Winter season varies per region. It is according to the hemisphere in which the country is located. In the United States and Europe which belong to the Western Hemisphere, winter season starts in December and ends in February. Japan and Korea experience winter in the same months too.

On the other hand, in the Southern Hemisphere where Australia and New Zealand belong, winter is experienced in June to August each year.

In winter time, the days become shorter, and the nights become longer. It is freezing cold outside; it is hard, even dangerous to walk on snow that covers the road. People tend to stay more at home during winter and they tend to experience chilly things because of the darkness that envelope the night.

In countries like the United States, Europe, Japan and Korea, winter falls in December, which happens to be a time for merry-making because it’s also the Christmas season. During Christmas, people enjoy parties, reunions and get-together with family, relatives and friends. Do you know that on these occasions, despite all the happy moments, eerie things happen also?

Below are five popular winter ghost stories that would make you hide under the security of your thick blankets and big towels:

1.Christmas Ghost’s Caress

This story is about a 12 or 13 year old girl who celebrated Christmas with family and relatives in her aunt’s house in North Dakota. It was Christmas of 1995 or 1996. The girl was sitting at the table across her aunt and uncle, they were playing puzzle, when her cousin arrived from her work in a casino between midnight and 1 a.m. Her cousin entered the house and said to the girl, “Who was that person standing near you? She was playing with your hair; she ran her hands on it just like a mom does. She’s looking at you as you put on the puzzles. Somebody was also standing in the corner near you.”

The girl’s mother passed away before Christmas of 1992. The girl thought it could be her mother. But they cannot figure out who was the person next to her; maybe another relative who wants to see her family also.

 

2. The Figure in the Recliner

In Christmas Eve of 1971, a young couple sitting in front of a fireplace inside their small home experienced one spine-chilling moment. The wife was pregnant with their first child.

Five minutes before midnight, the fireplace went out. What remained lighting was a string of lights on the Christmas tree. That string of lights had stopped flashing before Christmas and suddenly it was the only one lighting when the fire in the fireplace stopped.

Then the husband noticed a figure sitting in his lazyboy chair, he saw his mother. His wife had never met his mother because she died when he was only 17. Her wife also saw the figure; his mother was smiling to both of them.

At exactly 12 midnight, the fireplace lighted up again and the rest of the lights on the Christmas tree. But the string of lights that flashed alone when the fireplace went out had stopped flashing, and the figure was gone on the chair. What’s more unbelievable, was that dead string of lights, no matter what he do to repair it, did not light again.

 

3. The Christmas Visitor

Someone who lives in Bloomington, Indiana always celebrate Christmas Day with family and relatives in her house. In Christmas of 2008, she prepared an early dinner for her guests and they do the usual exchanging and opening of gifts around the Christmas tree. Their celebration ended at 5 p.m.

She and her sister and brother-in-law went to their respective rooms to sleep and rest for a while. Her sister and husband are used to not closing the door of their bedroom. Before she went to her room, she left the lights turned on in the kitchen and the bathroom and there were Christmas lights in the living room so the hallway was well lit.

She remembered she latched and closed her door before she lay down on her bed. It was so cold so she pulled-up her blanket up to her head and dozed off. Her dog named Toby, a Dutch Shepherd, lied down on the foot of her bed which he always does.

At around 7 p.m., she heard her door open and she waited for her sister or brother-in-law to tell her something, but she did not hear anything. She slowly pulled down her blanket to see who entered the room but a bright flash of light hit her in the eyes. She covered her eyes and yelled to turn the light off as it was blinding her. As soon as she said that, the light was gone. She hurriedly turned her lamp on, but nobody was inside her room. Her dog was not even acting up strangely.

She went out of her bedroom and went to her sister’s room but she saw that they were still asleep. So she was wondering how could any one of the two go to her bedroom and immediately be back on their room? She asked each of them when they were already awake why they entered her room, and they said no. She was totally confused! Who would have gone to her room without her dog not alarmed a bit? He normally barked at a person or things he does not know or recognize.

And as she remembered, when all her guests had departed that day, she was so happy that she thought it would have been happier if her mother and her brother were still alive to celebrate Christmas with them. What happened maybe her brother’s way of greeting her, a very Merry Christmas!

 

4. The Drovers Inn: The Ghostly Child

 

The Drovers Inn in Great Britain is said to be one of the hunted hotels in the country. Many have told ghost encounters while staying in the hotel.

One Thursday night, a mother and daughter stayed at the hotel with their friends for a birthday celebration. A few days after they have gone home, she emailed the hotel and asked the staff about a child in pink dress, who was with them in their photo on the stairs of the hotel. Her daughter was the one who took the photograph and she was sure that the girl was not there when she took the photo.

Upon verification from the hotel, they learned that the hotel had no guest children that Thursday night. They do not have children visitors either

 

5. The Old Portrait

A painter who fancies old fashioned frames buy a dilapidated frame with fine wood carving and a painting on it from a shop near Soho. It was a week before Christmas. He forgot about the frame when he gets home and continued with all his works in his studio. It was only in Christmas Eve when he noticed it.

The frame was dirty so he cleaned it that night. He was happy with what he got until he noticed something on it. It seems the painting on top covered another painting beneath it. So he tried to remove the top to see what’s underneath. When he finished, the painting show a face of a pale woman; she was beautiful with haunting eyes; her whiteness made her look almost colourless. As he placed the painting opposite his seat in the studio, the haunting eyes of the woman seems to engulf him. He thought he had better cleaned the frame during the day.

When the clock stroke at midnight, he fell asleep and dreamt. He saw that the woman stepped out of the frame and approached him, on her back were vault of coffins, some were opened showing gruesome decaying bodies. She kissed him and he felt thrilled but he started to feel that she seems to absorb his breath. She’s becoming stronger and he’s becoming weaker. He tried to escape her with whatever force he still has. He was suddenly awake and he noticed that the woman on the painting had looked lively. Suddenly, she had colour on her cheeks and lips.  

The man destroyed the painting and threw it on fire.

 

Here are five ghost stories that happened during the winter season. Christmas seems not just for merry-making for the living, but those who have already left this world seem to still share this festive season.