Logan: After watching the new Krampus movie last year, I really wanted to recreate him as my costume for Halloween. I am 13 years old. My family and I worked on...

Today is Krampus Day in Austria, a day when this ancient monster returns to the community to frighten people into being good (his sidekick: St. Nicholus!) Krampus–a large, hairy, horned monster dragging chains, flailing clubs–enters festivals all over the nation to great crowd-shrieks, pretending to whip and beat people. Like a running-of-the-bulls, bystanders take great delight in fleeing the monsters. When I lived in Austria I absolutely fell in love with Krampus! It may seem strange but here's why: We live with terror all the time. It always appears in a frightening inhuman form that chills our blood and returns us to a primal role as prey. It takes a lot of power to overcome us so we tend to be scared by large, angry creatures with superpowers in place of reason. Terror is a combination of fear and helplessness. What makes Krampus fun is that it arose in ancient times, when such large creatures presented a real danger. Truth is that we are superhumans ourselves, armed with an intelligence that can overcome nearly all dangers. Yet we remain afraid. Why? Krampus reminds me of terrorism. In is presence we show the same emotions as a peasant facing Krampus. But although the visage is scary, we're the ones with the superpower. First of all we an choose to act, so we're not powerless. Also, any idiot can see that the monster is just a pipefitter in a costume, a person like you or me who probably needs a bathroom break. Krampus's only power is inside our own heads, where the real danger resides. If we were to slaughter the pipefitter, strangely enough, Krampus would still return next year! That's what we don't understand about terrorism. It exists only in our heads. Every so often someone gets hurt by Krampus, but it's very rare. Same with terrorism. Why waste your fear on a threat that is fairly harmless in the face of a real killer like heart disease, car crashes or a crazy gun-toting neighbor? To our detriment, we don't have anything like Krampus, so we remain in the thrall of a terror we cannot best; causing us to do ludicrous things (like start wars which only increase terrorism!) We're helpless only as long as we can't locate the real danger. If we don't face the darkness in our own heads we'll forever be running, screaming away from pipefitters who just need to borrow the restroom.

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Since I'm already in a Halloween mood after the last post, here's another costume. This was for Halloween last year. I've seen lots of these costumes in the past and really wanted to make one of my own after that. I wasn't actually planning on doing it last year, but my boyfriend at the time helped convince me. Once I was done, I was glad I went through with it even though it was a lot of work. It's also a bit of a storage nightmare. I used several tutorials scattered around the web as guidelines - sorry, I don't have all the links now. The necklace is the only piece I did not make or alter in any way. Fun fact: I got a lot more compliments than I expected on my butt and tail while wearing this. For the legs, I started out with a pair of leggings then carved upholstery foam with a knife/scissors and hand sewed it to the leggings, covering the foam with fabric afterwards (more hand sewing). Next, I wrapped a leg in tape so I could cut the tape off and use it as a pattern for the fur (I found this method here though I cut it a bit differently). The horns are sewn pleather, stuffed with fiberfill, wrapped with thread, and wired to a headband. I wanted the top to look like it was made with rough tools, something I would have made while out in the forest. It has velcro as a closure on the side, hidden under twine ties (visible in the first image of this post). The hooves are also foam covered with pleather and hot-glued to the shoes. Not so fun fact: my nephew (2 at the time) was pretty scared of me : /

Hooves From Comfy Shoes (No High Heels!): Sometimes the best part of a costume is a little attention to detail. If your costume has hooves, why not make a pair of shoes into durable, realistic-looking hooves to add a little something extra to your outfit?In this Instructable, I will go over…

For two years, French photographer Charles Fréger has been travelling throughout 19 European countries and trying to capture the spirit of what he calls "tribal Europe" in his "Wilder Mann" series.

For two years in 2010 and 2011, Charles Fréger criss-crossed Europe from north to south, from Finland to Portugal, passing through Romania, Germany and Slovenia, in search of the figure of the savage as it survives in local popular traditions. These images, like archetypes, half-man half-beast, animal or vegetable, resurface from the depths of time

There’s a lot of pretty cool stuff in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana, but one of the most outstanding in my opinion is the annual Krampus Night put on by the awesome people at the Krampu…

The Austrian Krampus troupe pictured above is about as traditional as they get. Creating this exact look would be a big challenge because the suits are made of mountain goat fur, and LA's not exactly known for its mountain goats population. But at least this picture makes clear something that doesn't have to challenge you,

Explore carlos gonzález ximénez's 2286 photos on Flickr!

There’s a lot of pretty cool stuff in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana, but one of the most outstanding in my opinion is the annual Krampus Night put on by the awesome people at the Krampu…

so it was not like i had enough to do i decided i wanted a wolfman costume based on the one in the 2011 film. the movie rocked!! this will take...