The Dead of Winter

Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures

By: Sarah Clegg

Narrated by: Hannah Curtis, Sarah Clegg

Discover the monsters, witches, and other ghoulish creatures that make up lesser known Christmas folklore in this gleefully creepy guide–perfect for horror fans who love the wintry holidays.

When you think about Christmas, you likely picture mangers, glowing fireplaces, sweet carolers, and snow-blanketed hills. But behind all this bright magic, there’s something much darker lurking in the shadows. In The Dead of Winter, Cambridge-trained historian Sarah Clegg delves deep into the folklore of the Christmas season in Europe, detailing the way its terrifying and often debaucherous past continues to haunt and entertain us now in the twenty-first century.

Perfect for the growing mainstream audience obsessed with horror and monsters, this guide makes the perfect gift.

©2024 Sarah Clegg (P)2024 Algonquin Books

Critic reviews

"Away from the turkey and tinsel, Sarah Clegg bravely escorts us to the dark side of the festive season, a wintry underworld of witches and demons, sinister customs, and strange ancient rites. A fascinating, menacing miscellany."—Malcolm Gaskill, author of The Ruin of All Witches and Witchfinders

"Sarah Clegg's dark and delicious The Dead of Winter isn't just a frightful and sometimes funny account of Krampus, Mari Lwyd, Christmas ghosts, monster mummers, and a winter witch named St. Lucy, but is also a thoughtful examination of why these stories continue to capture our imagination. I plan on spending every Christmas now revisiting this wonderful book."—Lisa Morton, author of Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween

"A lively, moving, thoughtful, and erudite survey of the more disturbing aspects of the modern world's most important festival. It is probably the best, and certainly the most accessible.”—Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch: A History of Fear from Ancient Times to the Present

Fantastic Holiday fare!

I really wish the entire book had been read by the author (she reads the intro and epilogue), as I preferred her vocals... and it would have been fitting given this book is a sort of "travelog" of her research.

Regardless... this is a fantastic little tomb collecting all of the "Christmas monsters" of legend and myth. A must for the season!

I liked the multiple tails and histories linked together.

I overall enjoyed this read. I’m not sure why people were complaining about the narrator, I thought her voice was great. While I understand the authors voice may sounded a little little more youthful or something to that effect I don’t think it would’ve changed the story for the better.
Overall, I liked hearing the different stories and histories of how they’re all kind of linked together not really just one overall making up the current holidays we celebrate etc.
The explanation of how older tales may have contributed to other ones that came later that all contributed possibly to once now with no definitive answer.
The only issue I had was at certain times. I wasn’t sure when they were talking about the actual tales or the real life experience of the author, Other than that, I will reread it to listen again it was an interesting take. I think I will even enjoy it more the second time around.

Fascinating and Enchanting!

I absolutely loved this book! If you're interested in fairy tales, folklore, or simply the origins of a beloved holiday, this book is for you! Sarah Clegg does a fantastic job tracing the threads of traditions only now coming back into our collective consciousness like Krampus, the Mari Lwyd, and other tales that we may have heard of but aren't very familiar with. It struck me that I've always known Christmas has a darker side, but I didn't know quite how to describe it or why it existed. Now, I feel well-versed in the subject. My only complaint is that the book isn't longer! I wish I could have made it last the whole Christmas season, but it was too fascinating! I've already sent this book to several friends, and I have a feeling it will get passed around quite a bit before the new year.

The audiobook was ...

a unique and reflective narrative of darkness during the Christmas holiday. I found the authors authentic, engaging voice personable. The inflections she showed in her stories breathed such life into the words in this book.

I wish the author read the whole audiobook. The other narrator I found emotionless, and flat. The author has a distinct energy in her narration that's full of life, feeling and gives the audience a connect to what she's sharing. This voiceover talent is rare.
A good voice can captive and help bring to life the written word. A bad voiceover can hurt the written word by dull, lifeless narration.

I hope the author reduces this audiobook. She is a gifted writter and narrator. I also hope she will do more audio narrations in the future.

Maglcal

Oh my Krampus!! Thank you so much for this. I found this one. I wasn’t feeling very Christmasy. I’ve had some health issues this year and this was absolutely delightful.! It will become forever more one of my favorite Christmas traditions to listen to.!

An Amazing Dive into the the History of Winter Tales

An amazing deep dive into the rich history of Christmas beasts and traditions. I learned so much from this work and thought it walked a perfect line of historically based facts and entertaining story telling. The fact that the author has taken the time to personally experience the modern day versions of the traditions she describes really adds to the work!

So cool

I really enjoyed the story telling and that she made it a kinda ethnography with lots of history! Very enjoyable listen

Dark Christmas

This is such a wonderful collection of the darker traditions of the Christmas season and their origins.

fascinating

This was a fascinating look at the history behind some of Christmas's spookiest characters. loved learning about Christmas folk lores from all around Europe.

The best non-fiction book about dark Christmas

I did not know what to expect from The Dead of Winter, but I was absolutely in love with this book from start to finish. It talks about how many of our Christmas traditions got started, via their, often pagan. roots. This book reads like part historical text and part travelog as the author engages in Christmas and pre-Christmas traditions. The Dead of Winter mostly looks at the darker side of Christmas-think Krampus, striga witches, the eerie story of Saint Lucy, and Twelfth Night celebrations. I found this book informative and entertaining. The author has a very dramatic tone at times, but it is done on purpose, for certain accounts to read like a campfire tale or a Christmas Eve ghost story. It is all in good fun. She also talks about the truth vs. myths about pagan religions and how pagan traditions and myths have been warped by certain authors to be more insidious than they were.