We Shall Never See the Like Again (1827)

The oldest poems or songs I found from the 19th century referencing Christmas ghost storytelling were both published in 1827. The first below was apparently reprinted so few times that it was possible to list all the instances found. Edwin Lees' "Signs of Christmas" was reprinted often, and continued to be republished about a hundred years later. Christmas ghost poems would feature through the entire Victorian period.

WE SHALL NEVER SEE THE LIKE AGAIN.

Our ancient English melodies,
Are banish'd out of doors,
And nothing's heard in modern days,
But Signoras and Signors.
Such airs I hate like a pig in a gate,
Give me the good old strain,
‘O tis merry in the hall when the beards wag all:’
We shall never see the like again,
We shall never, &c.

On beds of down our dandies lay,
And slumber out the morn,
While their sires of old they wak’d the day
With the sound of the bugle horn;
And their wives took care to provide good fare
When they had left the plain—
O ’twas merry in the hall, &c.

O then the merry tale went round
Of goblin, ghost, or fairy,
While they cheer'd the hearts of their tenants all
With a cup of good canary;
Or each took a smack of the coal-black jack,
While the fire burnt in their brain—
O ’twas merry in the hall, &c.
Rayner, Barnabas. F. J. Duncombe's Correct Edition. Mr. Rayner's Popular Entertainment of Up to Town and Back Again, Etc. London, 1827.
The Quaver, or Songster’s Pocket Companion. London: Charles Jones, 1844. 249-250. [As “’Twas Merry in the Hall,” with some differences, including the substitution of “Christmas tale” for “merry tale.”]
Osbourn, James G., ed. The Singer's Souvenir: Containing a Choice Selection of the Most Popular Fashionable Songs, Duetts and Glees, as Sung at the Musical Festivals, Fashionable Assemblies, Theatres and Concerts. NY: Richard Marsh, 1854. 194.
Logan, William Hugh, ed. A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs With Illustrative Notes. Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1869. 250-252.

Signs of Christmas (1827)

When on the barn's thatch'd roof is seen
The moss in tufts of liveliest green;
When Roger to the wood pile goes,
And as he turns, his fingers blows;
When all around is cold and drear,
Be sure that CHRISTMAS-TIDE is near.

When up the garden walk in vain
We seek for Flora's lovely train;
When the sweet hawthorn bower is bare,
And bleak and cheerless is the air;
When all seems desolate around,
CHRISTMAS advances o'er the ground.

When Tom at eve comes home from plough,
And brings the mistletoe’s green bough,
With milk-white berries spotted o’er,
And shakes it the sly maids before,
Then hangs the trophy up on high,
Be sure that CHRISTMAS-TIDE is nigh.

When Hal, the woodman, in his clogs,
Bears home the huge unwieldy logs,
That, hissing on the smould’ring fire,
Flame out at last a quiv’ring spire;
When in his hat the holly stands,
Old CHRISTMAS musters up his bands.

When cluster’d round the fire at night,
Old William talks of ghost and sprite,
And as a distant out-house gate
Slams by the wind, they fearful wait,
While some each shadowy nook explore,
Then CHRISTMAS pauses at the door.

When Dick comes shiv'ring from the yard
And says the pond is frozen hard,
While from his hat, all white with snow,
The moisture trickling drops below;
While carols sound, the night to cheer,
Then CHRISTMAS and his train are here.

Lees, Edwin. Christmas and the New Year: A Masque, for the Fire-Side. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1827. 10-11.
Christmas in Poetry Carols and Poems Chosen by a Committee of the Carnegie Library School Association. NY: H. W. Wilson Co., 1923. 12-13.