154. Christmas Horror Folklore: Krampus, Frau Perchta & The Other St. Nick

Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

True Crime, History, Fiction, Drama

4.8 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today I want to tell you about the dark origins of Christmas, before Santa Claus ever existed. We're diving into Frau Perchta, a Christmas witch who visited homes with iron scissors and a taste for porridge...whether she had to cut it out of you or not. We'll also cover the real Saint Nicholas and his disturbing miracles, and the demonic Krampuses who worked alongside him to drag sinners straight to hell. This beloved holiday is actually as dark as a Brother Grimms fairytale…. Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/krampus Subscribe on⁠ Patreon⁠ to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our High Council on Patreon also have access to our weekly after-show, Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt. You can also enjoy many of these same perks, including ad-free listening and bonus content when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts . Follow on⁠ Tik Tok⁠ and⁠ Instagram⁠ for a daily dose of horror. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From the number one best-selling author, Lisa Jewell.
0:04.0	The picture of the future I have painted for us is so exquisite that I almost wish it could be real.
0:11.0	He's the perfect man. He says he loves you.
0:15.0	But if you looked back, you'd say to yourself, don't let him in.
0:20.0	The new thriller from Lisa Jewell is out now in Hardback. you'd say to yourself, don't let him in.
0:27.5	The new thriller from Lisa Jewel is out now in hardback and audiobook, read by Richard Armitage and Joanne Frogert.
0:30.1	Today, I want to share with you the very real and very dark stories behind some of our
0:34.6	most beloved Christmas characters.
0:36.8	For instance, did you know that St. Nick
0:38.6	used to send naughty kids to the pits of hell? Or that he gets a lot of inspiration from a Christmas
0:44.1	witch that would cut naughty children into pieces. This beloved holiday is actually about as dark as a
0:50.2	brother's grim fairy tale. Welcome back to Heart Starts Pounding. I'm your host,
0:54.9	Kayla Moore, and today it feels great to be cozied up here in the Rogue Detecting Society
0:59.1	headquarters. I love this time of year, and as you know, if you're a regular, one of our
1:03.4	favorite things to do is talk about folklore. We've talked about terrifying tales from
1:07.4	Appalachia, some of the origins of gothic horror, and even holidays like Halloween.
1:13.0	But today we're going to be talking about Christmas. Specifically, I want to get into some of
1:17.7	the darker pagan folklore and traditions that worked their way into what the Catholic Church
1:22.9	had intended to be a celebration of the birth of Christ. There's actually quite a bit of dark folklore hiding around this holiday if you know where
1:30.0	to look.
1:30.9	And just a reminder, if you like true crime cases that read like Gothic horror, mysteries that
1:34.7	will keep you up at night, and let me check my notes here, tales of witches that pull out
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.