A Season of Madness

Al Ridenour’s passion for the horror genre is genuine, as is his eagerness to explore and seriously analyze its relationship with the folkloric realm. Throughout his life, Ridenour has eagerly embraced the weird and macabre, exploring his obsessions through various creative modes and undertakings.

Since the 1990s, Ridenour has worked as a journalist, author, artist, animator, arts impresario, and small-time cultural agitator (the last with the Cacophony Society under the nom de guerre, “Rev. Al”). Most recently, with the enthusiastic reception of his 2016 book The Krampus and the Old, Dark, Christmas he has made a name for himself as the preeminent English-language expert on the folklore of the Krampus.

Now in its second printing, Ridenour’s Dangerous Minds’ Christopher Bickel described the Krampus as “the definitive work on Krampus” and a “must read,” while LA Times book critic Elizabeth Hand found the book “gleefully erudite,” remarking that it “deserves to be a classic.”

Ridenour’s research on the Krampus began in 2012, followed the next year by travels to Europe to observe traditional activities firsthand. Shortly after that, along with long-time friend Al Guerrero, he founded Los Angeles’s annual and ongoing Krampusfest and Krampuslauf, engaging both local and European performers for these annual events.

He has translated, produced and directed adaptations of traditional European Krampus plays, lectured on the Krampus at the International Goethe-Institut, The San Diego Art Institute, and the New Americans Museum. He also crafts and sells Krampus masks and teaches workshops for those interested in making their own. In 2018, he was recruited by Geek Nation Tours as onboard consultant for tours of Austria and Germany focusing on Krampus events and traditions.