Ghost Stories for Christmas @ The Beacon

What do ghost stories have to do with Christmas? Actually, everything. There’s a centuries-old tradition of telling haunted tales in the dead of winter. This tradition was once a big deal in England: “Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories,” British author Jerome K. Jerome wrote in 1891. “Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about spectres.”

The Beacon Cinema in Columbia City celebrates this spectral tradition with a Christmas Eve screening of select films from the BBC’s acclaimed A Ghost Story for Christmas series. While the exact lineup remains a spooky secret, Beacon co-founder and programmer Tommy Swenson promises gems from the 1970s featuring “remote country homes, amateur archeology, stained glass clues, hidden treasure, troubling dreams, and dark, long-closed doors being reopened.”

These adaptations primarily draw from M.R. James, the medievalist scholar who perfected the art of Christmas Eve ghost stories. “The BBC adaptations are amazingly well-made, very restrained pieces of folk horror cinema,” Swenson explains. “They’re so quiet and unnerving and, despite being made-for-TV, are truly great to experience in a theater.”

The evening begins with a special candlelit introduction from Swenson himself—perfect for setting the winter’s night mood.

💌 Be Our Pen Pal! Find out what’s happening in Seattle by subscribing to our newsletter.