The Ghost of Christmas Past

The Ghost of Christmas Past is a character from the novel A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Role in the story[]

The Ghost of Christmas past is the first of the three spirits (after the visitation by Jacob Marley) who haunts the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in order to prompt him to repent. He shows him scenes from his past that occurred on or around Christmas, in order to demonstrate to him the necessity of changing his ways, as well as to show the reader how Scrooge came to be the person he was and his particular dislike for Christmas – most of the events which negatively affected Scrooge occurred around the Christmas holiday season.

According to Dickens' novel, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears to Scrooge as a white-robed, androgynous figure of indeterminate age. He had on his head a blazing light, reminiscent of a candle flame. He carried with him a metal cap, made in the shape of a candle extinguisher. While the ghost is often portrayed as a woman in the most dramatic adaptations, Dickens describes the Ghost of Christmas Past only as “it”.

The Ghost of Christmas Past first shows Scrooge his old boarding school where he was deserted by his father, described as a cold and unloving man, who bore a grudge against him because his mother died in his childbirth. Then, he is shown the day when his beloved, younger sister Fan picked him up from there after repeatedly asking their father if he could come back home. Next, Scrooge is shown an episode from his time as an apprentice to Mr. Fezziwig, which started merely three days after the above and only visit home after so many years without. The spirit also shows Scrooge the day when, as a young man, he compelled Belle, his fiancée, to end their relationship as his increasing obsession with his money caused him to alienate her. Scrooge never asked Belle to break off their engagement, but he did not protest against her decision. Finally, the Ghost shows him how she married and found true happiness with another man (this part is often skipped in adaptations). After this vision, Scrooge, out of anger, extinguishes the Ghost of Christmas Past with his cap and finds himself back in his bedroom.

Portrayals[]

Picture	Performer	Production	Year	Notes
	Unknown	Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost	1901	The first known film portrayal of the Ghost of Christmas Past. The ghost is portrayed by an unknown actor, wearing a white cloak.
	Ann Rutherford	A Christmas Carol	1938	The Ghost is portrayed as a sweet-faced young woman, looking somewhat like an angel.
	Michael Dolan	Scrooge	1951	The Ghost is an elderly man. In this version, the story is changed so that Fran is older than Ebenezer, and the ghost shows him his sister's death through childbirth. This echoes Scrooge's own birth, since his mother died during his childbirth, which was shown as the reason for his father's bitterness towards him.
	Voiced by Joan Gardner	Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol	1962	The Ghost is portrayed as a young, slight girl with a flame above her head, a sprig of holly and an orange glow.
		Famous Classic Tales: A Christmas Carol	1969
	Edith Evans	Scrooge	1970	The Ghost is portrayed as an elderly but elegant lady with a red dress and a black hat.
	Voiced by Paul Frees	The Stingiest Man in Town	1978
		A Christmas Carol	1982	The Ghost of Christmas Past is a Cupid-like young man.
	Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Eddie Carroll)	Mickey's Christmas Carol	1983	In the original vinyl record that inspired the special, the Ghost was portrayed not by Jiminy, but by Merlin from The Sword in the Stone.
	Angela Pleasence	A Christmas Carol	1984	The Ghost is portrayed as a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and a white robe rather than a childlike, long white-haired figure as described in the novel.
	Voiced by Don Messick	The Jetsons: "A Jetson Christmas Carol"	1985	This version of the character is represented as a robotic floating head.
	Voiced by Mona Marshall	The Real Ghostbusters: "Xmas Marks the Spot"	1986	She and the other two Ghosts arrive at once, but are caught by the Ghostbusters. After finding out that they accidentally changed the present in doing so, Egon rescues the Ghosts from the containment unit. Near the end, she refers to the Ghost of Christmas Future as her brother.
	David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter)	Scrooged	1988	The Ghost of Christmas Past is portrayed as a New York cab driver with a Brooklyn accent.
	David Seville (voiced by Ross Bagdasarian Jr.)	Alvin and the Chipmunks: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll"	1989
	Wendy Darling (voiced by Christina Lange)	Peter Pan and the Pirates: "Hook's Christmas"	1990
	Voiced by Jessica Fox	The Muppet Christmas Carol	1992	Rather than use a Muppet character to portray the spirit, the filmmakers re-imagined the character; this version appeared as a tiny, ghostly child of ambiguous gender, dressed in white and floating as if immersed in water.
	Wakko Warner (voiced by Jess Harnell)	Animaniacs: "A Christmas Plotz"	1993
	Rocky the Penguin (voiced by Rob Rackstraw)	Avenger Penguins: "A Christmas Carol"	1994
	Wilma Flintstone (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl)	A Flintstones' Christmas Carol	1994	Wilma ends up portraying the ghost after the actress originally hired for the role suddenly comes down with the Bedrock Bug.
	Jennifer Clement and Nicole Parker	Ebbie	1995	The Ghost is portrayed as two spirits with but a single thought.
	Tom Anderson (voiced by Mike Judge)	A Beavis and Butt-head Christmas		Tom Anderson plays the role of the Spirit of Christmas Past and appears while Beavis is trying to watch a Christmas Carol style porno.
	Voiced by Kath Soucie	A Christmas Carol	1997	The Spirit is portrayed as a mischievous young boy in a messenger boy's outfit.
	Cadpig (voiced by Kath Soucie)	101 Dalmatians: "A Christmas Cruella"
	Itchy (voiced by Dom DeLuise)	An All Dogs Christmas Carol	1998
	Joel Grey	A Christmas Carol	1999	The Ghost is portrayed as a childlike, white haired figure as described in the novel.
	Hilda Spellman (voiced by Melissa Joan Hart)	Sabrina: The Animated Series: "Witchmas Carole"
	Kathy Griffin	A Diva's Christmas Carol	2000
	Aristotle (voiced by Lee Tockar)	Adventures from the Book of Virtues: "A Christmas Carol"
	voiced by Jane Horrocks	Christmas Carol: The Movie	2001	In this version, the Ghost is portrayed as female and can change her appearance from a young girl to an elderly woman at will.
	Gary Coleman	A Carol Christmas	2003
	Jane Krakowski	A Christmas Carol: The Musical	2004	The Ghost first appears in the real world as a lamplighter.
	Jen Masterson (voiced by Megan Fahlenbock)	6teen: "In a Retail Wonderland..."	2005
	Granny and Tweety (voiced by June Foray and Bob Bergen)	Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas	2006
		Kappa Mikey: "A Christmas Mikey"
	voiced by Teresa Gallagher	A Christmas Carol		The Ghost is portrayed as an anthropomorphic stork.
	Michelle (voiced by Lisa Kudrow)	American Dad!: "The Best Christmas Story Never"		A former tooth fairy who takes Stan back in time to try and regain his spirit of Christmas.
	voiced by Tabitha St. Germain	Barbie in a Christmas Carol	2008
	voiced by Jim Carrey	A Christmas Carol	2009	Similar to the original novel, the spirit appears as a candle-like being with an occasionally flickering flame for his head.
	Smurfette (voiced by Melissa Sturm)	The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol	2011	Smurfette as the Smurf of Christmas Past resembles a snow fairy.
	Little Apple (voiced by Daneboe)	The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange: "Orange Carol"	2012
	Monche	La CQ: "Christmas in the CQ"
	Phoebe Thunderman (portrayed by Kira Kosarin)	The Thundermans: "Winter Thunderland"	2014	The first ghost to appear as part of Max's dream, to show him his actions in the past caused the family to move to Hiddenville. She wears trendy clothes in Christmas colors, has a volumized hairdo, and speaks in a valley girl voice.
	Salty (voiced by Keith Wickham)	Thomas & Friends: "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas"	2015	Salty wears a fish net, and stands on a boat.
	voiced by Elliot Gough	Eddsworld: "Christmas Eddventure"		Tom captures the Ghost of Christmas pasts through suck in him with a vacuum.
	Rosebud	Camp Lakebottom: "Smells Like the Holidays"	2016	When McGee catches a smell that leads him to the swamp, the "gassy" past ghost appears in the form of Rosebud.
	Applejack (voiced by Ashleigh Ball)	My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: "A Hearth's Warming Tail"		Applejack plays a character similar to the Ghost of Christmas Past named the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past. She also fulfills Jacob Marley's role of foreshadowing the other spirits' arrival.
	Mr. Bugly (voiced by Grey Griffin)	Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!: "Scroogey Doo"	2017	Christmas Past is the first ghost the gang encounters. After cornering Velma by a mirror, Bugly hypnotizes her with the coin's reflection, taking her back to her childhood, when she was studying and experimenting before she joined the gang. The spirit then claims her destiny was destroyed when others eventually discovered her ideas and inventions.
	Anna Murphy	The Man Who Invented Christmas		As Dickens is trying to sleep, his vision of Scrooge appears in a night cap and shirt holding a candle. They both go downstairs and meet the Ghost of Christmas Past. The spirit then gives Dickens flashbacks of his childhood, when his family was taken to Debtor's Prison and he had to work in a shoe polish factory.
	Blossom (voiced by Amanda Leighton)	The Powerpuff Girls: "You're a Good Man, Mojo Jojo"
	voiced by Jack McBrayer	DuckTales: "Last Chrismas"	2018
	Andy Serkis	A Christmas Carol (Part 1)	2019
	Daisy (Voiced by Kate Micucci)	Nature Cat: "A Nature Carol"
	Demi	Vampirina: "A Gargoyle Carol"
	Lisa Loud (voiced by Lara Miller)	The Loud House: "A Flipmas Carol"	2020	Lincoln Loud's second-youngest and smartest sister appears to remind Flip of the incident that turned him into the greedy con-man he is now. Ironically, Lisa is the least likely Loud sister to believe in the supernatural.
	Sunita Mani	Spirited	2022
	voiced by Olivia Colman	Scrooge: A Christmas Carol		The Ghost of Christmas Past is a female shapeshifting wax candle entity that takes the form of Lottie Milligan, a cabaret performer advertised on posters a group of children were putting up near Scrooge's office.

In other media[]

• In Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the Ghost is parodied as the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, a robot with a penchant of making houses run with elf blood and telling long-winded, incomprehensible stories about the origins of Christmas.
• In a theater production she was Scrooge's sister, but he didn't realize this until she disappeared.
• In the Shake It Up! episode "Merry Merry It Up", Rocky Blue visits CeCe Jones in her dream as "The Ghost of Christmas Dance" who tries to show CeCe the consequences of breaking up her mother's relationship with her boyfriend.