In the Bleak Midwinter: Chilling Tales for Frosty Nights
Posted on December 23, 2025
by Amy H
Amidst the winter holidays when many people delight in joyful thoughts of family, presents, and sugarplums, we mustn’t forget that the night is dark and full of terrors. At the winter solstice, old tales of fearful beings who walk among us punishing the wicked kept everyone entertained in the long nights. Here is a spooktacular collection of books and films to delight holiday thrill-seekers.
rare exports: a christmas story
This is quite possibly the creepiest, funniest, most memorable holiday movie you will ever experience. The Finns just know how to have fun and scare the bejeebers out of us at the same time. In this darkly comic gem, it's Christmas Eve in northern Finland, and an archeological dig has just unearthed Santa Claus. But this Santa definitely isn't one you want coming to town. When local children begin disappearing, Pietari and his father capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the corporation sponsoring the dig.
krampus by Brom
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. When the reindeer leap skyward, taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. Moments later, a large sack plummets back to earth, a magical sack that thrusts the down-on-his-luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus. But the lines between good and evil become blurred as Jesse's new master reveals many dark secrets about the cherry-cheeked Santa Claus, including how half a millennium ago the jolly old saint imprisoned Krampus and usurped his magic. Now Santa's time is running short, for the Yule Lord is determined to have his retribution and reclaim Yuletide. If Jesse can survive this ancient feud, he might have the chance to redeem himself in his family's eyes, to save his own broken dreams . . . and to help bring the magic of Yule to the impoverished fold of Boone County.
a christmas bestiary by Benni Bødker
In the wintry season, when we all delight in joyful thoughts of family, presents, and sugarplums, we mustn't forget that the night is dark and full of terrors. The authors of this book have journeyed far and wide to comb through ancient tomes, listen to folk tales, and spy upon loathsome lairs to catalog the most frightful creatures of the netherworld that appear around Christmastime. This is an essential guidebook to all the horrors that await us during the darkest time of the year, from common creatures such as Baba Yaga and the Krampus to the less encountered (but quite deadly) Yule Wight and Gryla. Bødker's brief text entries include the lore and background of each creature, plus handy info such as danger level that will help you survive (but no guarantees!). Mortensen's gothic, pen-and-ink renderings bring these bone-chilling beasts to life on the page. Eerie, playful, and practical, this is the perfect collection for those who love --or fear-- the things that go bump in the night.
krampus
The first World War rages on when a group of American soldiers find a mysterious artifact that can summon the ancient evil of the Krampus. After the men are killed in action, the artifact is sent to the commanding officers widow who is a teacher at a small-town orphanage. The orphans accidentally summon the Krampus and the teacher, and her pupils are forced to battle this ancient evil.
scary book of christmas lore by Tim Rayborn
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen…but do you recall the most petrifying Christmas figures of all? Not all children fear just a lump of coal in their stockings. Discover the terrifying Yuletide fables that have horrified kids for generations. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake. This lighthearted song is a bit more ominous in the context of other Christmas traditions. From beasts that threaten to cook children into stew to sinister crones who snatch little ones from their beds, you won't find any dancing sugar plums here. Outside of the heartwarming Christmas tales we all know and love, there are an abundance of frightening stories to chill all who hear them to the bone.
the dead of winter by Sarah Clegg
When you think about Christmas, you likely picture mangers, glowing fireplaces, sweet carolers, and snow-blanketed hills. But behind all this bright magic, there's something much darker lurking in the shadows. In The Dead of Winter, Cambridge-trained historian Sarah Clegg delves deep into the folklore of the Christmas season in Europe, detailing the way its terrifying and often debaucherous past continues to haunt and entertain us now in the twenty-first century.
old magic of christmas by Linda Raedisch
Not so very long ago, Yuletide was as much a chilling season of ghosts and witches as it was a festival of goodwill. In The Old Magic of Christmas, you'll rub elbows with veiled spirits, learn the true perils of elves, and discover a bestiary of enchanted creatures. Rife with the more frightful characters from folklore and the season's most petulant ghosts, this book takes you on a spooky sleigh ride from the silvered firs of a winter forest to the mirrored halls of the Snow Queen. Along the way, you'll discover how to bring the festivities into your home with cookie recipes and craft instructions, as well as tips for delving more deeply into your relationship with the unseen.
krampus
A darkly festive tale of a yuletide ghoul, reveals an irreverently twisted side to the holiday. The horror-comedy tells the story of young Max, who turns his back on Christmas as his dysfunctional family comes together and comically clashes over the holidays. When they accidentally unleash the wrath of Krampus, an ancient entity from European folklore, all hell breaks loose and beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own.
spooky christmas by S. E. Schlosser
Grab an eggnog, gather 'round the fireplace and get ready for twenty-five creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange holiday occurrences from times past! Holiday folklore traditions from around the United States are kept alive in these expert retellings by master storyteller S. E. Schlosser and through artist Paul G. Hoffman's evocative illustrations. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and witches populate the pages of this compelling holiday collection. From Hanukkah and Christmas to Three Kings Day and New Year's, these spooky stories will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.
haunted christmas by Mary Beth Crain
From the amazing to the amusing, the incredible to the inspirational, the horrifying to the heartwarming, this book takes another look at the Christmas spirit, through the Christmas spirits. By a long-time believer in the paranormal who tells the story of her own yuletide ghost, Haunted Christmas brings together thirty tales of ghosts, hauntings, and other paranormal happenings purported to have taken place on or around Christmas, or that are otherwise related to this holiday. It will have you shivering by the fire (or wishing you had a fire to shiver beside) as you read these stories and more: - Haunted Bethlehem: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is famous for haunted locales such as the Hotel Bethlehem, the first house built in the town, in 1741. Predictably, things heat up at Christmas--after all, this is Bethlehem.- The Death Coach of Christmas: One Christmas Eve in Ireland many years ago, young Nora Mahoney was returning from the bogs when an invisible something rushed past her with the sound of grinding wheels and thundering hooves. Had Nora encountered the "death coach" of Irish legend?
christmas and other horrors
The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world--yet the long nights also conjure a darker tradition of ghouls, hauntings, and visitations. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together--for better and for worse. From the eerie Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the festive season.
secret santa by Andrew Shaffer
Out of work for months, Lussi Meyer is desperate to work anywhere in publishing. Prestigious Blackwood-Patterson isn't the perfect fit, but a bizarre set of circumstances leads to her hire and a firm mandate: Lussi must find the next horror superstar to compete with Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Peter Straub. It's the '80s, after all, and horror is the hottest genre. But as soon as she arrives, Lussi finds herself the target of her co-workers' mean-spirited pranks. The hazing reaches its peak during the company's annual Secret Santa gift exchange, when Lussi receives a demonic-looking object that she recognizes but doesn't understand. Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie, and Lussi suspects that her gift is involved. With the help of her former author, the flamboyant Fabien Nightingale, Lussi must track down her anonymous Secret Santa and figure out the true meaning of the cursed object in her possession before it destroys the company--and her soul.
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