← My Victorian Nightmare
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Close your eyes. Exhale.
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Feel your body relax, and let go.
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Of whatever you're carrying today.
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Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast.
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And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw.
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The discount they gave me on my first order.
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Oh, sorry. Namaste.
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Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.
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1-800-Contacts.
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Kids, they grow up so fast. One day they're taking their first steps, and the next they don't fit into the tiny sneakers they took them in. You blink your eyes and their princess dress is two sizes too small. And their dinosaur backpack isn't cool anymore. But don't cry because they're growing up. Smile because you can profit off of it for real. There are a bunch of parents on depop looking for the stuff your kid just grew out of. Download depop to start selling.
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Hello and welcome to My Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events.
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From the Victorian era.
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Because to me, there's just something especially.
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Intriguing, creepy, and oddly comforting about horror.
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And mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is advised. Hello, friends, and welcome to this, my 74th episode, which is a Yuletide episode. I thought that I would get us all into the holiday spirit with an.
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Episode about to terrifying origins of some very upsetting Christmas creatures and how they terrorized mostly children in the Victorian era.
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How's that sound?
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I love horrible Victorian Christmas history. It is violent, it is ghostly, it's pretty threatening. And the Christmas cards that these folks cooked up are the most disturbing things that you'll see all year. We are so lucky that so many of these terrifying season's greetings have been documented exist all over the Internet, many of which I have been posting on the Instagram over the last two weeks. So do treat yourself to some Christmas nightmare fuel and take a look at what the Victorians were sending to each other to spread some holiday cheer. The link to today's post is in the show notes. I posted one the other day. That's just a man who has broken through ice on a lake and children are throwing snowballs at his head as he's reaching for dear life out of the frozen water, it says with the season's greeting underneath them, it is impossible to understand what in God's name they were thinking with some of these. I do not have a single friend right now who isn't plagued with anxiety and stress, so I am sharing Lumi.
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Gummies with all of them. Consistent, mellow and super delicious, Lumi Gummies are specifically designed to make you feel good, not stoned. Whether you're looking for an end of day de stressor, a midday mood boost or help getting the best sleep ever, Lumi Gummies has a strain that's right for you.
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I like to use their gummies specifically.
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To help me sleep. Those are the Indica gummies.
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But with all of my own stress and anxiety being at its freaking peak.
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This month, I have been taking them a bit earlier in the evening so that I can just have a relaxing bath, listen to some music from 300.
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Years ago, or bring my laptop into.
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The bathroom and watch the Shining and just mellow out before I even get get into bed. The Cotton Candy Kush gummies have really been helping me take the edge off lately without making me stoned.
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I just want to chill.
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I do not want to get high and that is what these have been doing for me.
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They also have Sativa gummies to energize.
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You and hybrid gummies to give you.
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An alert but still pretty chill effect. Great for hanging out with friends, especially if you're afraid your anxiety is going to bum you and everyone else out.
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Really takes the edge off. Lumi Gummies are available nationwide wide. Go to lumigummies.com that's L U M I gummies.com and use code victorian for 30% off your order. Again, that's L U M I Gummies.com code victorian lumigummies.com code victorian.
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Today, like.
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I said, we will be learning about.
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Some very upsetting and frightening Christmas creatures.
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A few of which have ancient origins.
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But they really came into their own in the Victorian era.
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We will be discussing the Yule cat Krampus, of course, and the Yule goat.
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As well as a few other deeply disturbing monsters that roam the countryside looking to slice children's stomachs open and replace their insides with strawed rocks every single December.
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But first, let us have a little Haunted Housekeeping. Thank you for rating the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you have not, it would mean so much to me if you would. Thank you for your lovely comments. I love hearing from you so much. And thank you most of all to those of you who have subscribed to the Patreon by going to myvictorianightmare.com thank you Kimberly, Kat, Ruth, Denise and Rose. New subscribers this week. You can listen ad free, receive the.
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Show a day early and or also.
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Enjoy witchy and true crimey content every single week. Thank you again to those of you who have joined and those who intend.
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To okay, before we get to the.
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Demonic Christmas creatures, let us have our first segment with with Their own eyes where I share with you the personal haunting accounts of petrified Victorians.
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This article that I found starts a little Christmassy and is terrifying and turns out wasn't just a Christmas story, it really happened. I'll dig deeper into the details in.
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A bit, but first let's hear the Halifax Courier and Guardian article from 1853 called Ghost Story. It reads, the annual crop of Christmas ghost stories in England this winter has.
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Produced two or three good ones.
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The editor of the Chelsea Family treasury gives the following account of his investigation into the Chelsea Ghost My readers have all I have no doubt read of the Chelsea Ghost. The daily and weekly papers all gave circulation to the story that as at 6 Pond Terrace, College Street, Chelsea, a woman named Ward, upon going into her bedroom, saw an apparition and fainted away. Her brother James entered the room and was so terrified that he fell into violent fits. The noise alarmed the lodgers and Mrs. Parasol, an elderly matron, opened the door.
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And she also went into fits at.
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The sight of the horrid specter. The eldest son then went in and.
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Tried to clutch it, but down he went into fits, as the others had done. Several people were required to hold him for several hours. That is the man in fits, not.
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The ghost, the policeman on the beat was called, but he dared not enter until aided by three others of the force, who upon entering proved not to.
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Be half force enough for the ghost, for they all rushed from the house.
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Declaring that nothing would induce them to remain in it.
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By this time the streets were impassable.
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Hundreds of people were outside the house.
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As late as 5 o' clock in the morning.
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Then came another body of policemen who searched the house in every corner. But although the most horrid noises were.
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Heard and the doors kept opening and.
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Slamming without any visible agency, no body or thing to account for these strange occurrences could be detected. The ghost was described as a man with deadly features and snowy garments falling to the floor.
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Such is the ghost story rendered important.
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By the influence of the times and the globe.
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Okay, I did some digging into this story. Sadly, that home does not exist anymore. That was the first time thing that.
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I wanted to find out. But in searching I found that this story Kept going.
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It was all true, by the way, inasmuch as a ghostly event was reported.
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To have happened in the house.
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Police went in and saw something and.
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Ran out in fear. Crowds of hundreds of people did indeed.
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Show up and surrounded the house, hoping to get inside. There is officially no explanation for what happened, but there was an unofficial explanation for what happened. In other words, words, an explanation not through investigation, but a potentially trustworthy assumption. While all of this was happening. People running out, screaming, hundreds of people.
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Crowding around the house.
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There was a drunk guy there trying to get into the house who was demanding to speak to the people renting the property. The folks falling into fits, as it were. At the time, the police were just trying to keep everyone, drunk or not.
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From getting into the house.
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So they shooed this guy off. The next morning, this drunk man was.
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Now sober and he claimed to be the landlord. He said that he had told one of the occupants of the home earlier in the day that he was going.
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To come to collect rent and back.
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Rent that they had not yet paid.
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And it was his belief that the whole thing was staged to prevent him from getting into the house and demanding his money. He believed that they must have rigged the house with bells and whistles and strings to make doors slam and sounds occur.
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He also claimed that the family had.
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Already begun charging people to come into the house and take a look around and they still were not paying him. The police, it appears, didn't take too much notice of this man's account. They dismissed him from the situation. But who knows? He may have been right, or this was just a very terrifying supernatural situation.
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We will never know. Now, won't you follow me into the seance room where we discuss the goings on in the Spiritualist society of the 1800s.
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I have a very special article for.
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You today about a phenomenon that I had not yet heard about in my.
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Research about spiritualists and spiritualist beliefs.
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And it is very creepy. This article comes to us from the spiritualist newspaper from 1870 and it is called the Human Double, and it reads, the most perplexing of all the phenomena of spiritualism are perhaps those in which the spirits of persons, persons still living in the body, have manifested or made themselves visible at spirit circles. Mrs. Hardinge said that she would state some facts that had come under her own observation in connection with the subject of the Double. The Reverend S. Binning of New York, who is Now Living, was 18 years ago a Wesleyan Methodist. He afterwards became a spiritualist and joined what was then known as. Known as the New York Circle, consisting of about 20 individuals, which had several branch circles connected with other towns. One of these circles met one night at Troy, 160 miles from New York. There were 20 persons present. On Saturday evening the Reverend S. Binning was expected in Troy. He did not come at the set time and they began to sit at 8 o'. Clock. When a ring was heard at the door, two of the members members rose and answered the bell. Mr. Binning entered, much to their surprise, as they had ceased to expect his coming that time. He muttered some indistinct words and pushed past them in the hall passage, opened the door where the circle was sitting and was beheld by 18 of the members. He again spoke indistinctly and quitted the room. The two who had been at the door then came in and asked for him. Had they not seen him again at the door? No. They searched the passage and the house, but he could not be found. Next day a telegram was received from him stating that he was seriously ill and could not attend. He had started the telegram from New York the day before, but owing to bad weather, the wires had met with an accident and it did not reach its destination till the following morning. He stated afterwards that at the very time he was seen, his thoughts were earnestly fixed upon the circle and he felt anxious they should get his message. In this case of the double, it would be seen that three senses were appealed sight, touch and hearing. End quote.
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I learn new things about spiritualists all the time. I have been doing this show for about a year and I have never heard of the double before. I've heard of the spirits of dead.
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People doing something similar.
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Like I've heard stories of where people.
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Would see someone who had apparently just.
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Died, but saw them walking across the.
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Street or sitting in their bedroom at the moment that they supposedly passed on.
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My mom heard my great aunt fall down the stairs outside. Apparently at the moment she was elsewhere.
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And had just died.
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I've told that story before, but I'd never heard of a living person like.
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Astral projecting and being seen and heard.
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By other people until I looked into.
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It and I came upon the Curious Case of Emily Saguy.
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Now this is the account of a.
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Woman who claimed to have had this woman, Emily Saguy, as her teacher when she was younger. But she is the only witness here. Her very, very detailed story about this teacher was written about by three different authors. One, a well known author in the 1870s named Robert Dale Owen, an astronomer and a parapsychologist. According to this woman Named Julie Day Gulden Stub Emily sanghi taught about 40 students, all from aristocratic families, in a boarding school in Newelka, Latvia. When she started teaching at this boarding.
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School, students began reporting strange things about her.
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She had a very nervous temperament, but.
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Otherwise she was fine.
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She was very nice, but students started.
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Reporting seeing her in different parts of.
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The school at the same time.
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In other words, some students were seeing her in the garden of the school. Then moments later, they'd enter their classroom.
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And she would be standing there. One day, in front of a class of 30 students, she was said to have walked up to a chalkboard and then a copy of her appeared out of thin air, standing next to her, mirroring her movements exactly. After a few moments, the double then disappeared. In another instance, Ms. Sagi was helping.
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A student adjust the back of her.
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Dress in front of a mirror. And when the girl looked into the mirror, she saw her teacher and an identical copy of her standing right beside her, again mirroring exactly what she was doing. She would sometimes be seen sitting with her double appearing standing behind her, and then would disappear.
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The creepiest example of her double sighting was in front of 42 students, again.
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All claimed by this one woman.
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But this is still pretty creepy.
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One day, in a room with a long table, the girls were practicing their embroidery with another teacher. The teacher then left the room and Ms. Sagi walked in and sat at the head of the table, all with her eyes shut. One of the girls noticed that Ms. Sagi wasn't only in the room with them, she was also outside.
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They saw her picking flowers outside the.
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Window in the garden.
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Once all of the girls became aware that they were experiencing the saggy double again, two of them, including our witness.
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Approached her at the front of the room where she was sitting with her eyes shut. One One touched her and said that.
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She felt like a fabric of muslin.
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She then disappeared and the other Ms. Sagi went on picking flowers.
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I also came across the accounts of the Nepalese Buddha boy appearing in different locations at the same time. The man named Ram Badur Bomjam was claimed to have been able to bi locate himself, but this claim has been only made by his followers. This was the guy in the early 2000s who was believed in to have sat under a Bodhi tree and meditated for months without food or water. He would later go on to be linked to some serious criminal activities like sexual abuse, forced labor, physical assaults, and illegal confinement of his followers. I am sure you can find a number of stories of cult leaders and religious Figures bilocating just the same. But the story about the French teacher was most interesting to me because it's.
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Just so bizarre and fun.
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Honestly. Honestly, I love the idea that her doppelganger had the texture of fabric, of muslin. So cool and creepy. Okay, let's now discuss a few unsettling.
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At times terrifying and fascinating European Yuletide characters.
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Some of these guys have ancient origins, but they all really made a splash in the 1800s. In episode 22, I talked about weird, wonderful and downright irresponsible Christmas traditions that.
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The Victorians liked to engage in.
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But I'm branching out a bit with these particular characters.
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Outside of England and the United States.
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I did a pretty good job of covering those countries traditions last year. We're gonna go a bit north and west into Austria, Sweden, Germany, Finland and.
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Iceland this year, beginning with the ferocious gargantuan Icelandic Yule cat.
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There've been a few memes going around social media lately about this guy, so.
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Let'S fully introduce ourselves.
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But before we do, you better make sure you're wearing those socks that your.
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Grandma gave you for Christmas, or you.
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Could get sliced open by a claw as big as a shake shack. The origins of the Icelandic Yule cat are dubious. There are quite a number of conflicting accounts about when this feisty feline entered the minds and hearts of Icelandic folks.
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Some say that he has ancient roots. Some say that he didn't come about until the 1930s.
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But it appears that the earliest mention.
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Of the Yule cat can be traced to to the 1860s. He was first mentioned in a collection of folklore by John Arneson.
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In this book, the Yule cat is described as a gigantic evil beast, larger than a house. And he would eat children who did not get any new clothes for Christmas, or those who did not eat all.
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Of their Christmas dinner.
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A few historians tried to find if there was an earlier mention of this.
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Cat anywhere in earlier Icelandic folklore.
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And the most most plausible possible connection.
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Is the strong connection St. Nicholas has.
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To cats in other European traditions. In Cyprus, there is a monastery of.
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St Nicholas of the Cats, where legend.
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Says St Helena sent a thousand cats to fight a snake plague. And the monastery is still famous for.
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Its resident felines today, with nuns caring for many of them as a continuation of this this tradition.
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But the specific giant cat who eats people who aren't wearing grandma's socks that.
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Appears to have come to Life in the 1800s.
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The details of the legend of the.
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Yule cat has changed over the years.
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In the 1830s, there was some more color added to this story. He was then described to be the cat of Gryla, a monstrous troll like.
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Woman that roams the Icelandic countryside demanding money, food and bad children to eat.
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She has a sack just for shoving.
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Naughty children into and she cooks them in a cauldron. She came about in the 13th century.
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But her connection to the Yule cat.
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Was only first mentioned in the 1930s.
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The original tale of the Yule cat.
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Was a cautionary tale to farm workers.
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To make sure that they got all of their wool processing done before winter.
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So that they would have enough wool to make clothes for the community.
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If they didn't, the Yule cat was gonna come rip them to shreds. This, over time morphed into you better hope you were well behaved enough to receive socks this Christmas. Cause if that cat doesn't see socks.
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Under that tree, he's going to ruin you.
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I guess you can say it's a way of making kids hope that they receive the worst possible present they could want on Christmas. Imagine that. You better hope you get socks this year and you better wear them or you're gonna get it. That's some twisted psychological warfare. I He is said to lurk around.
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From house to house looking in the windows and through his psychic power he.
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Can tell if there's a box of socks under that tree. And God help you if there isn't because that means you were a jerk this year to your parents. So say your prayers. The Yule cat is often depicted as.
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Being a black cat with sharp whiskers or the Norwegian Forest cat. This is a very fluffy cat with mixed colors. It also has glowing yellow, red or blue eyes and is again gigantic.
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Very intimidating.
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And now the Yule cat is a common theme in Christmas decor around Iceland. Many homes have cat themed Christmas decorations in their homes.
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The capital city of Reykjavik even has a 16 foot tall statue of the Yule cat.
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He was placed in the city square in 2018.
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So good, so good, so good.
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Give big, Save big with Rack Friday deals at Nordstrom Rack for a limited time take an extra 40% off red tag clearance for a total Savings up to 75% off. Save on gifts for everyone on your list from brands like Vince Cole, Haan, Sam Edelman and more. All sales final and restrictions apply. The best stuff goes fast, so bring your gift list and your wish list to your nearest Nordstrom rack today.
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Okay? How could I do an episode on creepy European Christmas creatures without doing a deep dive into everybody's favorite child? Whipping hairy, hoofed and horse Horned demon monster Krampus. Now, Krampus certainly didn't first come on the Christmas scene in the 1800s.
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He's far older than that.
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He has been depicted in medieval artwork.
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Going as far back as the 11th and 12th centuries, but he sure found.
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A renewed appreciation with the Victorians due to their love of horrifying, disturbing and.
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Very upsetting Christmas card designs.
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Which of course I added to the Instagram. Krampus became a very popular character on Christmas cards.
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Guards of the 1800s, which as I.
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Mentioned were often bizarre, creepy, full of murder, torture animals murdering other animals, vegetables doing generally upsetting things to other vegetables.
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As with all things, the Victorians loved.
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Creeping themselves and their loved ones out, especially at Christmas.
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A time for ghost stories around the.
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Fire, cautionary tales about how to survive the dangerously cold season.
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In a time before accurate weather predictions, people were often caught and killed in terrible storms.
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A time before people often checked to see just how deep ice was in lakes before they went for a slip and slide. There were many cautionary tales written mostly for children, with terrifying illustrations about the.
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Perils all around us in the wintertime.
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Krampus was a perfect addition to the.
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Already horrifying imagery that folks were duly familiar with at this time of year.
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Who exactly is is this guy and.
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What is his deal already?
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He is a demonic creature who comes.
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To us from primarily German speaking regions in Europe, that is Austria and Germany.
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But he can also be found terrorizing.
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Children in Hungary, Italy, Romania and Russia, often depicted with a long red tongue, a chain, a whip of birch twigs.
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Sometimes a basket of apples and or a basket of screaming children. The origins of his name are not.
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Definitively known, but it is believed that two words may be the root.
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An old German word, krampe, which means hook or claw, or a Bavarian dialect of the word spelled K R, A.
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M, P N. I'm not exactly sure how that's pronounced. Which means dried out, dead or shriveled.
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All words that feel right about this guy. Krampus isn't just one guy like Santa or the Yule cat. He's a kind of demonic creature. But you can have, say, a group of Krampuses. I think a Kramp of Krampuses is an appropriate term for a group of Krampuses. However, it does appear that at least Santa Claus has a particular favorite Krampus. In traditions that include KRampus. It is December 5th or December 6th.
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When St Nicholas visits Holmes, not the 24th. And when he goes around rewarding children with toys and sweets, Krampus follows closely behind.
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And if Santa shows up and recognizes some bad little children, not only do they not get toys and sweets, but they get a midnight beating from Krampus. Not only that, they might even get shoved in his basket and taken to some form of hell where Krampus can keep beating them. It's all quite horrible. It's a good cop, bad cop situation. Like most spooky folklore targeted at children today, Krampus is included in in large parades where Kramps of Krampuses flood the streets and they've become increasingly terrifying over the years. I'd say maybe that's just my opinion, but considering my fear of anyone in general in a costume, I hate when people wear costumes and stay in character and expect me to interact with them.
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Ugh.
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I have talked about this before with the Borgs at the Star Trek themed restaurant that I went to that time. I just wanted to hide under the table and eat my Borger in peace. I think I told that story. It doesn't matter either way. That's the gist of it. I hate interacting with people in character in costumes. And I saw a video of a Krampus like menacingly approaching a woman on the street in a parade and I almost threw my phone out the window. That's a double whammy. It's already terrifying because it's a person in a costume in character and it's a big furry demon creature. Forget it. I am never going to one of these events. I'll enjoy some verst safely indoors, thank you. There is an event in Salzburg where hundreds of Krampuses flood the streets. They go door to door door at homes and businesses with Santas checking to.
- [26:43]
A
Make sure that kids have been good this year.
- [26:45]
C
How children in Austria don't start having full blown panic attacks at this time of year. I can't possibly imagine some of these Krampuses cause mayhem. They go into houses and knock over furniture and wrestle each other in front of kids before they now give them candy. Krampus is still the same old horrifying rascal as he ever was, but he's realized he was.
- [27:06]
A
He won't be invited anymore if he.
- [27:07]
C
Doesn'T at least provide snacks. After traumatizing people's children, he's now depicted in more of a pagan light, although there's actually little evidence to suggest that.
- [27:18]
A
He goes as far back as pre.
- [27:20]
C
Christianity, despite the fact that most people.
- [27:23]
A
Believe that he does the procession of Krampuses, though that does have pagan roots. Winter solstice Festivals did include festive processions where people would dress as spirits and beasts, monsters. So there may be a merge of this medieval creation into pagan tradition. But again, the earliest depictions that we see of this very specific creature don't appear until the 11th, 12th ish century, where he is seen in illustrations, in books and engravings.
- [27:52]
C
And at that time he became an.
- [27:54]
A
Important character in Christmas plays. German manuscripts exist from the 11th and 12th centuries of dramas and comedies that depict both St. Nicholas and his demonic little buddy, Krampus. Plays starring St. Nicholas and Krampus were also widely performed in the 1800s, some.
- [28:11]
C
With peculiar purposes, often to make fun of people in various professions, especially the.
- [28:17]
A
Surgeons of the day.
- [28:19]
C
Surgeons in general were derided and considered.
- [28:22]
A
By many in Victorian society to be monstrous.
- [28:25]
C
Many of these plays would result in the surgeon dying or getting hurt somehow, and they would often end with Krampuses running into the audience and pretending to attack people.
- [28:34]
A
Horrifying.
- [28:36]
C
It was also at this time the Victorian era where St Nicholas and Krampus began visiting schools. Santa would quiz children on what they learned that year and Krampus would stand by as a looming threat. With all of my learning disabilities, I would be sweating if I saw those guys roll up in my classroom. My God. They also began showing up at winter.
- [28:59]
A
Markets, Santa giving hugs and candy, while.
- [29:02]
C
Krampus was just generally mischievous and silly, putting kick me signs on people's backs, that kind of thing.
- [29:08]
A
And by 1855, hundreds of Krampus Christmas card designs were in production. As mentioned, Victorians loved cards for every occasion, but especially Christmas.
- [29:21]
C
Most cards portray Krampus beating children, shoving them in bags, being generally menacing in a comical way. But others depict him wooing young ladies, and some depict a female Krampus. That's right, there is a female Krampus depiction. Now, when she is depicted on Christmas cards, it's often in a kind of BDSM fantasy style. She's mostly going after naughty men. She has the traditional whip of reeds or birch, she has chains loosely connecting both arms, and she's got a basket.
- [29:54]
A
To throw them in and take them back to her place for more punishment.
- [29:58]
C
However, S and M depictions aside, there are other female male yuletide demonic characters very similar to Krampus.
- [30:05]
A
There is the pagan goddess Perchta or Frau Perchta, found in German, Austrian and Slovenian folklore. In some descriptions, she has two forms. One is a beautiful woman and the other is an old demonic looking woman.
- [30:20]
C
She may also be seen with a large swan foot.
- [30:23]
A
Her clothes are ripped and she has glowing eyes.
- [30:26]
C
Her main concern your children's behavior and earlier in history she would have been.
- [30:31]
A
Concerned with the quality of your servants work as well. She was said to roam the countryside at Christmas time and if you were.
- [30:38]
C
Bad or didn't work hard enough that year, she would slit your belly open, remove your guts and stuff the hole with straw and pebbles. She was also primarily concerned with whether girls spun all of their wool that year, ensuring that there was enough warm.
- [30:53]
A
Wool to make clothing for winter.
- [30:55]
C
She actually sounds like a mix of Krampus and the Yule cat actually.
- [30:59]
A
Although unlike both the Yule cat and.
- [31:01]
C
Krampus, if you were good she actually might leave you some money.
- [31:05]
A
So that's nice.
- [31:05]
C
Unfortunately, Perchta was not as well depicted.
- [31:08]
A
In Victorian Christmas cards herself.
- [31:10]
C
When you see a female Krampus, it's just a twist on Krampus for those.
- [31:15]
A
Who would maybe enjoy being domed by a woman with horns.
- [31:18]
C
I get it. I am not Krampus. Kink shaming anybody here.
- [31:21]
A
It was these postcards that made Krampus internationally famous. He began showing up on American Christmas cards designed by German Americans, Austrian American.
- [31:30]
C
Artists and was often confused with Satan. A number of designs exist where it's clearly Krampus. He's got the wrist to wrist chain, his bunch of sticks, his long red tongue.
- [31:43]
A
But the devil would be mentioned somewhere in the capture.
- [31:46]
C
He was likely just believed to be.
- [31:48]
A
Like a generic demon. It took a long time actually for him to be culturally known by name in the United States. And it wasn't until the 2000s that.
- [31:57]
C
We begin to see the guy appearing.
- [31:59]
A
In American movies and considered a specifically Christmas themed demon.
- [32:04]
C
It's weird to me that he took.
- [32:05]
A
So long to catch on here. It might be because we have such.
- [32:08]
C
A jolly fun, not at all demonic perception of Christmas in the United States States and did since pretty much the.
- [32:15]
A
Beginning with the exception of our ghost story tradition to creep us out just a little during the holidays.
- [32:21]
C
And a lot of folks that immigrated.
- [32:23]
A
To the United states in the 1800s wanted to assimilate to predominant cultures here and do away with many old traditions. Not all people obviously, but many did.
- [32:34]
C
And one could imagine for a person coming from say Germany in the 1860 70s and wanting to be invited to the neighbors Christmas celebrations. Discussing a child beating demon monster might get you some unwanted looks from the people telling the most bone chilling ghost stories and playing incredibly dangerous games like Snapdragon and Blind Man's Bluff. Victorian Americans preferred their Christmas terror to be more ghost and violence inspired than demonic in general. I think. So again, it makes sense why Cross Krampus may not have taken hold on.
- [33:07]
A
A cultural societal scale in the United States for a while. Gremlins had to walk before Krampus could run.
- [33:14]
D
Marshall's buyers are hustling hard to get amazing new gifts into stores right up to the last minute. Like a designer perfume for that friend who never RSVP'd wishlist topping toys for her kids who came too. Belgian chocolates for the neighbor, A cozy scarf for your boss, and a wool jacket for your husband that you definitely did not almost forget.
- [33:35]
A
Marshalls. We get the deals, you get the.
- [33:38]
D
Good stuff, even at the last minute.
- [33:40]
A
Phew.
- [33:41]
D
Find a Marshall's near you.
- [33:44]
C
Okay, let's now talk about a very sweet and lovely looking Yuletide creature that.
- [33:50]
A
Hails mostly from Germanic and Scandinavian countries.
- [33:53]
C
Who developed a dark incarnation, the Yule goat.
- [33:58]
A
In ancient pagan traditions, this goat represented a God, Daevac. He was a white goat. And Yule festivals celebrating this God of the fertile sun and harvest would include a white goat to symbolize him.
- [34:11]
C
It's also believed that his origins could be the goats that the Norse God.
- [34:16]
A
Thor used to drive his chariot through the sky. All lovely stuff, nothing creepy or threatening here.
- [34:22]
C
But over time and after Christianity swept.
- [34:25]
A
Europe, the goat changed from representing a benevolent God or spirit to a demonic one. The goat coming to represent the devil in Christianity. At first, he was transformed into a gift giver.
- [34:39]
C
But unlike other pagan symbols and traditions.
- [34:42]
A
Used to celebrate the solstice that easily transformed into ways of celebrating Christmas, like evergreens, mistletoe, wassailing, caroling.
- [34:50]
C
The goat was having a tricky time transforming into an acceptable Christmas Christian celebratory symbol.
- [34:57]
A
He was, however, deeply ingrained in winter celebratory traditions for literally thousands of years.
- [35:03]
C
So they couldn't just drop the guy altogether, so they made him into a Christmas jerk.
- [35:09]
A
He would be included in the wassailing traditions, an early pagan tradition of singing and drinking during the winter solstice around apple trees, which transformed nicely into Christmas caroling. The goat came along into that tradition. In the early days, there would often be someone dressed as the Yule goat.
- [35:25]
C
But he was becoming a a menacing figure and would frighten children and scamper around being pushy and a jerk of a Christmas character.
- [35:34]
A
His incarnation continued to evolve into a.
- [35:37]
C
More mysterious, threatening guest in your home that you didn't invite. Early Christmas traditions would include a custom.
- [35:44]
A
Of dressing up often in goat skins with a goat skull mask during Christmas.
- [35:49]
C
Going door to door and barging in. They would demand gifts, they would play pranks. They would scare villagers. They would show up on people's doorsteps demanding leftover leftovers from Christmas dinners. It's unclear if they were genuinely threatening in this regard. It might have at this point been something that poor folks did. Dressed up as demanding goats to charm.
- [36:10]
A
Folks into sharing leftovers.
- [36:12]
C
Kind of like Krampus, he is a jerk, but he's not really going around and beating children. He's threatening. But like all in good fun, the Yule goat kept his demanding, pushy, somewhat threatening Persona until about the mid-1800s when.
- [36:29]
A
He made his way to Christmas card designs.
- [36:32]
C
Some at first depicting him as a little threatening, but then just as a.
- [36:37]
A
Beautifully adorned gift giving creature. Sometimes accompanying St Nicholas or being ridden by him.
- [36:42]
C
It's difficult to tell how or why.
- [36:45]
A
His Persona changed, but in this time.
- [36:48]
C
The same guys who were dressing up in goatskins were now giving gifts instead of terrorizing children. Children. But by the time we get to the late 19th century, St. Nicholas took over as the primary gift giver, and.
- [37:00]
A
The Yule goat existed mostly just in imagery, ornaments, figurines and sculptures.
- [37:05]
C
But despite his rebrand as a lovely Christmas decoration, he's never quite shaken his bad boy reputation. In the 19th century, he would be.
- [37:15]
A
Fashioned into a small wooden or straw figure.
- [37:18]
C
And neighbors in the the 19th century would take their Yule goat, sneak it into the neighbor's house and leave the goat there for them to find and be creeped out by. And then those neighbors had to try to sneak the goat back into the original goat giver's house undetected themselves. A little creepy, but I kind of love that. Very large versions of the Yule goat.
- [37:39]
A
Can be found in Nordic countries still.
- [37:41]
C
At Christmas time, and they are often plagued with vandalism and art. For example, a town called Jevle in Sweden erects a giant Yule goat every year. And Every year since 1966, someone or a group of people attempt to burn it down. In the last 50 years, the Yule goat has been destroyed 35 times. Townsfolk now wait and even bet whether or not the Yule goat will even make it to Christmas. All of this horror aside, he has.
- [38:11]
A
Luckily reclaimed a good deal of sweetness in his depictions, Often accompanying gnome like Christmas elves In the late 1800s and 1900s, Christmas cards, helping to deliver presents.
- [38:23]
C
To children, not asking for anything in return, not threatening anyone, just being cool, helping out the gnomes with a little.
- [38:30]
A
Bell around his neck. He is still depicted in perfectly charming.
- [38:34]
C
Straw figures tied with red ribbon as.
- [38:37]
A
Christmas decorations generations, he often has horns of braided straw and a beard of wheat. It is simply precious.
- [38:43]
C
The Yule goat has had quite a redemption story, I'd say. Took a few thousand years to rehabilitate his image, but we should all be.
- [38:50]
A
Very proud of him. I would like to wish you all a peaceful holiday season. And I would like to leave you with one of my favorite Victorian winter poems about how easy it is to focus on what's going wrong.
- [39:04]
C
And there is.
- [39:05]
A
There is a lot wrong with our time, but also how important it is to take a moment to focus on joy and perseverance where we can find it. It is the Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy I leant upon a coppice gate when frost was specter gray and winter's dregs made desolate the weakening eye of day. The tangled bine stand gems scored the sky like strings of broken lyres and all mankind that haunted nigh had sought their household fires. The land's sharp features seemed to be the century's corpse outlet, his crypt, the cloudy canopy, the wind his death lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth was shrunken hard, hard and dry, and every spirit upon the earth seemed fervourless as I At once a voice arose among the bleak twigs overhead in a full hearted evensong of joy. An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small, in blast beruffled plume had chosen thus to fling his soul upon the growing gloom. So little cause for carolings of such ecstatic sound was written on terrestrial things afar or nigh around that I could think there trembled through his happy goodnight air. Some blessed hope were all he knew, and I was simply unaware. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more, please rate the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave me comments because I love them so much and join the fan coven to direct directly support my show.
- [41:14]
C
Listen ad free and for even more.
- [41:17]
A
Creepy and witchy content until next time, be kind to yourselves and I will see you in your nightmares.
- [41:33]
E
And Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds of hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
- [41:48]
D
Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
- [41:51]
E
Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwritten by.
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C
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates excludes Massachusetts.
- [42:01]
E
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