0:00

Ah, some out. Why? Doesn't the

0:02

grinch like knock, knock jokes? I

0:05

don't know because there's always who's they're. Good

0:21

evening everybody. And welcome to

0:23

the Graveyard. Thank you for joining

0:25

us tonight. My name is

0:27

Adam and my name's Matt.

0:29

Now we'll have a tombstone.

0:31

Or settle in the your casket

0:33

and get comfortable. Because

0:35

this is graveyard

0:38

to. Our.

0:43

At everybody here we are again Matt, how

0:46

you doing and I'm rather. Bah.

0:48

Humbug. Well,

0:52

same to you. That's right.

0:55

That's right. Yeah. It's

0:57

it's Christmas in a traffic everywhere

0:59

and I am in my way

1:01

to store and I. Know

1:04

yeah it. And. I remember.

1:07

Live. In up there Nashville around this time.

1:09

During. The. Great! everybody.

1:12

It seems like. You. Can't go

1:14

anywhere up there and everybody's like, well, it's

1:16

Christmas shopping and it's like. Why?

1:18

Does it affect everything? But it does.

1:20

I don't know what to do it.

1:22

That's right. I'm like people Christmas shop

1:24

at the gas station. yeah works. yeah

1:27

I guess some. and and never know

1:29

that they had anything that anybody would

1:31

want for Christmas. I. Mean you know

1:33

what? One of them giant kick catch yourself

1:35

or charger cables and. She. Passed.

1:39

But not a listen. If if you

1:41

do this than I am talking to

1:44

you. Okay, When. You're in

1:46

the grocery store. Specially. Now around

1:48

holidays from think from my a

1:50

week before Thanksgiving. All. The way

1:52

through New Year's. If. You're

1:54

if you're okay. I'm from Tennessee.

1:57

It's a buggy. Okay, it'll It's

1:59

a buggy. Okay are

2:01

your shopping cart. If

2:03

your cart. He's. Turned in

2:05

such a way. That. You

2:07

have blocked the entire i'll

2:09

Like you're doing a sobriety

2:11

checked. In. The middle of

2:14

public's. As. The and. Then.

2:17

You. Need to stop Do is? I

2:19

agree. I agree. When it happened to

2:22

me the other day about four times

2:24

and I'm almost. I'm texting with Amanda

2:26

go months. I'm getting ready to shoot

2:29

somebody series as this is insane. Things

2:31

you can't even get through here. It's

2:33

like a roadblock and then I'd go

2:36

to another all and it will happen

2:38

again. The up. And

2:40

co and own did. Not

2:43

exist in our own world. and I think they're the

2:45

only ones at the store. So.

2:49

Before we get too far off track was

2:51

a good thing of upon Millie Network and

2:53

Pot belly.com you can find the shows were

2:55

happy to be associated with and you can

2:57

find some tips and tricks on podcasting if

2:59

you wanna start your own podcast. Lawyer.

3:02

On the internet. Doing your last

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Go over there patron.com/graveyard Tales

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and that that's a great gift. And

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4:35

and speaking of the holidays next

4:38

week is our first

4:40

listener stories episode it starts

4:42

next week. There's gonna be more

4:44

than one because y'all killed it again this

4:46

year and sent us a bunch of

4:49

stories so we're gonna do more than one episode

4:51

but first episode drops next

4:54

Friday so that you

4:56

can have it you can save it and listen

4:58

to it on Christmas Eve if

5:00

you would like to carry on that

5:02

tradition that we always talk about

5:05

the old Victorian tradition about telling ghost

5:07

stories around the fire so you

5:09

can do that or listen to it when

5:11

it comes out and on Christmas Eve share

5:13

it with your family on Christmas Eve as

5:15

well. That's right. We're looking forward to

5:17

putting out Matt what is this

5:19

the the 6th

5:22

annual that's that's incredible

5:25

that is incredible. Hey and look

5:27

it was it was just

5:29

something you know spur

5:31

of the moment. 7th annual Matt. 7th annual. I

5:36

guess it is yeah yeah it is the 7th

5:39

but yeah we just we just came up with

5:41

it we thought it was a cool idea for

5:44

the very very first Christmas episode we did and

5:46

you guys did great I can't remember how

5:49

many stories we had but it wasn't many

5:52

it's probably it was less than 20

5:54

I think and

5:56

and we've done it I mean by July

5:59

of the next year We had people emailing us

6:01

going are you guys gonna do the Christmas thing

6:03

again? Yeah, because I've got a story I want

6:05

to share and it's just

6:07

grown Exponentially since then

6:09

and it's just it's been wonderful So

6:12

you guys yeah as Adam said you

6:15

guys really blew us away again this

6:17

year Mm-hmm. No. Yeah two episodes worth

6:19

of worth of ghost stories. It's

6:21

gonna be fun. Oh, yeah Oh, yeah, and

6:24

speaking of ghost stories, Matt, why don't

6:26

you tell us? What are we talking about tonight,

6:28

brother? Well, like I said

6:30

at the top of the show, it's Christmas

6:35

and everybody's thinking about presents

6:37

and shopping and you know

6:40

Decorating the tree and seeing

6:43

how many blow-up things you can put out in

6:45

your yard and all that We

6:48

want to go to the other end

6:50

of Christmas the Scary

6:53

end. Mm-hmm. So

6:55

tonight We are going

6:57

to discuss some of the

7:00

most terrifying Christmas

7:02

traditions from around the world.

7:04

I love it. It's not all

7:06

jolly old Saint Nick Everywhere

7:09

you go some of them

7:11

you'll know some of them you wouldn't have heard

7:13

of But we're

7:15

gonna talk about several of them

7:17

tonight. So this is this is gonna be

7:20

pretty cool Yep, and

7:22

if you want to keep, you know going

7:24

on some of these traditions go check

7:26

our Sources in the show

7:28

notes. We've got where

7:30

we found all this information and there's more traditions

7:33

out there that we just didn't cover this

7:35

time maybe another episode

7:37

but for now if

7:40

you'd like to go read about them check the sources in

7:42

our show notes, so The

7:44

first one we want to talk about is

7:46

la pair foita Now

7:49

this is where Frita

7:52

this is from France you were

7:54

close. I'm not such a good job pronouncing

7:56

it. I had to butcher it Why

7:59

I had to to do the how

8:01

to pronounce and listen to it like four

8:03

times. Now

8:05

La Perfuetat is supposedly

8:07

French for father whipper or old

8:09

man whipper. Old

8:12

man whipper. So, but it doesn't mean

8:14

like you're whipping an old man. It

8:17

means like the old man is the whipper.

8:19

Like, you know, father Christmas and father whipper

8:21

kind of thing. Well, he's a

8:24

character who accompanies St. Nicholas on

8:26

his rounds during St. Nicholas day

8:28

or December 6th. Matt,

8:31

what is today? Today

8:33

is December 6th. So

8:36

it's interesting again, that

8:38

we're, you are not listening to

8:40

this on December 6th, but we

8:42

are doing this on December 6th.

8:44

So we're recording this on St.

8:46

Nicholas day. And I

8:49

assure you, it was completely unplanned.

8:51

This just happened this way. It's

8:53

that synchronicity of the graveyard. It

8:55

happens all the time. What

8:58

he rides with St. Nicholas dispensing

9:00

lumps of coal and or beatings

9:02

to naughty children while St. Nicholas

9:04

gives gifts to the well-behaved. So

9:07

Fuetat's appearance is described to be

9:09

an older man with this

9:12

sinister looking face and he

9:14

wears a dark robe. He's got

9:16

unkempt black beard and carries a

9:18

whip or a club. And

9:20

his face is usually darkened with

9:22

soot. So if you can,

9:25

you picture this grizzled old man covered

9:27

in soot with

9:30

carrying a whip or a club, that's

9:33

this guy. Now, legend

9:35

says that Perfuetat was

9:37

a butcher and

9:39

during a particularly hard winter, three

9:42

boys went searching for food and became

9:44

lost. They found the home of

9:46

the butcher and asked him for shelter for the night.

9:49

Well, the butcher agreed, but as

9:51

soon as he had the boy's trust, he

9:54

chopped the children into pieces. Well,

9:57

his plan was to sell their meat

9:59

in his. butcher shop. So

10:03

it's kind of the

10:07

Demon Barbara Fleet Street type

10:10

thing. Yeah,

10:13

but hard winner so he didn't

10:15

have much meat. He chopped these children up

10:18

and he was gonna sell them at his

10:20

shop. Well, St. Nicholas arrived

10:22

shortly after that. He

10:24

performed a miracle and brought the boys back to

10:26

life. Well, the butcher is

10:29

so repentant and asking

10:31

just begging St. Nick to

10:34

allow him to atone for his crimes.

10:37

So St. Nick said, well, you

10:40

can but from

10:42

here to eternity you

10:44

are my companion and this

10:46

is why he rides with St. Nicholas

10:49

every year. There's also

10:51

another story though and it's

10:53

associated with Perifoy Todd

10:55

but it says that during the siege of

10:58

Metz in 1552 people burned the effigy of

11:02

King Charles Quint and dragged

11:04

it through the city. In the

11:06

meantime a group of tanners created

11:09

this grotesque character who punishes the

11:11

children. After the liberation

11:13

of Metz the character which

11:15

was created by the tanners and the

11:17

burned effigy of Charles Quint got incorporated

11:20

into a character known as La Perfoy

11:22

Todd. Somehow the events that

11:24

surrounded the city and the burning of

11:26

the effigy coincided with the passing of

11:28

St. Nicholas and hence he became the

11:30

bad counterpart of St. Nicholas. An

11:33

interesting thing I found though

11:35

in the 1930s, Perifoy Todd

11:38

actually appeared in the United States but

11:42

his name was translated

11:44

to Father Flog or

11:46

Spanky. Spanky! Father

11:52

Christmas and Spanky! Yeah, here

11:54

comes St. Nicholas and old

11:56

Spanky! Let's take

11:58

a father flog. least spanky out of

12:01

it. Father Flogg sounds just

12:03

as bad. Okay, I'll go with

12:05

spanky. Yeah, maybe so. But it

12:07

says although he was almost identical

12:10

to the original French personification, Father

12:12

Flogg had nothing to do with

12:14

Christmas and also had

12:16

a female accomplice named Mother Flogg.

12:20

Oh. The two actually doled

12:22

out punishments, specific

12:26

punishments for specific childhood crimes.

12:29

So Father Flogg and Mother Flogg were just

12:31

these characters that showed up in the 1930s

12:34

in Tales and they said, well, if you

12:36

steal this, Father Flogg's going to beat the

12:39

crap out of you and he'll do it

12:41

in a specific way according to whatever you

12:43

do wrong. What?

12:46

Yeah, it's like, you

12:49

know how if

12:52

back in the day, if thieves were caught stealing,

12:54

they'd have their fingers or hand cut off or

12:57

if they were caught and then

12:59

tried to run from the

13:02

police, they'd have a leg cut off. So

13:04

the specific punishment for a

13:06

specific crime, that's what

13:08

Father Flogg and Mother Flogg did. But

13:11

it was like for children. So it was like,

13:14

they'll whip you on the ear or they'll whip

13:16

your hand or they'll string you up

13:18

by your toenails is what I was always told. But

13:20

it wasn't Father Flogg doing it. My

13:23

granddad said, you do that again, I'm stringing you up

13:25

by your toenails. I didn't know what that meant. It

13:28

sounded painful, so I stopped doing it. Yeah.

13:31

Imagine if you fart in class. Oh, Lord.

13:33

You get that flogging somewhere

13:35

you don't want it. All

13:39

right. Man, Mother

13:41

Flogg, I don't know

13:45

why. I guess I'm

13:47

in fifth grade. It

13:50

just sounds ridiculous. Don't be a

13:52

Mother Flogger, Matt. Alright,

14:00

let's talk about one that you guys

14:02

probably have heard of before. And

14:04

if you haven't heard the name, you've

14:07

definitely seen the imagery. Over

14:09

the last five or six years, it has

14:12

become more common, you know, to

14:14

see pictures of this and

14:18

that is Mari Lloyd, okay?

14:22

And you listen to the description, you're going to know what I'm talking

14:24

about. So just imagine that

14:26

it's New Year's Eve and

14:28

you are a small Welsh child, you

14:31

hear a knock on the door, you open

14:34

it and standing in

14:36

front of you is this

14:38

creature with a horse's skull

14:40

wearing a long billowing cloak

14:43

entrailed by people chanting.

14:46

You must have got into your parent's eggnog. That's

14:49

right. Now in the

14:51

horse's eye cavities are

14:54

fake eyeballs or even

14:57

little round baubles, lights,

15:00

Christmas ornaments, something that

15:04

mimics the eyes and

15:07

its mouth is slightly open, it looks

15:11

pretty terrifying, okay? It

15:14

certainly doesn't seem like anything that would

15:16

be associated with the holiday season. So

15:21

as you're standing there petrified, looking at this

15:23

thing, all the adults are

15:26

hugging and wishing everybody a happy New Year.

15:30

Like, what the hell is going on? So

15:34

yeah, like I said, you've seen these images, the

15:37

horse skull, the long cloak.

15:40

In fact, when it's

15:44

performed, the...

15:47

Mari Lloyd is usually done by

15:50

a performer with

15:52

the horse skull on a pole with

15:55

the cloak draped down over it so it covers

15:57

him. So Mari Lloyd appears.

16:00

much, much taller than everybody else. So

16:02

if you've seen that, it's a lot

16:05

taller, probably stands about eight feet tall.

16:08

Now, the origins of Mari's

16:11

name are

16:14

kind of mysterious, like

16:17

the reasoning behind this tradition.

16:20

But one Welsh translation of it

16:22

is Grey mare. The

16:24

old Grey mare just think what used to be, you

16:26

know that. What used to be, what used to be.

16:31

Yeah, for Adam. But

16:35

it connects to the heritage of

16:37

pale horses in Celtic

16:39

and British mythology, many

16:42

of whom can cross over into

16:44

the underworld. So the

16:47

pale horse is not one that is,

16:50

it is held to the realm of the living.

16:53

You know, it can travel back and forth.

16:55

And you've heard the term pale rider and

16:57

things like that, same thing. Now

17:00

the other translation for Mari Lloyd is

17:02

the Grey mare.

17:06

And some scholars have linked her

17:08

to a legend connected to the

17:10

Nativity story. This

17:13

one, dig this, okay. Okay. A

17:16

pregnant horse sent out

17:18

of the stables when Mari arrived

17:20

to have Jesus. She

17:23

spent dark days roaming the land,

17:25

trying to find somewhere new to

17:28

have her fold. Now

17:30

many Mari fans believe the

17:32

character to have come from

17:35

pre-Christian pagan origins, however. So

17:39

it's impossible to prove, but

17:42

that's kind of a, that

17:44

is a creepy story. Yeah.

17:46

Okay. That somehow this

17:49

pregnant horse comes back every year.

17:51

And the reason that this horse

17:53

comes back is because they were

17:55

booted out of the manger so

17:57

that Mari could have Jesus. And.

18:00

This this this horse

18:02

is angry about it. Yeah, but

18:04

if you if you look at the

18:06

imagery here This

18:10

is really looks pre-christian. I

18:13

mean You know

18:15

a lot of there was

18:17

a lot of paganism and what is you know

18:19

whales? so

18:21

I It

18:24

does not feel like this this sounds like something

18:26

somebody just made up Right,

18:29

what if Mari Lloyd was was actually

18:31

a pregnant horse? Joseph

18:34

and Mary booted out of the stable Yeah,

18:38

it it has it has very very

18:40

pagan imagery very very much pagan imagery

18:42

with it associated with it now

18:47

Well, how does this how does this celebration

18:49

work? Well? Mari

18:51

is taken around a village traditionally

18:54

often between Christmas Day and 12th night

18:58

she is dressed with festive lights and

19:00

decorations, but Mari is a female and Is

19:03

usually accompanied by an? Oster

19:06

which is a person at an end

19:09

that would care for travelers horses So

19:12

she has her own handler and

19:15

in some regions other

19:18

folk characters dress up like a

19:20

gesture and a lady like Like

19:24

what you would think of as a medieval Princess

19:27

look you know Now

19:30

this brings the tradition closer

19:32

together with mummers

19:35

plays Which is

19:37

a tradition of performances by the working

19:39

class in the 18th century? typically

19:42

done around the holidays and If

19:45

you've never heard of or seen any

19:47

any depiction of a mummers play these

19:51

are the Usually

19:54

begins with two female characters coming

19:58

to blows over something Okay,

20:01

they get in a fight and then other

20:03

characters get

20:05

involved and it's

20:07

all very over-the-top

20:10

and farce-like. So

20:13

that's a mummer's play. All

20:16

of these traditions kind of coincide. So

20:19

it does seem like, you know,

20:21

Mari Lloyd is

20:24

just another part of all of this.

20:28

Now, when this group of

20:31

the Jester, the Lady, the

20:34

Ulster and Mari Lloyd, when

20:36

they get to your house, they

20:39

sing Welsh

20:41

language songs or wassales

20:45

that more traditionally indulge in

20:48

a ritual called ponco.

20:52

It's P-W-N-C-O, but

20:54

it is pronounced ponco. Do

20:58

you know what a ponco is, Adam? I

21:01

don't, but before you tell me, you

21:03

said wassales. Now

21:07

that I have heard

21:09

as the origination for

21:12

Hugh, we come a-was-saling along

21:14

the leaves and meh. Correct.

21:17

So I just had to throw that in

21:19

before you told me what a ponco was, because a ponco

21:21

sounds painful, so I wanted to get that out of the

21:23

way before you hurt me with this. People

21:26

are being impressed, but that is

21:28

exactly what it is. Useless

21:31

crap up here in this noggin,

21:33

Matt. Well, yeah, I know. The

21:36

good stuff falls out of my ears. The other stuff

21:38

just kind of lingers. Learn

21:41

something new. I forget how to comment. But that's

21:43

exactly what that is. And so many of our

21:48

older Christmas

21:50

carols or Christmas songs that you hear

21:52

around this time of year, they

21:55

have a Welsh origin.

22:00

Things like, you know, I saw three

22:02

ships come sailing in those type You

22:06

know not the chestnuts roasting by

22:08

the open fire any of that stuff So

22:11

yeah, there's a lot of yeah, there

22:14

is a lot of of Welsh

22:16

Welsh heritage there and

22:18

and Welsh origin But

22:22

back to the ponco The

22:25

ponco is an exchange of rude

22:27

rhymes with the person that lives

22:30

there so think of it

22:32

this way it's This

22:34

this skull horse comes to your door.

22:37

They're singing these songs and now You

22:41

have to you know, do you have to play

22:43

the dozens with this horse skull? Okay,

22:45

you have to do some your mama

22:47

is so fat jokes This

22:51

horse skeleton, okay now

22:54

there once was a man from Nantucket It's

23:00

a family show yeah, but

23:02

you so you're doing this, okay, if

23:05

you win, okay They

23:08

come in everybody gets

23:13

Everybody gets good luck for the rest of the year. Okay

23:17

if you lose Traditionally

23:21

Mari, Lloyd gets to come in and her crew gets

23:23

to drink all your beer You

23:26

know, but that whole point of this is you know,

23:29

Mari, Lord is coming into Looking

23:33

for food and for festivities

23:35

and to cause mischief and

23:38

She chases people that she likes as

23:42

as terrifying as that as

23:45

her You know

23:47

visuals can be It's

23:50

really very very innocuous and

23:52

fun Is really what

23:54

it is. So if she's good

23:56

at the rap battles, then she's smashed by

23:59

like the third house and

24:02

then the rest of the houses win the

24:04

dinner it looks like a dude in

24:07

a sheet carrying this ridiculous ridiculously large

24:09

hobby horse you know he's dragging by

24:11

that third house he's just dragging that

24:13

skull down the street I can't

24:16

do this anymore you

24:19

win you win now

24:22

the first written record of the of the Marloid

24:25

is in J. Evans book from 1800 which is

24:27

a tour through part of North

24:31

Wales that's the title of his book now

24:33

although the tradition is best known for its

24:35

practice in

24:37

Glamorgan and Gwent these

24:39

well cities man they got

24:42

some names it

24:44

has similarities to other hooded animal

24:46

customs in Britain like the

24:49

hoodening and Kent the

24:51

broad in Cotswold and the old tup

24:53

in Durban Derbyshire which involved a group

24:55

of poor people trying to find food

24:57

and money in the harsh depths of

25:00

the winter hmm now

25:02

Welsh Methodists and other

25:04

Christian non conformists criticized

25:07

the Marloid in the 19th century

25:10

and Baptist minister Reverend

25:12

William Roberts called her

25:15

quote sinful in his 1852 book the religion

25:18

of the Dark Ages now

25:20

Welsh poet Vernon Watkins even wrote

25:23

a long poem about her in

25:25

1941 called the Ballad of the

25:27

Marloid and this

25:29

was after he heard a broadcast

25:32

a radio broadcast about the ritual

25:35

so this was the original one of

25:37

the original podcasts on the

25:39

radio and Vernon Watkins hears

25:41

it and decides he's gonna write

25:44

a poem about Marloid hmm it

25:47

kind of faded out for a little

25:49

while and by the 1960s there were

25:51

very few Mari processions left

25:54

in the world but in the

25:56

later 1900s the lush The

26:00

LaTressant Folk Club revived the

26:02

tradition, as

26:04

did a few other families who

26:07

still visit the Old House Inn in

26:09

the village with their Mari today. Three

26:13

generations of landlords in the

26:15

Old House Inn have hosted

26:17

these families. That's cool. So

26:19

that's pretty cool. Yeah, three

26:21

generations, they still keep this

26:23

Old Welsh tradition alive. And

26:27

if you've been on Facebook

26:29

or Instagram or TikTok here in

26:32

the last few weeks, you have

26:34

seen something of

26:37

a Mari Lloyd celebration.

26:40

I guarantee it. I've seen three

26:42

today. Yeah. So

26:45

the next one that I got is

26:47

Frau Perkta. Some

26:51

of y'all may know about Frau, but

26:55

Frau Perkta isn't that

26:58

well known by the

27:00

majority of the world and

27:02

certainly not as well known as

27:04

like Krampus and St. Nick and

27:07

stuff like that. But

27:09

she's a staple in the Alpine

27:11

regions of Southern Germany and Austria.

27:14

But other than that, you may or

27:17

may not have heard about her. Well,

27:19

Frau Perkta is also

27:21

known as Berchta or Bertha. And

27:24

she's also been called Spinstuben

27:26

Frau or the spinning room

27:28

lady. And

27:30

she's often depicted with a beaked nose

27:32

made of iron, dressed in

27:35

rags, perhaps carrying a cane, maybe

27:37

not, and generally resembles

27:39

a decrepit old crone. But

27:43

this is not a helpless old crone. She

27:46

can pack a wallop and even

27:48

carries a long knife under her skirt,

27:50

it says. She's dangerous. She'll

27:53

cut you. Yeah, she's a mean

27:55

old crone. But

27:57

she also bears a resemblance to

27:59

the sky. Scandinavian goddess Frigga and

28:02

both of them share one obsession

28:05

in common spinning and

28:07

not like Spinning

28:09

like a top in circles, but

28:11

spinning as in like spinning wool and

28:14

stuff like that both Both

28:17

of them are specifically a domestic

28:22

neatness generally so

28:25

she's into Spinning

28:27

yarn and keeping the house

28:29

clean Now this

28:32

says she's pretty judgy considering she

28:34

dresses in rags Which

28:37

I mean that's true I mean if she's

28:39

got an iron nose and dresses in rags,

28:42

why does she care if you have a

28:44

clean house? I mean, that's right But

28:47

anyway legend has it that you

28:49

better get all your flax spun by

28:51

12th night or January 6 Quote

28:54

for when the Christmas season was over It

28:57

would be time to set up the big

28:59

upright loom at which time you

29:01

must have enough thread to wrap it and

29:03

start your weaving So

29:06

if you don't have your weaving done Then

29:10

what does she do? Does

29:12

she put you in timeout wells? No

29:17

Unfortunately, no This

29:19

is quote in Germany Austria in

29:21

Switzerland There were numerous tales of

29:23

Frau perk to trampling and even

29:26

said setting fire to the

29:28

half spun fibers So if

29:30

you didn't get it done,

29:32

she would trample him. She'd light your

29:34

half spun fibers on fire watch

29:37

him burn and If

29:40

you really irritated irritated her like,

29:43

you know, not only is your flax not spun

29:46

But your house is a total mess Just

29:49

you know kids wrapping paper

29:51

still over in the corner. You got the

29:53

socks laying across the couch Obviously

29:56

your your stuff's not done You

29:59

know Well, if

30:02

you've done all this and you've failed to

30:04

leave out a traditional bowl of porridge for

30:06

her as a peace

30:08

offering, then her rampaging

30:11

will extend far beyond just

30:15

your unspun wool.

30:18

She'll do nothing less than steal

30:20

into your bedroom, disembowel you,

30:23

and replace your guts with rocks

30:25

and straw. Disembowel

30:27

you. Disembowel you. That's what she

30:29

carries that knife under her skirt

30:31

for. Good lord! So

30:34

if you're untidy, then

30:37

Frau Perkta is going to come and disembowel

30:39

you. But Perkta

30:42

does more than just check on your spinning. It says, Other

30:44

legends equate Frau Perkta with the legend of

30:47

the wild hunt. And

30:49

they say that she flies through the

30:51

night sky attended by an army of

30:53

lost souls, including the

30:56

demonic-looking Perkta, her

30:58

army of servants who are

31:00

visually nearly indistinguishable from Krampus.

31:04

So if you can picture this old crone

31:07

with an army of Krampai in the background.

31:12

Well, the only way to know for

31:14

sure they say is context, because

31:18

Krampus rides with

31:21

St. Nicholas on St.

31:23

Nicholas's Eve, but the Perkton tend

31:25

more toward epiphany, which are the

31:28

last three Thursdays before Christmas, also

31:31

known as Berchtel Nights or Knocking

31:33

Nights. Also among her

31:35

army of the night are the souls

31:37

of unbaptized children. Legend has

31:39

it, if you hear the wind and

31:41

thunder roaring and rumbling through the mountains

31:44

on Berchtel Nights, you're

31:46

really hearing the sounds of Perkta

31:49

leading the wild hunt. So

31:51

be sure you have all your house cleaning

31:54

and have all your wool spun before January

31:56

6th, because you don't want your

31:58

insides replaced with snow. straw and stones. At

32:02

least not around Christmas time. No, I

32:04

mean, luckily she

32:06

waits till after Christmas, but

32:09

still, I mean, after Christmas, you're

32:11

not wanting to clean, you know,

32:13

you're, you're done with cleaning. You

32:15

cleaned for Christmas so that people could

32:17

come over and your kids are

32:19

still playing with stuff. You

32:22

know, they've got their stick ball out

32:24

in the living room. And if

32:27

you don't clean up, Perk to get you. And

32:31

you know, one thing that's interesting about

32:33

the story about, uh, Frau Perkton is,

32:35

um, it

32:38

pulls from a lot of different

32:40

legends around, around

32:43

Europe. And you know,

32:45

like the wild hunt, the wild hunt

32:48

is mentioned in folklore and

32:51

mythology for

32:53

centuries. Yeah. Um, and

32:56

they, and they all have different, um,

32:59

specters that are involved with the

33:01

wild hunt. But when you

33:03

hear them, it's never a good thing.

33:05

Okay. Um, but

33:08

you know, I, it was just really, really

33:10

interesting when, when you mentioned that, um, other

33:13

thing I wonder is, you know,

33:15

the, the new year's traditions

33:17

that people have, uh, especially

33:20

in the U S like, you know, it's

33:22

supposedly bad luck to, you know,

33:24

have your Christmas ornaments up

33:26

after new year's day or something

33:29

like that. Um, you

33:31

know, that seems very similar to

33:33

the idea of you're supposed

33:35

to have all of your, all

33:37

of your black spun before

33:39

12th night, before January 6th,

33:42

um, or it's going to cause you some

33:44

problems. Um, so,

33:47

um, I, I

33:49

love how a

33:52

lot of these really old legends

33:54

and this folklore have carried over to more

33:58

modern things. Even if

34:00

we don't realize it, yeah. That's right, that's

34:02

right. You know, somebody didn't just sit back

34:04

one day and puff on a

34:06

pipe and go, you know what? It's

34:09

bad luck if you leave those Christmas decorations up

34:11

after New Year's. That

34:13

came from somewhere. All

34:15

of these things came from somewhere and these

34:18

stories kinda help you see, you

34:21

know, it's maybe not directly connected,

34:23

but it shows that there

34:26

was a thought centuries ago, that,

34:31

you know, by January 6th,

34:33

you better have your stuff

34:36

together, you know? Mm-hmm, yep. All

34:40

right. Well,

34:42

this next one, this next one

34:45

is very interesting and I had

34:47

never heard of this one. Adam might

34:49

have, but this was one

34:51

I had not heard, which I'm kinda surprised because

34:53

it, I had

34:56

no trouble finding information about it. And

34:58

this is Hans Trapp. Now,

35:01

this is a French story and

35:06

it's specifically

35:08

to the area of Alsace-Lorraine.

35:12

And according to Alsace and Lore,

35:15

Hans Trapp was a

35:17

local man renowned for

35:19

his greed and unscrupulousness.

35:22

He used witchcraft and dealt

35:24

with the devil to become

35:27

rich. Now,

35:29

after being excommunicated from the

35:31

Catholic Church, he

35:33

lost his wealth and his social standing.

35:36

So he took to roaming the countryside

35:39

disguised as a scarecrow. Hmm.

35:43

Yeah. Are you

35:45

familiar with this one? I'm not, no. So

35:48

Trapp was reduced to reconstructing a

35:51

makeshift home in the mountains of

35:53

Bavaria in Germany. And

35:55

the legend goes on. Here, he

35:59

continued to. rude, just

36:02

angry and mad that

36:05

he lost all of his

36:07

wealth and all of his standing

36:09

in society. And

36:13

these evil desires just fester inside

36:15

him. So

36:17

he decided that he really had

36:19

a hankering for the taste of

36:21

human flesh. So

36:24

finally... Natural progression.

36:27

He became the dreaded Christmas

36:30

scarecrow. He was

36:32

adorned in straw as a disguise and

36:35

he would wait on lonely roads for a

36:37

victim. As

36:39

the legend goes, a boy aged

36:42

around 10 happened across his

36:44

path one day and

36:46

trapped stabbed the unfortunate shepherd's

36:48

boy with a vicious sharp

36:50

stick. With

36:52

the body safely back in his lair, traps

36:55

sliced it into pieces and roasted

36:57

it. But before he

36:59

could eat, he was

37:01

struck by a divine lightning bolt

37:04

from God and killed. And

37:07

another telling of this story said God

37:09

had had enough. It's

37:12

like, okay, you gone

37:14

too far, Mr. Scarecrow. I'm

37:17

tired of your scarecrow butt. He struck

37:19

him down. Now

37:21

today naughty children are warned

37:23

that Hans Trapp's spirit lingers

37:25

on and that he may

37:27

visit them in his scarecrow

37:29

disguise if they don't mend their

37:31

ways. He's

37:34

a popular boogeyman and a frightening

37:36

tall tale, but

37:39

it's a little more than that. We

37:43

have learned that the story

37:45

of Hans Trapp is

37:48

related to an actual person.

37:51

Oh, wow. Yeah.

37:53

Hans von Trotha was

37:55

a knight who lived from 1450 to 1503. He

38:00

commanded two castles in the

38:02

Palatine, that's the

38:05

French German territory, but

38:07

became embroiled in an argument with the

38:09

church over the property in one of

38:11

them. The abbot would

38:14

not concede certain properties to

38:16

Von Trotha, so the

38:19

embittered knight stopped the supply of

38:21

water to the nearby

38:23

town of Wissenburg by

38:25

building a dam. In

38:28

retaliation, the abbot, which

38:31

is like a monk, if you don't,

38:34

I didn't clarify that, the

38:37

abbot had the dam destroyed,

38:40

which flooded the villagers' homes

38:42

and businesses. Now can you

38:44

imagine, this guy has cut our

38:46

water off, and the abbot says, I'll get it

38:48

back, and he goes and destroys the dam, and

38:51

it floods the village. They're like, thanks for nothing.

38:53

Too much water. Too much water. Could

38:57

have dealt with just a little bit. Yeah,

38:59

yeah. Now we just wanted it back, we didn't want all this

39:01

extra. Yeah, right. Thanks for

39:03

the bonus, but thanks. Yeah. Too

39:05

much. And

39:08

this is all documented. This really happened. This

39:10

is not a legend, okay? The

39:12

dispute continued until, just as

39:15

with Hans Trapp, the knight

39:17

was summoned by the pope himself

39:19

and excommunicated. So

39:23

while there's no record of Von

39:25

Trotha turning to cannibalism and hunting

39:27

children while dressed as a scarecrow,

39:30

what we know of Hans Von

39:32

Trotha's life is extraordinary. Even

39:34

the Emperor's intervention wasn't enough to

39:36

put a stop to the knight's

39:38

battle with the abbot of Weisenberg

39:40

Abbey, which is exactly why Pope

39:42

Innocent VIII came into the

39:45

picture in the first place. On

39:48

his summoning to successor Alexander

39:50

VI Papal court, Von

39:52

Trotha refused to attend. So

39:55

the pope, the pope, the new

39:57

pope says, all right, come here.

40:00

And Vontrotha says, nah,

40:02

I don't think so. I'm not coming.

40:04

I'm busy scare-crowing. I'm not

40:06

coming. And this is a time when the

40:08

Pope held a lot of power.

40:12

So instead, Vontrotha sent a

40:14

letter to the Pope which

40:16

expounded on Vontrotha's faith

40:19

while accusing the Pope of all

40:21

manner of impure acts. So

40:24

essentially it was, I know

40:27

you are, but what am I? Right, right.

40:31

I may be, but here's what you've done.

40:34

Yeah. So even

40:37

while excommunicated, Vontrotha did

40:39

pretty well for himself. He served on

40:41

the French royal court. He

40:43

was given the Chevalier d'Or by King

40:46

Louis VII. I

40:48

got one of those. King Louis XII. I can't

40:51

read my own Roman

40:54

numerals. But

40:56

upon his death, all charges against him

40:58

were reversed and forgiven. Why?

41:01

This is a bad dude. And

41:04

you wait until he dies? Yeah. Well, I mean, you

41:07

know, it wasn't like he was a tremendous

41:10

criminal. He was just

41:12

kind of a horse's ass, you know? That's

41:15

what he was. But

41:17

something from his notoriety lived on,

41:19

and though not only in the

41:21

Hans Trapp legend, you know, local

41:23

legends also refer to him as

41:25

the Black Knight, which

41:27

is a formidable specter that

41:30

was also sometimes said to accompany

41:32

Santa Claus and punish children who

41:34

were unworthy of gifts. So, you

41:37

know, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father

41:39

Christmas, they had this

41:41

whole posse of weird,

41:44

creepy individuals, okay? I

41:47

didn't realize that he had this whole

41:49

crew that he was coming, you know?

41:52

You know, here he comes. You know, everybody said, well,

41:54

Santa's going to put coal in your stocking. No,

41:57

he's got a guy for that. You

42:00

know, he's got a guy for that. He

42:02

was the originator of, oh, I got a guy for that.

42:06

You need that? I got a guy for that. I know a guy. And

42:09

he just calls up one of them and... Yeah,

42:11

that's right. You know. Imagine... You need

42:14

to be... You need to be disemboweled? I

42:16

got a gal for that. Yeah, I got... She's

42:19

great. You'll love her. Ol' Perkta?

42:23

This lady doesn't have her wool spun.

42:25

I'm telling

42:28

you, was St. Nick a snitch or what? Like,

42:30

he could have... He could have combined and said,

42:33

Clean this up. Yeah. Frow is

42:35

like five minutes behind me. But

42:37

instead, he's like, Frow! Hey! Hey,

42:39

Frow! Come here! Yeah. Check

42:41

this out. Yeah. Check

42:43

this slovenly brood out. Check them out.

42:47

They've got a sock over in the corner. I know

42:49

you're going to be mad about that. He's

42:53

like, you take care of this. I'm going to go over here

42:55

to these goody-goodies. I got some peppermint for

42:57

him. Hey, Trap. Here's

42:59

an angry kid. Why don't you stab him and eat him?

43:02

Oh, that's it. Just punishment there,

43:04

Santa. Thanks. All

43:08

I did was cry. I mean, geez. He

43:10

pulled his sister's hair and now he's lunch.

43:13

Yeah. Now he's spit roasted

43:15

because Santa's got a

43:17

grudge. So

43:23

the last one I've got is, I told

43:26

Matt, I said, this is my favorite

43:28

of my three here. And

43:31

it's the Kali Kansari. And

43:33

I think I might

43:35

be pronouncing that right. I think. But

43:39

the Kali Kansari are from Greek

43:41

folklore and they are

43:43

hobgoblins of Yuletide. Yeah.

43:46

Christmas rolls. Yeah, basically.

43:50

I know we've got quite a few Greek listeners,

43:52

so I'm going to do my best with this. Don't

43:55

hate me if I get something wrong. It's

43:57

what I found. I

44:00

know one specific Greek listener that

44:03

she might be able to help us out and discuss

44:05

it in the group. Oh yeah. If

44:07

I get anything wrong. But apparently

44:10

they're lanky red eyed beings

44:12

with long nails and black

44:14

tails. Like gnomes,

44:17

they're very mischievous and agile.

44:20

And they would jump from one

44:22

rooftop to the next and sneak

44:24

their way into homes through the

44:26

chimney or keyholes. Or

44:29

into backyards and trash everything

44:31

in sight. Or steal

44:33

food and children, especially

44:35

those born on Christmas day. So

44:39

if you got a kid born on Christmas day, the

44:41

kali kansari are coming for them. And

44:45

they're going to steal your kid. Now

44:47

many Greek mothers and grandmothers say

44:49

that that's why it's important to

44:51

keep everything tightly covered with a

44:53

lid. Is to

44:56

keep them out of it so the kali

44:58

kansari don't trash it when they

45:00

sneak into your home. So

45:02

after you're done baking and all

45:05

that stuff, put a lid on the flour.

45:07

Yeah, don't leave it open. They're like cockroaches.

45:10

Oh yeah. Because it says one of their

45:12

favorite pranks was actually to scatter flour. Which

45:15

was to be found everywhere due to holiday

45:18

baking. And as

45:20

they're doing it, they're scattering flour across your

45:22

kitchen and across your house. You could apparently

45:25

hear their shrill laughter. Now

45:27

Clement A. Miles sums it up

45:29

saying this. Quote, destruction and waste,

45:32

greed and lust mark their course.

45:36

So they sound like

45:38

some crazy individuals.

45:40

Now according to lore, roaming

45:44

at night during this time

45:46

of year is ill advised. Because

45:49

you just might run into one of

45:51

these obnoxious creatures and

45:53

they're bound to scare you.

45:56

Now the kali kansari they say are small

45:58

and dark skinned. have some

46:00

kind of flaw like they

46:03

limp or they have a lisp

46:05

or goat feet or monkey arms.

46:08

That's a major flaw. That's a major flaw

46:10

if you got goat feet and monkey arms

46:12

and you've limped because one of your goat

46:14

feet are smaller than the other one. My

46:16

dad met this woman one time. Oh lord.

46:19

He acted really weird. She

46:23

knew him I guess or knew of him

46:26

and he shook her hand and

46:29

as we were walking away he just was

46:31

he was weird and I was like what's

46:33

the deal and he goes she

46:35

had monkey hands. I

46:41

thought I was gonna die right there. Like

46:46

I went to shake her

46:48

hand and her fingers wrapped around my hand twice.

46:50

It was weird. Now

46:55

this says that although the Kali

46:58

Kansari they live on eating snakes,

47:01

worms and frogs, they

47:03

actually love sugar and

47:05

that's why a lot of housewives would leave some

47:07

sweets at different spots in

47:10

the house to cajole them into being nice.

47:14

So it says and indeed life on

47:16

earth for 12 days for the

47:19

Kali Kansari is all about

47:21

wanting mischief until the

47:24

rooster crows and that is and

47:27

then the sun shines it's you

47:30

know comes into the sky and that's

47:32

when they're done. They

47:34

quit during the day

47:37

but they do it all at night

47:39

for 12 days. Now

47:42

much like Dracula all

47:44

of the world's dark

47:46

demons and everything they the

47:49

the Kali Kansari hate the sun so

47:54

don't you know you won't catch them out in the

47:56

daylight but they also

47:58

abhor fire. They

48:00

don't like the cross and they

48:02

don't like holy water and they've got

48:05

a very short attention span. So

48:07

as much as they want to

48:09

do you harm, it seems like they

48:11

never succeed. They're always

48:14

trying to but with the short attention

48:16

span it's like, oh look, flower to

48:18

scatter. And then they got to go

48:20

scatter the flower. Yeah, easily

48:22

distracted. Mm-hmm. For

48:25

the majority of the year, the kali

48:27

kansari, they live beneath the earth's surface.

48:30

And what they're doing is they're tirelessly sawing

48:32

away at the world tree. And

48:35

you say, well, why are they doing that? Well, it's

48:38

to bring about chaos and disorder by

48:40

completely sawing through the world tree. Cutting

48:42

it in half. This would screw up

48:45

the world if you cut

48:47

the world tree in half. But

48:50

during the span between Christmas

48:53

Day and Epiphany Day, which is

48:55

January 6th, they come

48:57

up from their subterranean realm

48:59

and that's when they're causing all the

49:01

pranks. So they quit sawing,

49:04

right? You can't do two things at

49:06

once. But while they're

49:08

up there on the surface, there's

49:11

a decisive moment that comes.

49:14

On Epiphany Day, this quote,

49:16

pivotal event unfolds and

49:19

it sends the kali kansari retreating

49:21

back to their subterranean realm.

49:24

The village priest embarks on a sacred

49:26

journey from one home to the

49:28

next home. He's showering

49:30

rooms with holy water. And

49:33

this ritual, which is

49:35

apparently a hallmark of Epiphany

49:38

celebrations, is believed to

49:40

ensure that these goblins return

49:42

underground, which restores order

49:44

to the human world. Well,

49:48

when they return to the subterranean

49:50

world, the kali

49:52

kansari find that the world tree has fully

49:54

healed itself and its trunk is whole again.

49:58

So they gotta start sawing. again

50:01

and they're trying to fell this tree up until

50:04

the next Christmas Day when

50:06

they emerge again. So

50:09

they're kind of sum it up

50:11

they're down there sawing on this tree trying

50:14

to cut it in half and just destroy the

50:16

world but then Christmas Day comes and

50:18

their short attention span pops in they go oh

50:21

I got to go upstairs so they go upstairs they

50:23

create a whole bunch of mischief then

50:25

the priest comes they go

50:27

back down and guess what all

50:29

of their work is for naught because

50:31

the tree is healed itself. That's

50:34

pretty cool I like that. Yeah

50:36

I thought that was cool the whole them

50:38

sawing on the world tree and then

50:41

the world tree healing herself

50:43

by the time you know in

50:45

12 days I just thought that was a

50:47

really cool story. Yeah I like it. Alright

50:51

well I guess that about wraps it up. Wait

50:54

a minute Matt. Yeah we're

50:56

leaving one out everybody's been

50:58

been waiting are they gonna

51:01

talk about this are they

51:03

really not gonna talk about

51:05

this? No we're not.

51:07

No yes we are we're gonna

51:09

talk about Krampus. Yep

51:11

you got to. Probably the most

51:14

well-known of all of these

51:16

and has really

51:18

hit a big resurgence in the

51:21

US in the last you

51:23

know 10-15

51:25

years you know Krampus has been you know

51:27

the funny thing is is when I first

51:29

heard of Krampus I thought something

51:31

new they've made up

51:34

a new Christmas monster no it's

51:36

not new at all but

51:38

in many European countries St.

51:41

Nicholas as we said earlier has companions

51:43

he's got a crew you know he's

51:45

got squad goals here who

51:49

act as his negative counterpart okay

51:53

St. Nick he's the he's the

51:55

good cop you don't

51:57

really want to meet the bad cop okay

51:59

right And the one

52:01

particularly bad cop is

52:04

Krampus. Okay. And

52:06

he has a demonic half goat

52:08

monster with horns and a long

52:10

tongue. And he drags

52:12

chains behind him as he walks

52:15

and rattles them ominously. I

52:17

think I knew him in high school. Yeah.

52:20

I think, I think he came to my house a time or two. But

52:23

he carries a birch, uh,

52:26

to whip bad children. And

52:28

sometimes a basket or a

52:30

sack for kidnapping them. Now

52:34

the eve of St. Nicholas,

52:36

December 5th, that

52:38

is Krampus knocked. Okay.

52:42

Hordes of Krampus's marched

52:44

through Alpine towns in

52:46

elaborate sinister costumes. And

52:49

in recent years, the Krampus's

52:51

tendency to go on drunken

52:53

rampages, getting fights and destroying

52:55

property has become a bit

52:57

of a problem. Um,

53:00

these guys take it just a

53:02

little too seriously. Right. Okay. Um,

53:06

and then I sent, I sent, I sent you

53:08

a video earlier today of, of

53:10

a Krampus parade from

53:13

last night. Yeah. Yeah.

53:16

It was pretty cool. I mean, there were tons

53:18

of them. They were everywhere. You

53:21

know, since I heard about Krampus, I've always

53:23

wanted to attend one of those parades because

53:25

it looks like fun, except

53:28

I've seen some of them where they

53:30

just start whipping people in the crowds.

53:33

Yeah. I, I would have

53:35

a hard time not whipping back. I know. Start whipping

53:37

me with a birch. I'm going to start whipping back.

53:40

Maybe it's licorice. Uh,

53:42

maybe licorice whip. Then yeah. And

53:44

well, the one thing that I couldn't

53:46

have is you, you see these, there's

53:49

always snow cause these are happening in

53:51

Alpine towns and villages. And so it's

53:53

like, there's snow everywhere and there's people

53:55

just out there like, this is normal.

53:57

You know, I'm like, man, you're freezing to death

53:59

out. there. Spoken like

54:01

a true southerner. Amen.

54:07

So Krampus gets his name from

54:12

the German word Krampen, which

54:14

means claw. And

54:17

the Krampus legend supposedly

54:19

originated in Germany. Now

54:22

Krampus was thought to have been a

54:24

part of pagan rituals for the Winter

54:26

Solstice. And according to

54:28

legend, he is the son of hell,

54:31

the Norse god of the underworld. The

54:35

creature and Saint Nicholas are said to

54:37

arrive on the evening of December 5th,

54:40

which is Krampus knocked

54:42

or Krampus knight. While

54:45

Saint Nicholas rewards the nice children

54:47

by leaving presents, Krampus

54:50

beats those who are naughty with branches and

54:52

sticks. In some cases, he

54:54

is said to eat them or take

54:56

them to hell. Oh

54:59

great. I mean, let's let

55:01

the punishment fit the crime. Seriously, you know.

55:03

Yeah. Hey, this poor kid, you know, he

55:05

put gum in his sister's hair. You're going

55:08

to hell. Yep. I

55:10

will eat you for that. That's

55:12

right. Now on December

55:15

6th, Saint Nicholas Day, children

55:17

awaken to find their gifts

55:19

or to nurse their injuries.

55:23

Now Krampus' roots really have nothing

55:25

to do with Christmas. Instead,

55:28

they date back to pre-Germanic

55:30

paganism in the region. During

55:33

the 12th century, the Catholic

55:35

Church attempted to banish Krampus

55:37

celebrations because of his resemblance

55:39

to the devil. And when

55:42

you see these costumes, you

55:46

remember when we did the, the,

55:49

the Codex Gigas? Mm-hmm.

55:52

Okay. You remember that, that the

55:55

painting, the drawing of the devil

55:58

in there? Oh yeah. It looks so hellish. a

56:00

lot like Krampus. I mean

56:02

very, very similar to the long

56:04

tongue, the horns, that face. It's

56:08

not what you think of in modern

56:11

depictions of the devil. It

56:15

looks a lot like Krampus. Now,

56:17

more eradication attempts followed in 1934

56:20

at the hands of Austria's conservative

56:24

Christian social party, but

56:26

none of it really held,

56:28

and Krampus emerged as a

56:31

much feared and beloved holiday

56:33

force. Now, Krampus's frightening presence was

56:35

suppressed for many years. The Catholic

56:39

Church forbade the raucous celebrations,

56:41

and fascists in World War

56:44

II Europe found Krampus

56:46

despicable because

56:48

it was considered a creation of the

56:50

Social Democrats. Look,

56:53

you think the US turns

56:59

everything political now? It's

57:02

not a new thing. Yeah, right. Even

57:04

Krampus got politicized. But

57:11

Krampus has, as I said, been having a

57:13

resurgence over the past few years, especially here

57:15

in the US, but

57:18

thanks partly to this bah

57:20

humbug attitude in pop culture, with

57:22

people searching for ways to

57:25

celebrate the Yuletide season in

57:27

non-traditional ways. In

57:29

the US, people are embracing the dark

57:31

side of Christmas with Krampus movies, special

57:35

Krampus television episodes. They're

57:37

throwing Krampus parties, attending local

57:40

Krampus nocks in cities like

57:43

Washington, DC and New Orleans, and

57:46

running Krampus-themed races. Dude,

57:49

did you see where Nashville is

57:52

doing pictures with Krampus this year?

57:54

No, I missed that. Yeah, they

57:56

got pictures with Santa, places

58:00

too, but there's a company that's doing

58:02

pictures with Krampus there in

58:04

Nashville and you can go sit

58:06

on Krampus's lap or whatever and get pictures

58:08

with Krampus. Lord, every one of

58:10

my kids screamed when they were a little bitty to

58:13

go sit on Santa's lap. Imagine dragging them up

58:15

there to see Krampus. Yeah,

58:18

right. Terrify him.

58:21

Yeah. Dude, I

58:23

thought about, before you get going again,

58:25

I thought about getting a Krampus costume

58:27

and like doing it here.

58:29

Yeah. But I'm

58:31

afraid because I got so many hunters that live

58:33

around me. Yeah. I wouldn't,

58:36

I wouldn't survive. So

58:38

I scrapped that idea. But can you

58:40

imagine me running down the street here

58:44

in Texas? Yeah. As Krampus, I'd be

58:46

the only one. You'd have to run

58:49

in a zigzag pattern. Yeah,

58:51

right. Dodging and diving behind

58:53

cars and stuff, avoiding

58:56

the buckshot that's coming my way. Now,

59:01

Austria is attempting to commercialize

59:03

the harsh persona of Krampus

59:05

by selling chocolates, figurines, collectible

59:08

horns and the like. There

59:11

are already complaints that Krampus

59:13

is becoming too commercialized and

59:15

he's losing his edge because

59:18

of his newfound popularity. Well,

59:20

that goes for everything. It

59:23

sounds like all the bands I grew up

59:25

listening to. I know. Everything that's popular, that

59:27

becomes popular like this, that was

59:29

always the little, little side feature, you

59:32

know, when it really becomes popular and

59:34

you can start buying, you know, a chocolate

59:38

Krampus, you know, and stuff

59:40

like that. Krampus plushies. I saw Krampus

59:43

Christmas ornaments the other

59:45

day. I mean, it's gotten

59:47

huge. Just

59:49

like it's just another thing to

59:52

go along with Christmas. When

59:54

you can buy underwear with Krampus pictures

59:56

on it, they jump the shark.

1:00:01

So, yeah, so that's

1:00:04

Krampus. We figured

1:00:06

a lot of y'all had heard, but you probably didn't know

1:00:08

where it came from. Like

1:00:10

I said, I didn't know

1:00:12

exactly all the details,

1:00:15

so this was pretty interesting.

1:00:18

And it was fun too, because, you

1:00:21

know, especially Hans Trapp, I had no idea.

1:00:23

I had never heard of that. Yeah,

1:00:25

that's cool. But it

1:00:28

is fascinating, especially if like

1:00:31

Adam and myself, if you were

1:00:33

born and grew up in the

1:00:35

US, you

1:00:38

lose that a lot

1:00:40

of the European history that

1:00:43

is so just amazing.

1:00:47

The folklore and the

1:00:49

legends and the stories

1:00:51

that shaped history, we

1:00:55

don't get, because our history, at least

1:00:59

in comparison, is

1:01:01

pretty young. So

1:01:03

we didn't know, you know, everybody

1:01:05

here grows up with Santa Claus, and

1:01:08

that's pretty much how it is. So

1:01:11

learning about these other traditions

1:01:13

around the world, it's

1:01:17

fun. It's fascinating. I've really

1:01:19

enjoyed it. And

1:01:22

we didn't hit all of them. We were looking

1:01:25

primarily at the ones

1:01:27

that were scary to go

1:01:29

along with the graveyard

1:01:33

tales theme. But

1:01:35

we know there's a lot of other ones that are

1:01:37

out there. And if you

1:01:40

guys know of a really odd

1:01:43

or unique Christmas

1:01:46

tradition around your

1:01:48

neck of the woods, let us know. We'd

1:01:51

love to hear it. And the best place

1:01:53

to tell us about it is in our Facebook group.

1:01:56

It is called the Graveyard. Thousands

1:01:58

of people in there. very, very

1:02:00

active and we appreciate everyone

1:02:03

that keeps that group alive. Come

1:02:05

in there and share your stories, tell

1:02:07

us your Christmas legends, all of that kind of

1:02:09

stuff. We just want to hear

1:02:12

those really great stories. Don't

1:02:14

forget to check out our website which

1:02:16

is graveyardpodcast.com. There

1:02:19

you can find links to purchase Graveyard Tales

1:02:21

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1:02:24

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1:02:32

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1:02:37

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1:02:48

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1:02:53

forget to rate and review us on iTunes. It brings

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1:02:58

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1:03:00

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1:03:02

Our name makes it on that list and

1:03:05

it makes us feel good. Yeah, that's

1:03:07

true. Little ego boost, we

1:03:09

appreciate it. So until next time,

1:03:12

we'll save you a seat in

1:03:14

the graveyard. See

1:03:17

you soon. Bye.

1:04:00

you