Haunted Christmas Episode December 22
18 Saturday Sep 2021
Posted Christmas, Ghost Education 101
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18 Saturday Sep 2021
Posted Christmas, Ghost Education 101
in≈ Comments Off on Haunted Christmas Episode December 22
25 Tuesday Dec 2018
Posted Christmas, Holidays, Uncategorized
in≈ Comments Off on Krampus, the Christmastime Monster
Krampus, the Christmastime Monster
Stories of the dark half-goat, half-demon monster terrorizing unruly children pre-dates Christianity. Its roots come from Central-European folklore with the exact specifics unknown. His name is derived from either Dutch krampen, meaning “pick” or “iron,” or the Austrian “pickax.” Some rely on the German translation of “cramp.” Krampus is a Christmastime monster.
The consensus is that the story of Krampus was a pagan morality tale appropriated by Christians. The cautionary tale of Krampus lives on today as a warning to all children contemplating bad behavior, for their “reward” will be living in the underworld (i.e., Hell) for one full year where they will be tortured or possibly eaten. The punishment is severe enough to whip young children into their best behavior.
Krampus Night, or Krampusnacht, begins on December 5th. The saltier companion of Joly Saint Nicholas comes above-ground seeking devilish children. His beverage of choice is Schnapps (a fruity Brandy), go figure, as he swats at misbehaving children with gold painted birch branches.
The unfavorable kidnapping tale alarmed communities in the mid-1900s; therefore, towns were encouraged to tone it down or outright ban such celebrations. However, popularity rose again when the film industry started cranking out Krampus and Krampus-like movies. The 2015 movie Krampus was filmed on a $15 million-dollar budget and grossed over $61 million worldwide. Krampus sells.
While Krampus is NOT the anti-Santa Claus, he is the dispenser of bad news (no presents for you) and discipline. Although the tales mention his eating children, no purported cannibalistic rituals involving Krampus and children have been reported. Maybe the threat of visit was all that was needed.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! And…be on your best behavior.
19 Tuesday Dec 2017
Posted Book Review, Books, Christmas, Folktales, Uncategorized
in≈ Comments Off on The Best Christmas Gifts Evoke the Horror of Christmas’ Past
The Best Christmas Gifts Evoke the Horror of Christmas’ Past
The Spirits of Christmas: The Dark Side of the Holidays, written by Sylvia Shults, debuted last month, appearing in independent bookstores across Illinois. It can now be purchased online directly from the publisher, American Hauntings Ink (https://squareup.com/store/american-hauntings-ink) for $16. The 240 page compendium is overly ambitious—bulging with tales. However, book lovers live by the adage: More is actually, well, more—and the more tales the better! This book is packed with domestic and international folktales and historical events occurring around the Christmas season. Each of the sections could stand as its own title. But for the 2017 Christmas Season, Ms. Shults’ book will warm the bodies circled around the hearth celebrating “the weirdness that has swirled around the Christmas season for many centuries.”
Ms. Shults rarely delves into any paranormal events circulating around these horrific stories. Instead, she leaves that to the reader. She does, however, include a lot of background information for most of the stories. The organization of the contents is as important as the stories themselves. Ms. Shults groups the stories into themes: traditions; creepy characters; things that bump in the night; natural disasters turned horrific because of the season; ghost sightings; and finally ghost stories inspired from Christmas. Some are true stories written to encourage readers to Google the events themselves. Others are folktales that were believed at the time by the people who experienced the phenomena. All are fascinating. The lengths vary as to the topic.
Sylvia Shults is a gifted storyteller. She probably honed her skill by working as a Library Assistant in her busy public library system. Library staff often “booktalk” titles, a practice of giving a brief overview of a book ending with a teaser to hook the reader to check it out. Booktalks are incredibly popular and very easy for a natural-born storyteller. Ms. Shults has a knack for telling stories. Unfortunately, I would have preferred hearing more stories in her voice instead of the original source material.
The book acts as a condensed encyclopedia of horror tales set in December. They cover centuries and continents. While reading, I was drawn to America’s worst hotel fire at the Winecoff Hotel, in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 7th, 1946. The fire paved the way for better fire safety measures; however, it took the death of 119 people—some high school students—for these changes to be enacted. I reside in Atlanta and know much about this tragedy and hotel. (It has since reopened and is a gorgeous boutique hotel.)
Equally interesting was the story on the Silver Bridge Collapse on December 15, 1967. This event is widely seen as the last credible sighting of the West Virginian legend Mothman (see my blogs regarding this geographically-contained phenomenon).
The book also contains quite a few unsolved mysteries and murders. These tales may be the ones to keep readers up at night.
Ms. Shults takes creative license by embellishing some stories; however, they are done to humanize the victims. Further, I wished the citations for sources corresponded with the tales instead of in a bulk listing at the end. That’s the academic in me!
This is the perfect gift for any paranormal enthusiast or history buff who is fascinated by unsolved mysteries or horrific events.
For more information on the author: https://sylviashults.wordpress.com/
To purchase the book online: https://squareup.com/store/american-hauntings-ink
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