Christmastime Monsters That Are Scarier Than Krampus

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness.
Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,
the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and
unexplained coming up in this episode. Tis the season for

(00:31):
not only reindeer, grinches, and magical snowmen, but also fearless children,
negligent parents, and dumb thieves. Home Alone might be the
first Christmas movie that comes to mind upon hearing that description,
but it turns out there is a long and storied
tradition of true stories of children left alone around the holidays,

(00:52):
matching wits against would be robbers. What would you think
if you received a Christmas card in the mail that
had a picture of a dead bird on the cover?
Not very festive? Huh, But that's not what people believed
in the past. For a while, a dead bird was
synonymous with saying Merry Christmas. A woman leaves her family
to go Christmas shopping at the last minute and disappears forever.

(01:18):
But first Christmas fun isn't all about Santa Is reindeer
and a magical snow A man come to life thanks
to a hat there are some downright terrifying yule Tide
monsters that might make you want to stay behind locked
doors this year. We begin with that story. Now bolt
your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and

(01:41):
come with me into the weird darkness. You know Dasher
and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Calmet and Cupid, Dawn
and Blitzen. But do you recall the most terrifying Christmas

(02:06):
characters of all? I know that's not the way the
song goes, but you know what, For some time now,
Christmas has been a terrifying holiday masquerading as the most
wonderful time of the year. As much as we might
love Santa Claus and his predecessors for shelling out presents
to good boys and girls during the yule Tize season,

(02:28):
we mostly ignore that it's a reward system with traumatic
consequences for a social contract none of us actually ever
agreed to. Yet Sanna is the least offensive, aside from
being the de facto overlord of these characters, as he
only deals with those who end up on his nice list.
But what happens to those who end up on his

(02:48):
naughty list? Did they all get a lump of coal? Well?
Perhaps in some traditions ancient and modern, we bad boys
and girls don't get off so easily. Here I'm about
to unveil some of the most scary and traumatizing characters
who have haunted the most wonderful time of the year
throughout the ages. So it is the scariest Christmas legend. Well,

(03:11):
this is but just a taste of how evil, scary,
and twisted the Holidays can be. Healing from Germany, Bellsnickel
is a creepy looking figure covered in patchworked rags to
keep his identity secret. He also wears furs and threatens
children by carrying a switch. In the weeks leading up
to Christmas, Bellsnickle stops by the doors of households with

(03:33):
children and threatens the misbehaving kids that if they don't
straighten up, they'll not only not get presents, but they'll
get a good beating from Bellstickle himself. Based on the
book The Elf on the Shelf, a Christmas tradition by
Carol Abersold and Shon de Bell, illustrated by a CoA Steinwart. Now,
aside from the fact you can't call something new a tradition,

(03:56):
the Elf on the Shelf is the latest trick for
parents to keep children well behaved during the winter months,
if not throughout the rest of the year. A mix
of the Yule Lads and Bellstickle, only without the corporal punishment.
The story goes that Santa sends out his little helpers,
who apparently haven't worked enough through the year making toys
for all the good kinder of the world, to all

(04:17):
the households of the world to keep an eye on
the kids in the final days building up to Christmas.
Each day the Elf appears in a different part of
the house to monitor and report back to Santa in
case Timmy and Tiffany are really staying on their best behavior.
Part of the tradition of Elf on the Shelf is
that he pulls pranks and does cute and creative things. However,

(04:40):
despite the fun and mischief that he provides, children are
forbidden from touching him, for if they do, he will
lose all his magical powers and not be able to
report back to Santa. On one hand, that actually seems
like a pretty good idea if you're naughty, because then
Santa won't truly know right, But on the other hand,
it is rather damning. Circumstantial evidence Black Peter, known to

(05:05):
natives of the Netherlands as Zorte piet may appear rather
tame in theory. He does, after all, give suites and
presents to good little boys and girls, and he's a
companion to Sinterklaus, that is, Saint Nicholas. The insidiousness of
Black Pete comes in the fact that he is a
racial stereotype by the lily white natives of the Netherlands

(05:26):
and Belgium. Although modern attempts to be politically corrective claimed
that the reason for the naming of black in Peter's
name comes from his occupation as a chimney sweep, the
physical appearance says otherwise, black face makeup, exaggerated red lips,
and thick, grillowy hair. It should also be noted that
Pete accompanies Cinerclaus on his journey from Spain, meaning he's

(05:50):
likely a Moor like the Othello guy from Shakespeare, as
suggested by Jan Schapman and Saint Nicholas and his servant.
In attempts to downplay the racist back ground of the
character to foreign tourists, the Dutch have tried having the
person playing Zwarte Pieten instead paint himself in a variety
of colors. This did not set well with those rooted

(06:11):
in the tradition now, and he has since returned to
his black face roots. In recent years, the backlash returned
from figures from other cultures, which has forced the local
governments to downplay and rethink Sporte Piet's role in the
winter celebrations. The sons of Grila and her troll husband,
the Eulads, come in and run around the town in

(06:32):
a backward twelve days of Christmas. The Eulads show up
one at a time on the thirteen days building up
to Christmas Day, each staying two weeks, so that the
first lad, who arrived on December twelfth, is the first
to depart on Christmas Day. The remaining brothers then leave
one day in the same order that they arrived, until

(06:53):
festivities end on January sixth. While in modern versions of
this story they are mostly just mischievous creatures pulling harmless
pranks like slamming doors eating the town's yogurt supply no joke,
the original story of the lads was far more sinister,
and you might have guessed given their presence on this list.

(07:13):
As in the modern story, they come down from dwellings
in the mountains in the days leading up to Christmas Day. However,
rather than pulling the regular prank or trick, they along
with the Yule Tide cat, keep an eye on all
the children and kidnap those who did not receive any
clothes during the season so they can be eaten. As
you know, making sure all the children of the world

(07:36):
get what's coming to them at the end of the
year is quite in enterprise, which is no doubt why
Santa has everybody from elves making toys for the good
kids to demons kidnapping the mean spirited ones helping him out.
That would be Crampis, which we'll cover in a second.
But what about those kids who were neither particularly good
or particularly bad? While for them the Germans give us

(07:58):
necked ruprict also known as farm hand rupert. He more
or less looks like a shepherd taken out of your
neighborhood Nativity who sports a long beard, brown cloak, and
a staff. Basically, his dick is that he goes around
asking kids if they can pray. If they can, they
get some awesome gingerbread. If they can't, he gives them

(08:18):
some useless junk, and if they refuse to even try
to pray, he beats them with a bag of ashes.
So children better remember the reason for the season is
the Baby Jesus, not just the changes in the seasons,
or else they'll receive some unfortunate presents or get beaten
with some ashes. The Perchton is a dual gendered spirit

(08:41):
who comes out during the twelve days of Christmas, that
is December twenty fifth through January fifth. On one hand,
we have the female, beautiful Perchton Schnoperchton, and on the
other we have the male and aptly named schi Schperchton
or ugly Perchton. The former is a giver of luck
and gifts, while the other is an ugly beast who
looks much like Crampus and similarly related to the devil,

(09:04):
whom is the most ugly of all of the Purchtons.
As can be expected, the girl gives treats to the
good people of the world. The boy punishes the bad.
What I believe is the most terrifying about this character
of Christmas mythology is that if it passes you, you
can never be too sure which side you're going to
be met with. On one hand you gave to the poor,
and the other you could have given more. Where wolves, Yes,

(09:28):
where wolves. At Christmas, we typically try to limit the
licanthropes to Halloween b movies and steamy fiction. Were Wolves, though,
have been a part of the Yule Tide horror fest
since the Middle Ages. In modernity, it's since been reduced, reused,
and recycled to the claim that simply having the audacity
to be born on Christmas Day that's cause enough to

(09:50):
make a person a were wolf. Probably need to warn
my brother about that his stepdaughter was born December twenty fifth. Anyway.
The nineteen sixty one film The Curse of the Werewolf
and explains that being born on December twenty fifth is
mocking Jesus Christ, as if the baby had a choice
in the matter. But anyway, so, because you're born on
that day, you have to be punished. Also, never mind

(10:13):
the fact that Jesus wasn't actually born December twenty fifth.
Never mind anyway, Yes, Jesus bringing the Christmas cheer by
punishing not just a baby for being born, he's also
damning any who fall into his or her wake. Every year,
whatever one of the few non Germanic characters on this
list is Griela, who comes from Icelandic mythology and is

(10:34):
a terrifying lady ogre whose preferred diet was naughty children,
because yeah, nothing says Merry Christmas quite like being fed
to a horrifying crone. In seventeen forty six, a decree
was issued prohibiting the use of Greela and the Yule Lads,
as they served no function other than to scare small
children to death. Well this has led to the crafting

(10:56):
of a few songs which claim that she has passed away. However,
a few of the songs suggest that she could always
return to the living should the number of naughty children increase.
Pierre Futar is seen to this day during Christmas in
Belgium and France. His name means whipping father, so he
could already guess how he brings holiday cheer. But that's

(11:19):
not the scary part of this story. That's the happy part.
As the story goes Lapierre Futar begin his life as
an innkeeper, kidnapper, and murderer in that order. One day,
while keeping his inn, three rich boys on their way
to a religious boarding school stay. It is in recognizing
their wealth Lapire, along with his wife, decide to capture

(11:41):
and murder the children by slitting their throats to take
their money, because that somehow seemed like a better idea
than ransoming them to their wealthier parents. For some reason,
while trying to make corpse stew, Saint Nick shows up
and resurrects the boys. Seeing his power, the innkeeper repents
and become Saint Nick's partner by becoming the official whipping

(12:03):
boy of bad boys and girls. Crampus, whose name comes
from the Germanic root for claw, dates back long before
the time of Christ, but in modern day he's more
or less the ultimate Christmas demon, the antithesis of Santa Claus.
He's old nick to Satan Nick. As you might say,
his day is December fifth. And while American kids never

(12:25):
feared a lack of shiny new presence, no matter their
behavioral tendencies, children of the old World, especially Germany, knew
something worse than a lump of coal was coming their
way if they misbehaved. Rather, if you weren't well behaved,
you were beaten and tortured before being kidnapped and taken
to Crampus's lair, where we can only assume that one

(12:45):
was beaten and tortured even more. In modern days, there
appears to be two sides on how to handle the
Crampus story. Since the nineteen fifties, Austrians have tried to
put the creature on the back burner playing terrorizing small
children with such tales isn't healthy, while in the Germanic
city of Schlanders Silandro, Italy, young men are even encouraged

(13:05):
to dress up as the Crampus and terrorize small children
before having some schnapps with the heads of the house. Elsewhere, still,
the Crampus has given his own holiday prior to the
Feast of Saint Nicholas December fifth. It's known as Crampus Knocked,
and he even appears on his own holiday greening card
known as Crampis Carton up next on Weird Darkness. Deep

(13:33):
in the Alpine region of Germany, the Christmas season is
bookended by two frightening beings, Crampus, who roams on December fifth,
and Frau Perchta, who's associated with Birchentog the feast of
Epiphany January sixth. But who is Frau Perchta? Plus what
would you think if you received a Christmas card? In

(13:54):
the mail that had a picture of a dead bird
on the cover. Not very festive, is it, But that's
not what people believed in the past. For a while,
a dead bird was synonymous with saying Merry Christmas. These
stories and more coming up. Who is Frau Perchta. Is

(14:32):
she an evil hag who kills lazy women and children
or she a beautiful lady who protects babies, women and children.
The answer is both. In Germanic pagan tradition, the goddess
Birchta or Bertha, meaning bright or shining one, protected women
and children. Bertha, the lady in white or white Lady,

(14:54):
was considered the Alpine cousin of brow Holly and the
Nordic goddess Friga. As the white Lady, she was associated
with beautiful birch trees and watched over the forests and
all the wild life in it. She was the spirit guide,
a psychopomp I love that word, psychopomp, who led the
dead into the afterlife. Her duty was to care for Hymchen,

(15:16):
the children who died in infancy. Birchtaut was considered the
goddess of in between places. That's a really cool concept.
She can be found between safety and danger, between life
and death, and on Birchton talk the Epiphany January sixth,
the goddess of the time between the years, but Birchto's

(15:37):
dual nature meant that she was also depicted as an
old crone the spins to Benfrow with a splayed foot,
possibly from years of working the treaddle on a spinning
wheel or a goosefoot, indicating that she was a shape
shifter who cared for animals, and she also carried a cane.
As this image, she was thought to wander the countryside

(15:57):
as the upholder of cultural taboo. During the round Notches,
she was part of the wild hunt, causing the rumbling
in the mountains with the followers quick aside. Why would
there be a goddess to uphold cultural taboos? Remember, in Germany,
society works together to uphold certain rules. At the time,
participating in holidays and feasting was important. It held the

(16:20):
group together. By not participating by working on days where
the group was supposed to feast, it was to bring
bad luck to the group. This concept of society's rules
and taboos still carries forward today. Just look at the
expectation to sweep your apartment, steps on your day, or
ordinances against washing the car on a Sunday. As women

(16:41):
became a larger part of the economy with their spinning
and weaving, birchta checked to make sure that young women
had completed their spinning for the year. Laziness was not tolerated.
Looms were to be set up on January sixth. If
the work wasn't completed in time, you wouldn't have enough
thread for the warp. Put another way, the end of

(17:01):
the year is a time for putting new resolutions or
goals into place. Unfinished projects are a weight that holds
you back from growth or change. A clear mind, a
clear workspace allows for new growth. According to one of
Birch's legends, a woman who lost her son in infancy
saw him in a field with a group of other children,

(17:22):
each carrying a jug, following a lady dressed in white.
As the white lady stepped over a low wall, the
other children followed, but her son couldn't get over the wall.
She raced over to pick him up and take him
in her arms. She smiled at her warmth, but said
to her, don't cry, mother, you will fill my jug
with your tears and it will overflow. I'm safe with

(17:43):
a white lady. The weeping mother stopped crying, set her
son on the other side of the wall with the
rest of the children, and was able to return to
her home, content that her child was being looked after.
Women especially looked to Berchtack, this southern German cousin to Frawl,
because she was a goddess of abundance. She cared for

(18:03):
children and for domestic issues. Remember this was a time
of high infant mortality. Women needed to believe that their
lost babies would be cared for in the afterlife. Berchta
looked after the hymchin, the spirits of children who died
before they could be baptized. On birchtentalg January sixth, women
would cook a special porridge later called perchton milch, a

(18:26):
gruel with fish to feed the family, and always leave
the bowl of it out for Perchsta and her followers.
It was said that if Berchta enjoyed the offering, the
family would receive blessings for the year. The Catholic Church
held great power over Bavaria in the sixth century and
insisted that pagan practices be renounced. Still many people didn't

(18:47):
want to change. Women did not want to give up
their goddess. The church began to speak out against Berchta
from the pulpit, accusing people of praying to Domina Perchta
instead of the Virgin Mary. In the twelfth century, the church,
using fear tactics, renamed Berchta, calling her Perchta. Perchaton are

(19:07):
frightening monsters, and Berchta now Perchta was the leader of
those monsters. The beautiful white goddess was painted as an
ugly crone with an iron face and a hooked nose
who carried a knife in her skirts to slit the
bellies of anybody who crossed her. Despite this, people kept
up with their worship. Finally, in fourteen sixty eight, the

(19:29):
church officials outlawed the cult of Perchta. In the Thesaurus Paupernum,
it forbade leaving Perchta offerings during the Christmas season for
inquiry minds. The Thesaurus Papernum is a collection of acceptable behaviors, recipes,
and medicinal cures for the poor, compiled over seven centuries
by church officials. New stories emerged about a Christmas hag

(19:52):
who would capture and eat children, or stuffed children into
her sack and carry them away and worse. New legends
emerged that Frau per Berchta would kill you by slitting
your stomach open and stuffing it with straw and stones
if your home wasn't clean enough or if you'd not
finished your spinning. Essentially, church officials of time turned her

(20:12):
into a female crampus, the evil counterpart of Saint Nicholas.
Keep in mind. The years between fourteen fifty and seventeen
hundred is known as the Burning Times in German history.
The country dealt with the Protestant Revolution, the Thirty Years War,
and political instability. During this time, around one hundred thousand

(20:33):
people were accused of witchcraft and many were killed. Fear
and uncertainty were a powerful motivator. By seventeen fifty, the
transformation was complete and Frau Perchda, also known as boutsen Bircht,
was a boogeyman known as the belly Slitter. Frauperchda appeared
on the twelfth night of Christmas with her Perchston spirit

(20:54):
followers with a new nickname, the belly Slitter. According to
this new legend, if a child were found to be
a liar, Perchda would scrape out their eyes with glass.
If she was unsatisfied with your behavior, left a dirty home,
or worst of all, if your spinning for the year
was unfinished, she would slice open your belly and stuff
it with straw and pebbles, and then stomp the unfinished

(21:15):
work with her deformed goosefoot. Fear of Frau Perchta started
new rituals in Austria. Groups calling themselves Perchton would dress
in masks and costumes and perform rituals to frighten away
the ghostly followers of Perchda and wake up the spirits
of the new year. But along with the ugly Perchton,
there was also the beautiful Perchton, as we mentioned before,

(21:39):
a reflection of Berchta's white woman who would bring luck
to the villagers. The Church again banned these traditions, but
they were never completely lost. The nineteenth century saw a
renewed interest in folk culture. Jacob Grimm published Deutsche Mythology
or Teutonic Mythology in eighteen thirty five, detailing pagan German mythology.

(22:01):
His research into Perchta claimed that she was once as
powerful as birch told and led the wild hunt beside him. Slowly,
the old traditions began to make a comeback, like Crampis
knocked parades. On December fifth, the Raunished or twelve days
of Christmas became a time for traditional perched in performances. Today,
in the Alpine regions of Austria, primarily in Salzburg and

(22:24):
salz Kamergut, Perchedon ceremonies are mostly held for the tourists.
Sitcha Perston with their heavy, ugly masks shown Perchston who
wake spring, and in Rorus, you'd better keep your home
clean or you might get a visit from the shavel Perchton,
a Perchton with a giant beak, who would make sure
the floors are cleaned and the house is dusted, even

(22:44):
in the corners. The theme of Neil Gaiman's book American
Gods is that the old gods continue to exist only
as long as people remember and worship them. The old
image of Birchta guardian of women and infants might have
faded away, but she's not gone. Today we still carry
out some of the rituals, maybe without even understanding why

(23:06):
my house is cleaned for Christmas, and work between Christmas
and the Epiphany slows way down. Not because of perch Dub,
but because of my mom. She did it because of
her mom. Maybe somewhere in our history an ancestor mother
did it because she feared and respected ral Perchta. What

(23:38):
would you think if you've got a Christmas card in
the mail featuring the photo of a dead bird that
somebody really didn't like you, I believe it or not,
that would not be the case. Animals have long been
associated with Christmas, although there's no mention of them anywhere
and the Biblical Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The people
of the Middle Ages believed that the lack of involvement

(23:59):
of animals in the birth of Jesus was an oversight
and were determined to correct this. Since then, a long
list of animals has entered the legend. Stories claimed that
a donkey carried Mary to Bethlehem, a donkey and an
ox knelt down before the baby, a rooster crowed, announcing
the birth. A robin burned its breast red after getting
too close to the flames while beating its wings to

(24:21):
keep the fire in the stable burning. A stork took
out its feathers to make a soft bed for the newborn,
becoming ever after the patron of babies, and a host
of other animals were said to have wandered through the
Bethlehem Stable. People of the Victorian era took this even
further by having all kinds of animals celebrating the season,
acting like humans and dressed in human clothing. Holiday cards

(24:45):
depicted them dancing with Santa Claus, mailing out cards, playing poker,
reading books, singing carols, smoking pipes, and more. It was
a novelty at the time and one that was much
beloved by the people of the era. And then there
were the birds. Dead birds lying on their backs with
their little feet in the air, pictured on Christmas cards

(25:07):
with greetings like may yours be a Joyful Christmas and
a loving Christmas greeting. These cards, while very popular at
the time, are an anomaly today. There's really no real
explanation for them, only speculation about their meaning. Historians suggest
that the Victorians were a thoroughly sentimental lot, and that

(25:27):
perhaps their obsession with death, fully on display in the
graveyards of the era, is the answer. Death at a
young age was common at the time and highly sentimentalized.
The small bird might have represented a loving memory, but
why on a Christmas guard? The images of the dead birds,
perhaps frozen in the cold, were sure to elicit pity

(25:49):
and sympathy from the Victorians, and may reference the stories
of poor children freezing in the snow. Robins and wren's
were symbols of good luck in British and Irish folk
tales and considered important birds. Their natural deaths, depicted on
cards from the eighteen eighties have gone on to create
a sort of Christmas mystery today, coming up on weird darkness.

(26:19):
Tis the season for not only reindeer grenches and magical snowmen,
but also fearless children, negligent parents, and dumb thieves. Home
Alone may be the first Christmas movie that comes to
mind upon hearing that description, But it turns out there
is a long and storied tradition of true stories of
children left alone around the holidays, matching wits against would

(26:42):
be robbers. But first a woman leaves her family to
go Christmas shopping at the last minute and disappears forever.
These stories are up next. Thirty eight year old Michelle

(27:13):
Hunley Smith lived in the tiny rural town of Stoneville,
North Carolina, with her husband and her children fourteen year
old Amanda, a seven year old son, and a nineteen
year old daughter had already moved into a place of
her own. Michelle is described by those close to her
as a doting mother who was there when her kids
got off the bus every day and loved to cook

(27:33):
her family's favorite meals. She was also struggling with alcoholism,
a struggle that had recently cost her her job at
a local veterinary clinic and was either a reaction to
or the cause of problems within her marriage. On December ninth,
two thousand and one, at eight thirty pm that day,
Michelle kissed her kids good night and told her family
that she needed to pick up some last minute Christmas gifts.

(27:56):
Neighbors saw her drive her nineteen ninety five Pontiac Transport
van toward Martinsville, Virginia, but she never returned home. Martinsville
was at thirty minute drive from the Smith's home in Stoneville,
but her family says it was normal for the busy
mother to use evenings to shop. However, Michelle never returned
from her shopping trip. At twelve thirty in the morning,

(28:18):
mister Smith woke up Amanda and told her that Michelle
was missing. The couple had fought before, and Michelle had
stayed overnight at her mother's home, but there was no
fight before Michelle left this time, and she would have
said if she wasn't coming home. The Rockingham County Sheriff's
office was notified that Michelle was missing, and her family
was worried about her. Neither Michelle nor the Pontiac van

(28:40):
she drove were ever found. Michelle also had her children's
Social Security cards with her when she disappeared. Her purse
was where she kept them. Around April two thousand and two,
the family received an anonymous letter that was addressed to
Michelle and Amanda that claimed Amanda's Social Security number had
been used in a North Carolina county two hours away

(29:00):
from Stoneville. Contacting the phone number included in the letter
did not give the family any more information. Michelle's husband
says that she left to start a new life. It
wasn't until years after her disappearance that he suddenly recalled
Michelle had left a good bye note to her family. However,
the note was never produced to the police, and he

(29:22):
now denies that he claimed the note. Ever, existed. Amanda
believes that Michelle would never have voluntarily left her children.
She recalls trying to endure Christmas with her now missing mother.
I'll never forget that first Christmas without her. We didn't
even care about presents or anything. Our mom was gone.
Nothing was ever the same after that. She also says

(29:45):
that she and her mother were best friends and that
Michelle was a really good mother. We had a special bond.
Amanda made the Bring Michelle Hunley Smith Home Facebook page
to bring public awareness to her mother's case and post
photos and updates. The case is also been covered on
an episode of The Vanished podcast. If you know anything
about the disappearance of Michelle Hunley Smith, you can email

(30:08):
find Michelle Hunleysmith at gmail dot com. The movie Home
Alone from nineteen ninety starring mccullay Culkin has become a
Christmas classic. Watching poor Kevin McAllister, who was left home

(30:31):
at Christmas by himself battling would be burglars. It's just
pure fun. But the truth of the matter is that
Kevin was not the first, nor was he the last
kid to be left behind during the holidays to take
on criminals. And no, I'm not referring to the horrible
sequels and remake of the classic movie. I'm talking real
life stories. If you two find yourself abandoned by your

(30:55):
family and face to face with an unwelcome intruder this
holiday season, I have some proven strategies to reclaim your
house and, if needed, your Christmas presence. First ask nicely,
catch more flies with honey, as they say. As shown
by this heartwarming tale about a child neglect and capitalist
greed from the Abbeville Press and Banner, December twenty fourth,

(31:17):
nineteen twenty A Christmas burglar with a heart heeded the
please of Ruth Mayley, aged ten, not to take her
Christmas presents, but she found him at her home yesterday
noon on her return from school for lunch. The burglar
was eating her lunch, which had been left by her
mother before going downtown shopping. Okay, never mind personal safety,
family heirlooms are even proper nutrition. Ruth clearly has her

(31:39):
priorities straight presents or busts. Okay. Continuing with the article,
he took her to the parlor and played little jingles
and Christmas songs for her. When she told him that
she would have to return to school, he said, tell
your mother, I'll return someday and steal everything in the house.
But he left without taking anything. According to another account,
this one in Omaha Daily b December twenty third, nineteen twenty,

(32:03):
Ruth decided that he was a nice burglar, for she
begged him not to take her Christmas presents, which her
mother had placed in a closet, and he never touched them.
So I was already questioning little Ruth's sanity for confronting
a burglar, But now I think this girl needs immediate
psychological care. I mean, what kind of the kid knows
where their presence are hidden and doesn't peak? Right? Mom,

(32:25):
If you're listening, don't worry. I never did, but only
because you put them on the top shelf where I
couldn't reach them. Another chip for you. Kids left behind
by mom and Dad dress for battle. From the Billings Gazette,
November seventeenth, nineteen oh five. Noisily trooping downstairs, clad only
in their nighties and with their hearts in their throats,
Three small sons of J. R. Martin thirty three, twenty

(32:47):
eight Second Avenue s routed a burglar that had entered
their home last night and bagged one hundred dollars worth
of silver. The boys are all under fourteen years of age.
That's right, folks, forget underwear and capes. Real heroes wear.
The boys were just getting ready for bed when they'd
heard someone prowling about in the kitchen below. The boys'
parents were at church, but undaunted by the possibility of

(33:08):
a mix up with a burglar, the children went downstairs
to see who the intruder was. Hey, at least the
Martin parents stayed in the same country as their children.
I'm looking at you, McAllister's. On the way, they made
as much noise as three youngsters would be expected to make,
and when they entered the kitchen, the frightened burglar was
just disappearing through the pantry window. When the boys first
heard him, he was ransacking the house and had taken

(33:31):
all the silverware from the sideboard. This he had thrown
loosely into a sack, but was compelled to leave it behind.
As soon as the marauder had left, The boys locked
the window and returned to bed, showing no signs of
excitement when they told their parents of their experience. Here's
another option for you, little ones. It's to offer the
grenches breaking in a gift basket. If you're looking for

(33:52):
a cheap alternative to fancy gift baskets, well the stories
for you from the Day Book, December nineteenth, nineteen sixteen.
If the Christmas burglar that invaded the home of Missus
Halle Trosngar forty two oh seven North Lincoln Street yesterday
will come back, he can have a well filled basket
that will bring cheer to him and the kiddies if
he has kiddies. Missus Trosngar is sorry for this burglar

(34:15):
because she just knows that he was hungry when he
broke into their flat, and the way he treated Jana,
her thirteen year old daughter, proves that he has a
kind heart and is probably a daddy himself in need.
When Jana came home from school, she no sooner opened
the door than she bumped into this burglar. She screamed,
but jumped at him and started fighting with all her

(34:35):
little might. Here finally a sensible reaction to an intruder.
Way to go Jana anyway, continuing with the story. He
stopped her, of course, and tied her hands and feet,
but he did it gently and laid her down so
softly that missus Trosngar just knows he didn't want to
hurt her. The intruder left Jana on the floor and
hurried from the house with nothing but a bottle of
milk taken off the porch. Forgiveness and compassion no virtues,

(35:00):
but it sounds like missus Trosngar was more concerned about
the would be robbers welfare than the trauma he no
doubt caused her poor daughter Jana. And this burglar was
so nice. Why do you leave her on the cold
floor instead of on a better accouch. Huh okay, Well,
if all else fails, sit down for story time with
your burglar. Admittedly, Emma in this next story was probably

(35:23):
not a child at the time and may or may
not have actually existed in the early twentieth century. You
never know. Still, here is the supposedly true story from
the Daily Capital Journal, December twenty third, nineteen sixteen. Alone
in her house, Missus Emma Guard was making Christmas presents
when a masked burglar entered, pointed a revolver at her head,

(35:44):
and ordered her to tell where her money was hidden.
You shouldn't be doing this, said the woman, gazing steadily
at the intruder. This is Christmas time. I have only
twenty dollars and I'm here alone making presents. Sit down
and we will talk about Christmas. You're listening, missionaries say,
I'll hope you're taking notes here, because that's how this

(36:04):
is done. Amazed, the burglar did so and lowered his revolver.
Then came the recital of the woman not in fear,
but in the hope of helping the wayward man. The
sweetness of the tale he had heard at his mother's knee,
the story that never grows old, transformed the man. Instead
of a thief, he became again a believer in the
gentle Nazarene, and in fancy followed the star. Thank you,

(36:27):
you've made my Christmas happier, he said in a broken
voice as he left the room. So, whether you're in
Paris like the McAllister's or at home installing a security
system to thwart burglars and Santa's alike, best wishes for
a happy, crime free holiday season. Thanks for listening. If

(36:58):
you like the show, please share it with someone you
know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters,
or unsolved mysteries like you do. All stories in Weird
Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and
you can find source links or links to the authors
in the show notes. Merry Christmas, Here's a Dead Bird
was written by Troy Taylor. Creepy Christmas Characters is by

(37:21):
Molly Mayhan for Ranker and Karen Ann for German Girl
in America Mom Vanishes, while Christmas Shopping is by Chrissy
Stockton for Thought Catalog, and True Stories of Kids Home
Alone at Christmas is from Second Glance History. Again. You
can find a link to all of these stories in
the show notes. Weird Darkness is a production and trademark

(37:42):
of Marler House Productions, Copyright Weird Darkness. And now that
we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with
a little light Micah five verse two, You Bethlehem, Ephratha,
though you were small among the clans of Judah. Out
of you will come for me one who will be
ruler over Israel's origins are from of old, from ancient times,

(38:04):
and a final thought from Henry Ward Beecher. The Unthankful
Heart discovers no mercies, but let the thankful heart sweep
through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron,
so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessings.
I'm Daryn Marler. Thanks for joining me in the weird darkness.

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