7 Strange Christmas Traditions from Around the World - Page 5 of 9

In Austria, a scary-looking creature roams around looking for badly behaved kids

Salzburg, Austria, has one of the world’s most eerie and strange Christmas traditions, people often mistake it for a Halloween thing.

Austrians have a different twist on Santa Claus. Instead of the white-bearded man wearing a red suit, they have Krampus, a “half-goat, half-demon” figure out of a European folklore that roams around on Christmas looking for misbehaved kids. It is believed that the mythical creature visits houses the night of December 5, tagging along St. Nicholas. While St. Nick puts candies in the shoes of behaved kids, Krampus punishes the naughty ones.