Some of us are more susceptible to hauntings than others. Knowing this fact about me, you will not be surprised to learn that ghost stories are not my first choice in bedtime reading. In all honesty, I avoid ghost stories because they haunt me for years after I've finished reading them. A Christmas Carol is one of them. Jacob Marley's ghostly face appears where Scrooge's door knocker ought to be.
Terror builds suddenly, inexplicably, the bells throughout Scrooge's house start clanging.
You can actually see my heart pounding in my chest. A Christmas Carol is not the least bit miserly with its ghosts. The reader encounters four, fully realized, from start to finish. But Dickens doesn't stop there. These ghosts tap a fearful finger against Scrooge's heart, and tap they must, lest Scrooge remain unchanged by the end of the book and join those miserable haunts in their fretful, eternal wanderings.