Christmas is a time of goodwill, joy, and cozy family gatherings… unless you’re a very naughty child, in which case you’ll be lucky if all you get is a lump of coal in your stocking come Christmas morning. Beware the Krampus! Is he a minion of St. Nicholas, an imp of Satan, or just your average child-abusing, girl-chasing goat man? Who knows?
We sure don’t, but we’ll chat about him anyway.

Typical 19th century Krampus card.
Show notes and links:
- “Krampus Is Coming to Town” by The Plastic Bastards; today’s special music.
- Greetings from Krampus , Some Krampus greeting cards.
- Santa’s Horned Helper: The Fearsome Legend of Krampus, Christmas Punisher | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)
- The Origin of Krampus, Europe’s Evil Twist on Santa (smithsonianmag.com)
- Krampuslauf Graz 2010, A typical Austrian Krampusnacht parade (youtube.com)
- Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010): (amazon.com) Darkly wonderful Finnish film.
- Half in the Bag Episode 99: Krampus , Red Letter Media’s review of the 2015 film.
- @history_files (twitter.com)
- CSICONauts Chat
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