Krampus: The Christmas Devil

Sounds of jingle bells linger on your mind as you lay awake in bed. Excitement surges through your veins while you lay silent, years tuned for any indication of movement downstairs, just like any other child on this night, Christmas could not come fast enough. While laying in the darkness of your room, you notice the snowflakes landing on your window, illuminated by the soft glow of your outdoor Christmas lights. The night is quiet, both you and your family have long gone to bed. The only thing you can hear is the faded sound of Christmas carols playing on the loop, over and over and over again. Yet somehow it's oddly comforting. You know you should be sleeping, but you really want this to be the year that you finally catch sight of the Great Santa Claus himself. You hear he would be making a stop at your house because you made sure to be extra nice this year. Well, every year, You've made sure you were always on the nice list because you didn't want to find out what would happen if you woke up on Christmas morning and found yourself on the natty list. So this is why you made sure to listen to your parents and always share all year long. Your brother, however, did no such thing. Sure he helped out around the house every now and then, but that was greatly outnumbered by the amount of times that he would decide to throw a tantrum. Well, I guess that means he's getting cold this year, you think, no longer able to fight your curiosity. You slowly slither out of bed, trying your hardest to be quieter than a mouse. As you inch down the hallway closer to the stairs, the music slowly starts to get louder and louder, until eventually it drowns. The creaking of the stairs. You can start to see the tree come into view, and right next to it the cookies for Santa, only they were already half eaten. Rushing down the last few stairs to catch the culprit, you notice it, your brother, who was sitting under the tree and looking through the presence, all the while munching on a cookie. Just as you're about to confront him, you hear a noise, a loud dump on the roof. Out footsteps slowly make their way closer to your chimney. This was it, the night you would finally catch a glimpse of old Saint Nick himself. You crouch near the stairs, hiding yourself from sight, and then you notice your brother doing the same behind the tree. The excitement bubbling in your chest slowly starts to fade as you notice a joyful Christmas carols have suddenly stopped all on their own. The lights on the tree are no longer flickering on off, on, off, on and off for the last time. That excitement was now replaced with something else. It's Christmas, and the last emotion you should be having is fear. The sound of something landing on your floor startles you, and you peek out to take a look, expecting to see two large boots in the chimney, But what you see are two large hooves surrounded by brown fur. Shrinking farther and farther out of sight. You watch as this thing, this creature, makes its way into your living room and finally stands up straight. You're finally able to take in all of its horror as you start a wish that you never left the comfort of your warm bed. Not only did it have hoofs for legs, but it was also covered head to toe in the brown fur you saw before at the end of its fingers were long sharp claws. From its faint mouth drooped a long pointed tongue. You feel biles try to rise from your stomach and into your throat. When you notice it a large, empty sack being dragged on the floor behind the creature. You try your hardest to make yourself as small as possible to stay out of sight, fearful of what would happen if he sets its sights on you. It makes its way around the room, sniffing, as if searching for something, or rather someone. He creeps closer and closer to the tree right where your brother is hiding. Your eyes land on him, and you can see the terror on his face as the two of you make eye contact. That was the last time you ever laid eyes on him, because the next thing you knew, your connection was interrupted by the large sack being thrown over your brother, drowning out his greens as a creature flung him over his shoulder and made his way back up the chimney, back into the cold, dark knight leaven behind a frightened young child who never thought of Christmas the same way ever. Again, I'm sure most of you enjoy Christmas. In fact, it may be the one time when you forget about all the negativity and darkness that surrounds us throughout the year. Was it always this way from many people long ago? It may have been the exact opposite thanks to the creature that was being described earlier. Let's meet the crampis. My name is Edwin, and here it's a dark memory. Unlike the happy, jolly character of Santa Claus, who goes around rewarding children for behaving with presents, the Crampus is a polar opposite, with an image that definitely does not provoke joy. He goes around punishing children who have been naughty, from leading coal in their stockings, to beating them with sticks and branches, and even throwing them in his sack and bringing them back to his lair. He was a figure that parents would use to scare their children into behaving. In fact, he was so feared even adults began to chastise other adults who would dare mention his name or dress up as him. This was most likely due to the fact that, based on his appearance, he closely resembled the devil himself. The fear and paranoia became so bad that at one point during the Inquisition, the Crompus was banned. No one was allowed to dress up as him or celebrate him. They did, they faced execution, but that didn't stop his legacy from spreading across the world. No matter how many times he was suppressed. Perhaps no one could keep him from doing what he was created to do punish. Los Angeles, California, a location with one of the greatest celebrations held in honor of the crampis called the Crampisloth. Many people gather for live metal music, vendors, delicious German food where crampis originated from, and many performers dressed head to toe as a creature himself, something that is enjoyed by thousands that flock to the celebration. Another part of the festival is something that is even recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage List. They put on a traditional eighteenth century play that is directly based on the original Nicolashvia or Nicholas play that was put on in Central Europe centuries ago. The performers even use old translated German scripts for the show, a tradition that has sin died out in Austria, with music, lights, and fun costumes. It's easy for everyone to get caught up in the excitement of celebrating Crampis, but few are aware of just how dark his origins really are. The Crampis originated many centuries ago in Germany, as the name Crampis itself comes from the German word crampin which means claw. Although there are many different possibilities as to his exact origin story, there is one specific example that can be pinpointed as the most common one. The story itself dates all the way back to when paganism was very popular and Norse mythology was rampant. It is said that Crampis was a son of Hell who was commonly misconceived to be the Norse goddess of death. However, that was only what her name meant and mythology, she was never actually recognized as a god. She was merely the ruler of the underworld. This is because neither of her parents were gods. Her father, a trickster her name Loki, only ever achieved the status of demigod. When people described her, it was said that she was half flesh colored like a human, and the other half of her was blue. When it came to her personality. It is no wonder her son turned out the way he did. It was a safe bet to say that she never wanted to cross her because she had a threatening, harsh, and extremely cruel personality. Much like his mother. Crampus was not to be messed with. He was a symbol of evil, a punisher of naughty children, and some would say the devil himself. Basically, he was the opposite of Saint Nicholas, So why do we need him? Well, some say that he was a necessary evil, sort of like the yin to Saint nick Yang. Despite some pleading for the necessity of Crampis and people's freedom to celebrate him, there were times in history where he was banned and no one was allowed to celebrate him. Aside from what happened during the Inquisition where you were executed for dressing up as Crampis, there were plenty of other times where he was banned from society. In the twelfth century, due to the resemblance of the devil, the Catholic Church try to banish Crampis and his celebration. Then centuries later, in nineteen thirty four, Austria's Conservative Christian Social Party actually succeeded in banning him in their country. Another group that succeeded in their efforts to ban Crampis actually existed during the same time period. The Nazis also banned Crampis, but for a different reason due to his origins of being rooted in paganism. That was an automatic red flag to their party, as anything outside of the norm was considered a threat, and as expected, the consequences for breaking the rules were no less than extreme. As much as we want it to be, Crampis is not the only dark tradition that surrounds Christmas. To start off, let's look at Frau Persta, a tradition from Austria and Bavaria. She is a witch who comes to decipher which children have been naughty or nice. Instead of rewarding the good children, she slits the abdomens of naughty children and stuffs or corpses with straw. Perhaps an even darker one, it's a story of Hans trap from France. He was a man who used witchcraft and made deals with the devil to become rich. After he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, he was an outcast and began roaming the countryside dressed as a scarecrow. After years of living this way, he became obsessed with the idea of tasting human flesh, so he kidnapped the shepherd Boy and killed him by cooking him over a fire. However, before he could take a bite, God struck him with lightning, killing Hans. According to the legend, he returns to France on Christmas and goes from door to door looking for a young child to devour. Sadly, there is a large list of stories like these that prove Christmas is not as bright and happy as it always appears on the outside. None of them are quite as terrifying as Island's story of the Yule Lads. Imagine thirteen different creatures each set out on Christmas Eve to find children and terrify them in their own unique way, from stealing farm animals to removing all sources of light from a room to scare a child afraid of the dark. It was nothing these creepy creatures would do, But perhaps the worst part was theirpent, a ferocious cat who like to feed on unsurprisingly children. This beast is much worse than Crampis, though, as it does not care who would eat, while Crampis only takes the children who have been naughty. The cat takes whoever it can sink its teeth into. Like many things that lurk among us, they may appear bright and joyful, but they come from things so dark that our minds can never truly grasp them. Christmas is the time of the year that is supposed to bring joy to all children, but for some it's a time of dread because they know what comes for them on Christmas Eve. The creatures that arrive instead of jolly old Saint Nick. So instead of you better watch out for Santa Claus, perhaps the song should go you better watch out for the Crampist, because he is coming to town and he won't be so generous no matter how much you pound. This episode of A Dark Memory was written by Madelinguera and produced by me Edwincobar Rouges. Tell us about a Dark Memory you know about on our website, A Dark Memory dot com. Remember to rate and follow this show on your app right now. Until next time. Thank you very much for listening.