History NightmareFuel / MythologyAndFolklore

* We also have TheMothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, another strange (allegedly alien) creature that's an infamous harbinger of doom, who may not actually DO anything but silently stare at people and creep them the hell out, but it tends to forbode disasters. Some people even claim that the Mothman's alleged appearances were an omen for the real-life collapse of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bridge Silver Bridge]] in 1967 that killed 46 people (which is scary regardless of any crazy tales about a WingedHumanoid creature).

!!The following have their own pages:

!! Sub-pages:

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!! Examples:

* The Philippines have some of the nastiest (and [[OurMonstersAreWeird weirdest]]) monsters out there, but nothing can really compare to the horror that is Filipino vampire lore:

* The SkinWalker, or ''yee naaldlooshii'' of Navajo mythology, is basically a cross between a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]] and a [[EvilSorcerer warlock]]. To become a skinwalker, one must cross the MoralEventHorizon by killing a member of your family. After you become one, you can change into any animal you desire, gain the ability to cast powerful and deadly curses on anyone, and [[ParanoiaFuel mimic the voices of your victims' loved ones]].

* The concept of the [[ChineseVampire Jiang Shi]] may seem silly -- what's so dangerous about Qing Dynasty-era officials who are also bouncing vampires? Well, first of all, they're [[NighInvulnerability nearly invincible]]. Bullets? Nope. Buckshot? Nah. Explosives? Knocks them over, but soon they'll be up again. Second, they are deadly enough to wipe out whole villages. Third, ''they can kill you by breathing.'' Fourth, they don't just suck your blood, they rip your throat out. Fifth, with one well-timed bounce aimed at you, they can knock you over and turn you into them. And last of all, as long as you're breathing -- ''they will find you.''
** Of course, depending on certain interpretations of the myth, this just [[FromBadToWorse gets worse]]. Jiang Shi's bouncing sounds silly, unless it becomes jumping. [[InASingleBound Jumping high enough to leap over fortress walls]] and land silently behind any traditional defenses. They are also said to be covered in what looks like white fur. This "fur" turns out to be [[{{Squick}} white, stringy mold]]. Finally, one of the few ways to actually stop a Jiang Shi? Take a [[{{Ofuda}} sacred piece of paper]] and nail it to its forehead. Meaning you would have to get ''really'' close to one of these monsters to even pull it off.

* We also have [[WingedHumanoid the]] [[HumanoidAbomination Mothman]] of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, another strange (allegedly alien) creature that's an infamous harbinger of doom, who may not actually DO anything but silently stare at people and creep them the hell out, but it tends to forbode disasters.
** Similarly to the above creature, we have the Owlman of Mawnan, a beast who is far more malevolent than its American cousin.
* Goatman, an AxCrazy being from the southern United States who brutally murders people and destroys parked cars with an [[AnAxeToGrind axe]].
** Don't forget Bunnyman, who's basically Goatman but as a huge, humanoid [[HairRaisingHare rabbit]] with an axe. While that may sound pretty ridiculous, and is probably just [[NightmareRetardant a dude in a costume]], it's still plenty creepy that a guy insane enough to run around in a bunny suit, vandalizing property for no reason at all, is out free in the world and carrying an axe.
* Although kids have often heard of these other [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious cryptids]], don't tell your kids about the Popobawa. A one-eyed, bat-like ogre from East Africa, it's said to [[RapeAsDrama sodomize its victims]] in the middle of the night. This demon has been blamed by hysterical villagers in Zanzibar, Tanzania for raping people since the 1960s.
* The Eloko (plural Biloko) is a dwarf-like being said to live in wooded areas of the Congo Basin region. They have great hypnotic powers, which they use to control the minds of humans to make it easier to devour their flesh.
* Burrunjor. Descriptions of it say it is a large scaly predator that stands on two legs with two tiny arms. It is 25 feet in length, and eats large animals, like cattle. Casts of its footprints show it has three toes. Yeah, it's a motherfucking TyrannosaurusRex. ''AND OF COURSE [[EverythingTryingToKillYou IT'S FROM]] [[LandDownUnder AUSTRALIA]]!''

* Some UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} populations in parts of Eastern Europe (particularly Slovakia and Romania) believe all the diseases and ailments that plague humanity can be traced back to an abusive and unnatural union between good and evil. The story goes that the King of the Loçolico (former humans twisted into demonic entities) became obsessed with Ana, a princess of the Keshalyi (good fairies). After she refused his advances, he started a genocidal war against the Keshalyi, forcing her to marry him to spare her people from utter annihilation. Understandably, she was reluctant to sleep with him, so he [[MaritalRapeLicense forced himself on her]] multiple times, resulting in a brood of horrifying children that would go on to cause illness among humans. While the King eventually agreed to divorce his wife, the ordeal she suffered harmed her so badly that she has to drink a dose of nymphs' blood every day in order to stay alive, and left her so traumatized that she scarcely ever leaves her isolated mountain castle.

*** It's quite telling that both the Hopkinsville Goblins and the Flatwoods Monster were used as inspiration for the alien abduction Romani Ranch side quest (one of the most terrifying things in the game), in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''.

** The {{Chupacabra}} is the modern [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]], a beast of possibly alien origin who drains the blood from livestock, has supernatural strength and agility, and is feared among Latino populations everywhere. The "coyote with mange" depiction is full of {{Narm}}, but the classic Chupacabra, which resembles a mix between a Grey alien and a [[RaptorAttack Velociraptor]], is one of the more nightmare-inducing creatures of recent times. There are no stories of attacks on humans yet, but who knows?

** Of course, depending on certain interpretations of the myth, this just [[FromBadToWorse gets worse]]. Jiang Shi's bouncing sounds silly, unless it becomes jumping. Jumping high enough to leap over fortress walls and land silently behind any traditional defenses. They are also said to be covered in what looks like white fur. This "fur" turns out to be [[{{Squick}} white, stringy mold]]. Finally, one of the few ways to actually stop a Jiang Shi? Take a [[{{Ofuda}} sacred piece of paper]] and nail it to its forehead. Meaning you would have to get ''really'' close to one of these monsters to even pull it off.

* Although kids have often heard of these other cryptids, don't tell your kids about the Popobawa. A one-eyed, bat-like ogre from East Africa, it's said to [[RapeAsDrama sodomize its victims]] in the middle of the night. This demon has been blamed by hysterical villagers in Zanzibar, Tanzania for raping people since the 1960s.

* Burrunjor. Descriptions of it say it is a large scaly predator that stands on two legs with two tiny arms. It is 25 feet in length, and eats large animals, like cattle. Cast of its footprints show it has three toes. Yeah, it's a motherfucking TyrannosaurusRex. ''AND OF COURSE [[EverythingTryingToKillYou IT'S FROM]] [[LandDownUnder AUSTRALIA]]!''

* The concept of the [[ChineseVampire Jiang Shi]] may seem silly -- what's so dangerous about Qing Dynasty-era officials who are also bouncing vampires? Well, first of all, they're [[NighInvulnerable nearly invincible]]. Bullets? Nope. Buckshot? Nah. Explosives? Knocks them over, but soon they'll be up again. Second, they are deadly enough to wipe out whole villages. Third, ''they can kill you by breathing.'' Fourth, they don't just suck your blood, they rip your throat out. Fifth, with one well-timed bounce aimed at you, they can knock you over and turn you into them. And last of all, as long as you're breathing -- ''they will find you.''

** While the Hopkinsville Goblins are UglyCute, they're also NighInvulnerable little bastards who allegedly attacked a Kentucky family's homestead, which makes them disturbingly creepy.

* Myth/HinduMythology has a story where Kali, having worked herself into a bloodthirsty frenzy during a battle she just won, goes on an epic killing spree where she destroys everything in sight. She only stopped because Shiva disguised himself as a log and waited for her to step on him, turning back into his normal form as she did so to snap her out of it.

* The concept of the [[ChineseVampire Jiang Shi]] may seem silly -- what's so dangerous about Qing Dynasty-era officials who are also bouncing vampires? Well, first of all, they're nearly invincible. Bullets? Nope. Buckshot? Nah. Explosives? Knocks them over, but soon they'll be up again. Second, they are deadly enough to wipe out whole villages. Third, ''they can kill you by breathing.'' Fourth, they don't just suck your blood, they rip your throat out. Fifth, with one well-timed bounce aimed at you, they can knock you over and turn you into them. And last of all, as long as you're breathing -- ''they will find you.''

* Goatman, an AxCrazy being from the southern United States who brutally murders people and destroys parked cars with an axe.
** Don't forget Bunnyman, who's basically Goatman but as a huge, humanoid rabbit with an axe. While that may sound pretty ridiculous, and is probably just [[NightmareRetardant a dude in a costume]], it's still plenty creepy that a guy insane enough to run around in a bunny suit, vandalizing property for no reason at all, is out free in the world and carrying an axe.

** And in some stories, when the faeries are being benevolent and trying to right what they see as a wrong, they go about in truly disturbing and horrifying ways. For example, a young man whose father is very rich, lives a carefree and playboy lifestyle without his dad's knowledge. However, when he gets a girl pregnant and his dad finds out, the father confronts him one night tells him that he must marry the girl or be disinherited. The son has until morning to give him an answer, and goes for a walk to think it over. However, as he is walking, he starts to hear voices, laughing and giggling, and the sound of something rather large being dragged across the ground. The son starts to walk faster, trying to get away, but the noises just keep getting closer and closer, until eventually, the dragging sound stops... and a human corpse is thrown at his feet. The faeries tell him that he buries the corpse, or when morning comes, they will take him away. The son tries to get away, but is tripped up and the corpse lunges onto his back, its arms wrapping around his neck and locking together. And he can't get it off. So, he runs to the nearest cemetery, finds a shovel, starts digging... but when he slices into the flesh of another corpse, ''it gets up and tell him he cannot bury the corpse here.'' He runs to another graveyard, tries again, and the exact same thing happens. Every cemetery he goes to and tries to bury the corpse in, another one already buried there gets up and says he can't. Eventually, just as he can see the first signs of the sun rising, he finds a cemetery with an open grave, with a shovel and a pile of dirt next to it. The corpse slides off him into the grave, and quickly buries it, barely finishing before the morning starts. He goes back home and agrees to marry the girl, but if that is how the faeries act benevolently, one shudders to imagine what they do if they become malevolent...

** And in some stories, when the faeries are being benevolent and trying to right what they see as a wrong, they go about in truly disturbing and horrifying ways. For example, a young man who's father is very rich, lives a carefree and playboy lifestyle without his dad's knowledge. However, when he gets a girl pregnant and his dad finds out, the father confronts him one night tells him that he must marry the girl or be disinherited. The son has until morning to give him an answer, and goes for a walk to think it over. However, as he is walking, he starts to hear voices, laughing and giggling, and the sound of something rather large being dragged across the ground. The son starts to walk faster, trying to get away, but the noises just keep getting closer and closer, until eventually, the dragging sound stops... and a human corpse is thrown at his feet. The faeries tell him that he buries the corpse, or when morning comes, they will take him away. The son tries to get away, but is tripped up and the corpse lunges onto his back, its arms wrapping around his neck and locking together. And he can't get it off. So, he runs to the nearest cemetery, finds a shovel, starts digging... but when he slices into the flesh of another corpse, ''it gets up and tell him he cannot bury the corpse here.'' He runs to another graveyard, tries again, and the exact same thing happens. Every cemetery he goes to and tries to bury the corpse in, another one already buried there gets up and says he can't. Eventually, just as he can see the first signs of the sun rising, he finds a cemetery with an open grave, with a shovel and a pile of dirt next to it. The corpse slides off him into the grave, and quickly buries it, barely finishing before the morning starts. He goes back home and agrees to marry the girl, but if that is how the faeries act benevolently, one shudders to imagine what they do if they become malevolent...

** The JerseyDevil is more than just the namesake of a hockey team. This demon is a slayer of livestock who was reportedly born when its mother wished that her thirteenth child would be a devil. It then [[SelfMadeOrphan killed its family]], and sightings of this monster have endured from the 1700's to the present day.

** Speaking of cannibalism, several Californian native tribes have the legend of Rolling Head. She was originally a young woman who went out to cut maple bark for a puberty ritual, even though it was forbidden. While cutting it, she pricked herself with a splinter and her finger began to bleed. [[WoundThatWillNotHeal It kept bleeding all day]], and when she tasted the blood, she discovered that she liked it, and [[{{Autocannibalism}} ate her finger. Then her hand. Then the rest of her body, until all that was left was her head.]] [[HorrorHunger And then she starts eating other people... even her sister, when she can't find anyone to devour.]] She's eventually [[HoistByHisOwnPetard eaten by a pike when she falls in a river]], but the idea that ''anyone'' can become a cannibalistic, nigh-invincible monster if they violate puberty taboos is chilling.

* Even though they're a bit old-fashioned now, the traditional [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]] isn't a slouch, either. There are many ways to become a werewolf, whether intentionally (selling your soul to Satan) or unintentionally (being bitten by a werewolf, being born on Christmas Eve, or merely drinking from the same water wolves drink out of.) Once you do, you become a bloodthirsty beast every full moon.

* Several Californian Native American tribes have the legend of Rolling Head. She was originally a young woman who went out to cut maple bark for a puberty ritual, even though it was forbidden. While cutting it, she pricked herself with a splinter and her finger began to bleed. [[WoundThatWillNotHeal It kept bleeding all day]], and when she tasted the blood, she discovered that she liked it, and [[{{Autocannibalism}} ate her finger. Then her hand. Then the rest of her body, until all that was left was her head.]] [[HorrorHunger And then she starts eating other people... even her sister, when she can't find anyone to devour.]] She's eventually [[HoistByHisOwnPetard eaten by a pike when she falls in a river]], but the idea that ''anyone'' can become a cannibalistic, nigh-invincible monster if they violate puberty taboos is chilling.

* Japan also brings us the story of the [[https://www.japanpowered.com/folklore-and-urban-legends/the-vampire-cat-of-nabeshima Vampire Cat of Nabéshima]]. To make a long story short, a [[MegaNeko huge]] [[CatsAreMean cat]] (or [[OurDemonsAreDifferent cat-like demon]]) sneaks into the room of a prince's favorite concubine one night and kills her with a bite to the neck. Then it buries her corpse under the veranda and [[DeadPersonImpersonation assumes her form]], draining the prince's lifeblood each night while pretending to be his lover. No doctor is able to find a treatment for his illness, and the retainers assigned to watch him at night are put into a magical sleep by the cat. Eventually, a soldier agrees to guard the prince while he sleeps, and can only stay awake by ''stabbing himself in the leg''. When the impostor concubine confronts him, they get into a fight which forces the cat to revert to its true form, and it flees due to its secret being found out. One might think that the end of the story, but the cat starts terrorizing villages in the mountains until the (recovered) prince orders a great hunt where it's killed.

* The Alp-luachra from Irish folklore is a newt-like creature that crawls into the mouth of somebody sleeping outdoors and enters their stomach. The entry is painless, but the aftereffects are harmful. Like a tapeworm on steroids, the Alp-luachra devours the food the person eats, causing insatiable hunger. As the Alp-luacra grows, it eats more and more, eventually causing the victim to starve to death. Once that happens, it moves out, searching for another host. Oh, and they have a {{glamour}} that prevents them from being seen while inside their host.
** One story tells of a farmer suffering from constant hunger pangs despite eating normally. A hermit tells him to eat a large quantity of salted beef and then lie down with his mouth above a stream. He did so, and after a few minutes, a female Alp-luachra crawled out of his mouth, followed by her twelve young.
* The UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} of Eastern Europe believe all the diseases and ailments that plague humanity can be traced back to an abusive and unnatural union between good and evil. The story goes that the King of the Loçolico (demons) became obsessed with Ana, a princess of the Keshalyi (good fairies). After she refused his advances, he started a genocidal war against the Keshalyi, forcing her to marry him to spare her people from utter annihilation. Understandably, she was reluctant to sleep with him, so he [[MaritalRapeLicense forced himself on her]] multiple times, resulting in a brood of horrifying children that would go on to cause illness among humans. While the King eventually agreed to divorce his wife, the ordeal she suffered harmed her so badly that she has to drink a dose of nymphs' blood every day in order to stay alive, and left her so traumatized that she scarcely ever leaves her isolated mountain castle.

* The Alp-luachra from Irish folklore is a newt-like creature that crawls into the mouth of somebody sleeping outdoors and enters their stomach. The entry is painless, but the aftereffects are harmful. Like a tapeworm on steroids, the Alp-luachra devours the food the person eats, causing insatiable hunger. As the Alp-luacra grows, it eats more and more, eventually causing the victim to starve to death. Once that happens, it moves out, searching for another host.

* Even though they're a bit old-fashioned now, the traditional werewolf isn't a slouch, either. There are many ways to become a werewolf, whether intentionally (selling your soul to Satan) or unintentionally (being bitten by a werewolf, being born on Christmas Eve, or merely drinking from the same water wolves drink out of.) Once you do, you become a bloodthirsty beast every full moon.

* Fearsome Critters, despite their name, tend to be mildly silly if not absolutely {{Adorkable}} at best and somewhat spooky at worst. The same cannot be said about the Hidebehind. A creature that hunts and eats humans who get lost in the woods. It gets its name because it ''hides behind'' its prey... and can keep hiding until the time is right. It can hide behind its prey and no matter how fast its prey turns around, ''it is faster'' and can [[ParanoiaFuel keep hiding behind their prey until the right moment]]. And at that moment, it kills and eats them.