Evidence & Spirits: Of Saints & Monsters | Watson's Boise

Of Saints & Monsters

Doors 6:00 PM | Show 7:00 PM

 

Long before winter became a season of celebration, it was a season of survival.

 

Snow swallowed the roads. Darkness settled over the villages. Beyond the warmth of the hearth lay a world of frozen forests, restless spirits, and things best left unnamed. On the longest nights, when the wind pressed against the windows and the fire burned low, the old stories returned.

 

They spoke of Saint Nicholas, who came bearing gifts for the good, and Krampus, whose chains announced a far less merciful visitation.

 

Across Europe, winter folklore was crowded with creatures who watched, judged, and punished. Their stories were passed from one generation to the next, carrying warnings about disobedience, wickedness, and the terrible consequences awaiting those who strayed.

But there is a peculiar cruelty in the stories we tell about monsters.

 

We give them horns and claws. We dress them in darkness and send them into the wilderness. We make their intentions unmistakable, their punishments inevitable, and their existence a lesson in morality.

 

History, however, has never been so considerate.

 

This December, Evidence & Spirits: Of Saints & Monsters invites you into the bitter cold of European winter traditions, where folklore and historical crime meet beneath the same dark sky.

 

Together, we confront a question older than the legends themselves:

If monsters were invented to enforce morality, what does it say about humanity that our greatest atrocities were committed by those who understood right from wrong and chose evil anyway?

Through theatrical storytelling, historical investigation, and cocktails inspired by the evening's subjects, we will examine the strange morality of winter's most feared creatures and the far more troubling histories of those who walked among us.

 

Written & Produced By: Arabella de Lioncourt

Starring:

Layne Taylor as The Storyteller

Nick Roberts as Roger Haglund

Stephanie Thompson as Martha Marek

Jack Talbott as Fritz Haarman