From elements of medieval witchcraft reworked in 18th-century folk Catholicism, the Krampus has risen to embody a new countercultural holiday.

Once the mythic bogeyman of European Catholic childhoods and long presented as the opposite of Santa Claus, Krampus is a growing presence in American culture. With the appearance of the demonic Christmas character Krampus in contemporary Hollywood movies, television shows, advertisements, and greeting cards, medieval folklore Krampus-related events and parades in North America and Europe, Krampus is a growing phenomenon.

Though the Krampus figure is now familiar, not much can be found about its history and meaning, thus calling for a book like Al Ridenour’s The Krampus: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. With Krampus’s wild, graphic history, Feral House has hired the awarded designer Sean Tejaratchi to take on Ridenour’s book about this ever-so-curious figure.
Al Ridenour has lectured on Krampus at the Goethe Institutes in Los Angeles. He became somewhat of an internet phenomenon himself due to the hilarious hijinks he coordinated with the controversial Cacophony Societies.

A Season of Madness takes readers to cultural hinterlands where Carnival is strange, marvelous, and even a bit frightening. Where Spring is welcomed by clowns carrying inflated pig bladders and sheepskin monsters walk the land with clubs covered in hedgehog spines and plows are dragged over cobblestone streets by villagers in masks painted with blood. Folk horror fans take heart as the old world beckons with the coming of Spring!

Readers will learn about regional and local celebrations’ origins, history, and quirkiness from ancient Rome to modern Bulgaria. A Season of Madness explores the interconnectivity of pagan beliefs throughout Europe and how those beliefs and traditions evolved over time and through the Christian conquest.

A Season of Madness is sumptuously illustrated with over one hundred historical and modern images and illustrations in this deluxe paperback edition.

Ridenour’s first book, Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil (2018) is considered by critics the definitive authority on pagan winter celebrations. Aside from his books and podcast, Ridenour is a sought-after expert and lecturer.