More Christma(dnes)s

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In the spirit of last year’s “Christma(dnes)s,” I thought I would share another collection of both weird and wonderful Christmas-related links:

The Abominable N. Oremac got me into the Christmas spirit by sending me a link to an article about a Christmas tree in Japan that’s shaped like Godzilla and sprays smoke from “its” mouth. Similarly, here are some kaiju Christmas cards and Japanese superherothemed Christmas trees that I dug up.

Are you a horror writer? If so, why not join “Toys For Tots Horror Style?” Not only will you be helping a good cause, but you’ll also have a chance to win a great collection of horror fiction.

GdL16 musical favorites Nox Arcana have a great holiday deal on their website: You can save 10% off the entire Nox Arcana CD Collection! But get those orders in quickly, as the sale ends on Dec 25th.

Those who loved my past articles about spooky drinks are sure to appreciate festive drinks like “Mr. Grinch Juice” and “The Grinch’s Sour Caramel Apple Pie.”

Known for both Spawn and high-quality horror movie action figures, McFarlene Toys has released horror-influenced versions of Christmas icons like Jack Frost, a snowman, elves, reindeer, Santa and two NSFW versions of Mrs. Claus. As if that wasn’t enough, they also released a Christmas-themed Spawn action figure! Personally, I prefer the Bumble from Rankin-Bass’ Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, but to each their own.

Did you like the little killer snowballs from Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman? If so, then you’ll love this tutorial on making your own!

If you’ve ever read “Fear For Your Ears,” then you’ve certainly heard of the audio drama series 19 Nocturne Boulevard. What you might not know is that there’s a special Christmas-themed episode very year! While waiting for the newest one to come out, you can tide yourself over with three previous installments.

Remember Dead Rose Symphony from “Music to Haunt By?” Well, they’re offering three free downloads on their website featuring their twisted takes on “We Three Kings,” “Bell Carol” (aka “Carol of the Bells”) and “Nothin’ for Christmas.” Similarly, Ray O’Bannon (of RavensBlight fame) has a free download of an original composition called “Zombies Can Has Cocoa” available on his site.

While not a horror series, The Venture Bros. has enough monsters and sci-fi elements to justify the inclusion of the cast’s yearly in-character Christmas carols for FRED Entertainment (formerly Quick Stop Entertainment). You can find a list of their past works here and a link to the 2010 installment here. Don’t forget to keep visiting FRED Entertainment to look for the upcoming 2011 song!

For those looking for more traditional takes on holiday standards, Amazon has a large selection of free Christmas music downloads every year. Although most of them can be found on the main page, a careful search of the other pages will turn up a few extra freebies, like Shonen Knife’s take on “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Similarly, the US Air Force Heritage of America Band’s website not only offers free downloads from years past, but you can also order a free Christmas CD called I’ll be Home for the Holidays.

Speaking of Christmas music, I found of bunch of sci-fi/horror-related Christmas albums on Amazon, like A Very Steampunk Christmas EP, Tales From The Crypt: Have Yourself A Scary Little Christmas (which desperately needs to be reissued), Zombie Christmas, Austrian Death Machine’s Very Brutal Christmas and ‘Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets. I think this spooky lucha libre Christmas mask fits in perfectly with that last one.

Did you know that there’s a Ukrainian tradition of decorating Christmas trees with fake spider webs? It stems from a legend about a Christmas miracle in which the webs from a spider-infested Christmas tree were turned into silver. There are numerous variations of the tale, some of which claim that spider webs are the origin of tinsel! That said, various sources also claim it’s a variation of a French military design and/or an attempt to mimic icicles. If you decided to put fake webbing on your tree, I suggest using a Christmas color wheel instead of hanging lights in order to prevent any fire-related accidents.

Speaking of interesting holiday traditions from other countries, Greece has a fairy tale called “Kallo and the Goblins” in which a clever young girl outsmarts a bunch of goblins known as Kallikantzaros during the Christmas season. According to legend, the Kallikantzaros try to cut down the tree that holds up the world every year, only to get distracted and driven away on Christmas.

Although best known for his horror stories, H.P. Lovecraft once wrote a beautiful poem called “Christmastide” that was completely free of eldritch beings. He also briefly noted Christmas in one of his horror tales called “The Festival.” If you crave a more Christmasy Lovecraftian tale, fear not! First there’s Todd Fischer’s “Scampy, the Very Naughty Christmas Elf,” which resembles what would happen if L. Frank Baum wrote an R-Rated variation on “A Kidnapped Santa Claus” or The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Next is an untitled take on “’twas the Night Before Christmas” and Paul Lemieux’s “A Lovecraft Christmas.” Then comes “Whiteout” by James Ambuehl and E. P. Berglund, along with “Christmas Alone…” by Jon Sutherland and Nigel Gross. Finally, here’s the thread where I learned about those stories, which also lists some tales I was not able to find.

Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for the content on or anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of visiting any links on the above sites, downloading from them or constructing a project that’s detailed on them. This also applies to any suggestions made here. Attempt at your own discretion.

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  1. […] addition to the Krampus, other Christmas beasts have been discussed here before but somehow we missed discussing the Yule Lads (along with their […]

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