Uncommon Folk 31 Days of Winter- Hans Trapp

 Discover the haunting legend of Hans Trapp, a character so entangled in greed and misdeeds that his story carries echoes of the notorious Ebenezer Scrooge—only far more macabre. Journey with us as we unravel his chilling transformation from a man driven by ambition to a spectral menace feared by the young. His narrative is not just a ghostly tale but a powerful allegory of how unchecked ambition and nefarious pacts lead to ruin.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hans Trapp. Now, this is quite a dark one. Often winter brings out the darkness. It's quite folkloric, but it's also maybe based on a real person. Now, this is according to Alsatian. Now, this is according to Alsatian folklore.

Speaker 1: 0:24

Now, hans Trapp was a local man and he was renowned for greed and unstrupulousness. That sounds very much like many of these characters that come out at Christmas, for example, I mean Ebenezer Scrooge being the most famous. But he was a bit worse than that. He used witchcraft and did deals with the devil to become rich, and he was excommunicated from the catholic church. So he lost his wealth and his social standing. So he took to roaming the countryside disguised as a scarecrow. This is perfect for a horror film, I think. Now, at some point, he became consumed with this idea and it it just stuck in his head, and the idea was that he wished to taste human flesh. Now, what he did is he lured a shepherd boy to his death and cooked him. Now, obviously, he's an evil creature and God is involved here. So before he could take his first bite, god, who had finally felt that things had gone a bit too far, struck him with lightning.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Now there are various versions, various accounts of Hans Trapp. They say they had a feud with an abbey and he's also known as Hans von Trapp. They say they had a feud with an abbey and he was also known as Hans von Trotha, and he was about two metres tall, which is very tall, a very imposing figure, and he later became the name, became adapted into Hans Trapp or even Hans Trott. He was described later as a robber baron, but over the course of time he sort of like he became a figure of terror for children who, as the Black Knight he was also known as, was a restless spirit who stalked children at night.

Speaker 1: 2:20

Okay, now, in Alsace, at the time of saint nicholas, uh, handstraps was used to frighten children. Often they'll have these frightening uh children as a sort of counterpart to saint nicholas um, and there is a little poem that describes him. Handstpp died but he returned, sometimes on Christmas, to go from door to door looking for young, tasty children. Look, there comes Hans Trapp. He has a nice pointed hat and a beard, white like a rowan. He comes from the beautiful starry sky and brings children a rod who do not do singing and praying. Look, hans Trapp, we are so small and good and obedient at home. Shouldn't come with your stick because we can sing and pray too. That's a poem that the children would say to stop Hans Trapp coming and potentially hitting them with a stick or eating them, if you listen to the darker tales.