40 Fun Facts About Christmas Monsters

Iceland's monstrous Yule Cat is said to eat anyone who fails to receive which gift before Christmas Eve?

New clothes were the reward for farm workers who finished processing the autumn wool before the holiday, so the giant cat doubled as a threat against slacking.

Which country's government issued 1950s pamphlets titled Krampus Is an Evil Man to protect frightened children?

Austria had already seen the Krampus tradition banned outright in the 1930s under the Dollfuss regime, yet the masked devil's street runs came roaring back by the end of the century.

Which veteran horror film star narrated the 1966 animated TV special about the Grinch and also voiced the Grinch?

Boris Karloff, the screen's most famous Frankenstein's monster, could not sing, so the special's theme song was performed by Thurl Ravenscroft instead.

In the 1984 film Gremlins, a mogwai spawns new creatures when it comes into contact with which everyday substance?

Water is one of three things a mogwai's owner must avoid, along with bright light and late-night feeding; one spilled glass produces five new creatures.

What do Iceland's thirteen Yule Lads leave in the windowsill shoes of children who have been disobedient?

A rotten potato is the booby prize; well-behaved children wake to a small gift instead, one from each prankster on the thirteen nights before Christmas.

Which fur-clad Pennsylvania Dutch gift-bringer does Dwight Schrute dress up as in The Office episode Dwight Christmas?

Belsnickel carries a switch for naughty children and pockets of sweets and nuts for good ones, a custom German settlers brought with them from the Palatinate.

The Mari Lwyd, a ribbon-decked midwinter visitor carried house to house on a pole, is made from which animal's skull?

A horse skull is draped in a white sheet that hides its carrier, and once let indoors the creature runs about neighing and snapping its jaws at the household.

Which country's children wait for La Befana, an old witch on a broomstick who leaves coal for the naughty?

Italy's Befana arrives on the night of 5 January, the eve of Epiphany, bringing sweets and toys to well-behaved children much as Santa Claus does elsewhere.

Which one-word nickname does the Abominable Snow Monster of the North go by in the 1964 Rudolph TV special?

Bumble ends the special tamed and trimming the Christmas tree, after his knack for bouncing saves Yukon Cornelius in their fall from a cliff.

Which comedian plays the green-furred recluse in Ron Howard's 2000 live-action film How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

Jim Carrey's transformation helped the film win the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and it became the highest-grossing film of 2000 in the United States.

Which long-suffering dog pulls the Grinch's sleigh when he sets out disguised as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve?

Max is the Grinch's only companion on the mountain; the 2000 live-action film cast six mixed-breed dogs rescued from shelters to share the part.

Which town does the Grinch raid on Christmas Eve after enduring its noisy festivities for 53 years?

Whoville loses its gifts and decorations overnight, yet its residents wake up singing anyway, which is what makes the Grinch's small heart grow three sizes.

Which cuddly mogwai does Billy Peltzer receive from his inventor father as a Christmas present in Gremlins?

Gizmo came from a Chinatown antique shop whose owner refused to sell him; the shopkeeper's grandson made the deal in secret.

Which ghost dog with a glowing jack-o'-lantern nose belongs to Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Zero floats along behind his master with a nose bright enough to serve as a lamp, and later starred in his own manga sequel, Zero's Journey.

Which misfit elf, an aspiring dentist, pulls out the Abominable Snow Monster's teeth in the 1964 Rudolph TV special?

Hermey quits Santa's workshop to follow his dream, and gets his chance once the monster has been knocked out cold by a falling boulder.

Which ghost visits Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve, bound in heavy chains and money boxes, seven years after dying?

Jacob Marley, Scrooge's former business partner, warns that the miser is forging a chain of his own and that three more spirits are on their way.

Which dish do Scandinavian families leave out on Christmas Eve to keep the household spirit called the nisse content?

Porridge has to be served just right: in one often-told tale, a nisse who found no butter on top flew into a rage and killed the farm's cow.

Krampus traditionally swats badly behaved children with a bundle of branches cut from which tree?

Birch rods are sometimes painted gold and left with families in Styria, to hang in the house all year as a reminder of the horned visitor.

Which animal is named in Joulupukki, the Nordic gift-bringer whose name recalls rowdy costumed midwinter visitors?

Goat is the literal meaning of pukki: the name recalls men in costume who once went rowdily from village to village, performing in return for leftover festive food.

Which country's folklore warns of the kallikantzaroi, goblins who surface during the Twelve Days of Christmas?

Greece's goblins come above ground from 25 December until Epiphany on 6 January, and spend those days playing pranks on any mortals they meet.

Which country produced Rare Exports, a 2010 horror comedy in which a horned Santa Claus is found frozen in ice?

Finland's Rare Exports grew out of two earlier short films about a company that traps wild Santas, trains them and ships them around the world.

In the Czech Republic, St Nicholas makes his rounds flanked by a devil known as the čert and which other figure?

An angel walks at the saint's other side as a counterweight to the menacing devil, a trio that also turns up in Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland.

Which Icelandic singer recorded a song about the man-eating Yule Cat for a 1987 album of Christmas music?

Björk sang it on a collection of composer Ingibjörg Þorbergs's festive songs, one of which sets a 1932 poem about the beast to music.

Which child-eating ogress of Icelandic folklore is the mother of the thirteen mischievous Yule Lads?

Grýla hunts naughty children at Christmas and carries them home in a giant sack for her stew, though 13th-century texts name her with no link to the season.

Kertasníkir, the last of Iceland's Yule Lads to arrive, follows children on Christmas Eve hoping to steal what?

Candles were worth stealing because they were made of tallow, which meant the thief could eat them as well as burn them.

Iceland's Yule Lad Hurðaskellir, who arrives on 18 December, is named for which way of waking the household at night?

Slamming doors is his whole act; each of the brothers is named for a signature nuisance, from licking spoons to peeping through windows.

Which drink is customarily offered to the costumed devils who storm through Alpine towns on a Krampus run?

Schnapps here means a strong distilled fruit brandy; the runs can turn rough, and in 2013 eight people in East Tyrol were hospitalised, mostly with broken bones.

Since the 1800s, Europeans have exchanged which seasonal items decorated with pictures of Krampus?

Greeting cards showed him looming over children with one human foot and one cloven hoof, though modern versions have turned him cuter and more Cupid-like.

Which Australian actress heads the ensemble cast of the 2015 Christmas horror comedy Krampus alongside Adam Scott?

Toni Collette joined the film in March 2015; its director, Michael Dougherty, said he had always wanted to make a scary Christmas movie.

Which stop-motion specialist directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, although Tim Burton's name sits above the title?

Henry Selick turned a three-page poem Burton wrote in 1982 into the feature film; Burton had first pictured it as a TV special narrated by Vincent Price.

Which composer wrote the songs for The Nightmare Before Christmas and also sang the part of Jack Skellington?

Danny Elfman recorded the songs first, and actor Chris Sarandon was then cast to match him as the skeleton's speaking voice.

Which screenwriter wrote the 1984 Christmas horror comedy Gremlins before directing the family hit Home Alone?

Chris Columbus conceived the script while living in a loft apartment, and later directed the first two Harry Potter films as well.

Which gremlin, named for the tuft of white fur on his head, leads the Christmas Eve rampage in Gremlins?

Stripe was voiced by Frank Welker, and it is his gang that tricks the hero into a forbidden late feed by sabotaging a bedside clock.

On which planet does the murderous Robot Santa keep his death fortress in the animated series Futurama?

Neptune's native Neptunians serve as slave labour in his toy factory; a programming error set his standards so high that he judges everyone to be naughty.

In the 1997 slasher comedy Jack Frost, a serial killer doused in chemicals comes back as which murderous figure?

A snowman is what he becomes after chemicals from a crashed research truck fuse him with the snow, and a 2000 sequel sent the mutant on another killing spree.

Alpine legend says Perchta slit open those who broke her fast-day rules and stuffed their bellies with what?

Straw went in, the tale says, and she sewed the wound shut with a ploughshare for a needle and chains for thread; she roamed during the twelve days after Christmas.

In German-dubbed episodes of The Simpsons, the family dog is renamed after which dark-robed companion of St Nicholas?

Knecht Ruprecht first appears in writing as a figure in a 17th-century Nuremberg procession; tradition says he asks children whether they can pray.

Hans Trapp, the bogeyman who accompanies St Nicholas in Alsace, is based on a real 15th-century man who was what?

A knight named Hans von Trotha, said to have stood about two metres tall, became a local legend, and his name was corrupted into that of the child-scaring figure.

Folklore says the kallikantzaroi goblins spend most of the year underground trying to saw through what?

The tree holding up Earth heals itself while the goblins are away making mischief above ground, so every January they must start sawing all over again.

What does the name of Père Fouettard, the French companion of St Nicholas, translate as?

Father Whipper hands out beatings and lumps of coal on 6 December while the saint gives gifts; legend makes him a repentant killer of three boys.