She Opened the Door Expecting Santa. She Was Shot in the Face.

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Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darn Marler and this is Weird Darkness.
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Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, Lord
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the strange, and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.
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Coming up in this episode, we'll look at some of
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the history of Santa and his cohorts and how they've
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all not been as jolly as we know them. Now,
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I'll tell you an Icelandic Christmas story that is so
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creepy the government was forced to censor it. But first,
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Christmas parties are a time for joy, laughs, and family,
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a time to be shared with the ones you love.
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But sometimes the ones who love us have a different,
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more sinister plan. That was the case of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo,
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the Killer Santa. We begin with that story. Now, bult
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your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and
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come with me into the Weird Darkness. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo
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grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California.
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He graduated from John H. Polytechnic High School and went
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on to study computer science at California State Northridge. A
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bright man, he graduated and secured himself a job as
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a software engineer for jet Propolush Laboratory. Bruce wasn't the
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model employee, spending time hacking the company systems to access
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private personnel information, including but not limited to compensation, tax information, etc.
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He also had very poor attendance. Despite all of this,
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by nineteen eighty eight, at the age of twenty four,
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he found himself engaged to Delia, a fellow employee. Bruce
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still lived with his mother and wasn't in the best
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financial shape, so Delia agreed to pay for a wedding
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reception at the country club, as well as a honeymoon
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in Tahiti. Everything was set up and both Delia and
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Bruce's mother were excited. The big day arrived on June seventeenth,
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nineteen eighty nine. Delia waited at the church in nervous anticipation,
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but Bruce never showed up. She later discovered that he
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had withdrawn three thousand dollars from their joint bank account
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and took a trip of his own to Palm Springs, Florida.
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Dehlia called off their engagement and things went back to
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how they used to be. It wasn't until two thousand
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and one that Bruce found himself in another difficult situation.
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He was living with his new girlfriend, Eleanor and their
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thirteen month old son, Matthew, in Woodland Hills, California. It
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was the most stable relationship Bruce had ever had, and
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things were going really well. That is until the day
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Eleanor went out, leaving Bruce home alone with the baby.
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Bruce turned on the television and got sucked in. He
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wasn't paying careful attention to Matthew, and the boy fell
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into the backyard pool. When Eleanor returned home, she found
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Bruce holding their son nearly hysterical. Matthew was rushed to
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the hospital, and after just one week of intense medical attention,
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the doctors informed them that their son would never fully recover.
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In fact, Matthew had sustained brain damage and was now
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a paraplegic. As Bruce did when things got hard, he left,
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never to see his son again, despite his mother's continued
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interest in and support of the child. In two thousand
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and four, a coworker of Bruce's introduced him to his
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sister in law, Sylvia. Sylvia was a forty year old
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mother of three, and they hit it off right from
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the start January twenty ninth, two thousand and six, the
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couple was married. Bruce purchased a three bedroom, four hundred
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fifty two thousand dollars home in Montrose. The happy family
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attended church together regularly. Bruce even volunteered as an usher.
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But things are not always as they seem. The relationship
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was suffering under financial stress, and then Bruce's mother, Nancy,
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decided she had to say something. She was quite fond
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of Sylvia and knew her son had his troubles. She
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told Sylvia about her son's past relationships, including that with
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Eleanor and their son, Matthew. Sylvia was shocked by this revelation,
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having not known anything about Matthew, and further angered by
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Bruce's dishonesty and his lack of responsibility. Then it was
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discovered that although Bruce had not seen his son since
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that day in the hospital, he was still continuing to
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claim him on his taxes as a dependent. Sylvia filed
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for divorce in April two thousand and eight, and Bruce
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spiraled into depression. In June, he purchased his first gun,
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a nine millimeter handgun. On June eighteenth, in divorce court,
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he was ordered to pay one thousand, seven hundred and
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eighty five dollars per month in spousal support. He wrote
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his first check, which bounced, and then he stopped payment
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on the second, making no further attempts to pay. On
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July thirty first, he was fired from his job for
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billing fraudulent hours. He applied for unemployment, but was denied
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as workers who are fired are deemed ineligible. On August eighth,
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Bruce purchased another nine millimeter handgun, followed by another purchase
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on September eighth. He then contacted one of his neighbors, Jerry,
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who happened to be the proprietor of Jerry's costumes. He
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requested a custom sized Santa suit with a little extra
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room for comfort, as he was six foot four and
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two hundred seventy pounds, making a standard suit too small.
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He told her that it was for a children's party,
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and he paid a two hundred dollars deposit with a
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promise to pick up and pay the rest in November. Then,
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on October eleventh, he purchased his fourth handgun. He received
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a call from an old high school friend, Steve Irwin,
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who asked him over to his home in Iowa to
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celebrate his forty fifth birthday. Bruce accepted, and while he
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was there, confided in Steve. He was embarrassed that his
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personal life was open and on display in court, where
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everyone could see his finances and now knew of his firing.
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Even more so, he was upset that he and his
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mother hardly spoke, and during the divorce proceedings, she chose
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to sit with Sylvia's family, not providing support to her
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own son. November came and Bruce returned to Jerry's costumes
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and paid the outstanding fee for his costume and even
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left her a twenty dollars tip. On the thirteenth, he
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purchased yet another handgun, now totaling five. He had also
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acquired a Dewault compressor, a fifty foot hose, and a
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tank of high octane fuel just one week before Christmas.
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On December eighteenth, two thousand and eight, Bruce's divorce from
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Sylvia was final. He agreed to let her keep her
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diamond engagement ring and agreed to pay her ten thousand dollars.
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The next day, he went to a Montrose travel agency
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where he booked a ticket to Iowa, where he would
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visit his friend Steve. He paid six hundred and fifty
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dollars for a round trip flight that would depart at
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twelve twenty am on Christmas Day and return two weeks later.
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He rented a Dodge Caliber from Budget, then rented a
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silver RAV four from Rhetoric. He loaded up the RAV
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four with maps of the southwestern United States, as well
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as water, food, clothing, a tank of gas, a laptop
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and desktop computer. Early evening on Christmas Eve, he stopped
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to chat with a neighbor, saying he was heading out
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to a Christmas party. He'd been signed up to serve
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as an usher for midnight Mass at the church he attended,
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but didn't show up. Instead, at approximately eleven thirty pm,
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dressed in his Santa suit, Bruce knocked on the door
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of his former in law's house, where he knew his
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ex wife would be. The door was answered by eight
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year old to Letitia Usupulski, Sylvia's niece. Excited to see
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Santa Claus, she rushed toward him. Bruce didn't hesitate. He fired,
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hitting her in the face. He went on to shoot
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indiscriminately at the frightened party guests. When he felt he
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was done shooting, he unwrapped the gift he had brought
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with him. It was a homemade flamethrower. He began to
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spray racing fuel around the home, intent on lighting it
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with a flare. Unfortunately for Bruce, the flames from two
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separate fireplaces triggered an explosion. Bruce fled the house, dropping
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a pair of fake glasses and his Santa hat in
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the yard. He jumped into the Dodge Caliber rental car
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and drove thirty miles to Silmar Parking, about a block
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away from his brother's home. He carefully peeled his shredded
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Santa suit off his body, as it had melted into
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his skin from the explosion, causing third degree burns. He
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used his suit to set up a booby trap. If
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the suit was moved, a trip wire would ignite a
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flash fire, exploding two hundred rounds of ammunition. Bruce's brother
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returned home around three ten am and found him sprawled
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on the living room couch with two handguns by his side.
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He was dead, having shot himself in the mouth back
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of the house. The fire soared forty to fifty feet
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and took eighty firefighters an hour and a half to extinguish.
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Nine people were dead and three others wounded. Due to
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the intensity of the fire, victims could only be identified
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with dental and medical records. Sylvia Ortega, Pardo Bruce's ex wife,
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died from a gunshot wound. Alicia Sodomayar Ortega, Sylvia's mother,
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died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Joseph s Ortega,
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Sylvia's father, died from multiple gunshot wounds. Charles Ortega, Sylvia's brother,
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died from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds.
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Sherry Lynn Ortega, Charles's wife, died from a combination of
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smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds. James Ortega, Sylvia's brother, died
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from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds. Teresa Ortega,
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James's wife, died from a combination of smoke inhalation and
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gunshot wounds. Alicia Ortega or Tease, Sylvia's sister, died from
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a combination of smoke indhalation and gunshot wounds. Michael Andre
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or Tees, Alicia's son, died in the fire. Sylvia's eight
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year old niece, who had answered the door to start it,
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All who had been shot in the face suffered severe
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but non life threatening injuries. A sixteen year old girl
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was shot and wounded in the back, and a twenty
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year old woman suffered a broke kennkle jumping from a
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second floor window. It has been established by a lot
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of my Yule Season episodes over the years that the
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holiday season was not always merry and bright. There are
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a lot of frightening aspects to the Christmas slash Winter
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Solstice season that date back to the days of the Pagans,
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who started most traditions that we still honor today. Many
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would say that Santa's origin story began with the Norse
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god Odin and his wild ride through the winter skies
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to bring presents to the vikings, but others would say
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that it began with Saint Nicholas, a Catholic saint who
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was known for his generosity. But even this Santa origin
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story has some scary and gruesome elements to it. In
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European country, Saint Nicholas arrived bringing good cheer and a
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demon named Crampus on December sixth. He was the gift
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bringer who rewarded good children with stockings filled with toys
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and treats. Crampus doled out the punishments for the children
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who had been bad. But Saint Nicholas was no mythical figure.
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He was a real person who became a symbol of
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the holidays. He was known to have lived in the
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fourth century in what is now Turkey and served as
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a monk, then a bishop, and then an archbishop during
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his religious career. Beyond these few facts, little is known
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about his life. Most of what is left is legend.
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Signs of his holiness allegedly began at birth, when he
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immediately stood up to praise God and later refused his
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mother's milk on fast days. He went on to become
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the world's most popular non biblical saint, and more than
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two thousand churches dedicated to him in France and Germany
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and four hundred in England. Artists portrayed him more than
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any other saint except for the Virgin Mary herself. He's
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the patron saint of many things, including bankers, pawnbrokers, butchers, sailors, orphans,
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and royalty, as well as pirates, prostitutes and thieves. According
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to stories, Nicholas was very wealthy from an inheritance, but
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he secretly gave away his money to charity. One legend
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told about him is said to be the source for
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hanging up stockings and giving gifts. At Christmas time, a
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desperate father lost all his wealth and was unable to
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provide dowries for his three daughters. This meant that the
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girls would likely live a life of slavery in prostitution.
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Hearing of the predicament, Nicholas tossed a bag of gold
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through the family's window each night to make sure the
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daughter had their dowries. Instead of landing on the fireplace hearth, though,
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the gold fell into stockings that were hung there to dry.
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Besides just being generous, Nicholas was also said to have
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miraculous powers, as often recalled in one dark tale, there
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was a butcher who was making a living by luring
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children into his home to murder them, cut them up,
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and sell them in barrels as food during a time
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of great famine. Yeah, that's part of the Santa Claus legend.
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When an angel told Saint Nicholas of these atrocities, the
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bishop went to the butcher's home just in time to
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restore life to the three boys before they could be eaten.
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I can't connect that story to anything we celebrate about
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the holidays now, thank goodness, because having your Cristmas hand
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get up and walk away would likely ruin your holiday traditions.
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But well, here we are. Saint Nicholas is said to
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have died on December sixth, which became a day in
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his honor filled with celebration and gift giving. His body
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was interred inside of a stone tomb in the church
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where he served, but that is not the end of
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the story. In ten seventy one, the church was damaged
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during an attack from Muslim invaders. Fearful that harm may
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come to Saint Nicholas's remains, Italian sailors broke open his
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sarcophagus and stole his bones away to Bari, where they
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believed they would be safe. The stolen bones were interred
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in a crypt in the Basilica Dye San Nicola by
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Pope Urban the Second and were undisturbed for almost nine
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hundred years until nineteen fifty three, when they were removed
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for safe keeping while the church underwent restoration. Once the
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bones were out, though, words spread that a mysterious, sweet
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smelling oily liquid was oozing from Saint Nicholas's bones a
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liquid with healing properties. Even today, the small amount of
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liquid is mixed with holy water and sold to pilgrims
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as a curl. Somehow, over the centuries, Saint Nicholas's bones
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have spread around the globe. There are dozens of churches
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around the world claiming to possess teeth and other bone
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fragments of Saint Nicholas. They can be found in Belgium, Italy, Turkey, France,
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and were also at the Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church in
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New York, which was destroyed on September eleventh. One of
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the most famous relics can be found at the Saint
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Martha of Bethany Church and Shrine of All Saints in
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the town of mort Grove, Illinois. They actually have bones
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and relics from nearly three thousand saints, including Saint Nicholas.
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His pelvic bone was bought on eBay from an order
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of nuns in France, but locals swear it is authentic.
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I guess you can judge that for yourself. Unfortunately, our
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modern Christmas traditions are lacking in stories of cannibalism and prostitutes,
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but we still have the story of the Man who
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would eventually be turned into Santa It took the Protestant
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Reformation to replace Saint Nicholas as the Christmas bringer of gifts.
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Gift Giving Day was moved from December sixth to December
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twenty fifth, which had been chosen for Christ's birth date
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by the Church, which wanted to remove all of the
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pagan connections to winter celebrations. And that brings us to
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Santa Claus, who was still called Saint Nicholas at first.
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The jolly fat man with the long white beard, red
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suit and cap, trimmed in fur boots, and a big
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sack of toys slung over his shoulder. He arrives every
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Christmas Eve from the North Pole in a sleigh pulled
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by reindeer, dropping down chimneys to bring gifts to children.
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But it wasn't always this way. Our ancestors in the
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nineteenth century hadn't really made up their minds about what
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Sanna was supposed to look like. He was just being
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invented in America, and every artist and newspaper writer seemed
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to have his own ideas of what he looked like
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and how he made his holiday rounds. The first written
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description of the American Saint Nicholas was by Washington Irving,
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author of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow in eighteen oh nine,
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with the Dutch owned Old New York. Saint Nicholas showed
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up on Christmas afternoon in a horse drawn wagon, traveling
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over the roofs of houses and pulling presents from his
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pockets and dropping them down chimneys of the homes of
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people he liked. The formal name for Saint Nicholas, Sint Nicholas,
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was later slurred by American children into Center Claus and
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then Santa Claus. A very rare small book, The Children's
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Friend in eighteen twenty one by an unknown author, is
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the first American book about Christmas. In it, a fur
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wearing Santa Claus all one word is pictured on rooftops
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and a sleigh drawn by a single reindeer. And just
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twelve years his name had changed, and now he had
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a sleigh, reindeer, and a fur suit. There's no known
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record as to how all of that happened. And then
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came the eighteen twenty two poem A Visit from Saint
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Nicholas by American poet Clement Moore. In it to Saint
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Nicholas is now described as chubby and plump, a right
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jolly old elf, and dressed in furs from his head
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to his foot. He also has a white beard, smokes
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a pipe, has a bundle of toys on his back,
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and a tiny sleigh pulled by eight miniature reindeer, each
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of whom now has a name. In the years that followed,
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Santa Claus was literally invented by writers and artists across
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the country. His attributes, like keeping bad children in line
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with threats of lumps of coal instead of gifts, were
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imported by the Germans and mixed into the legend. Even so,
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depictions of Santa varied widely across America for the next
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few decades. Every artist tried his hand, and some were
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pretty odd and downright scary. Luckily for the children, most
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of them were in black and white because color printing
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was just too expensive in those things. But that would
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soon change, and in the late eighteen hundreds, Santa gained
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a new life thanks to artist Thomas Nast, who created
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the image that we all know and love, a fat, jolly,
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elderly man with a kindly bearded face, a belt around
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his ample middle, and dressed in a fur suit and cap.
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As full color lithography came into being, Santa's suit, which
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had been described in a number of colors, became bright red,
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a color which continues today. Thomas Nast had thankfully saved
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Santa Claus for American children with a little help from
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Coca Cola starting in the nineteen thirties, when the soft
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drink began advertising in color in popular magazines of the era.
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The first ad appeared in nineteen thirty but at apartment store,
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Santa was painted in a crowd drinking a bottle of coke.
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The ad featured the world's largest soda fountain, which was
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located in the famous Bar department in Saint Louis. From
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that time until nineteen sixty four, Coca Cola advertising showed
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Santa delivering toys, pausing to read a letter and enjoy
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a coke, visiting with the children who stayed up to
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greet him, and raiding the refrigerators at a number of homes.
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The original oil paintings were turned into ads in magazines
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and in store displays and on billboards, posters, calendars, and more.
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Whether we realize it or not, the Coca Cola paintings
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have influenced our modern Santa more than anything else. But
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Santa is far from the only figure that has become
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a symbol of the holiday season. As we will see
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in just a few moments, he just happens to be
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the only one that is no longer terrifying. When We're
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Darkness returns an Icelandic Christmas story that is so creepy
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that the government was forced to censor it up next,
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Given that it was a rough habitat to settle, it's
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unsurprising that Iceland's folklore isn't exactly warm and fuzzy. In fact,
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their first stories are almost as horrific as the Brother's
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grim fairy tales. Even Icelandic children were not sheltered from
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the rougher aspects of life during the Christmas season. For example,
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the youngest children were told creepy tales of the Yule Lads.
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Accompanied by their mother, Gryla and the demonic Yule Cat.
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The Yule Lads prowled during the Christmas season. Children unlucky
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enough to be kidnapped by them were cooked alive and eaten.
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The Yule Lads had many iterations over the years, and
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were eventually immortalized in a poem that is still memorized
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in Icelandic schools. However, the original story of these scary
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Christmas creatures was so terrible that it was eventually banned altogether.
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After hearing the tale of these morbid Elfin lads, any
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childhood fears you had of Santa Claus will seem pretty silly.
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According to the legend, the Yule Lads would visit children
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at night in the thirteen days leading up to Christmas.
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The purpose of these visits was always malevolent. There were
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thirteen individual Yule Lads with unique names and personalities. Each
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one performed a wicked task related to their specific persona,
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and they often stole food and resources that were important
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to survival. Stick jarstar, kil Jaguar, and Stuffur were all
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said to steal milk and farm animals. And I'm sure
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I'm butchering these names. Please forgive me, Askasklukjer allegedly licked
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up leftover food from potts. RecA took sausages, and ket
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Croker held a hook that he used to steal meat.
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Herroscaler would come and slam doors at night for the
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sole purpose of scarying sleeping children. Curtinasniker supposedly followed children
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to steal their candles and lanterns, leaving them alone in
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the dark. The yulads were said to be parented by
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two monsters named Gryla and Lapaluuoy. While both monsters were unpleasant,
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the mother figure of Grila was particularly menacing. Dating back
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to pagan times, the legendary Grila was a troll with
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hoofs for feet and thirteen tails. She lived in the
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mountains and would periodically come down into the towns to
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hunt for bad children. Supposedly, bad things happened to the
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children unlucky enough to encounter Griyla. They were placed in
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a sack and dragged back to a hillside dwelling. The
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kiddos were then boiled alive and eaten in a stew.
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This is a considerably more morbid punishment than getting coal
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in your stalking from Santa and his elves. As if
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the stories of the Ogre parents weren't terrifying enough, Grila
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and Lepouloi also had a pet cat that's even scarier
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than the ewle lads. The cat did not discriminate between
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good and bad children, regardless of behavior. The cat would
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stalk and eat whomever, because it could only feed on people.
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Children who received a new item of clothing were said
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to be immune from the Yule cat, so perhaps it
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was created to make children grateful for receiving sweaters as gifts.
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What exactly were the Yule Lads and where did they
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come from? Origin stories vary. Some stories said that freakish
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creatures were from another dimension that existed side by side
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with our own. They were essential invisible until the holidays.
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Other stories claimed that the boys were children of Eve
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that she hid from God. The lads were banished to
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another world after God discovered them. Some other sources reported
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that the Yule Lads were fallen angels. Whatever the origin story,
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the Eule Lads were certainly never described as benevolent entities.
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In addition to being menacing, the Yule Lads were described
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as physically terrifying. They were always portrayed as ugly and
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haglike in drawings. Some had unique physical characteristics that allowed
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them to commit mischief. One had an abnormally large nose
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used to sniff out food. Another was incredibly thin, so
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he's able to slip through cracks and crevices in homes
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to steal food. Yule Lads, while no longer is frightening
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as they once were, do still remain part of Iceland's culture.
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In fact, there is an Elf School in Iceland where
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scholars can study the history and mythology of the Yule
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Lads and other elfin creatures. Some people in Iceland legitimately
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believe in the Freakish Lads and in other elves from
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hidden worlds. People have come forward claiming to have interacted
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with Elvin beings, and according to Iceland's Elf School, roughly
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fifty four percent of Icelanders believe in elves. Before the
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tales of the Yule Lads were written down, they were
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shared via word of mouth. Stories varied greatly, and there
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was a time when there were eighty two different Yule Lads.
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In nineteen thirty two, the poet johanns Or Kotlam wrote
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a poem describing only thirteen of them. With time, the
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poem became so popular that thirteen became the generally accepted number.
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The poem is still recited around Christmas time in some
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Icelandic schools. In modern Iceland, it's life affable to think
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that the Yewle Lads could ever be worthy of outright banning.
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Children now leave shoes out for the Yewle Lads. Good
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children receive toys and candy from them, while bad children
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receive a raw potato. Somehow, the yule Lads went from
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demonic child eating monsters to entities that, at their absolute
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worsts put a root vegetable in your shoe. How did
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that transformation happen? At the beginning of the twentieth century,
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Santa Claus became more prevalent worldwide. As the more benevolent
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figure became popular in Iceland, the Yule Lads morphed to
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become a little less frightening. They were mischievous, and their
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antics were toned down to make for a lighter and
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cheerier holiday narrative. Why did people start telling such horrific
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stories to children to begin with? Though Iceland was a
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difficult territory to settle, given its rugged and cold conditions,
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was hard for the early settlers, the eule Ads legend
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may have been made terrifying to breed bravery and resilience
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in children so that they could grow up successfully in
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the difficult habitat. In modern times, the Euleads have been
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toned down considerably. They're still said to visit children in
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the thirteen days leading up to Christmas. However, their old
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ways have been converted to be more child friendly. Lads
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that would steal milk, for example, now politely request that
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children leave a glass of milk out for them. The
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misdeeds they commit are mostly in good fun. They may
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lick spoons as a joke instead of malevolently stealing resources
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from families in need. Stories of the Yule Lads in
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the beginning, though, were pretty terrifying for young children. After all,
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who would want to live in fear of tiny monsters
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coming to take you to their ogre mother to be
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cooked in a stew. In seventeen forty six, parents in
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Iceland were officially banned from telling their kids' stories about
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the Yule Lads. I guess if you're in Iceland and
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listening to Weird Darkness right now, you might have just
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broken some local ordinance or something. Oh well, Merry Christmas,
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thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share
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00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:38.839
it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or
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00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:43.519
strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do.
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All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true
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unless stated otherwise, and you can find source links or
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00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:53.240
links to the authors in the show notes. And You
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Thought You Knew About Santa was written by Troy Taylor,
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Bruce Jeffrey Pardo. The Killer Santa is from the Scare
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Chain and the Icelandic Yule Brothers is by Eris Whisty
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for Rankers Weird History Again. You can find links to
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all of these stories in the show notes. Weird Darkness
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is a production and trademark of Marler House Productions, Copyright
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Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark,
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I'll leave you with a little light first Samuel twelve,
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verse twenty four. But be sure to fear the Lord
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and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Consider what
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great things he has done for you. And a final thought,
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your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other
469
00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:42.440
relationship you have, so concentrate on making that relationship healthy. First,
470
00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:57.839
I'm Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.