Hans Trapp

Hans Trapp is a legendary boogeyman from the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France. He accompanies Santa Claus to punish naughty children at Christmas. While Santa delivers presents and gifts, Hans Trapp delivers beatings.

When Christmas approaches, naughty children in Alsace and Lorraine tremble when their parents utter the words, “Hans Trapp is coming.” Everyone knows the tale of Santa’s evil counterpart.

According to the legend, during the Fifteenth Century, there was a rich and powerful man who lived in the heart of Alsace. His name was Hans Trapp. The people of Alsace knew him to be vain, cunning, heartless and cruel.

His life was given over to lawlessness and debauchery and his only goal was to enrich himself by all means necessary. It was said that he worshipped Satan and used black magic and occult rituals to obtain his wealth and hold on to his power.

When the Catholic Church became aware of these misdeeds, Hans Trapp was arrested and brought before the Pope in Rome. He was excommunicated from the church for the crime of sacrilege.

When he returned to Alsace, he was ostracized by the local people. Everyone fled from him as if he was a wild beast. His money and land was confiscated and he was left penniless.

They say he was forced into exile in the forest and isolated himself from the rest of society. He found shelter on mountain of Geisberg in Bavaria, Germany, where he built himself a makeshift shack, made from sticks.

The solitude caused him to lose his mind and he spent his days brooding and dreaming of revenge. His anger and resentment were intensified and he became more deeply devoted to Satanism. Descending into madness, Hans Trapp began to dream of eating human flesh. The evil man was obsessed with a desire to bite into the flesh of a human arm, leg or thigh.

He roamed the countryside and disguised himself as a scarecrow by stuffing his ragged clothes with straw. He spent his time gathering sticks and hay in field and lying in wait, looking for the perfect victim.

One day, he spotted a young shepherd boy making his way through the woods. The boy was only ten years of age, but Hans Trapp was determined to kill and eat him. As he stared at the young boy, he began to drool at the mouth, imagining biting into his delicious and tender flesh.

Before the boy knew what was happening, Hans Trapp pounced, attacking him viciously and running him through with a sharpened stick. Then, he dragged the dying child back to his shack, where he cut the boy into small pieces and roasted them over an open fire.

When his monstrous meal was ready, Hans Trapp licked his lips and prepared to taste human flesh for the first time. However, before a morsel could enter his mouth, a bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck him dead. As the story goes, God would not allow the abomination to continue and decided to end the crimes of Hans Trapp once and for all.

Since that time, Hans Trapp has remained a terrifying legend in the folklore of Alsace and Lorraine. Every Christmas, he goes from house to house, clad in his scarecrow disguise, scaring the life out of small children and drooling greedily over their tender flesh.