In the song "It's the most wonderful time of the year" there's a line about "scary ghost stories". Were ghost stories ever a significant part of Christmas?

by intently

Is this a reference to "A Christmas Carol"? This line has always seemed weird to me.

itsallfolklore

You might find this similar question from 3 days ago: /u/AncientHistory and I teamed up for this one.

A Christmas Carol is part of a larger tradition that placed ghost stories at the time of Christmas and the winter solstice.