# Were The Ghosts Of Christmas Past, Present And Future, People One At One Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561 "2010-11-13T16:04:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561/1 "2010-11-13T16:04:28Z")
OK Scrooge gets a visit from Bob Marley, he clearly was alive and is now a ghost. > [@](#): > > “It is required of every man,” the ghost returned, “that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and, if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.” So I got to thinking were the Ghosts of Christmas Past, etc also people who didn’t walk forth abroad among their fellow men and now have to do so in death. I mean they seem nicer than Marley but Bob Marley was doing something very nice by helping Scrooge? What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561/2 "2010-11-13T16:10:44Z")
No, I think they were the spirit of Christmas itself. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561/3 "2010-11-13T16:16:29Z")
I would LOVE to have a visit from Bob Marley. I’d be totally jammin’. 😛 I think they were collective spirits. The collective souls of those who did not honor Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561/4 "2010-11-13T20:36:51Z")
Instead of the Milk of Human Kindness would he bring some Ghost Ganja? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561/5 "2010-11-13T20:48:58Z")
no, no , noooo, no. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past-present-and-future-people-one-at-one-time/560561/6 "2010-11-14T02:52:29Z")
> [@](#): > > ``You have never seen the like of me before!‘’ exclaimed the Spirit. > > ``Never,‘’ Scrooge made answer to it. > > ``Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family; meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these later years?‘’ pursued the Phantom. > > `I don't think I have,'' said Scrooge. `I am afraid I have not. Have you had many brothers, Spirit?‘’ > > ``More than eighteen hundred,‘’ said the Ghost. So there’s one GOCPr for every Christmas. > [@](#): > > It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a children’s Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey. > > ``Are spirits’ lives so short?‘’ asked Scrooge. > > `My life upon this globe, is very brief,'' replied the Ghost. `It ends to-night.‘’ [sup]‡[/sup] As the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_of_Christmas_Present) puts it: > [@](#): > > (As the nature of the present is to only exist in the now, this is why this ghost can only exist for one Christmas, and why he has 1842 brothers. Note the year that Charles Dickens’ story was published. This would be the 1843rd Ghost of Christmas Present.) He finally disappears at the stroke of midnight on Twelfth Night,… ‡ Rich Little, the impressionist, did a rendition of the story on an LP. He performed the GOCPr as JFK. The LP appeared in stores on the morning of 11/22/63. (It was quickly withdrawn and he re-recorded the GOCPr, but according to him a few copies of the original LP had already been sold.)