You better watch out, you better not cry. Santa Claus is coming…with a polygraph machine.

At least he is at London’s Hammerson shopping malls. This year, before kids sit on jolly ol’ St. Nick’s lap, his helpful elves will strap various monitors on children that are attached to a lie detector. If Santa’s intimidating assistant asks a child if he’s been good this year, the little whippersnapper had better be truthful or else risk a stocking full of coal.

Of course, if the child admits to being bad, the results might not be that much better. (ABC News)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.