Let’s see the little whippersnappers try this with the REAL Krampus! A group of teenagers in St. Johann, Pongau, Austria assaulted one of Krampus’s helpers during the yearly Krampus Christmas parade. What’s up with that?! And only one of the brats got taken to jail? And where were the other Krampuses (Krampi?) when their brother was getting the beat-down? The Krampuses/Krampi typically carry switches to whip naughty children. Too bad this particular Krampus didn’t have him a Buford Pusser-sized WALKING TALL ass-whippin’ stick!
It goes both ways, though, so I won’t get all righteously indignant about Krampus persecution. Last year in Salzburg (also in Austria, for those of you geographically uninformed) a few Krampus reenactors assaulted revelers, sending one kid to the hospital, and in 2014 it was a woman who was sent to the ER. Personally, I tend to blame the heavy consumption of alcohol rather than the spirit of Krampus for such occurrences. And don’t these people know they’re only succeeding in putting themselves on the naughty list? Do the ruffians think, because they are dressed as Krampus when they commit their assaults, that will somehow earn them some brownie points with the Christmas Devil? Hardly. Krampus is gonna need a BIG sack this year, he’s gonna have so many punks and thugs to drag back to the underworld.
