This week we're bringing you an ITEM RENEWAL from our archives. In this episode of Rhody Radio first released on December 19, 2023, Liz Gotauco AKA Cosbrarian dispenses with the merry and instead wishes you a Very Scary Christmas, sharing some macabre yuletide folk tales to accompany a dark winter night.

If you love this episode and haven't yet, be sure to read Liz's book and listen to our episode with her and her sister Jade Gotauco all about folktales, illustrating the book, and their respective efforts to shine a light on neglected stories:

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Story sources and further reading

"Frau Perchta, the Belly-Slitter" by Bone and Sickle
"Meet the Thirteen Yule Lads, Iceland's Own Mischievous Santa Clauses" by Smithsonian Mag
"Why Iceland's Christmas Witch Is Much Cooler (and Scarier) Than Krampus" via Smithsonian Mag
"Hans Von Trotha" via Wikipedia
"The Evil Butcher" via the St. Nicholas Center
Ginevra, or, The old oak chest, a Christmas story by Susan Wallace (1894)
"The Legend of the Mistletoe Bough" via Wikipedia
"The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" by Henry James (1868)
"Secrets of the Old Oak Trunk" is an original short story by Liz Gotauco, November 2023

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