Here are 8 of the most horrific Mythological creatures of folklore around the world

Grotesques from Reims, France, photographed by Joseph Trompette (ca. 1870-90) (via Cornell University Library)

Mermaids, unicorns, and fairies have been romanticized through the ages, but what about the Pennsylvanian Squonk? Here is a motley assortment of mythical beasts and beings found in folklore from around the world. From soul-sucking cats to child-thieving shape-shifters, these are the oddballs found in the magical bestiary that haven’t gotten much love. 


The Squonk 

This sad, mythical creature hails from the legends of northern Pennsylvania. The Squonk was said to be a hideous forest animal with grotesquely loose, scaly skin entirely covered in warts and blemishes.

The Teary Squonk - Indrachapa J - Medium

The squonk as illustrated by Coert Du Bois from Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods. photo: wikipedia

The animal was so miserable over its own gruesome appearance and lack of companionship that it almost constantly wept. Local legend had it that the Squonk was quite easy to track; you could pretty much just follow the sound of the animal’s sobs and salty, tear-strewn trail through the woods. Capturing one proved much harder: when greatly distressed the Squonk was said to literally dissolve into a puddle of its own tears.


The Tiyanak

The Tiyanak takes various forms in Philippine mythology. In one version it is an evil dwarf-like creature posing as a human baby, in another it is an actual demon child. 

The Demon Child Vampire Tiyanak photo: bookroar

The Christian take on this mythical monster turns Tiyanaks into the restless ghosts of children who have died unbaptized. In any case, the Tiyanak is said to mimic the cries of a human baby to lure its victims in. Once picked up, out come the fangs and things get gory.

T is for Tiyanak - Supposedly the "true" form of the tiyanak

The Tiyanak also enjoys confusing travelers into losing their way, leading them deeper and deeper into the Philippine jungle with its cries. If you ever find yourself being lured astray by this monster baby, the traditional trick for escape is to turn your clothes inside out. According to Philippine lore, this amuses the Tiyanak to no end, and he may just think that you’re funny enough to let you live.


The Cat Sìth or Cat Sidhe


The Cat Sìth is a fairy creature from Celtic mythology, said to resemble a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. Legend has it that the spectral cat haunts the Scottish Highlands. The legends surrounding this creature are more common in Scottish folklore, but a few occur in Irish. Some common folklore suggested that the Cat Sìth was not a fairy, but a witch that could transform into a cat nine times

An Illustration from More English Fairy Tales from the story The King of the Cats photo: wikipedia

Fairy Myths: The Cat Sidhe The Paranormal

A large, dog-sized breed of black and white cat said to roam the Scottish Highlands, the Cat Sìth was believed to steal the souls from newly deceased bodies awaiting burial. In a wake called the Feill Fadalach (aka the “Lake Wake”), unburied bodies were watched over night and day to ensure that the Cat Sìth would not gain access to the corpse. Kitty distractions such as catnip and music were sometimes employed, as were games of leaping, wrestling, and riddles, all of which were thought to offer additional protection to unburied bodies.

The Cat Sìth or Cat Sidhe photo: pinterest

While some believed the Cat Sìth was a type of feline fairy, a common Celtic legend proclaimed that Cat Sìths were in fact witches who were capable of morphing into a magical cat eight times. Those attempting the transformation a ninth time would be permanently trapped in kitty form, hence initiating the myth that cats have nine lives.



The Yara-ma-yha-who 

A cross between a vampire and the bogeyman in Australian Aboriginal folklore, the Yara-ma-yha-who is a strange, red-skinned humanoid that dwells in the branches of fig trees, waiting to drop on unsuspecting victims. 

Yara-ma-yha-who A Book of Creatures

Yara-ma-yha-who photo: villains.wikia.com

The creature was said to have suckers attached to its hands and feet that it would use to drain its prey of blood, much like a giant leech. Once its victim was sufficiently weak, the Yara-ma-yha-who would ingest them whole, resting for awhile before regurgitating the person (still alive) and beginning the whole process again. With each regurgitation, the victim would return slightly shorter and a little bit redder in tone, finally becoming another Yara-ma-yha-who.


The Ijiraq

Things That Go Bump — Ijiraq - A shapeshifter from Inuit mythology Tumblr

An elusive Arctic shapeshifter found in Inuit mythology, the Ijiraq is said to live between the world of the living and that of the dead. The Ijiraq could take many forms, including that of a half-man, half-caribou monster called Tariaksuq, generally only seen when looked at from the corner of one’s eye. The shadowy form would vanish when looked upon directly.

The Ijiraq photo: Pinterest

In Inuit lore, the Ijiraq was a kidnapper of children, accused of stealing little ones to hide and then abandon in the Arctic cold. When a hunter stepped into the cursed Ijiraq’s territory he would become hopelessly lost and unable to find his way home.

Librum Prodigiosum — The ijiraq is a shapeshifting creature

Oddly enough, certain areas traditionally associated with Ijiraq activity are also home to large deposits of toxic sour gas, sulphur smoke, and geothermal activity. It’s possible that rising vapors sometimes created mirages; pockets of gas may even have been responsible for disorientation and hallucinations.


The Liderc

There are several types of Liderc in Hungarian folklore, all of which are said to hatch from the first egg of a black hen that has been kept warm in a human’s armpit or a heap of manure. 

The egg eventually hatches to reveal a magic chicken, a small imp-like creature, or a full-grown woman or man, sometimes even taking the form of a deceased lover or family member. In addition to behaving as an incubus or sucubus and performing its owner’s every wish, the Liderc immensely enjoys hoarding riches.

The Liderc photo: Pinterest

Over time, the owner of a Liderc will accumulate great wealth, but the arrangement is a deal with the devil. Periodically, the Liderc crawls atop its owner’s chest, drinking his or her blood, and gradually leaves them more and more weak. The Hungarian word for nightmare is lidercnyomas, which literally means “Liderc pressure” from the feeling of having the creature’s weight upon one’s chest. The only way to be completely rid of a Liderc is to command it to perform an impossible task. After trying its hardest to comply, the Liderc will grow so consumed with frustration that it will essentially implode.


The Impundulu

Found in the folklore of several South African tribes, the Impundulu, or “Lightning bird,” is a human-sized vampiric bird said to cause lightning by setting its own fat on fire. It is heavily associated with tribal witchcraft, and is believed to be immortal, allowing it to be passed down as a familiar through generations of female witches. 

The hammerkop, one believed manifestation of the lightning bird photo: wikipedia

The Impundulu was believed capable of morphing into human form to make love to his witch owner and to feed on the blood of her enemies, causing bad luck, sickness, and death.  

Impundulu the Lightning Bird – Southern Africa Travel

Traditionally, when a man became ill it was not uncommon for his wife to be accused of secretly harboring an Impundulu.


Puckwudgies

The forest fairy of North America, Puckwudgies are found in the folklore of several American Indian tribes. Oddly similar to their Celtic counterparts, Puckwudgies are small, magical woodland beings with poison arrows and the ability to appear and disappear at will. Legend has it that the Puckwudgies were once a friend of humans, but an accumulation of grievances and jealousies caused the little guys to turn against us. They’ve been known to attack people, kidnap children, burn down homes, and lead travelers astray, and are sometimes even blamed for staging suicides by pushing their victims off cliffs.

The Pukwudgies photo: Pinterest

Paranormal Encounters What Exactly Is A Puckwudgie?

Certain forested parks and pockets of wilderness in New England are still said to be rampant with Puckwudgies.


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St. Justus of Beauvais was only 9 when he was beheaded for being a Christian in France Century III. ( His body took up his head, and he began to say a prayer )

St. Justus photo: tamisuitdekunst 

St. Justus was only 9 when he was beheaded for being a Christian in the third century France. However, his body took up his head, and he began to say a prayer. This would have frightened the soldiers who beheaded him, and tried to attack him again, then fled. Boy's body was found by his father, holding his head in his hands, and then began to speak again. His head became a holy object of worship.

Other such examples are those of Saint Denis in Paris, considered the most famous, for that bore his hands head six miles from Montmartre to the place where the basilica was to be built, the Holy Gires de la Jara or Walles the Holy Winnifried the community. The number of cases is 120, those who went through this experience being martyred by the Church.

Saint Denis, a martyr turned legend in Montmartre photo: studiosparis

Christian saints are not the only ones whose head has survived after being separated from the body in Celtic culture there are fixated on this side of the body, and some stories before Celtic Christians evoked also the subject, what makes us inquire story of these Christians took as inspiration the elements of Celtic culture? Or arose independently? Christian saints are not the only cases. In ancient Greek myth, Orpheus's head separated from the body by maenads (trace priestesses of Dionysus), he continued to send prophets. Welsh legends is found also this idea.

It is tempting to believe that the legend of Justus is closely linked to Celtic culture, especially the Celtic winter holidays are likened to Christmas. But art historian Scott Montgomery has studied this issue and found a number of legends that had the same theme and, potriivit him, signifies the power of the saints after death and locates them in a position of superiority, divinizându them. In his view, there is absolutely no connection between Celtic culture and legends of saints Christians, and why they made this connection lies in the geographical distance between the two kinds of legends and circumstances in which they were running. "We have no evidence that anyone knows these legends Celtic, who are isolated from the western part of the British Isles before this practice to occur in Italy or France. The place where this method appeared not related to the legends have appeared, "he said.

There oo clear proof to the fact that Celtic culture, which spread to Europe and the British Isles until held the Roman conquest, several hundred years before the first millennium AD to begin, there was a also fixated on the head separated from the body. However, the evidence on Celtic religious culture are extremely fragile, and scientists have become increasingly skeptical about how these legends can give us valuable information about past Celtic culture.





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Five of the most fascinating Celtic Myths and Gods with the best books to read

Updated 04/05/2020

Tales of monsters, Gods, spells and love affairs: Celtic myths reflected the social thinking and traditions of pre-Roman Celts of Britain, Ireland and Europe. Spread by travelling poets and storytellers who plied their trade from village to village, the myths came into being partly to explain natural phenomena, and to try to address basic human concerns about life and death.

Irish Myths – A Guide to Celtic Mythology, Irish Mythology, and Irish Folklore irishmyths.com

In her new book, Miranda Aldhouse-Green, an expert in archaeology and shamanism, uses myths to paint a complete picture of the Celtic world, and reveals how traditional Celtic characters and symbols can even be found in contemporary popular culture series such as Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Celtic gods poster Pinterest

Here, writing for History Extra, Aldhouse-Green recalls five of the most fascinating Celtic myths…

In the Middle Ages, Christian monasteries in Ireland and Wales were the engines of literacy and education. Many monks took it upon themselves to record pagan myths and legends dating to pre-Christian times, leaving us a rich legacy of gods, goddesses, supernatural heroes, enchanted animals and magical objects. 

The Book of Celtic Myths: From the Mystic Might of the Celtic Warriors to the Magic of the Fey Folk, the Storied History and Folklore of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, and Wales: Adams

But their Christian chroniclers seasoned these stories with a heavy sprinkling of early Christian ethics, so mythic warfare tended to end in disaster; amoral and over-powerful women inevitably came to grief, and good usually triumphed over evil in the end.

Celtic Art: Celtic Mythology; The Realistic Celtic Art work and illustrations of Celtic myth & legend by Howard David Johnson

It is generally accepted that these myths were first written down between the 8th and 12th centuries AD. The two most important groups of Celtic myths are found in the Welsh Mabinogion and the Irish Táin Bó Cuailnge (more popularly known as the Cattle Raid of Cooley).

Celtic Myths Origins - Jake Jackson - Medium

Pagan Celtic myths were originally transmitted orally, by storytellers who acted both as travelling entertainers and as peddlers of news. But the origins of the myths were probably very ancient indeed.

Like most mythic traditions, they came into being partly to explain natural phenomena, including disasters such as floods, famines and plagues, and to try to address basic human concerns such as ‘who are we? Why are we here? Who came before us? What happens to us when we die?’ But Celtic myths tap into another hugely rich vein of tradition: the pantheon of gods and goddesses worshipped by the pre-Roman Celts of Britain, Ireland and Europe, between about 500 BC and the Roman period.

Thus, for instance, we find the Celtic horse-goddess, Epona, who was venerated over huge areas of Roman Europe, transformed into the iconic figure of Rhiannon, the horse-heroine of Welsh mythology. Celtic myths are full of monsters, heroes, gods, shape-changers, spells, wars and love affairs. Apart from their interest as ancient pagan myths, they are richly entertaining stories. Here are five of the most fascinating…

The Goddess Rhiannon

Cú Chulainn: the Hound of Culann

Cú Chulainn was an Irish hero, son of a mortal and a god. He was a mighty warrior, champion of the Ulstermen in their war with the people of Connaught, who were led by their formidable queen Medbh (Maeve).

While he was still an infant, the Druid Cathbad prophesied that he would lead a short but glorious life. When he was five years old, Cú Chulainn routed the Ulster king Conchobar’s 50-strong youth brigade. While still a young boy, he demanded arms from the king, and shattered 15 sets of weapons before accepting those belonging to Conchobar himself. The young hero got his name, the ‘Hound of Culann’, when he accidentally killed the guard-dog of Culann the blacksmith. Ashamed of his deed, he pledged to redeem himself by acting in the dog’s place.

He grew up very fast, and quickly became Ulster’s war-leader. Like many ancient mythical heroes, he regularly communed with spirits, and he had a particular affinity with the Morrigan, a war-goddess who frequently appeared to him in the guise of a crow. A particular feature of Cú Chulainn was his habit of going into ‘warp-spasm’, or a berserk state, when roused. When like this, he was literally out of his mind, and his body did strange and monstrous things: one eye bulged out while the other sank into his cheek and his body rotated in his skin, while the ‘hero-light’ shone fiercely around his head.

Betrayed by his enemies, he met his death on the battlefield but when mortally wounded, he had himself bound to a stake so that he would die standing upright, facing his foes. In the end, the Morrigan betrayed him, perching on his shoulder to show his enemies that he was dead.

Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis Goodreads

Blodeuwedd: the false flower-woman of Welsh myth

Blodeuwedd appears in the ‘Fourth Branch’ of the Welsh Mabinogion. She was not mortal, but was conjured from wild flowers (the oak, meadowsweet and broom) by two magicians, Math and Gwydion, for their kinsman Lleu Llaw Gyffes (the ‘Bright one of the Skilful Hand’).

Because he was illegitimate, Lleu’s mother Arianrhod cursed him at birth, denying him a name, weapons or a wife unless she herself gave them to him. The boy’s uncle Gwydion [although it is elswehere suggested that Gwydion is actually also Lleu Llaw Gyffes’ father] tricked his sister into endowing the child with both a name and weapons, but getting him a wife proved trickier, so he and Math got round the problem by creating Blodeuwedd.

But because she was not a mortal woman and was thus without morals (the Christian influence is perhaps showing here!), Lleu’s flower-wife betrayed him with another man, Gronw, and the lovers plotted his death. Lleu himself was clearly a hero or even a god, for he could only be killed in a peculiar, ‘impossible’ way; he had to be neither inside nor outside a house, naked or clothed or on water or land, and only a spear made during the hours that smithing was not permitted could kill him.

Celtic Mythology | Small Online Class for Ages 6-11 Outschool

By huge cunning (together with a certain dimness on Lleu’s part), Blodeuwedd persuaded her husband to act out the only circumstances in which he was vulnerable: by making a bath for Lleu on a riverbank and erecting an arched roof above it, then thatching it so that it let in no water. She brought a billy goat and stood next to the bath, and then Lleu placed one foot on the back of the goat and the other on the edge of the bath. Whoever struck Lleu while he was in that position would be able to kill him.

Then, Gronw smote him with his spear. As he was struck, Lleu uttered a ghastly shriek, turned into an eagle and flew into an oak-tree. There Gwydion found him and restored him, but Blodeuwedd he cursed, turning her into an owl, and condemning her to hunt alone at night, shunned by all other birds, for eternity.

Capricious Cauldrons

There is a Welsh mythic story called The Spoils of Annwn, which narrates a raid on Annwn (the Otherworld) by Arthur, whose target was a magical cauldron, described as made of shimmering bronze and studded with gems. This cauldron knew its own mind: it needed the breath of nine virgins to heat the broth within it, and it would never provide food for a coward.

Arthur’s cauldron-rustling expedition ended in a Pyrrhic victory: he gained the vessel but lost most of his men to the forces of darkness in so doing. Arthur’s cauldron is only one of many that had magical properties. For the Celts, cauldrons were vessels of rebirth. The myth of Brân the Blessed, lord of Harlech, a Welsh hero (so large that he could wade across the Irish Sea and whose severed head remained alive and talking after his death), contains an account of Brân’s most treasured possession, a cauldron that could bring the dead to life.

But, again, this was a vessel that had its own agenda. When Matholwch, king of Ireland, was insulted by one of Brân’s relatives when he came to woo his sister Branwen, he could be appeased only by the gift of the cauldron. Later on, when war broke out between Ireland and Wales, Matholwch used Brân’s gift as a weapon: every night, the Irish war-dead were cooked in the cauldron and emerged good as new to fight another day.

But these resurrected soldiers were, in fact, ‘undead’ zombies, for they had lost the power of speech. Ireland had its own cauldron-myths. Gods, such as the Daghdha (a father-god) had Otherworld ‘hostels’ in which they served food in ever-replenishing cauldrons, and where pigs that had been cooked and eaten – rather chillingly – returned charred and squealing to be re-cooked every day.

Shape-shifting Lovers: Oenghus and Caer

Oenghus mac Oc was an Irish god of youth. He was the son of two deities: the Daghdha and Boann, goddess of the river Boyne. But Boann was married already when she became pregnant with Oenghus, and so they enchanted the sun so that it neither rose nor set for nine months, until the baby was born. Thus Oenghus was conceived and born on the same day, and the illicit lovers managed to conceal their union from Boann’s husband Nechtan.

Given the circumstances surrounding his birth, it is not surprising that Oenghus became the patron god of star-crossed lovers. Indeed, he had his own love story: one night, he had a dream in which he saw a wonderfully beautiful girl and fell in love with her. When he woke, his passion was undimmed and he set out to discover who she was and how to find her.

Eventually Oenghus tracked her down to a lake where the girl lived with a bevy of other young women. Her name was Caer Ibormeith (‘Yew-Berry’). But Caer and her companions were under an enchantment. Every alternate year, at the Festival of Samhain on 1 November (the Celtic New Year), the girls were transformed into swans. Oenghus asked Caer’s father for her hand in marriage, but he refused.

Realising that the only way to win her was to wait until she was in swan-form, he went to the lake at Samhain and called her. When she came, he turned himself into a swan and both birds flew away, circling the lake three times and singing a spell as they flew, so that everyone below fell asleep and they could not be pursued. The lovers took up residence at Oenghus’ palace at Brugh na Bóinne and, it is to be hoped, lived happily ever after.


Rhiannon the Horse-Maiden

The ‘First Branch’ of the Mabinogion tells the story of Pwyll, lord of Dyfed in south-west Wales. Near his court at Llys Arberth (modern Narberth), there was a gorsedd, a magical mound. Anyone who sat on the mound was assured either of a catastrophic shock or a wondrous event.

One day, Pwyll was sitting on the gorsedd when he saw a beautiful woman riding, clad in shimmering white upon a dazzling white horse. He commanded his swiftest horsemen to ride after her and stop her but, however fast they galloped, she outpaced them, even though her own mount appeared to be ambling. So Pwyll leapt on his own steed and pursued her, to no avail.

In desperation he called out to her and immediately she reined in her horse and sat waiting for him. When he caught up with her, she told him she had only been waiting for him to address her before she stopped. The horsewoman’s name was Rhiannon (‘Great Queen’). The pair fell in love and married, but at first their union appeared cursed, for no child was born to them.

After three years Rhiannon produced a son, but even then the couple’s troubles were not over: on the night of May-eve, just before the spring festival of Beltane, the baby was stolen. Rhiannon’s watch-women had fallen asleep at their post. When they woke, fearing blame, they framed the slumbering Rhiannon, killing a puppy and smearing her hands and face with its blood, so that the mother appeared to have killed – and eaten – her own son.

Pwyll neither banished not executed Rhiannon, but imposed a strange punishment: she had to crouch by the gate of the palace and carry every visitor up to the door on her back, like a beast of burden.

But there was a happy ending: the baby was found and returned to his parents. Rhiannon named him Pryderi, which means ‘care’. Rhiannon’s recurrent association with horses probably betrays her origins as a pagan horse-goddess.

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The Celtic Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends by Miranda Aldhouse-Green

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by History Extra . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length