09/05/2024 By Kane Khanh
Move over, Krampus! Meet the Whipping Father, Père Fouettard if you’re nasty (or French). As one of Santa’s many creepy friends, Père Fouettard travels alongside the man in red to dish out violent delights to disobedient children. Known mostly in the northern and eastern regions of France, the Whipping Father stalks through the country with his flog in hand on Saint Nicholas Day. The best that a bad child can hope to get from the Whipping Father is a lump of coal, and those who are truly wicked get—wait for it—a whipping from Santa’s sociopathic buddy.