15 Little Known Facts About Charles Dickens

Reading along with the #BiggerBookClub? Check out these little known facts about the Great Expectations author!

1. Dickens was known to be obsessive compulsive always looking in the mirror and then combing his hair as an obsession.
2. He believed in mesmerism, which was healing through hypnotism. He practiced this on his wife and children in order to cure ailments.
3. Charles suffered from epilepsy and even made some of his characters epileptics.
4. Dickens always slept facing north as he felt it improved his writing, he even carried a compass with him while traveling in order to be sure.
5. He loved nicknames. Besides giving nicknames to his book characters, he also nickname his children with names such as “chickenstalker” and “skittles”.
6. The name Dickens is a curse word invented by Shakespeare.
7. He helped create a house for “fallen women” to teach them to read and write.
8. Dickens was interested in the paranormal and has been linked to the paranormal investigation group “The Ghost Club” of London.
9. Dickens always touched things 3 times for luck.
10. There was a secret door in his study disguised as a bookcase and filled with fake books.
11. All of his books have characters from people in his life and stories that reflect his past.
12. Dickens had a big ego and referred to himself as ‘The Sparkler of Albion’ (Albion is an archaic name for England).
13. He suffered from insomnia.
14. His favorite letter opener was made of the claw of his favorite cat, Bob.
15. Dickens was an enthusiastic amateur magician.