25 Days of Creepy Christmas - German Xmas Monster Lore

 German Christmas Monster Lore

Germany must have had a bunch of really bad kids because the Christmas lore of that country is rife with monsters to dole out punishment to bad kids during the holiday season. There is Knecht Ruprecht who is the most widely known helper of Santa in Germany. He appears in clothing most suitable to a farmhand. He carries a staff and a bag of ashes and walks with a limp. The bag of ashes is used to beat children who tell the monster that they cannot pray. If they can pray, they may receive a piece of fruit. Fairies accompany him at times as well as men with blackened faces, which seems a tad frightening. But even scarier is the knowledge that Ruprecht was a name for the Devil in Germany!

Then there is Ru Klaas or as he is more commonly known, Belsnickel. Ru Klaas means "Rough Nicholas" and Belsnickel comes from belzen, the German word for "wallop." He is a male character that is usually seen wearing shaggy clothing that is dark and most usually made with some type of skin or fur. He is a dour character and carries a switch that he uses to beat the bad kids. He occassionally hands out candy to the good kids. Some tellings of the legend claim that the switch is only used to make a scary noise to warn children that they better shape up before Christmas arrives. But we know better! Belsnickel crossed the pond with the Pennsylvania Dutch and still survives in their customs.

So if you are in Germany for Christmas, you better just be good!

25 Days of Creepy Christmas - Père Fouettard

Père Fouettard

Old St. Nick has some pretty creepy and sadisitic enforcers working for him. We always thought that it was just cute hardworking, toy-making elves that worked for the jolly guy, but as we look at the folklore of the Christmas season, we find that countries around the world have legends of characters who either accompany Santa Claus or follow behind him doing the dirty work for him of punishing children. And these unique characters are not filling stockings with coal or passing over naughty children and not bringing them presents. One of these enforcers is Pere Fouettard who is the French version of the whipping father.

The original story of the whipping father is about a man named Hans Trapp. He was a creepy old butcher. The children in town steered clear of him and they told each other tales of him torturing children. Finally, one day it would seem that he lost his control and killed several children. He cut their bodies into pieces and incorporated the flesh into meat that he threw into a barrel of brine. He later sold the meat as ham. Saint Nicholas was very angry and he brought the children back to life when he figured out what had happened. This freaked Hans Trapp out and he repented of his crime. St. Nick wrapped him in chains and sentenced him to wander the Earth as a whipping father. That meant his job was to whip children into being good. We're not exactly sure how this is punishment for a man who enjoyed torturing children.  

There was more entailed here than just whipping children. This character would cut out the tongues of children who lied to him as well. So Santa gave out treats and presents to the good kids and Hans Trapp would give out the beatings to bad kids. The French call him Père Fouettard and he is said to be gray in appaearance because of his travels down the chimney. We're not sure how St. Nick stays clean, but that is beside the point. His face is sinister with a long beard and he dresses in dark robes that have a hood to cover his unruly hair. He carries a whip, switches or a large stick. He tends to show up on December 6th, so his legend is similar to that of Krampus. The association of Pere Fouettard with St. Nicholas dates back to fourth century.

Another legend associated with Pere Fouettard dates to 1552 and the Siege of Metz. During that siege, the people burned an effigy of King Charles Quint and dragged it through the streets. Tanners used leather to create a grotesque creature that they claimed punished children during the siege as well. When things calmed down, somehow the tanners' creature and the burned effigy came together and became known as Le Pere Fouettard. St. Nicholas is said to have passed away at this same time and this monster became associated with him as a bad counterpart.

Whatever might be the true legend, such a character is indeed terrifying and very creppy to think about during Christmas. So we guess you better be good!

25 Days of Creepy Christmas - Jólakötturinn

Jólakötturinn the Christmas Cat

On episode 18 of the podcast, we covered the haunted side of Iceland and its folklore. We discussed elves and elf stones that reputedly are home to elves and it is bad luck to move those stones. This led into discussing the Yule Lads of which there are thirteen. Each one has a particular characteristic or action associated to him. There is the Sheep Coat Clod, Gully Gawk who steals milk, Stubby who steals pans to eat the crust from them, Spoon Licker who steals spoons of course, Pot Licker who eats leftovers, Bowl Licker who eats from your bowl if you set it down, Door Slammer, Skyr Gobbler who eats Skyr, which is like our yogurt, Sausage Swipper, Window Peeper, Doorway Sniffer, Meat Hook who steals meat with a hook and Candle Stealer. There is something that we missed in the folklore and that is Iceland's Christmas Cat.

The Icelandic Yule Cat is named Jólakötturinn. This is not a cute cuddly cat. This isn't a cat who might reach out and give you a little scratch if you get to close. This cat, might actually eat you! During the Christmas season, children who finished all their chores would receive new clothes for Christmas. If one is lazy, well, you can forget those new clothes because you were lazy. Sometimes the possibility of receiving new clothes is not enough and the legend of Jólakötturinn was born. They would tell the children that the cat could tell who the lazy children were because they had not received clothes on Christmas. And so, the cat would eat the lazy children. Scared children do their chores and even do things for the needy. It is said that Icelanders work more overtime than most Europeans and perhaps this is why. Because the cat doesn't just come for children, he comes for adults too.

The Christmas Cat Poem

You’ve heard of the Christmas cat,
that cat was monstrously huge.
People knew not where he came or where he went.
He opened his eyes wide,
they both were glowing.
It was not for the cowards to look into them.
Whiskers sharp as needles,
the tall curve of its bent back,
and claws in the hairy paws was awful to look upon.
He waved his strong tail,
he leaped and he scratched and hissed,
and was either up in the valley or out in the headland.
He roamed, famished and savage,
in the ice-cold Christmas snow
and woke fear in everyone’s hearts in every town.
If there was a pitiful meow outside
the bad luck was immediately certain.
Everyone knew that he hunted humans and did not want mice.
He aimed for the poor people,
who received no new garment for Christmas
and toiled and lived in miserable conditions.
From them he got his feeding for his Christmas dinner,
and ate them usually if he could.
That was why the women fought
with comb and loom and spinning wheel,
and knitted colourful patches or little socks.
For the cat could not arrive and eat the little children
They would receive their items with the grown-ups.
And when the candles were lit for Christmas eve
and the cat peeped in,
the children stood proud and ruddy with their parcels.
Some had received mittens and some had received shoes,
or something, that they were in need of but that was all it took.
For the cat could not eat anyone,
who some garment received.
She hissed then rather awfully and ran away.
Whether she still exists I do not know,
but her travel would become miserable,
if everyone was given some item of clothing.
You may have it now in your mind to help, when it’s needed.
Maybe there still are children that receive nothing at all.
Maybe the search of those who live in dark homes,
gives you a good day and a merry Christmas.

HGB Ep. 169 - USS Hornet

 
Moment in Oddity - Port Chatham
Suggested by: Michael Rogers

The gorgeous and pristine Kenai Peninsula in Alaska is home to an old abandoned cannery town named Port Chatham. Some call it Portlock. The town is deserted, not because of economic reasons, but because of an unexplained evil spirit and a history of dead bodies washing up on shore. Stories of the evil creature date back to the founding of the town and this spirit is described as something similar to Sasquatch, with lots of hair and bipedal. The town was originally inhabited by the British Royal Navy in 1787. Sightings of the creature claimed that it was strong enough to rip trees up from their roots and that it would occasionally set them up with their roots to the sky. A mining camp named Chrome was set up nearby and a post office officially established the town in 1920. During the height of World War II, dead bodies started washing up around Portlock. And this wasn't just on the shores of the bay, but also in the rivers and lakes and even trails near the town. The bodies were mutilated and torn to shreds. Townspeople would just disappear to never be seen again. By the 1950s, people were so afraid that they just fled the town. Hunters who ventured around the abandoned town claimed to find 18-inch long human like footprints. The idea that Port Chatham was abandoned due to an evil Bigfoot-like spirit, certainly is odd!

This Day in History - Man Dies From Too Much Cheese

On this day, December 11th, in 1913, a man named W.S. Fiddler died from eating too much cheese.
Fiddler worked in the theater in Canada and one day he was helping move theater equipment. He wasn't feeling well and finally fell over, dead. He was only fifty years old at the time. An autopsy was conducted at the time and it was found that he had ingested too much cheese. His body apparently couldn't digest cheese very well and it had accumulated causing acute indigestion and eventually caused his heart to stop. We wonder if his tombstone reads, "Death by Cheese."

USS Hornet (Suggested by Angie Reynoso Akbarzad and Pamela Ennis)

Picture courtesy of Pamela Ennis

The USS Hornet is an aircraft carrier located in Alameda, California. It is named for a previous aircraft carrier that sank in October 1942. This new Hornet joined the rest of the United States fleet in November 1943 and fought in many battles during WorldWar II. She later served during the Vietnam War and then went on to help with the Apollo Program. She was decommissioned in 1970 and has gone on to receive historical designation and to become a museum. There is another designation that the Hornet is known by and that is the most haunted warship in the U.S. Naval Fleet. Join us and our listener Pamela Ennis as explore the history and hauntings of the USS Hornet!

Pamela Ennis is the Case Manager of Pacific Coast Spirit Watch, a paranormal investigative team. This team has been investigating for four years and worked in conjunction with several other teams located in California and Nevada. Pam is also a docent on the USS Hornet and helps with the tours and overnight stays on the warship. She has investigated the USS Hornet many times.

The USS Hornet was originally named Kearsarge and that name is still stamped into her keel plate. The contract to build her had been given to Newport News Shipbuilding on 9 September 1940. Her keel was laid down on 3 August 1942. She was launched on 30 August 1943 and commissioned on 29 November 1943. Her first commander was Captain Miles R. Browning.

The basic layout of the aircraft carrier is depicted below and Pam described for us how many levels there are on the carrier and where different areas are located.

Lyon-McKeil was skeptical of ghosts until he and some volunteers did an overnight during fleet week in 1995. He reported, "We'd all just bunked down, and we had a rule. No exploring. All of a sudden, I heard this banging noise like someone was opening the hatches who shouldn't have been. Peter Clayton, our supervisor, came charging around, saying, "Okay, who's sneaking around opening hatches?" We realized that everyone in the group was there. As we were all standing there staring at each other, we heard it again. At that point, we were pretty secure. It couldn't have been anyone who'd gotten aboard."

Keith LaDue was painting the ship a few years later when he had this experience, "I was like at 28 feet, stretched to the maximum. I was up there until about 8:30 at night, and I was by myself on the ship. I wanted to finish the section I was working on before I left. When I had still about two to three gallons of paint left in my machine, I started hearing voices, aircraft crews talking shop talk, dropping tools, and working on airplanes, talking about the airplanes they were working on, and parts, and home. I thought, 'Wait a minute, come on guys, I'm almost done for the night. Can you let me finish? Let me get down from here. This is really starting to spook me.' And it stopped."

A man named Alan McKean said, "I'm not a true believer in all of that stuff. But I saw what I saw. One day I saw an officer in khakis descending the ladder to the next deck. I followed him and he was gone. I have no explanation for it."

There are many tales of haunting experiences on the USS Hornet. Have some of the former sailors decided to make this home in the afterlife? Is the USS Hornet haunted? That is for you to decide!

Photo courtesy of Pamela Ennis

Photo courtesy of Pamela Ennis

Sick Bay - Photo courtesy of Pamela Ennis

Photo courtesy of Pamela Ennis

25 Days of Creepy Christmas - Creepy Nativities

Nativity plays and nativity sets are a key part of the Christmas season. Denise's mother was an avid collector of nativity sets and she kept them up all year long. We eventually inherited several of them. Most Christian homes and even secular homes put up at least one set during the holidays. But sometimes, something goes horribly wrong in the design of a nativity set. These rather, um...unique, sets are perfect for Creepy Christmas!

So here we have something out of Planet of the Apes:

When food and nativities combine, well, things get bizarre! We heave two meat nativities here. The second one is made from Spam, if you could call that meat.

We have no idea what this is suppose to mimic. Something from a Mars star base?

We like chickens and everything, but really...the chicken angels are a nice touch (mmmphhh)

Apparently, this one features Mary, drowning? Maybe she's in a spacesuit? Does that mean baby Jesus can breathe in space? And if you shake this up, are those sprinkles of brain from Mary's head? Should one shake the Virgin Mary violently?

What would Christmas be without zombies? Now these are admittedly less gruesome than the typical zombie. The X eyes remind me of the shootout scene in "A Christmas Story."

This is our favorite one and we definitely need this for our house!

25 Days of Creepy Christmas - Changelings and Christmas

Changelings and Christmas?

Many of the traditions of Christmas are rooted in Pagan practices. The Winter Solstice is the darkest and longest night of the year. The myths of the Norse goddess Freya feature her weaving the fates of mankind at her spinning wheel. The Norse word for wheel is Jul or more commonly, Yule. The Christmas wreath is round to signify this same wheel of Fate. Because of her seer powers, Freya could see the future of her soon to be born son, Baldur. He was going to die. She went round to everyone and everything to secure pledges that they would play no part in his death. However, she missed the mistletoe.

Loki, the Norse trickster god, saw this and he crafted a dart with the mistletoe's poison. Then he challenged Baldur's blind brother to a game of darts and as you probably already guessed, he helped guide the brother's hand to throw the dart at Baldur. The mistletoe became a part of the Yule season from that time. Rome used mistletoe during Saturnalia as well. It was eaten during fertility rites.

The Christmas tree was brought inside to help keep the wood spirits warm. Food and treats were put on the trees for the spirits. The Winter Solstice is a time of visions. The Celtic Mare Goddess known as Rhiannon, rides through the dreams of people at night and transports them to a place where they can create their own visions.

This is all interesting, but not very creepy, right? If we look to the Viking Goddess of winter, we find some pretty spooky stuff. Her name is Skadi and that word means shadow or shade. Shadow people would find comfort in her presence. She is a dark magician. Venomous snakes, wolves and the sythe are sacred to her. Priestesses of Skadi were said to have bathed in blood to prepare themselves. Skadi isn't the only creepy goddess from the Winter Solstice. There is also Perchta who was also known as Holda. People would leave out food for her during the Christmas period, so that they would have prosperity in the New Year. Holda was the goddess of death and destiny. She shared much in common with the Norse Freya. Witches claimed to ride with Holda in the hunt. She was ambivalent towards children and she was used as a bogey person to keep kids on the straight and narrow. She rewarded good kids at Christmas. Naughty kids were severely punished and this usually entailed her carrying them off into the woods. She would keep the children in wells and eventually turn them into Faery changelings.

Changelings were substitutes left for human children. Faeries would steal babies and replace them with a lesser creature. The faery magic would fool the human parents into thinking that the replacement was actually their child. In reality, the substitute was usually a faery child. They usually have deformities and are temperamental. The faery folk would keep the human babies as their own or use them as slaves. There are some who believe changelings are children of the Devil and have no souls.

So as you can see, Christmas traditions and lore can be woven in such a way that one can end up in the creepy place of changelings. Who would've thought that changelings and Christmas could go hand in hand? See, HGB can use pretty much anything to add a little creepy to Christmas!

25 Days of Creepy Christmas - Creepy Santas

Whether he is called Father Christmas, St. Nicholas or Santa Claus, most people would agree that he is a holly, jolly man. But sometimes, Santa can be downright creepy. It really depends on who is wearing the suit and what that suit looks like. Some of you may have seen this picture before. It is creepy as heck and we are left to wonder what is up with the number. Is this how many souls he has in his bag?

This little girl looks like she is squirming to get away and who could blame her? Did Santa have one too many drinks before this picture?

Same with this Santa:

Pictures of old Halloween costumes reveal that costumes decades ago are scarier than most anything we can come up with today. The same is true for Santa costumes. Just look at this gem:

Is it just the lighting or the size of this Santa that makes him so ominous?

And I'm sure this little Santa is suppose to be a cute animatronic character that you could put by the front door, but he looks like some kind of alien creature with those blue eyes. Or is this really a black eyed kid that ended up with the wrong colored eyes?

It seems our really creepy Santa managed to sneak into another picture. There is the little donkey again. And you can't miss those dead eyes:

And we really just don't know what to say about this. We love our Mickey and Minnie, but what the heck is this?