[icelandic pervert] window peeper busted in akureyri

[Photo by Ragnar Th. Sigurdsson. Courtesy of Snow Magic]

I’m still not sure if this one is for real or not. Is it a regular festive thing or what? Is it some kind of tradition?

Window Peeper, the tenth yule lad, was arrested when peeping through windows in Akureyri, northeast Iceland, last night and accused of being a pervert. The yule lad had climbed up a gutter to get a better look through the windows on the upper floor of a fancy-looking house.

Suddenly a man peered out through the window and Window Peeper was so startled that he fell to the ground. Júlli.is reports. The man called out through the window that Window Peeper was a peeping tom and that he had called the police. The poor lad had twisted his ankle in the fall and couldn’t run.

When police arrived, they took Window Peeper to the hospital where his injury was attended to and then the police locked him up in a prison cell. “But I didn’t mind,” Window Peeper tells icelandreview.com. “Prisons are always talked of as ‘rocks’ but my cell is pretty comfy. They gave me lots of food and a small window with changing pictures, so I can observe people all the time,” he adds.

The ballad Jólasveinarnir describes Window Peeper as the nosiest of the 13 yule lads. He sneaks into town all year round to peep through windows. But Christmas is his favorite time of year, because he loves decorations and everything that glitters. He grabs any shiny thing that catches his eye.

The poor lad had twisted his ankle? I wrote once before about the journos up in Iceland and wrote to the paper to ask if they were for real. What do you think in this case? I'm puzzled.

Update: so this is what it's all about.