The story behind 'Krampus,' Santa's demonic helper who exists to scare children into being good
This is Krampus. Santa's little helper is a terrifying demonic beast that helps him deal with naughty kids. He literally exists to scare children straight.
Most Krampuses have thick fur, sharp horns, cloven hooves, fangs, and a long, pointy tongue. They usually wear loud bells and chains, which they thrash around for effect, and carry a whip or birch branches to beat kids with.
They also often brandish a basket or sack of some sort, meant to transport kids to hell (or the nearest river).
Most Alpine towns feature an annual Krampuslauf, or Krampus Run. It usually takes place on December 5th, the night before the feast of St. Nicholas.
Anyone can dress up as a Krampus. The wooden masks are typically handmade, super intricate, and absolutely terrifying.
Increasingly, Krampus Runs have had issues with drunken Krampuses getting a little too into character by chasing people across town and beating them with sticks. The scary thing is that you never know who's hiding behind those masks.
Though no one quite knows for certain, this tradition is often believed to have begun when the Moors raided European towns, kidnapping locals and selling them into slavery.
Legend has it that their chains symbolize a binding to the devil by the Christian Church, and the birch branches hail from ancient pagan initiation rites.
Parents threaten their kids with Krampus all year long, arranging for him to show up in their homes should their threats go unheeded.
Krampus is the opposite of St. Nicholas, a kindly old man who rewards well-behaved kids with candy and gifts.
When Saint Nich and his associates show up, he'll start reading off a list of every instance a kid has misbehaved in the past year, while said kid trembles in terror under the watchful eye of Krampus, birch branches in hand twitching.
Krampus is so insanely scary that he was actually banned a few times — alternatively by the Catholic Church and the Austrian government, and later during WWII for allegedly being a product of Social Democrats.
In fact, Krampus is so terrifying that one Austrian town warned visitors ahead of time, so that they wouldn't be afraid when drunken monsters were seen running through the streets.
Krampus has been having a resurgence in Europe recently, and has even caught on in the US.
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