A Christmas Carol Scared the Dickens' Out of Me

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a scary Christmas story...go figure! Something can be scary about Christmas besides holiday shoppers! It was published in 1843, and **fun fact!** It was published, according to Wikipedia my love, because Dickens was in debt. And now it's a classic. Maybe I should write a book, because I'm broke. Kidding! I'm no Dickens, I'd probably write a book about pumpkins, puma sneakers, or Lil' Wayne's tattoos.

The story...of course you should already know about. Ebenezer Scrooge is, well, an old miserly scrooge (for lack of a better word), and tortures everyone with his bitterness and hatred, especially poor Bob Cratchit's family. Most gut-wretchingly, there's Cratchit's son, Tiny Tim, who is deathly ill with a mystery disease that Wiki claims is renal tubular acidosis (which, if you can tell me how they came to that conclusion you're a far better ghoul than I). I would've guessed Polio? Anyway. He breaks your heart, and makes you hate Scrooge even more for putting Bob through the wringer.

Is that Scrooge the guy from 12 Angry Men? (Jim help me out here) :

I think it is...anyway....where was I?...oh yes.

Now, here's where we get to the scary. The night before Christmas, Scrooge has an epiphany...he meets three ghooOoOoOoOosts! The ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and MBB's fave: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come...aka the Grim Reaper.

Of course, after meeting the last ghost, Eb realizes that he doesn't want to be that guy anymore, and turns a new leaf. The END.

Now let's get back to good ol' Grim Reaper. I mean, this guy rules. Look how scary he is next to a crying Scrooge:

He looks great on stage:

and on TV:

He's even ominous in Scrooged with Bill Murray:

Even Wikipedia has a scary picture of what the Grim Reaper looks like (well, a skeleton, but still...spOoOOoOoOoky):

"Take myy haaaaaand....we're off to never never laaaaand"-Metallica 1991

I'll be honest, if he came to me in a dream, I'd clean up my act too.

Anyway, if you want more Christmas Carol and especially more Ghost of Christmas Future, you can read the story on this site,

Also, check out what horror-wood says about it, I love it.

Not a reader? Never fear - There's a movie adaptation from 1951 called "Scrooge"

Even the Muppets tackled it:

Not scary, but still....kinda scary.