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This episode of Ghost Town may contain disturbing or graphic descriptions, which may not be suitable for all audiences.

Please use discretion while listening.

Bad Santa. I'm Jason Horton. I'm Rebecca Leib.

And this is Ghost Town. The inspiration for the modern day Santa Claus is a historical figure named St Nicholas, a persecuted Christian

academic who died on December 6th, 346 a.D. giving rise to a holiday precursor,

December 6th Feast of Saint Nicholas. But in France, St Nicholas has a dark

counterpart. Think a French Hans Trapp or Zwarte Pete or the Austrian Krampsis. In you have Per Futard, Saint Nicholas's evil, cannibal butcher nemesis designed

to frighten bad little children to be on their best behavior. Today we're talking about the story

and origin of Perfutard, the Christmas Cannibal of France. In the Lorraine region of France,

a grim Christmas story unfolds.

It tells a tale of three children who knock on the door of a local butcher named Père Fritard,

only to be chopped up into little pieces and left to cure an assaulting pot. The final image is one I've seen over and over again in my research, a kind of

of zoom out of the butcher shop where falling wintry snowflakes are replaced with chunks of meat.

A bloodbath, really, of meat whose origin is too disturbing to emphasize. This butcher, La Perfitard, meaning the father whipper or father flog, looks a lot like the Chris Gaines to Garth Brooks's Santa Claus. He's kind of tall with a black

cloak, a long white beard and a black hat, all kind of sooty.

His dark and unkempt appearance could originate from the 1552 Siege of Metz,

where Tanners burned a statue of King Charles V before being liberated.

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