Krampus

A short Christmas horror story

Welcome to the first installment of my Krampus short story series. I wrote these stories after remembering the dark tales my mother would tell me of Christmas in Eastern Europe, when she was a child. The kids in her village were told to be good, or Krampus would beat them, or worse, take them away to be punished for a whole year. She remembered one December 5th, when a little boy had climbed onto his mother’s shoulders, screaming and scared out of his mind because someone dressed up like Krampus was waiting to thrash him outside his house, poor kid. Krampus, or “Claw” in German, was a legendary horned creature covered in hair with a serpentine tail who accompanied Santa on his travels all over central Europe. He beat children who misbehaved with birch sticks, and would carry them off to his lair. Some historians believed Krampus predated Christianity, and symbolized the balance of darkness and light. Krampus Night is December 5th in German tradition. I narrated the story and recorded it so you can hear the Slovak pronunciations. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next installment.

*Slovak Terms: 

Cherny Forest — Black Forest

Mamika — Grandma

Apo — Dad

Krampus

Mamika told me to be a good girl, to listen to my elders, and to never go into the Cherny Forest by myself, especially in December. The wind blows cold in the woods and Krampus lives there. I knew a girl who didn’t listen and she disappeared into the woods. Her mom cried but they couldn’t do anything about it, she was just gone, probably taken by Krampus.

I also knew this big boy, Darko, from school, who told everybody he saw Krampus by the river. He said he was tall and hairy and had big horns and red eyes. Darko went into the woods to look for Krampus with his dad’s gun. Some hunters from our village found parts of Darko at the edge of the woods and Mama told me never to talk about it.

Mamika gave me a red thread to tie around my wrist to keep Krampus away. She told me not to tell Mama and Apo, because they’d say it was witchcraft and make me take it off. I asked her for a thread for my brother, Yanosh, and my doll too. I think it worked.

December 5 was coming soon, Mamika told me, and that’s when they usually play the game where they call all the kids into the town hall and whoever was bad all year has to go out to the woods to see Krampus. Some kids say Krampus comes to the town hall too, but I’ve never seen him there, just Mamika and my parents, and Milosh, the mayor, and all the kids and their parents. 

When December 5 came, I got ready and put on a nice dress and a colorful apron, and Mama braided my hair with a fancy ribbon. Yanosh put on a white shirt with buttons and Mama combed his hair to the side. Mamika wiped her eyes and said she would meet us there later because she was old and she walked too slow.

I linked arms with Mama and Apo and Yanosh and we walked fast to the town hall so we wouldn’t be late. The church bells were ringing, and we hurried inside because Yanosh said he was cold. He brought his stuffed bear with a red thread tied around its paw. I didn’t bring my doll because I’m a big girl and I didn’t want her to get lost. I saw my cousins, Anna and Luka, and my best friend, Klaudia. Her face was all red and she was shaking. Some kids were crying really loud, but some were serious like me.

We kids all stood inside the town hall with our parents, waiting for Milosh to talk. Some kids sat down on the floor because they were tired. I heard a bang because Klaudia fell over. Mama said she fell because she was so scared, and then she just went to sleep. 

Yanosh was tired and he sat down on the cold floor. Mama told him to get up but he didn’t listen. I kept standing because I wanted to hear if my name was called. I didn’t think Milosh would call my name because I was good all year, Mamika told me so. I looked at everybody, but I couldn’t see Mamika, she hadn't come yet.

Milosh stood in the middle and started to talk. He had a paper in his hand and he called out the names: “Luka, Pavel, Lydia, Stefan…” I couldn’t hear the other names because all the kids started to cry and their moms cried too and it got really loud. My cousin Luka’s name was called and I wasn’t surprised, he didn’t listen to his parents all year. Yanosh and I were safe, nobody called our names. Mama smiled at me, even though she was crying too and she squeezed my hand really hard.

Mama said we could go home, but it was hard to leave because the kids who were called had to go out first. They lined up at the door and they were all shaking and crying. Milosh told them to be quiet, that it was their fault they were called, and now they all had to go with him into the woods to meet Krampus. I never saw those kids again, except for Stefan.