The Goblins and the Gravedigger: A Forgotten Dickens

Charles Dickens wrote four Christmas ghost stories, of which the first was The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton (ch. 29 in The Pickwick Papers). A Christmas Carol, the second, largely followed its outline. In Goblins, a surly, malicious sexton (gravedigger) is kidnapped by goblins on Christmas Eve. They take him to their underground cavern and through various scenes shown him, redeem him from his evil ways.Utilizing character names from other Dickens’ stories, Kenneth Chumbley and Tonya Clarkson McCain used the outline of the original Goblins to create a 10,000 word novella, The Goblins and a Gravedigger. The drama involves child abuse (a classic Dickens’ theme) and is a darker story than Carol. In writing fantasy, any mythical character can be used (elves, dwarfs, goblins, etc.), but the story must be real and human. This is exactly what authors tried to do in their adaptation.