English gothic

I was reminded the other day that Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol as a ghost story because for that era, Christmas was a time for gathering together and telling ghost stories. I can see why given the weather and the darkness at this time of year.

I went for a run today through a foggy, damp and chilly landscape with trees and a small country church looming through the mist. It was very atmospheric and indeed spooky.
I couldn't decide which photo to post, but in the end went for these rather sinister looking trees.

The extra is the church I passed, a Norman construction in the main though with earlier Anglo Saxon origins including an impressive Romanesque arched doorway decorated with wolf heads. On a day like today I could well imagine the woods full of wolves, boar and bears.