Nightmares Before Christmas

Years ago, it was Christmas associated with ghost stories, not the silicone-pumped, apostrophe-free Halloween. It still is - in some ways - not a year goes by there isn't a new version of Dickens's A Christmas Carol (this year's Jim Carrey offering is, apparently, as unappealing as it looks - give me the Muppets any day...) but let's face it, thanks largely to Hollywood, festive fare is more fairies than scaries these days.

But at last the creepy side of Christmas is being explored once more, by those denizens of dire London, One Eye Grey and the Liars League . In an antidote to advent calendars, starting today, there will be a free, downloadable London ghost story for every day leading to Christmas Eve.

I'll be telling you about them as they come up - so each day you can get yourself thoroughly chilled by a nasty horror story, then gladden that frozen heart by seeking out a nice Greenwich advent window. Phantom for all seasons, me...

Today's horrid tale is Getting a Taste For It by Chris Roberts (of F&M publications, not our beloved leader...) It's nine minutes long - easily fitting into a tea break, non?

"This fusion of Sweeney Todd, Dennis Nilson might make you consider the vegetarian option this Christmas time, though at least at your work's do the punch is unlikely to be mixed by a mass murderer."

More where that comes from folks. In the meanwhile, thanks to Rich for the creepy pic of me in Charlton cemetery...