The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton

Charles Dickens had a particular fondness for the supernatural. It would not have taken much coaxing for him to fall headlong into spiritualism. His nursemaid, Mary Weller, can be given some credit for helping to shape his imagination and storytelling abilities through the grim and ghostly tales she told to the young Dickens.

I have just discovered this creepy story by Dickens from, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (known these days as The Pickwick Papers.) You will notice a striking similarity to a later, more famous, Dickens Christmas classic; but The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton is darker in tone. It seems to work better as a ghost story for this first day of October.