'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring ... except for Grandma's ghost.

It's a story that Melbourne's self-styled ghostbuster (although he does prefer "ghost historian") Drew Sinton, knows only too well.

As owner of The Haunted Bookshop in McKillop St and operator of the Ghosts of Christmases Past tours, he has even been called out with a clairvoyant at all hours of the night to help exorcise haunted city buildings.

Just like the ghosts who apparently lurk behind the scenes at some of the city's best known and loved sites, Drew is one of those hidden treasures for which Melbourne is renowned.

He provides just one example of the imaginative Christmas gift ideas waiting to be discovered in the city.