KRAMPUS

Krampus as depicted on antique German postcards ca. 1910. Postcards with seasonal/holiday illustrations such as these were wildly popular in Europe, in the USA and Canada during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Here are four depicting the “enforcer” Krampus grabbing kids, dragging them into Hell, threatening them with a birch switch, putting captured children into a basket on a sled and a long line of kids with their hands tied being lead way to a horrible fate. I wonder how effective folk stories of Krampus were in making children more docile and obedient by scaring them into good behaviour?