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Ghost Stories for Christmas

an Under the Mountain event

Join us for a live reading of a classic ghost story by award-winning voice actor Matt Godfrey.

In 1843, Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol,” a story of a mean-spirited miser’s redemption thanks to the aid of a series of ghosts. This story immediately captured the imagination of many and helped to redefine Christmas as the endearing holiday we now enjoy at the end of every year. But before Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas-time was a season celebrated in a much different fashion. We now think of Halloween as the time of the year for all things spooky, but for most of the 19th century it was a time when the veil between the here and the hereafter was at its thinnest. It was a time for reflecting on the fleeting nature of mortality and for taking account of one’s actions, in particular one’s failings. It was a time for ghost stories.

The tradition of ghost stories at Christmas provides us now with an embarrassment of literary riches that spans hundreds of years to include some of the English language’s finest practitioners—to name a few: Henry James, M. R. James, Elizabeth Bowen, Edgar Allen Poe, Willkie Collins, and, of course, Dickens (his story ‘The Signal-man” is drenched with dread and told with an unflinching ruthlessness). This December Under the Mountain will be continuing that tradition with the help of award-winning voice actor Matt Godfrey!

Winner of the Audiofile Earphones Award and a multiple-time nominee for the Society of Voice Arts & Sciences Awards and the Independent Audiobook Awards, Godfrey is a fellow lover of the strange and the uncanny; and he has performed audio recordings for works by the likes of Michael McDowell, Poppy Z. Brite, Jonathan Janz, Roger Zelazny and Joe Lansdale. A bona fide southerner, Godfrey understands the power of storytelling to take you anywhere in the world, traversing even life and death.

On Sunday, Dec. 4 join us at the O’Neal Library as Godfrey performs a live reading of a classic tale of terror from the early 20th century. We won’t tell you the name of this long short story in advance, but we promise you an evening in the tradition of a fireside ghost story, replete with tea, hot chocolate, and locally made sweets.

Doors at 6:30pm

The reading begins at 7:00pm. A Q&A with Godfrey follows.

This event recommended for ages 16 and up.

This event is brought to you by Under the Mountain, your local series of horror-related events hosted by the O’Neal Library. Join us for exclusive horror author visits, chilling movie screenings, and many more macabre things to come.

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Under the Mountain can be reached at undrmtn@gmail.com

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