For a small child, there’s just nothing like Christmas. Those innocent little faces, glowing with excitement, waiting for their visit from that special guy with the red eyes and sharp fangs who will beat them with his birchwood rod if they don’t run away fast enough…
WHAT? Which part of “jolly old elf” don’t you understand? Welcome to Austria, where Christmas has a down-side and Santa has a horned and hairy sidekick named Krampus.
It turns out, some folks are starting to question whether it might not be a bad idea to scare the beesus out of small children by turning Christmas into a Wes Craven spectacle. No! You think? 
Men dressed as Krampus walk the streets during a traditional “Krampus run” in the small Austrian village of Gresten, December 2, 2006. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
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