Krampus: Christmas's Darkest Demon with Al Ridenour
Ghost Bunny
Bridget Marquardt
4.8 • 709 Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week's episode, Bridget speaks with Al Ridenour, and expert on the Krampus. Al discusses the rich tradition of boogeyman characters in German folklore, particularly focusing on the concept of 'Kindelschreckfiguren' or child fear figures. He explains how these figures serve to protect children from dangers in their environment, such as water and grain fields. The Krampus is highlighted as a seasonal manifestation of these fear figures, illustrating the cultural variations of such characters across different societies.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the Ghost Bunny podcast. I'm your host, Bridget Markhart, with a brand new episode for you guys. My guest today is Al Ridenauer. El Ridenauer is an author specializing in European folk celebrations and their history. His most recent book on the topic, A Season of Madness, Fools, Monsters, and Marbles of the Old World Carnival has been praised as intellectually hefty |
| 0:38.2 | and for its clarity, eloquence, and rye humor. Since 2018, he has written and produced the podcast |
| 0:44.1 | Bone and Sickle, exploring dark folklore and history through historical texts dramatized via sound |
| 0:49.7 | effects and music. Ridenauer is the author of the only English-language book on crampus history and folklore, |
| 0:55.5 | The Crampus and the Old Dark Christmas. |
| 0:58.1 | He has lectured on the crampus and related winter traditions at the International Goathe |
| 1:02.0 | Institute, the San Diego Art Institute, New American Museum, Tucson Museum and Modern |
| 1:06.8 | Art, the Bowers Museum, and in the UK at London's Last Thursday Society and Whipies |
| 1:12.1 | Winters Ghosts. In 2013, as co-founder of Cranpus, Los Angeles, Ridenauer gathered a troop |
| 1:18.1 | of crampus performers, crafted suits, and went on to organize an ongoing series of parades and |
| 1:23.7 | themed shows known as L.A. Cranpus Fest. In 2014, Ridenauer's group hosted the first |
| 1:29.5 | Europeans visitors to appear stateside in traditional costumes. And in 2015, they hosted an |
| 1:35.8 | entire 15-person troop from the state of Salzburg. He has also directed productions of a traditional |
| 1:41.2 | 19th century Austrian St. Nicholas Cranpus play from a script |
| 1:45.0 | of his own translation and has exhibited his handcrafted suits at the University of Southern |
| 1:50.0 | California's Doheny Museum. As a journalist, he has contributed articles to the Los Angeles |
| 1:54.7 | Times, LA Weekly, 14 times, Maxim, Steph, Savor, and other periodicals, as well as websites Boing Boing, Laughing |
| 2:02.0 | Squid, Atlas Obscurra, Folklore Thursday, Morbid Amadony, among others. In 2000, he wrote his |
| 2:08.1 | first book, Offbeat Food, Adventures in an Omnivorous World, which is an exhaustive survey of |
| 2:13.0 | culinary oddities and culture, which publishers weekly described as a rollicking and at times |
| 2:18.7 | mind-boggling crash course on exotic or weird foods. |
| 2:23.2 | Ridenauer also contributed chapters on underground cultural activities to tales of the San Francisco |
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