8 Christmas Monsters You've Never Heard Of

The nightmare is not before Christmas, it is Christmas. Let's talk about that. ♪(intro music)♪ Good morning mythical. Ah, Christmas, it's that magical time of year, when a big guy in red pajamas flies around the world, breaking and entering, kissing moms and eating all your cookies. - Wow! -Listen, Santa, when seen from the right perspective, he can look like a scary individual. - I see that. - But it has nothing about these

monsters

of Christmas folklore, about which I am going to test your knowledge today, Rhett. It's time for, - ♪(spooky bell music)♪ - (Link) Scary Christmas for everyone, (Link) and a good scare for everyone.

That's right, Rhett. It turns out that there are

monsters

associated with Christmas all over the world. I have

heard

about them. And over time... Oh, you have, haven't you? I've

heard

of them in general, but I don't know of any... Besides Krampus, there is a movie about Krampus. I did not see it. - Afraid of that. - Maybe you know some things. It's filling in the blanks. There is no prize, because Christmas is not about winning, but about trying to escape punishment. - Oh really? - Yes, and you are going to try... You are going to run from here to there to escape the punishment, because for each blank space that you do not fill in correctly, you will receive a Christmas punishment, which will be revealed to you in due time.

Are you ready? Suddenly I'm a little nervous. In the twelve days before Christmas, the German witch Frau Perchta rewards the generous and punishes the naughty by ripping out their entrails and replacing them with white. - Mrs. Perchta. - Perchta. I have not heard of it. - (crew laughs) - Her. - I haven't heard of her. - Witch woman. German. Well. Some German stuff you could stuff people with. Sausage? But the sausage is already stuffed with something, which is strange, and maybe why she would do it. You're on the right track, Rhett. But I like to think about...

It looks like a kind of sawdust, like turning them into a doll. So I'm going to use sawdust. Knowing that I'm probably wrong. The correct answer is garbage, but I'm going to give it to you, because in some places they do use sawdust. - So... - Yes, those are the places I was talking about. And is sawdust like wood trash? - Yes, exactly. - You should know that, right? And don't worry, that's only if you're bad. If you're good, they rip out your insides and fill you with candy. - Oh! - You're still dead, but, candy!

That's exciting. Not really, I just made it up because I like to say "Taffy." - I like to scare naughty children. - Who does not? In Pennsylvania Dutch, German folk tradition, Belsnickel goes door to door dressed in rags and furs, asking children to recite poems and solve math problems. It is an opportunity to test his knowledge. Then he throws candy on the ground and, if any of the children go for the candy, he hits them with a shovel. Math problems and poems. Don't go for the candy, kids. Sounds like my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Hobbs. - Hmm. - She was a tough...

She was tough. She was scary. She was very Belsnickelian. Yes, she was she. She also loved poetry and mathematics. And she loved to hit children over the head with a shovel. (everyone laughs) - That's the answer. -No she did not. For the record, she didn't do it. -No she did not. - But your answer is shovel? Yes. (screams) Boom! That's what you have... You really want to eliminate them. Shovel. - (doorbell sound) - No, it's the switch. - Oh. - You know, just flip a switch? - Yes. - Because, you know. And you know what? We have Belsnickel here with us today.

Oh no you don't. - Let's welcome you here. - Oh, wow. - There is. - It looks so Dutch. -Well, he's Pennsylvania Dutch. - Look at that switch he has. - (crew laughs) - See those switches Belsnickel has? - Oh my God. - They will change you every time you make a mistake. Starting with the one you just made wrong. - Right now? - No, you're going to accumulate them. We'll keep score, Belsnick. - Old Belsnick. - And in the end, Rhett, they're going to give you a good beating. Well. Jólakötturinn, the evil Icelandic Christmas cat, will eat lazy children unless they are wearing a blank piece of clothing.

A white item of clothing. A Christmas cat. - What would repel cats? - Hmm. Cat repellent clothing doesn't seem like a good Christmas tradition. Like a piece of clothing with coyote urine. - I didn't make the blank for so long. - No, you didn't. It's probably a color. I'm going to choose red, because we're talking about Christmas, so I'm just going to say red. This is a tough question. The answer is new. - (ring sound) - What? You have to wear new clothes. So you have to give yourself a gift before Christmas. - What happens to kids who can't get new clothes, man?

You have that cat chasing them in every direction. Yes, the cat eats them. And now you know why every lazy Icelander carries a laser pointer. I don't understand. - (crew laughs) - Have you ever seen a cat with a laser pointer? - No. They go crazy about it, man. - Oh! A cat with a laser pointer, I got it. - They go crazy. A cat looking at a laser pointer. Now I know what you mean. According to French legend, Père Fouettard was an evil butcher who killed three children and threw them into a barrel full of blanks.

But Saint Nicholas appeared and brought them back to life. - Oh, good for him. - Yes. He can do that. We need more Christmas traditions like this, where children are thrown into barrels, eaten by cats, and stuffed with sawdust. Children now have it too easy. Take back the darkness. Sugar plums dancing on their heads, is that what it is? (Link) Yes. They need to choke on a sugar plum. What would an evil butcher have? I... I mean... A barrel full of what? A barrel of fish, a barrel of monkeys, no. - A butcher. - Salt barrel.

I would have a barrel of salt, right, because the meat has to be salted. - Salt barrel. - (screams) Hello, Rhett! You understood it. - (ding sound) - Yes! - It is a brine solution. - Yes - The meat is salted to cure. - Yes. Keep the kids nice and cool. Well, here's a good lesson: always brine your human before eating him. Otherwise, he tastes horrible (silly voice). - Especially human children. - Well, it dries. They have a very unpleasant taste, unless you have brined them. You want to regain moisture. But if you brine them, man (exhales). - I eat fried chicken. - Those naughty children know very well.

If you are a naughty child, Krampus, the anti-Santa, is coming to visit you. Be careful I get it from him. He could throw you there and blank you, blank you, or transport you to the target. - (laughs) - Why do I have to fill in three blanks, man? Well, because they will change you three times on this question. I mean, there are so many things that can happen in a man's bag. - (crew laughs) - To boil it down to one thing. Don't limit it, do them well. To not be traded for Belsnickel. I didn't see the movie.

Like I said, I didn't see the movie. Hit you, eat you or transport you to hell. - Okay, you'll drown. - (ring sound) - Okay. - So that's a switch. - Eat you. - (ding sound) - Hey! - Did you understand well. -And take you to the underworld. - (ding sound) - (screams) Hey! Nice! - So two out of three is not bad. But you'll still get that switch. By the way, this is also the plot of my Christmas-themed Stranger Things spin-off: Manger Things. - (crew laughs) - I'm working on it. Oh! I have to choose many children.

Too many naughty children, to be on Manger Things. - Yes, good. - And animals. - You do that. Again, solo project. You also have to build a manger. The children of Iceland are chased for thirteen days straight by mountain trolls called The Christmas Boys. - Oh yeah. - You know those Yule Lads. - Yes. They also rap, I think. They are rappers. No, they are not. Little kids... I don't know. - I'm just making that part up. - Okay, that part is made up. Children leave their shoes by the window and, if they have behaved well, they receive sweets and gifts.

If they're bad, The Yule Lads will blank them. - The Christmas boys. - The Christmas boys. (makes puckering sounds) - The Yule Lads. Well... - Yule Lads in the house. I guess The Yule Lads aren't real, because if they were real trolls, the kind of rotten things they would bring, there's no limit. But these are the kinds of things that parents should have access to. - Good good good. - Something a parent can get and rot. And make them... teach them a lesson not to be naughty. So I'm going to say egg. I'm going with egg. - Rotten eggs.

In the shoes. - Leave them a rotten egg. - You're close, Rhett. Rotten potatoes. - (ring sound) - Oh, come on. That? - I wish I could give it to you, but a rotten potato has nothing to do with a rotten egg. I'm looking for a way not to change you. Put them in your shoes? - Yes man. - In Iceland they have big feet. - Or small potatoes. - Rotten potatoes. - One or two, I don't know. - (crew laughs) That's where Tater Faced Boy came from. Iceland. I already knew that. Okay, the Scandinavian Tomte may look like a cute little garden gnome, but if you don't leave him butter porridge on Christmas Eve, he'll beat you up or kill one of your cows. - Because?

That? - How sweet. Be careful, its blanks are poisonous. - Has poisonous blanks. - Has poisonous blanks. Well, if he's a lactose-intolerant little gnome, maybe he has poisonous farts. - (crew laughs) - I don't know, it's harmless. - That is not right. - Actually? - I don't want to change you more than necessary, Rhett. I mean, what could a gnome have that's poisonous? - Shoes? - (crew laughs) Hat. Hat, his hat. It's pointed. -His hat is poisonous, like a spear. - Poisonous tip. - No, they're bites. - (ring sound) - They bite. (makes gnawing sounds) - (laughs) - Okay. - They're just bites.

I'm sorry. They can kill a cow with those poisonous bites. Kallikantzaros are malevolent Greek elves who terrorize humans in the twelve days before Christmas. An effective way to keep him out of your house is to throw his smelly target into the fire. This is clearly a tradition that was put in place to help people clean up something that was old and stinky, and they said, "Let's make up a cool tradition." What are you trying to get rid of that smells bad? - Old and stinky. -Throw them into the fire. Socks. They must be socks. What else could it be? - Oh, so close, it's the shoes. - (ring sound) - Stinky shoes. - Actually? - Yeah. - You gotta put some Odor Eaters... on those things. - That's what keeps the goblins away.

Or just lock the door. I don't know. I didn't do very well, Belsnickel will punish me. He is. Stay tuned, Belsnickel comes in here. Do an intimidating dance and get ready to change it up. But not yet. Thanks for liking, commenting and subscribing. Do you know what time it is. - IM Sofia. -And I'm Megan. (both) And this is Hank. And we're from Lincoln Park, Michigan. (both) It's time to spin the Wheel of Mythology. There are only a couple of days left until the Mythical Face of Christmas challenge ends. There's a link in the description to all the information you need, but you have two days to put on your crazy Christmas face.

And click on Good Mythical More, where they'll change Rhett, a bunch. - Gift! - ♪(fanfare music)♪ - (Rhett) Congratulations to Jacob Hann. You win a mythical pomade right here, make your hair look like us. - Or look like our hair. - Anything you want it to look like. - Anything. - Gives you the ability to shape and sculpt your hair to your wildest desires.