Ghost Dogs of the South

It doesn't take too much to get me really excited.  I love the little things in life.  I find immense joy in a good meal and a good book.  Everything else can fall apart, but if I have the little things, I'm happy.  The little thing that brought a huge smile to my face today is the book Ghost Dogs of the South by Randy Russell and Janet Barnett.  I love ghosts, dogs, and the South so this book was made for me.  It is a collection of dog related ghost stories.  There are 20 Southern, ghost tales in this charming collection and I enjoyed them all.

My favorite one is from Mississippi and is a little bit scary.  It is the story of a charming little girl.   She is so sweet she takes a cake to her elderly neighbor for his birthday.  Her neighbor loves animals and has a house filled with cats.  When the girl delivers the cake,  the neighbor tells her there are puppies in the back yard.  She picks out a puppy and names it Buddy and the two are inseparable from then on.  The dog even sleeps with the little girl every night.  Time passes as it always does and the girl's mother notices that the bond between girl and dog are fading.  She asks the little girl why the dog isn't going with her into her room or sleeping with her at night.  The girls says that "Mildred"  hates Buddy.

The mother asks about Mildred.  The girls tells her mother that Mildred used to live in the house and she left her locket behind.  The mother was concerned.   She asked her daughter who Mildred was and the girl laughed and said that Mildred was standing behind her.   Chills went up and down the mother's spine.  She knew something had to be done and she asked her little girl for the locket.  It took some coaxing.  The girl didn't want to part with the trinket and she liked her friend Mildred, but the mother was firm and took the locket.   She took the locket out to the backyard.  Buddy followed her and together the two buried the locket far from the house where the little girl could never find it.  She dug deep.  The treasure would never be found.  Mildred was never heard from again and Buddy returned to his position on the little girl's bed and in her heart, but if it hadn't have been for Buddy the mother never would have noticed her daughter's unnatural friendship with Mildred.

I think I will post a few more of these little stories because they are so wonderful, but if you want to read all of them you may have to buy the book :).

Krampus Day

As I was wandering the internet today, I found a wonderful holiday that has been left out of American tradition.  In America, we embrace all cultures and pull their traditions into our own culture and make it our own.  I believe we should do the same for Krampus Day.

Krampus is part of Austrian and Hungarian folklore and is associated with Christams. His name, taken from the Germanic Krampen means claw.   Krampus looks like and acts like the devil.  He is a demon that travels with Saint Nickolas on Christmas Eve and while Santa delivers candies and treats to the good little children, Krampus delivers corporal punishment and horror to the bad little children.  He provides a little extra incentive for the children to be good.  Apparently in Austria, not getting presents wasn't enough to motivate children.  Satan himself had to beat the children with willow branches and carry them off to hell.

Krampus became so popular that his story and legends spread throughout Europe and became especially popular in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and northern Italy.   He became so popular that he earned his own holiday.   Dec 5 is Krampus day.  It is almost like Devil's Night in Detroit without the fire.  On Krampus day, young men take to the streets dressed in their most fearful Krampus costumes.  They roam the streets scaring children with loud rusty bells and chains.  They chase down young girls and hit them with birch branches.

Most pictures of Krampus show him carrying all the bad little children down to hell in a basket he carries on his back.  I believe halmark and party city have missed an enormous opportunity with Krampus Day.