Creatures in folklore

I want to have as much information as possible about creatures in folklore, like vampires, leprechauns and so on.

I begin myself with what I know

Troll: usually have treasures, turn to stone when in sunlight or if they hear the sound of churchbells

Näcken: A naked man that plays violin in the water, and lures people to go into the water and drown

Bäckahästen: a horse that lures children to ride on it’s back so that it can drown them

Älvor= “fairies” the mist on meadows is said to be fairies that dances

John Blund: He sprinkles sand in the childrens eyes so that they will go to sleep

Vampires: can’t live in sunshine, a cross, a religious icon, holy water and garlic isn’t good for them, a stake in the heart is also bad for them

So come with your own knowledge about creatures in the folklore,
but no information from fictionbooks :wink: ok:)

I believe trolls are natural healers/regenerators, too.

that’s funny, we have that in holland too, but then he’s called “klaas vaak” :smile:

Ugh, where to start? I read so many fantasy books!

Right, erm… I’ll just do a few for now.

Genies: Come out of lamps, bottles or other stopped-up objects and either kill you or grant wishes. I guess it depends whether you’re lucky or not.

And speaking of luck…

Leprechauns: Guard the (apparently very big) pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Are inherently lucky/bring good luck, but can also be very mischievious little buggers.

Pixies/Sprites/Small Winged Thingies: Are also mischievious, but won’t bring you luck. Actually, they’re much more likely to play cruel tricks on you, steal your things and laugh at you behind your back.

We’re getting onto the nasty guys now…

Changelings: Are what happens when the fairies decide to steal children without warning and leave a substitute in their place. Usually very ugly, occasionally rather reminescent of David Bowie in the movie Labyrinth.

Kelpies: Small sea creatures that lie about on the beach pretending to be helpless and/or injured, ask a passing victim to carry them on their back, and get progressively heavier and heavier until said victim falls over or breaks their back, at which point the kelpie finds itself with today’s dinner.

And now I really should get to sleep.

Do you just mean humaniod creatures? Like sprites, fairies etc. Or do you want all creatures? Like sphinxes, dragons, unicorns, and of course, we couldn’t forget the unigon!. Nessy, too.

Also, don’t forget Bigfoot/Sasquash (spelling?), Elves, Drwaves, Gnomes, and Goblins.

Bigfoot/Sasquash:The Hairy, “missing link” between man and ape.

Elves:Beautiful, agile, forest dwellers with long life and usualy good magic. They also have pointy ears. Or alternatively, Santas little helpers.

Dwarves: Miners, big boned, “hairy mountain men”, very strong.

Gnomes: Live in gardens, very short, often annoying.

Goblins:Evil, ugly, usualy green, realatively short (4 foot or so), barbaric.

ME TOO! :colgate:

There’s so many different variations of the legend of Vampire.

Werewolves I- A Half-man half-wolf, or a person who believe they can feel themselves changing (even if no physical change takes place - Lycanthropy)

Werewolf II- People who could willingly change into a wolf (except the full moon when they have no choice) - The werewolf could only be killed using silver bullets/knife or a melted down crucifix. It then had to be burn as if it was just burried it would return as a Vampire. This also lead to the belief that vampires don’t like silver/crucifix.

Faeries - not the cute little things from faerietales. But the evil, but beautiful creatures that lived in sex and violence. The people of the mound (celtic and Gaelic legend)

Peg Powler - An ugly old woman who is said to inhabit the River Tees. She grabs the ankles of those who wander too close to the water’s edge and drowns them.

Beast of Bodmin-moore - A phantom Wild cat

The Black Dog - There are a few variations of this. One is a phantom black dog with red or green eyes. (The hound in Hound of the Baskervilles is based on the Black Dog legend :smile:) - I remember one variation, if you were to see the Dog you could not speak of it for 101 days. If you did you would die.

Brownies: A small elf like creature that aids in household tasks, they don’t like to be seen and often work at night. Sometimes they will work in exchange for food or gifts but will leave if such gift is refered to as payment or if the gift is clothing. (anyone who is familiar with Harry Potter will recognise the brownie :wink: )

Robin Goodfellow: a half tamed Faerie (puck from Midsummer nights dream)

Wild Hunt - A group of ghostly horsement. Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to foretell some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it.
Mortals getting in the path of the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead. (Harry Potter’s Headless Hunt was probably a variation of this legend)

Jack-In-Irons: A giant who haunts lonely roads in yorkshire covered in chains and the heads of his vicitims.

chupacabra: A creature described as a gargoyle, sucks the blood of goats. (hence the name Goat-sucker)

Head-less Horseman - This one is from where I used to live, a small dark lane nearby. Coach Road used to be used along time ago by horse drawn coaches, while it’s open to the public to walk it is closed to traffic as the pathing slabs that used to be there were stolen. Legend has it that if you are there after midnight you may seen the headless horseman wondering around the area.

Actually, bottled genies aren’t that common, and genies can be bound to any object really, but are usually free.

They are, or at least consider themselves to be, higher beings, and treat humans as inferiors, even when they have to grant wishes.

There are basically two types of entity from the Arab Mythology that are both called genies in the Western culture: the jiins and the efreets. Some stories also speak of marids and daos, but I don’t know if they are original folklore or modern fantasy. :smile:

That’s the Sandmännchen, meaning “little sand man”, in Germany.

I know there’s a little gnome-like man in some african country with a stick. He uses it to hit girls in the back of the knees, for a very NC-17 reason. I’m not making this up! I think it’s a “beware of strange men, girls!” sort of legend. Don’t remember his name, but I’ve seen a statue of him.

While I’m in Africa: Ananse is a trickster god, who in a lot of stories manages to mislead and fool stronger creatures. Similar to Renard the Fox (Reinecke Fuchs in German). Puck is an example of tricksters, too, and of course Loke (my favorite norse deity.) Loke is a son of a god and a troll woman, and his siblings include the mitgard snake and the fenris wolf. Like a lot of tricksters he’s a bit double-edged: he is constantly starting trouble by annoying or hanging out with the trolls, but he’s also usually the one who thinks up the tricks that will get the gods out of trouble again.

Another trickster: Till Eulenspiegel: a medieval character or contemporary (tradition says he lived in the 14th century) who played pranks on craftsmen, the pope and rulers - basically all the high and mighty. I hope he counts as folklore?

Then there are of course witches, I guess nobody named them since they are so obvious. Traditional evil-doers who lure children and eat them, though there are other examples: in russian stories they are often frightening, but potentially benevolent if you complete their tasks and show virtue. Baba Yaga is a very interesting example, not the least because she lives in a house which walks around in a chicken leg.

And let’s add a favorite trio of mine: the three fates. In greek mythology three women: one spins the thread of live, the next measures it out, the third (Atropa) cuts the thread.

In norse mythology the three fates (Urd, Verdandi, Skuld) represend past, present and future. They live under the roots of Yggdrasil (the world tree) and weave a tapestry in which all of life is depicted. (And yes, Tolkien liberated one of his “gods” from them.)

Okay, enough for the moment. Norse mythology is a treasure of folklore creatures.

Anyone Swedish willing to tell me about julbock and the (jul) tomte? :smile:

jultomte= Santa Claus :wink:
julbock
bock= he-goat
before Jultomten, it was Julbocken that brought the presents, that’s all I know

on the other hand a tome is another thing, often dressed in gray, has a grey Luva=(“knitted cap”), is the size of a dwarf, helps people in the house, helps with the animals, horses, cows and so on, is easy irratble, and he don’t want any rewards all he wans is a plate, with “gröt”, butter and an almond on christmas,

a little of what I know, there is a famous poem in sweden
called “tomten” kotisivu.mtv3.fi/sven/tomten/tomten.html

On the risk of stating the obvious: wikipedia is a good starting point. There’s very little that you won’t find information and further links for.

E.g.: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat

Till Eulenspiegel… that name sounds familiar. I think I did something regarding him in music in high school, though I can’t think why it would be music. o.O

Dragons: Something I’m suprised wasn’t mentioned already :tongue: - Mythical winged creature capable breathing fire.

Basilisk: Usually said to be a serpent or lizard, that has deadly venom and can kill with a single glare.

wyvern: Similar to a dragon, but has stands on too legs and is said not to be able to breathe fire like it’s European counterpart.

The Phoenix: I’ve seen a few variations on it’s description, from a bird the size of a parot to a large EMU size bird that is flightless. In both cases they burn to ash when they die and are reborn from their ashes. Some legend says that only one Phoenix can live at any one time.

The Unicorn: A horse like creature with a single horn on the forehead.

Hippogriff: A creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare. (I admit, I only knew of it AFTER Harry Potter)

Wraith: (overview from Wikipedia) The word wraith, marked by the Oxford English Dictionary as being of obscure origin, is first attested in 1513, with the meaning of ghost or spectre (that is, an apparition of a living or once-living being, possibly as a portent of death). In 18th century Scotland it was applied to water spirits, and in England it became used in a metaphoric sense to refer to wraith-like things, and to portents in general.

In the case of a living person being doubled it is thought that the wraith is an omen of the person’s imminent death.

Pegasus: A winged horse from Greek legend (son of Poseidon)

Thestral: Another winged horselike being, thought to be a stunted form of Pegasus.

I was gonna say that! :tongue:

Amphiptere: Is often referred to as a wyvern (which they’re not or a winged wyrm. These are a species of dragons with a body of a snake and wings.

Davy Jones: The devil of the seas or a great evil that presides over all other monsters of the sea.

^^hehe, did you see the new Pirates too?

The Sandman in US!

-Minotaur: A powerful bull/man hybrid guarding the labryinth; from a famous roman story about a father and son trapped in the mythical maze (I believe it is from the adventures with Aeneas).

If you’re refering to Dead Man’s Chest I litterally just finished watching it :cool_laugh: - They have a most interesting take on Davy. I’m tempted to mention the Kraken now lol.

Jörmungandr / Midgard Serpent: A Sea serpent.

Sirrush: Depicted as a scaly creature with hind legs of an Eagle, front legs of a cat, long neck and tail and a snakelike tongue.

Griffin/Gryphon: A Creature with the body of a lion and the head & wings of an eagle.

Chimera: A greek monster made up of several animals, descriptions vary.

well first, in with regards to the new “Pirates” movie, i didnt appreciate the abrupt ending thing. I just came from it myself…
Annnyways, this got me thinking about mythical creatures, so i went to wikipedia, and with a memory of an obscure mythical squirrel refrence i recall from playing balderdash several years back, i looked up mythical squirrels, and…well…see for yourselves: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger
Its a wolpertinger.

Wow, now all the non-humanoid creatures are turning up… we’ll end up with more species than you’d find in a large zoo.

Annotation to dragons: Like witches, this species comes with very different aspects depending on time and area. The poisonous, fire-breathing worms in Europe (and the modern time fairy tales) are evil by tradition, but in China and other asian countries they are symbols of good luck. (I remember reading about one dragon species or specimen who’s so gentle that he wouldn’t even tread on freshly growing grass.)

Their looks change a lot, too: Dragons in medieval times could have aspects of birds or snakes or some nasty enimal or from various animals. The modern time dragon :smile: big lizard with large wings) is, AFAIK, heavily influenced by the first findings of fossilized dinosaurs.

Similar for unicorns: their looks changed a bit, and their character is dicy, too. In medieval times they were very wild, dangerous beasts, and the traditional method of capture employed a young maiden (read: virgin). She’d sit in the forrest where the unicorn lived, the unicorn would see her, be entranced and tamed by her beauty and purity, come closer, lay its head into her lap and fall asleep. At which point the noble knight could hack its head off.

And to complete Loke/Loki and the Mitgard snake, I’ll add some details one two my favorites: the Fenrir wolf and Hel.

To correct myself: the Mitgard snake Jörmundgandr, Fenrir and Hel are children of Loki.

Hel is a subterraen deity, queen of the dead, and her dwellings are impressively described:

“She has great possessions there; her walls are exceeding high and her gates great. Her hall is called Sleet-Cold; her dish, Hunger; Famine is her knife; Idler, her thrall; Sloven, her maidservant; Pit of Stumbling, her threshold, by which one enters; Disease, her bed; Gleaming Bale, her bed-hangings. She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and very lowering and fierce”

Not a place for warriors, who’ll go to Valhalla (say hello to the valkyres, and keep in mind that they didn’t wear horned helms until Wagner). If you do something as tasteless as die in your bed, you go to Hel.

Now Fenrir… it took a lot of tricks, and one of Tyr’s hands to put chains on him. The gods convinced him that really they only were putting these chains on him to see if he was strong enough to break them, and to prove that all was fair play, one of them, Tyr, laid his hand into Frenrir’s mouth. Of course it wasn’t fair play: Fenrir couldn’t break the magical chains, the gods didn’t take them off him, and Tyr became the one-handed god. So for now Fenrir is bound, come Ragnarök, the final battle and end of the world, he’ll break the chains and devour Odin.

One last one because I like genderbending gods: During one of his tricks Loki turned into a beautiful white mare (it seemed like a good idea at the point) and promptly got impregnated by the grey stallion Svadilfari. The resulting offspring was Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse who became the steed of Odin.

@Mohegan:
The name Eulenspiegel translates into Owl Mirror. Since the stories about him are so old and since stories were often told in the form of songs ( => Bänkelsänger = ballad-mongers), there is a lot of medieval music concerning the character, and some contemporary, too. I think there could even be a ballet.

@ magnus:
Any specific reason for the info collection?

@Yenia: the only reason for this info collection is that I’m interested in creatures in folklore :smile:

one person that haven’t been mention yet I think is

Death also called the Grim Reaper, a skeleton with a, I don’t remember what the thing is called now, but he collect the souls when they die.

Vampires
Quote from Fox on X-files

“Vampires has always been with us, in myths and stories passed down from early man. From the Babylonian Ekimmu, to the Chinese Kuang - Shi, the Motetz Dam of the Hebrews, the Mormo of ancient Greece and Rome, right down to the more familiar Nosferatu”

some example of different kinds of vampires still quotes from Fox.

“The Bulgarian Ubour eats only manure”

“To the Serbs, a prime indicator of vampirism was red hair” that makes me a vampire :tongue:

some vampires are eternal others only live for 40 days, sunlight kill certain vampires while others can come and go as the please day and night

cemeteries are said to be a haven for vampires, as castles, catacombs and swamps

Vampiric activity:
Broken or shited tombstones, the absence of birds singing

a faint groaning the sound of manduction: the creature eating it’s own death shroud

Historically certain seeds fascinate vampires, chiefly oats and millet.

all vampires are obssessive-compulsive if you throw a handful seeds on them they must pick them up whatever they’re doing if they see a knotted robe the must untie

and fangs aren’t mentioned in the vampire myths

I don’t know how tru these “facts” are since I got them from X-files but they sound good

And I’ve seen Dead Man’s chest now and pirates of the caribbean and Kraken :wink: