Thomas Hardy's novels of rural life in Wessex are still regarded as literary classics to this very day. And while they are very much about real life issues, a good deal of local lore and folk beliefs found their way into his stories.
Hardy himself was much fascinated by the supernatural, remarking in an interview with William Archer in 1904 - “I seriously assure you that I would give ten years of my life – well, perhaps that offer is rather beyond my means – but when I was a younger man, I would cheerfully have given 10 years of my life to see a ghost – an authentic, indubitable spectre.”
Hardy added that he thought that he was “...cut out by nature to be a ghost-seer… If ever a ghost wanted to manifest himself, I am the very man he should apply to.”
The great novelist was sixty five when he gave that interview. However it would seem that some fifteen years later he got his wish. Florence, his second wife, confirmed that Hardy had indeed seen a ghost. In a letter to a friend, penned in 1919, she had this to say - “He saw a ghost in Stinsford Churchyard on Christmas Eve, and his sister Kate says it must have been their grandfather".
What had transpired was this - Hardy was visiting the grave of his grandfather, and as it was Yuletide, placed a sprig of holly upon it. And just as he did this a voice said, ‘A green Christmas’. Hardy looked round to see an old gentleman in old fashioned clothes. Hardy replied ‘I like a green Christmas’. Then the old man went into the church. And being full of curiosity, Hardy followed to see who this strange man in 18th century dress might be. But on entering the church, he could find no one inside.
As Florence Hardy said - "That is quite true – a real Christmas ghost story.”
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