00:00:06:00 - 00:00:32:42 Unknown Bam bam bam. Hey. Welcome back. Toke it out. Merry freakin Christmas. Is it Christmas? No, it's the week before Christmas. But this is our Christmas episode because we will be taking Christmas and New Year's off like we did Thanksgiving. So welcome welcome, welcome. Like RuPaul. Hello. Hello, hello. How are you guys? How has your year been? I guess I won't see you until next year. 00:00:32:43 - 00:00:51:19 Unknown Oh, but. But don't worry, we're not signing off just yet. Yeah. That's it. Well, bye. That'd be crazy. But how is your year been? How is a year? A whole year of took it out. Can you believe it? I certainly can't. I think it's crazy that we have made it a whole year. And I actually did this podcast for a whole year. 00:00:51:34 - 00:01:13:55 Unknown Well, I continue it into 2026. Fingers crossed. But you'll find out soon, I guess, in 2026. I hope that you guys have enjoyed every single episode so far, and I hope that you guys have enjoyed listening to me rant. Even when the audio has been horrible and I have been unprepared. So. But not today. Not today. I'm not unprepared today. 00:01:13:58 - 00:01:33:33 Unknown I am very prepared for our Christmas episode. You better believe it. I got a little bow, my hair, and a little red earring. Little red lip making my teeth look really white. It's really awesome. But today we are going to be talking about pom pom pom Pom the dark Side of Christmas. Yes. If you thought Christmas was all about joyous, awesome hallmark movies. 00:01:33:37 - 00:01:52:50 Unknown Wrong. I'm about to burn down that Christmas tree for you. Burn up that you will love and let you know the truth about Christmas. No, I'm just joking. But there is, of course, a dark, spooky side to almost everything. So I'm going to be talking about the dark, spooky side of Christmas. You've heard these things before. Good for you. 00:01:52:55 - 00:02:10:46 Unknown Amazing. I'm recording this a few weeks ahead of time. Love you. Merry Christmas. But I'm recording this a couple weeks ahead of time, so if you're like, I already heard, you must have listened to blah blah blah about blah blah blah. I don't wanna hear it. Okay, you probably have heard this before, so. But now you can hear from me. 00:02:10:46 - 00:02:37:39 Unknown The story you have been told has been said before a lot, but whatever. That's fine. The dark, the dark, spooky side of Christmas is always fucking fascinating to me, so we're going to get into it. Now, where did Christmas originate? Obviously from what most holidays originate from pagan traditions. This is a midwinter celebration of death, darkness, spirits, the sun, quote unquote, dying and sacrifices. 00:02:37:44 - 00:02:57:43 Unknown Winter is when the veil is the thinnest and obviously we've talked about the veil being thin in November and being super thin around Halloween, and it is still thin because we are in the deep now. We're in the depths of winter. It feels like, especially if you're in Michigan, it's fucking cold here already, so we're in the depths of it. 00:02:57:43 - 00:03:23:15 Unknown Okay, so with darkness being so much more than the light, the spookiness and the this, that part of our, you know, death and rebirth cycle is prominent. People believed in that winter monsters kept children in line. They also believe that spirits are roam freely during the darkness because it's so dark for so long. And they also believe that candles, fires, and greenery were protection magic. 00:03:23:15 - 00:03:46:48 Unknown So that's why we have wreaths on our doors. That's why we light candles. It's why there's Yule logs. Yeah, at all. It all connects. That's right. Christmas used to be kind of scary as fuck, to be honest. People used to tell Christmas story or. Excuse me, ghost stories on Christmas Eve. So instead of your classic hallmark, I'm a big city coming to a small town. 00:03:46:52 - 00:04:06:48 Unknown Meet a nice boy. It was more like the Christmas carol. That's kind of why a Christmas Carol exists. Is the ghost stories on Christmas Eve. Obviously scary folklore was replaced by capitalism and Coca Cola. Santa, so we don't really have that scary spookiness anymore. Unless you were in my household. Then I keep it scary. Spooky year round, year round. 00:04:06:52 - 00:04:24:53 Unknown What are some other really? Oh, and what are we talking on today? Hey, pause. What are we talking on today? We were talking on the gelato. Hold on. Making sure that the gelato, grape soda, gummies. We've eaten one of those. That's why I feel a little goofy. Little spooky. Little goofy right there. Yeah, that's I don't know. That's it. 00:04:24:53 - 00:04:51:07 Unknown I just thought I'd tell you. Anyways, getting back to it. So to get into some anti Santa we and some spooky yuletide creatures, we have Krampus. He's from alpine Europe. He is basically the anti Santa. He's an half goat, half demon, all trauma. He beats children with birch sticks. And he can kidnap you in a sack and drag you into the underworld. 00:04:51:12 - 00:05:13:57 Unknown So he is scary as fuck. There's Krampus, like horror movies and stuff. I have not necessarily watched them because I think Christmas horror is kind of. I think it's kind of weird, but now that I'm seeing this, I'm like, oh, it's actually really normal. So I guess it's not that bad. The people in that area participate in Krampus snuck. 00:05:14:09 - 00:05:39:09 Unknown It's, when people dressed as demons and parade the streets. So they're celebrating the Krampus, which I think is super fun. How fun would it be to do that? I don't know, that would be such a unique experience, especially as an American. The next one is from Germany, and like Pennsylvania Dutch, the belt. Schnitzel, the belt. He's a creepy, raggedy forest uncle. 00:05:39:14 - 00:06:06:09 Unknown He's a priest. Santa menace. He tests kids by hitting them with sticks and giving them candy. Dwight Schrute mentioned the nickel on the office, as you guys may have remembered. And if you're a millennial like me, the next one we have is the frow Persia Pacha from Australia or Bavaria. She's the Christmas, which you can call me the Christmas witch too, but she rewards good children. 00:06:06:23 - 00:06:26:45 Unknown And for the bad ones she slits. Open your stomach, takes out your organs and stuffs you with straw. Very festive. And the next one we have is gorilla. And then your Leeds gorilla is a. And I looked this one up because I thought this was interesting. She is a human and see gorilla is a giant ogress with an appetite for flesh of children. 00:06:26:45 - 00:06:49:05 Unknown Who she whom she cooks in a large pot. She has she has with her the Yule cat. The Yule cat is a huge and vicious cat who lurks around the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eats people who have not received new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. So if you're not in your fast fashion bag, then the Yule Cat's coming to get you. 00:06:49:10 - 00:07:10:19 Unknown So sorry about it. And the Yule Lads are the sons of gorilla. They are grouped. They are a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from and harass the population, and are all descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing. They come to town one by one during the 13 nights before you are before you all. 00:07:10:24 - 00:07:40:59 Unknown They leave small gifts in shoes that for children that are placed on the windowsills. But if the children has been disobedient, instead they leave a rotten potato in the shoe, socks. Socks better be good. Here's some of the names. Some of the names are chaotic. Sons are spoon licker, sausage Swiper was my nickname in college. Door slammer, window peeper, inappropriate and and candle candle stealer. 00:07:41:04 - 00:08:05:09 Unknown So she obviously has more. But that is sausage sausage swiper. Other than that, can't relate. Can't really do any of that. We did already talk about your cat and he's massive by the way. He's a massive demonic cat. So in Wales we have Mary Lord, Lord whatever a spooky skeletal horse. Ghost people parade the streets with a real horse skull. 00:08:05:13 - 00:08:27:21 Unknown Don't do that. I mean or whatever. Do it, I don't care. I'm. I just hope this horse was old. I don't know, you must battle the horse in a rhyming contest. If you lose the horse, ghost comes into your house. Sucks. That's crazy. No, I'm not in a rhyming battle. Okay, well, it depends on how you pronounce words, I guess. 00:08:27:32 - 00:08:50:58 Unknown Maybe maybe I would win, but like I said, moving past this before Christmas was romantic. It was haunted. And people told ghost stories on Christmas Eve around a fire. Some examples of them were the mistletoe ghost. It's a story of spirits being trapped in homes, the lost Karelia carolers. They are wandering the streets after their death. Oh, sad. 00:08:51:03 - 00:09:08:51 Unknown And a Christmas haunt. Excuse me. The Christmas haunt. Our tradition of the dead visiting the living. Which is how A Christmas Carol ties into it. How? I'm not going to say hello again. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I've said it for the last four episodes. I feel like I'm not going to do it again. 00:09:08:56 - 00:09:35:34 Unknown So some other dark Christmas folklore around the world is the calico. Calico. What? Okay, hold on, hold on. The count can too. Sorry. In Greece, I'm not trying it again. These are goblins that climb up from the underworld, terrorizing homes during the 12 days of Christmas. And they love eating sausages and breaking things. So you could basically call me one of those love eating sausages and breaking thing. 00:09:35:40 - 00:10:00:21 Unknown Believe it. Hot dog in a red room called good I'm Happy Christmas. Werewolves from France and Eastern Europe. These are believed that kids. Oh, it's believed that kids born on Christmas become werewolves. That's very cool. Why? Why would that tie into that? And the wolves roam villages looking for sinners. Are you kidding me? I'm going to become a werewolf and I'm going to look for sinners. 00:10:00:28 - 00:10:22:31 Unknown That's weird. That feels Christian. The burning Christmas goat. This is. Don't burn this goat. By the way, this is a giant, your goat statue in Sweden. And every year people try to burn it. I don't know why, but people try to burn this goat and the town will rebuild it if it's burned up. But there's been 40 plus attempts to destroy it. 00:10:22:42 - 00:10:59:34 Unknown As soon as was it, there was 1 in 2005. In 2001, the goat burned down by a 51 year old American visitor from Cleveland, Ohio, who spent 18 days in jail and was subsequently convicted and ordered to pay Sweden basically $10,000 American and $20,000 in damages. The court compensated his cigaret lighter and with the argument that he was not able to handle it, he said in court that he was no goat burner and believed that he was taking part in a completely legal goat burning tradition. 00:10:59:43 - 00:11:20:16 Unknown He was released from jail and returned to the US without paying his fine. So what sucks? No. This sucks. Don't burn down this goat. This poor goat is just like chillin and wants to be a goat and wants to, you know, be the one. Oh, Christmas Eve is animal speaking night. Love that ancient belief that animals can talk at midnight. 00:11:20:16 - 00:11:41:33 Unknown It's a good omen, but overhearing them is a bad omen. Meaning even death. So it's good that if they talk to you. But if you overhear them, it's bad. That feels scary. But I love the idea of animals being able to talk at midnight on Christmas Eve. That's very cute. But you know, all in all, Christmas is such a joyous, fun time. 00:11:41:38 - 00:12:10:36 Unknown But why does winter feel so creepy? Seasonal depression. Seasonal darkness. We're just in this dark death kind of state of being and not in a bad way. Just like that is the part of the year that we're in. We're in the, you know, fatigue in the in the seasonal affective disorder part, which can obviously heighten your anxiety, lack of vitamin D can cause fatigue and shadow seem scarier. 00:12:10:40 - 00:12:31:28 Unknown You know, shadows do seem scarier when it's darker and darker at 5 p.m.. Yikes. And winter is kind of its own liminal space, if you think about it, winter is with the year ending and a new year beginning. It's kind of this time of like, we're nothing's real and time is like, you know, you're not you're not buying and selling. 00:12:31:28 - 00:12:53:38 Unknown You're not doing big business. You're not you're not starting anything until that New year hits. So it's kind of this weird area of like, you know, that week of Christmas between Christmas and New Year, some of the modern spooky Christmas media things that you can look at are Krampus from 2015. I have not watched it, so please let me know if you have. 00:12:53:38 - 00:13:12:39 Unknown Is it worth watching? Is it like, is it like the gingerbread man? Is it like the leprechaun isn't one of those? Netflix, I guess, has Scandinavian horror films, which, if you are in the Christmas spirit, I guess you could watch those. Black mirror has a Christmas episode, a true crime Christmas stories. Which of some of these true crime Christmas stories? 00:13:12:39 - 00:13:40:06 Unknown I have listened to one on morbid about this. Basically this trigger warning. This guy shows up to his house and shoots up everybody and like, shoots his little kid in the face. It's crazy. She survives, but it's crazy. But those can be really, really disturbing. To be honest. I think about it during Christmas time and how I would feel so traumatized and how it's so kind of in your face all the time that feeling traumatized is around this time is sad. 00:13:40:13 - 00:14:01:08 Unknown TikTok ghost sightings during Christmas. I don't believe it. Are you really seeing? Are you really like the Ghost of Christmas Pass on TikTok? Get over it. Santa at the mall kind of looks like he is like trapped by a curse, right? He kind of looks like he is, like, eternally. Like I must be here. I feel like Santa is kind of creepy and I don't. 00:14:01:12 - 00:14:34:03 Unknown I would hate how they would tell Santa my name beforehand and he'd be like, hello, Madison. And I'd be like, what? What? How do you know my name? Like, I was scared of Santa a little bit. But honestly, you guys, Christmas is is as spooky as it is. It is such a time for joy and togetherness and community, and I hope that whatever community you have, family, chosen, family, friends, pets, neighbors, whoever they might be, I hope that your community is there for you this Christmas. 00:14:34:03 - 00:14:52:51 Unknown I hope you were there for them. I hope you are feeling community with your community, and I hope that you have the Marius, Amazing Christmas and the whole world, as well as a wonderful, fabulous and amazing new Year's. Tell your weird uncle about me please as a Christmas gift to me. You just have to tell you a weird uncle about me. 00:14:52:51 - 00:15:13:09 Unknown I know you're about to see him as the holidays. Please tell him about me. Okay? He'll be interested. And if he's not, he's not that weird. Okay, just to say just. He's not that we're done. So whatever. Why did I end this with whatever, too? I'm not. It's not a whatever kind of situation. I love you, whatever. See you again. 00:15:13:13 - 00:15:32:33 Unknown Okay, so go watch my episode from last week about the dark underworld of Disney. That is a super fun listen to. And if you need to listen to the next couple of weeks, go listen to a couple episodes you might have skipped. They might be. They might have some moments that you, are all about. Anyways, guys, I will see you next year. 00:15:32:38 - 00:15:33:35 Unknown Bye.