When the sun vanishes early and the chill of darkness comes on deep and fast, there has always been an instinct to gather around a source of warmth and illumination for tales of fearsome happenings. Especially during the holidays. In Victorian times, the telling, or reading, of ghost stories was a Christmas tradition; the most enduring Yule-time tale — Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," written in 1843 — is first and foremost a ghost story.

Almost 200 years later, the electronic hearth offers plenty of chilling tales with which one can continue the tradition and honor the rattling chain of Jacob Marley's ghost. Here are a few personal favorites, beginning with three from Mike Flanagan, TV's master spinner of spectral tales.

"The Haunting of Bly Manor" (Netflix)

This contemporary retelling of Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" is a masterpiece of modern gothic. As in the original story, a young woman, here an American named Dani (Victoria Pedretti), takes a job as governess to two young children, Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) and Flora (Amelie Bea Smith), who live in a grand and isolated manor with housekeeper Hannah Grose (a terrific T'Nia Miller). The children, as ever, are both charming and odd, and tragedy moves through the echoing corridors of Bly Manor. Tragedy, and many other things, as Flanagan blurs the psychological and the supernatural even more vigorously than James did.

"The Haunting of Hill House" (Netflix)

This series, which predates "Bly Manor" and shares many cast members, is a modern-day adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic of the same name. Steven Crain (Michiel Huisman) has become a bestselling author with a book based on a family tragedy that took place while his parents, Olivia (Carla Gugino) and Hugh (Henry Thomas), were renovating an (you guessed it) isolated mansion where things are not as they seem. As adults, Steven's siblings are still angry at their brother's betrayal and, more important, haunted by what happened to them in Hill House, which we see in a series of increasingly terrifying flashbacks as the house continues to call to them.

"Midnight Mass"

After serving four years in prison for a drunk-driving accident in which a woman was killed, Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns to his isolated (naturally) hometown on Crockett Island where a new priest, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), is attempting to revitalize the local church. Flynn attempts to rebuild his life even as mysterious events begin plaguing the island. With one of the best midseason reveals in TV history, "Midnight Mass" has plenty of jump scares while exploring, with surprising delicacy, the need for, and perils of, religious faith.

"Krampus" (Peacock)

In this Christmas horror comedy, the dysfunctional Engels family is plagued by vicious gingerbread men, dark elves and demonic toys deployed by a horned monster which, according to European folklore, is unleashed to punish naughty children. As a cautionary tale, it's way more effective than coal in the stocking.

"Mama" (Amazon)

An exquisite, heartbreaking and genuinely terrifying contemplation of trauma and familial love. Five years after his twin brother has gone on a murderous rampage and abducted his daughters after losing his fortune in the 2008 stock market crisis, Luke Desange (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) finally finds the girls in a remote cabin. Filthy and feral, Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lily (Isabelle Nélisse) have apparently been surviving on their own, though Lily insists it was "Mama." Adapting to life with Luke and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain) is difficult, in part because whatever kept them alive in the forest is not prepared to let them go.

"Doctor Sleep" (Netflix)

Flanagan is at it again, adapting Stephen King's sequel to "The Shining." Little Danny is now Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor), a recovering alcoholic who tries to use his "shine" sparingly and for good, while keeping the evil spirits trying to contact him at bay. He accidentally connects with Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran), a young girl with powers as strong as his own, and together they must battle a group of psychic vampires, led by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), who are killing children. Great performances, frightening plot twists and three guesses where they all wind up.

"Crimson Peak" (Amazon)

A true Victorian Gothic tale in which budding author Edith (Mia Wasikowska) marries the mysterious Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), who convinces her to move to his dilapidated and (say it with me now) isolated mansion so he can use his newly invented digging machine to revitalize his family mine. There she meets his sister Lucille (Chastain), to whom Thomas is disturbingly attached, and encounters all manner of spooky threats, often in her long white nightgown.

"The Conjuring" (HBO Max)

The film that kick-started the franchise remains the best one in it. When Roger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) and their five daughters move into a big and (ahem) isolated farmhouse, things go south fairly quickly. Carolyn turns to demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who discover that a witch who once lived in the house has cursed it and the land around it. Director James Wan creates some of the most memorable, and cinematically elegant, jump scares ever filmed. Also some fine early '70s fashions.

"His House" (Netflix)

After losing their daughter as they fled the horrors of South Sudan to seek asylum in the U.K., Rial (Wunmi Mosaku) and Bol (Sope Dirisu) find themselves assigned to a falling-down house in a neighborhood filled with racists. Rial begins to see visions of her daughter and a mysterious man before realizing that the house is haunted by a night witch and traumatic memories of their past. A metaphor for current immigration problems? Maybe. But a darn good ghost story.

"The Ritual" (Netflix)

After one of their friends is killed during a robbery, four men decide to take a hiking trip in Sweden to mark his passing. When one is injured, they leave the trail and take a shortcut through the brooding forest. Big mistake. Frightening talismans lead to bigger, bloodier scares and larger threats that include a cult, an ancient forest monster and an obvious message: Always stay on the trail!

"Penny Dreadful" (Amazon)

Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) and his monster (Rory Kinnear) meet and mingle with Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), Dr. Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif) and Count Dracula (Christian Camargo) in the three seasons of John Logan's Gothic, gory and genuinely fun pastiche of the Victorian supernatural tales known as penny dreadfuls. Come for the monsters, stay for Eva Green's clairvoyant Vanessa Ives, and, in Season 2, Patti LuPone.

"The Outsider" (HBO Max)

In this adaptation of Stephen King's 2018 novel of the same name, the savaged corpse of a boy is found in the woods and all evidence points to beloved Little League coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman), who appears to have an ironclad alibi. As the town and Maitland's wife (Julianne Nicholson) reels, Det. Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn), aided by investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), must figure out who, or what, is loose in the woods. Warning: The initial crime is horrific so be prepared — this supernatural cop miniseries is frightening on more than one level.

"The Terror" (AMC+)

The first season of this anthology series is based on Dan Simmons' bestselling supernatural-tinged imagining of what happened to the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror when they went missing during an 1845 expedition to find the Northwest passage through the Arctic. Starring Jared Harris, Ciarán Hinds, Tobias Menzies and a panoply of fine actors, it is a chilling (literally and figuratively) descent into madness. In the second season, subtitled "Infamy," evil, both natural and supernatural, stalks Chester Nakayama (Derek Mio) after he and his family are incarcerated during World War II. Historical horror at its best.

"Sleepy Hollow" (Hulu)

In modern-day Sleepy Hollow, fallen Continental Army officer (and friend of Gen. Washington) Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) wakens, 230 years after he beheaded a mysteriously evil horseman. He meets Sheriff's Lt. Abigail Mills (Nicole Beharie), who, after some convincing, joins him in his quest to foil the Horseman who has also risen again. Originally on Fox, this is a charming, family-friendly series, with plenty of time-displacement comedy (and some very loose historical references) to alleviate the scares.

"La Forêt" (The Forest) (Netflix)

A girl has gone missing from a village near Belgium's dense and eerie Ardennes Forest and the town's new detective, Gaspard Decker (Samuel Labarthe), works with local police officer Virginie Musso (Suzanne Clément) and a concerned teacher to find her. This is essentially a French detective series but the forest of the title looms over the narrative like an additional character. Terrible things have happened, and may lurk, within and the vibe is very creepy, even with subtitles.

"Being Human" (the U.K. version) (Amazon)

Annie (Lenora Crichlow), Mitchell (Aidan Turner) and George (Russell Tovey) seem like three normal flatmates living in Bristol but they are actually a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf. All trying to lead ordinary lives and often failing spectacularly. Part comedy, part drama and often truly frightening — Mitchell is at odds with the other local vampires who are less inclined to spare humans — the first three seasons (before both Turner and Tovey left the series) are adventuresome meditations on the power of friendship.

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