducing the elf on a shelf to their young children. When Erin brings home their newly purchased elf, little do they know the horror that awaits.

Gonzalez, Andre

2019

142


Thing in Christmas Town, The

Psychological horror. Wishing to recapture the happy times of their youth, Diane’s grown children take her to Ireland’s latest attraction. Christmas Town, nestled in the Cavan hills, where it is Christmas 365 days a year.

Murphy, Iseult

2024

117


To Hell With Hallmark

Supernatural horror. Welcome to Hallmark, Vermont, the setting for every cliched Christmas dream. But this year, something sinister has infected Hallmark's Christmas magic, turning Christmas morning dreams into Christmas Eve nightmares.

Ricks, Brad

2024

228


Twisted Malevolent Christmas, A

Psychological horror. Greg and Mia are looking forward to a Christmas getaway. Unfortunately, a sinister Santa has other plans for them.

Shanahan, Kristal

2024

28


Very Naughty List, The

When a down-on-his-luck shopping mall Santa is abruptly fired just days before Christmas, he decides to unleash holiday hell on the staff who wronged him.

Clarke, Michael D.A.

2024

135

Very Naughty List: Part Two, The

Last Christmas, Santa Claus was locked away for the Merryvale Shopping Mall Massacre. But prison didn’t bury his legend — it fed it.

Clarke, Michael D.A.

2025

214

Visitor, The

Sci-fi horror. On Christmas, during one of the worst snowstorms Indiana has ever seen, five strangers are forced to take shelter inside of a roadside diner. But the weather is not as bad as the sixth visitor coming to the diner.

Gomez, Sergio

2020

96


When Elves Attack

Comedy horror. Like Santa, Serge knows who's been naughty and who's been nice. As December 24 rolls around, he is to be found filling up the Serge sleigh with an unforgettable bag of presents.

Dorsey, Tim

2012

208


Where the Dead Go to Die

Zombie horror. There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible.

Dries, Aaron and Gunnells, Mark Allan

2016

258


Winter Wonderland

Psychological horror. Adverts for a mysterious ‘Winter Wonderland’ are appearing across town. People are disappearing.

Clarke, Matthew A.

2024

162


Winterwood

Supernatural horror. No one in Anders Bach’s family believed his old tales of Winterwood, a place where Krampus and his Wild Hunt rule a frozen land and where bad children don’t get coal for Christmas, they get baked into pies or forced into slavery.

Faherty, JG

2017

124


You Better Watch Out

Jessica Kaine wakes up trapped in an unknown, deserted town with five other strangers who share similar stories of being attacked and stranded there.

Murray, James S. & Wearmouth, Darren

2024

240

You Better Watch Out

Comedy horror. The town of Tinselvania is under attack by a bloodthirsty, maniacal serial killer dressed as a reindeer.

Forgit, Matt

2021

271

Yuletide Offerings

Cosmic horror. Deep in the woods, a door has been opened.

Jones, CS

2024

71

Christmas Horror Anthologies

TitleEditor/PublisherYear

12 Dark Days: One Hell of a Christmas

13 sinister seasonal stories to freeze the blood from some of Horror's best indie authors.

Drinkel, Dean M.

2017

Bah! Humbug!

25 stories and poems of anti-Christmas cheer.

Shaw, Matt

2016

Best of Indie Horror: Christmas Edition, The

11 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2021

Carols for the Dead

5 authors, 10 tales.

Horton, Desiree

2025

Chill Tidings: Dark Tales of the Christmas Season

13 classic and rare tales.

Kirk, Tanya

2021

Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror

18 original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu and many more.

Datlow, Ellen

2024

Christmas Horror, Vol. 1

8 stories.

Dark Regions Press

2018

Christmas Horror, Vol. 2

6 stories.

Dark Regions Press

2018

Christmas Horror, Vol. 3

15 stories.

Dark Regions Press

2020

Collected Christmas Horror Shorts

24 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2016

Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 2

22 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2018

Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 3

10 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2023

Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 4

12 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2024

Fireside Ghost Stories for Christmas Eve

30 classic stories

Kellermeyer, M. Grant , MA

2017

Ghosts of Christmas Past

13 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.

Martin, Tim

2018

Hark! The Herald Angels Scream

18 stories of Christmas horror from bestselling, acclaimed authors.

Golden, Christopher

2018

Haunters at the Hearth: Eerie Tales for Christmas Nights

18 classic stories ranging from 1864 to 1974.

Kirk, Tanya

2023

He Sees You When He's Creepin': Tales of Krampus

12 stories of Krampus.

Wolford, Kate

2016

Horror Collection: Christmas Edition, The

17 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2025

Horror Collection: White Edition, The

9 stories

KJK Publishing

2019

Horror Stories to Ruin Christmas

26 stories that started out as stories on the NoSleep Reddit forum.

nosleep authors

2019

Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings

Christmas ghost stories from the 1850s to the 1960s.

Kirk, Tanya

2019

Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights

12 stories from traditional Victorian chillers to weird and uncanny episodes by twentieth-century horror masters.

Evans, Lucy and Kirk, Tanya

2022

'Twas the Fright Before Christmas in Deathlehem

Book 9 of Deathlehem. 17 stories.

Evans, Michael J. and Graves, Harrison

2022

Undead That Saved Christmas, Vol. 1

15 stories, 7 poems/carols, 5 comics.

Perez-Tinics, Lyle

2010

Undead That Saved Christmas, Vol. 2

20 stories/poems, 4 comics.

Perez-Tinics, Lyle and Knapp, Eloise J.

2011

Undead That Saved Christmas: Vampire Edition, The

11 stories/poems, 3 comics.

Perez-Tinics, Lyle and Filippone, Joe

2011

Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, The

The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals.

Valancourt Books

2016

Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, The (Volume 2)

15 more chilling tales of Yuletide terror, collected from rare Victorian periodicals.

Valancourt Books

2017

Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, The (Volume 3)

20 ghostly tales of Yuletide terror, collected from rare Victorian periodicals.

Valancourt Books

2018

Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, The (Volume 4)

Rare 19th-century tales from U.S. newspapers and magazines.

Valancourt Books

2020

Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, The (Volume 5)

21 more rare ghostly tales of Yuletide terror from Victorian England.

Valancourt Books

2021

Very Ghostly Christmas, A

Winners, runners-up, and shortlisted stories from the Very Ghostly Christmas flash fiction campaign Ghost Orchid Press ran in December 2021.

Ward, A.R.

2022

Violent Advents

26 writers. 26 stories.

Stephenson, L.

2024

Wight Christmas

30 shocking and unnerving stories and poems to spread holiday fear.

Munks, Martin

2021

Winter Horror Days

20 stories, 4 poems.

Lucarelli, David

2015

Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights, The

12 stories centred around Christmas or Advent.

Sphere

2024

Winter's Tale, A

13 stories.

Biggers, Cliff, Rutledge, Charles R, Tuck, James R

2020

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

15 original werewolf Christmas stories.

Harris, Charlaine and Kelner, Toni L.P.

2010

Xtreme Xmas

12 stories

Doyle, D.J. and Franklin, Lee

2020

Yuletide Frights: Victorian Ghost Stories for Christmas

21 classic tales.

Simmons, William P.

2021

Yuletide Frights 2: More Victorian Ghost Stories for Christmas

16 classic tales.

Simmons, William P.

2022

Yuletide Nightmares

10 stories.

Slaughterhouse Press

2023

Christmas Horror Collections

TitleByYear

12 Deaths of Christmas

12 stories.

Sating, Paul

2018

12 Terrors of Christmas, The

13 stories.

Melanson, Claudette

2017

25 Gifts of Terror

25 nights. 25 horror stories.

Bacic, Boris

2025

Advent

24 stories + 1 novella

Pyle, Daniel

2023

Blood Plow & Other Yuletide Tales with Guts and Entrails

4 stories.

Benetti, R.J.

2023

Christmas Cackle, A

5 short stories based around Christmas.

Shaw, Matt

2015

Christmas Evil

19 tales of terror, each set on the most festive night of the year.

L’Estrange, Mark

2022

Christmas You Get, You Deserve, The

6 tales of ghosts, demons, and retribution

McCluskey, DE

2024

Dead of Winter

7 stories. Winter isn’t coming…it’s already here, and with it comes a horror no door can keep out.

Burke, Kealan Patrick

2018

Krampus and Friends: Tales of Terrifying Christmas Monsters From Around the World

Christmas is seen through the eyes of thirteen different people.

Cole, Gerald

2020

Little Nightmares: Holiday Horrors

This year, there is no nice list. 'Tis the season to bathe in blood.

Adams, David W.

2024

Merry Fuckin' Christmas and Other Yuletide Shit

7 stories.

Kennedy, Kevin J.

2021

Season’s Creepings: Tales of Holiday Horror

10 stories. 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.

Kelly, Ronald

2020

Shrieking Skull and other Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, The

13 rare tales by the most prolific Victorian Christmas ghost story author

Borlase, James Skipp

2023

Silent Fright

Collection.

Young, Lex and Crundell, Mason

2024

Things on the Shelf

3 stories. How scary can one Christmas elf be?

Duke, H.H.

2017

Twelve Days of Christmas Horror, Vol 1-3

Volume 1 has 12 stories (one is a 3-parter), Volume 2 has 9 stories, and Volume 3 has five stories.

Wood, Rick

2019

Updated: 30 November 2025

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