Hundreds of People Have Reported Seeing Santa — Here's What They Might Actually Be Encountering
Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories
Darren Marlar
4.6 • 4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
IN THIS EPISODE: Many of us are familiar with the flip side of Father Christmas – the darker entity who visits and kidnaps bad children, Krampus. But when it comes to true fear, even Krampus would run in terror at the sight of Iceland’s Gryla, the Christmas Witch! With roots dating back to the 13th century, Gryla is not to be messed with! (Iceland’s Christmas Witch) *** It was Christmastime, 1938, and 19-year-old Margaret Martin had just graduated from Wilkes-Barre Business College with honors and was eager to secure a secretarial job. Her eagerness would lead to her disappearance. (The Murder of Margaret Martin) *** Ask anyone over the age of twelve what they think about the existence of Santa Claus and you’ll most assuredly get the same answer. But that has not stopped people of all ages reporting sightings of the jolly old elf, and some of the stories are downright creepy. (People Who Swear They've Seen the Real Santa Claus) *** Two murders committed in the same house during the holidays of 1928 appear to have resulted in the spirits of Christmas past haunting the place today. (The Hundley Murders)
TIME STAMPS & CHAPTERS:
00:00:00.000 = They Swear They Saw Santa
00:01:22.035 = Show Open
00:03:20.486 = The Hundley Murders
00:18:08.033 = *** People Who Swear They've Seen the Real Santa Claus
00:38:56.938 = *** Iceland’s Christmas Witch
00:45:55.352 = The Murder of Margaret Martin
00:49:25.321 = Show Close
SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…
“The Strange World of True Kris Kringle Sightings” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8kfyka
“Iceland’s Christmas Witch” by Alex Palmer for Smithsonian Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/57ntaeeu
“The Murder of Margaret Martin” by Troy Taylor: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/7e6xxvph
“The Hundley Murders” by Troy Taylor for his book “Bloody Illinois”: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3yb3fd2p
(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)
=
"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46
=WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.
Originally aired: December 08, 2021#WeirdDarkness #SantaSightings #ParanormalChristmas #ChristmasMysteries #SupernaturalEncounters #TricksterSpirits #UnexplainedPhenomena #GhostStories #ChristmasParanormal #TrueParanormalStories
https://weirddarkness.com/RealKrisKringleSightings
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the weird world of the paranormal, there are certainly a lot of strange, often eyebrow-raising |
| 0:14.3 | things that are reportedly seen and encountered. |
| 0:17.5 | From ghosts to aliens, UFOs, Bigfoot, demons, angels and everything in between, there's |
| 0:23.9 | no shortage of bizarre things that people claim to see. |
| 0:26.7 | Yet these are all perhaps pretty small time compared to the sheer, utter outlandishness |
| 0:33.7 | that is Santa Claus sightings. |
| 0:36.0 | I'm not making this up, and I'm not talking about seeing a fat, |
| 0:39.7 | bearded guy dressed up like Santa at the mall, or something said in jest, or to encourage |
| 0:45.2 | a small kid waiting for the big guy. I'm talking about actual, real reports from otherwise |
| 0:51.5 | seemingly perfectly sane and sober people who insist that they have |
| 0:56.5 | really actually seen or even encountered none other than Santa Claus. |
| 1:02.8 | And it's all every bit as bizarre as it sounds. |
| 1:06.8 | Fasten your seatbelts, because we're going for a whirling ride to some deeply weird |
| 1:11.6 | reports and onto theories that lie on the very fringe of the paranormal world. |
| 1:17.6 | I'm Darren Marler, and this is Weird Darkness. |
| 1:21.6 | Welcome, Weirdoes. |
| 1:31.3 | I'm Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness. |
| 1:35.3 | Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, |
| 1:42.3 | crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. |
| 1:50.7 | Coming up in this episode, many of us are familiar with the flip side of Father Christmas, |
| 1:57.0 | the darker entity who visits and kidnaps bad children, Cranpus. |
| 2:01.5 | But when it comes to true fear, even Cranpus would run in terror at the site of Iceland's |
... |
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