🎄 He sees you when you’re sleeping.

But Santa was never the only one watching.

Long before Christmas became soft and sparkly, winter was brutal — and obedience was enforced with fear.

In this special Christmas episode of You’re Killing Me, Shawnee dives into the dark, blood-soaked origins of Krampus — the horned enforcer who followed Saint Nicholas, dragging bad children away in sacks, beating them with birch rods, and reminding entire villages what happened when rules were broken.

We trace Krampus from ancient pagan winter gods and the goddess Perchta, through the Church’s weaponisation of fear, to modern-day Krampusnacht — where masked figures still roam Alpine streets, chains rattling, bells screaming, leaving bruises, broken bones, and silence behind.

This isn’t a festive fairy tale.

It’s a story about punishment, control, conditional love — and why some monsters survive because we keep giving them a body.

Listener discretion advised.