Spectral Roman armies wading across newly built motorways, grey ladies roaming the corridors of stately homes, phantom coaches driven by headless squires. Britain is a haunted land, with layers of history crawling between the shadows.

Inspired by the old tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas, our Yuletide Hauntings special is a collection of essays evoking a time where there was “not a village in England that had not a ghost in it, the churchyards were all haunted, every large common had a circle of fairies belonging to it, and there was scarce a shepherd to be met with who had not seen a spirit”—a time that may well represent the essence of Britain itself.

Words by Verity Holloway, Edward Parnell, Maria J. Pérez Cuervo, John A. Riley, Julia Round, Katy Soar, and Alice Vernon. Cover by Courtney Brooke. Art direction by Nathaniel Hébert. Edited by Maria J. Pérez Cuervo.