The forces of holiday darkness are gathering…. Krampus to emerge from an ocean of beer at the Corner Brewery on December 15, and lead a Christmas army of ghouls, monsters and freaks through the streets of Ypsilanti

I’ve been remiss. I’ve been meaning to mention something for quite a while now, but things kept conspiring against me. Prior to December 2, I’d been focusing my limited attention on The Coup’s show in Depot Town. And, since then, I, like the rest of you, have been completely overwhelmed by the sustained assault on the Michigan middle class being waged by our Republican legislators in Lansing, who, over the past two weeks, have pushed through dozens of bills seeking to do everything from dismantle public eduction as we know it, and roll back women’s reproductive rights, to kill unions, and enshrine the rights of bigoted health care workers who would prefer not to serve those with values they perceive to be different than their own… But, YES, there will be a Krampus party this weekend!

God knows we need to vent, right?

And how better to vent than dancing around, dressed like monsters, in praise of the seldom-mentioned, cloven-hoofed co-worker of Old Saint Nick?

[note: Those of you who are new to the concept might want to check out my write-ups from 2010 and 2011, and the original post that set the whole thing in motion.]

The 2012 Krampus Ball will commence at 8:00 PM this Saturday night, December 15, at Ypsilanti’s Corner Brewery (720 Norris Street). Entry is free. Costumes are expected. And, if you dare to bring a child, it will be immediately consumed. As is our tradition, in addition to having incredible music to shake your asses to, there will be two special brews – one naughty, one nice. The naughty is a sour blonde with tart fruit juice. The nice is a peanut butter and jelly stout. And, at midnight, the dancing will stop, and the most courageous among us will take the War on Christmas to the streets, rattling chains and howling like demons, as we make our way to Depot Town by the light of torches. And, once in Depot Town, we’ll make our way to Woodruff’s for a very special holiday edition of everyone’s favorite local drag show, Elbow Deep. (Entry to Elbow Deep will be free for those folks in the procession.)

If you’re planning to attend, you can RSVP on Facebook.

Oh, and here’s something interesting that I’ve never mentioned before… The television show Supernatural apparently had a Krampus-themed episode during their third season, entitled A Very Supernatural Christmas. And guess where the episode was supposed to have taken place… Ypsilanti, Michigan.

The following is from the show’s wiki page.

Synopsis

One year Ago – Seattle, Washington
A man visits his grandson at Christmas. As he dresses as Santa, he hears a noise on the roof. As his grandson watches on in horror, he is yanked up the chimney and his bloody boot falls into the fireplace.

Present Day, Ypsilanti, Michigan
In the guise of FBI agents, Sam and Dean are in Ypsilanti, Michigan visiting Mrs Walsh whose husband has disappeared. The only clue they find is a bloody tooth in the fireplace. Sam finds out he is the second man in the town to disappear, and speculates that they may be dealing with an evil Santa, as there are many legends, such as that of Krampus, about a being who punishes the wicked at Christmas.

The boys check out ‘Santa’s Village’ which both men visited before they disappeared…

It could, of course, just be a coincidence, but I suspect there’s a possibility that the writer of the episode might have done a Google search for Krampus, come across this very site, and decided to use Ypsilanti as the setting. Stranger things have happened. (The episode first aired on December 13, 2007, and, from what I can tell, I first started writing about Krampus on this site in January, 2005.)

It’s probably also worth noting that, for some reason, Krampus events have lately been spreading across the United States. This year, one got started in Green Bay, by our friends the Mad Tinkers, who had come down and visited us for last year’s festivities. One also apparently just got underway in Bloomington. And, last year, if I’m not mistaken, the people of Philadelphia got in on the act. I don’t know definitively that we were the fist town in the United States to get something going, but, if not the first, I suspect that we were awfully damned close, and I think that’s pretty cool.

See you Saturday.