I love this time of year. All Hallows' Eve is such a wonderful and mysterious day, and it is undoubtedly my favorite holiday. Witches, vampires, ghouls, and ghosts, it makes me ridiculously happy.

Following that train of thought, I want to talk about another ghoulish character. His name is Krampus. Funnily enough, he is part of the Christmas legend. So, we are hopping from Halloween to Christmas, totally makes sense.

Anyway, back to Krampus. Everyone knows the legend behind Santa Claus, but so few know that he has another helper, who definitely isn't Rudolph or jolly little elves. Instead of getting coal, children who had misbehaved would be visited by Krampus. He is a goat like creature with a long forked tongue, cloven hooves, and horns who would punish the naughty children. They would be beaten with birch branches, whipped with a horsehair whip, and then taken away to hell for an entire year.

Obviously, the old Germanic cultures wanted to be completely that their kids would be well behaved. He was sent to the bad children by Santa, so the old lyrics of "you better watch out" really take on a whole new meaning. There is no coal, no presents from your parents, instead you get tortured and abducted by a demonic looking creature. No parents to save you, no siblings to try and stand up for you. You were naughty and now you had to pay the price. A whole year of hellish reflection on your actions, definitely taking time-out to the extreme.