This is where I am storing all the reference material I found for my collab found here: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/572927/?page=1#post-5955024

Real Life Animals To Add
Real life animals have beliefs and superstitions associated with them as well. As far as I can tell, this is a list of animals native to Europe or known to medieval Europe and their identities in medieval literature and folklore. Due to most folklore not being recorded until after the middle ages, some of these beliefs may or may not reflect actual medieval folklore, but folk beliefs change slowly so they are the best guess we have.

~Antelope

• <Medieval Bestiaries> - The antelope has two serrated horns which it uses to cut down trees. It is so wild that hunters dare not approach it, unless it gets its horns tangled in a herecine thicket when it bends down to drink from the Euphrates river.
  

~Donkey

• <Bestiaries> - The donkey is a slow and stubborn animal. Arcadian donkeys are taller, but smaller donkeys are better at sustaining hardship. Donkeys fear water so much that a mother donkey will go through fire to save her child, but will not cross even a small stream. They refuse to cross bridges if they can see water through the slats.
  
• <England> - Hairs, usually three in number, plucked from the dark, cross-shaped patch on a donkey's back and worn in a bag around the neck prevent toothache, cure epilepsy and other convulsions, and ease teething troubles in infants. The same method, or else feeding the finely chopped hairs to the patient in bread and butter, is also a cure for whooping-cough. At least one source specifies that the hairs must be taken from a donkey of opposite gender to the patient, and that it must be done secretly or else the owner will try to stop it because the loss of these hairs renders the animal worthless; however, these beliefs are not universal. If a child's first ride in life is on the back of a donkey, he or she will never suffer from toothache; riding a donkey backwards is also a cure for many other ailments, including whooping-cough. Whooping-cough and ague can both be cured by passing the patient three or nine times under and over a donkey, sometimes for nine days in a row. Letting a black donkey run with mares in a field cures contagious abortion. It is considered bad luck to step on ground where a donkey has rolled. It is uncommon to see a dead donkey, and anyone who does will have enormous good luck.
  
• <Scotland> - A person bitten by a scorpion can be cured by whispering, “I am bitten with a scorpion,” in the ear of the first donkey met on the road.
  
• <Ireland> - If a donkey is made to eat a hair from a sufferer from scarlet fever, the illness will be transferred to the animal.
  

~Badger

• <Bestiaries> - Badgers are unclean animals that shield themselves from blows by inflating themselves. When hollowing out a burrow, one badger lies on its back with a stick in its mouth and lays the dirt it dugs up on its stomach. When it has a full load, the other badgers pull it out by the stick and haul away the dirt, allowing it to dig out another load.
  
• <England> - A badger's tooth carried in the pocket makes one lucky at cards.
  

~Bear

• <Bestiaries> - Bears are born as shapeless lumps of flesh and are gradually licked into shape by their mothers. Because they are born head first, they have strong bodies and weak heads. Bears mate in winter. A male bear will not touch a pregnant bear, even if they share a cave. Bears hibernate for fourteen days, during which not even wounds will wake them. They fight bulls by holding onto their horns. Injured bears know to use the herb phlome or mullein to heal themselves. Bears can only safely eat mandrake apples if they first eat ants. Their is a poison found in bears' brains which makes humans who ingest it go mad like a berserker.
  
• <England> - Bears mate only once every seven years; when they do it causes all other animals to suffer miscarriages. If a child rides on the back of a bear he will be cured of whooping cough if he has it and will never catch it in the future.
  
• <Siberia> - A bear will not attack a topless woman.
  

~Wild Boar

• <Bestiaries> - Boars rub against trees to harden their skin before fighting.
  

~Buffalo

• <Bestiaries> - Buffalo are like oxen but too wild to be tamed.
  

~Aurochs

• <Bestiaries> - Aurochs are a type of buffalo found in Germany with horns fit for making drinking horns for kings.
  
• <Europe> - Belts made from the curly hair on an aurochs' forehead increases fertility in women. The os cordis in an aurochs heart has medicinal and magical properties similar to those in other animals.
  

~Camel

• <Bestiaries> - Camels come in two varieties: one-humped Bactrians and two-humped Arabians. Bactrian camels are stronger but rarer. Camels prefer to drink muddy water, and will stir up mud with their hoofs if forced to drink clean water. They can go three to four days without water. Some camels are better for carrying loads and others are better for traveling on, but all camels refuse to carry more than a regulation load. Female camels are preferred for war. Camels are slower than horses and have a hatred for them. Camels live from fifty to one hundred years in their native countries, but sicken if exported.
  

~Crocodile

• <Bestiaries> - A twenty cubit long, golden-scaled, four-legged reptile which lives in the Nile River. It weeps after eating a human. Its scales are hard enough to withstand stones thrown at it, but its underbelly is soft and vulnerable. Its enemies are the serra, the hydrus, and the ichneuman. Crocodiles are the only animals that never stop growing, and they hibernate for four months in a cave during the winter. Its dung smeared on the face and allowed to be washed off by sweat improves a person's beauty.
  

~Dog

• <Bestiaries> - Dogs are the most intelligent animals, and the most faithful to their owners; indeed, they are unable to survive without humans. A dog is able to cure its own wounds by licking them, and tying a young dog to a human cures internal wounds. The offspring of female dogs and male tigers are fierce fighters which can defeat lions; however, only the third litter of puppies from this union should be kept, as the first two litters are too ferocious and hard to train. A dog always returns to its vomit. If a dog is carrying a piece of meat as it swims across a body of water, it will mistake its reflection for another dog with another piece of meat, and will drop the meat it already has while trying to seize the reflection. If a hyena's shadow falls on a dog, the dog will become mute.
  
• <Worldwide> - Dogs can see spirits, and usually are afraid of them.
  
• <England> - Dogs howling at night is an omen of death, or at the very least severe misfortune; a dog persistently howling outside a sick person's house is also a death omen, especially if it is a pet of the invalid, and even more certainly if it returns after being shooed away. If a dog howls three times in quick succession and then stops, a death has just occurred. If a pet dog whines persistently for no apparent reason it is an omen of misfortune. A dog will die when its owner does. Meeting a spotted or black-and-white dog when on the way to a business meeting is lucky, as is seeing three white dogs together. A single white dog, however brings bad luck unless the person seeing it maintains silence until a white horse is seen. Black dogs are bad luck, especially if one crosses in front of a traveler, and one which follows a person doggedly it is a certain omen of death. The word “dog” is one of the words which must not be spoken at sea, and fishermen in some regions will not allow the animal itself on board a boat either. The dead sometimes return in the shape of a dog, as do witches' familiars. A dog that howls on Christmas Eve will contract rabies within the year, and so is usually killed. Also usually put to death is a dog who has bitten someone, because if a dog ever gets rabies, so will everyone it has ever bitten. A cure for rabies in humans is to eat some hairs from or the cooked liver of the dog which bit the sufferer. If a dried dog's tongue is hung around a person's neck, it will cure the disease known as the king's evil. The melted fat of a dog is a remedy for rheumatism. If some hairs from a sick person are put between slices of bread and butter and fed to a dog, the disease will be transferred to the dog.
  
• <Germany and Poland> - Many dogs howling at once is an omen of plague.
  
• <Scotland> - A strange dog approaching a house is an omen of a new friendship, but a dog passing between a couple on their wedding day is bad luck.
  
• <Ireland> - It is bad luck to come across a barking dog early in the morning.
  

~Dormouse

• <Bestiaries> - Dormice grow fat while hibernating.
  

~Dromedary

• <Bestiaries> - A dromedary is like a camel, but smaller and faster; it can travel one hundred Roman miles in a day. It chews its cud.
  

~Elephant

• <Bestiaries> - Elephants have no knees and thus cannot get up if they fall. They sleep leaning against trees; hunters partially saw through trees in order to catch elephants which rest against them. When an elephant falls, one or twelve large elephants will fail to help it back up, but a small elephant will succeed. Elephants have trouble mating, so they eat the mandrake plant to help them. Female elephants are pregnant for two years and can only give birth once; they give birth in water and guarded by a male elephant to protect them from dragons, their mortal enemies. Elephants live three hundred years, are afraid of mice, and salute humans. There were once elephants in both Africa and India, but African elephants are now extinct. Elephants never commit adultery and never fight over females. They are wise and just animals who help lost humans find their way, take care not to accidentally injure smaller animals, and never fight to kill; if they are forced to fight, they will accept their injured foes into the herd and nurse them back to health. Persian soldiers build castles on the backs of elephants. Smoke from burning elephant bones or skin repels snakes.
  

~Fox

• <Bestiaries> - A tricky animal which never moves in a straight line. It splatters itself with red clay and plays dead to attract prey.
  
• <England> - A fox tongue worn as an amulet or cooked and eaten makes a person bold; a fox tongue laid before going to bed against a thorn lodged in a person will cause it come loose in the morning. Witches often turn into foxes, though not as often as into hares. A fox entering a home is a death omen for someone living there. Anyone bitten by a fox will die within seven years. If milk is given to a fox and the remainder given to a victim of whooping-cough, the patient will be cured. Foxes get rid of fleas by wading into a body of water with a piece of wool in their mouths; the fleas climb onto the wool to escape drowning and are left on it when the fox returns to land.
  
• <Wales> - It is lucky to see a single fox, but unlucky to see a group of them.
  

~Giraffe

• <Bestiaries> - An animal that looks like a camel with spots like a leopard. It is so tall in front and short in back that it looks like it is sitting down even when it is standing.
  

~Goat

• <Bestiaries> - Goats live in mountains and use their keen eyesight to tell whether approaching humans are friendly or not; they can also see in the dark, and a diet of goat liver cures night blindness in humans. They eat ivy and crabs washed up from the sea to cure illnesses, but they always have an incurable fever which makes them hot-blooded; the blood of a male goat is so hot that it is the only substance which can dissolve diamonds. If a goat licks an olive tree it will stop producing olives, and if it bites a tree the tree will die. Goats breathe through their ears instead of their mouths.
  

~Hare

• <Bestiaries> - Hares eat snow in winter, which turns their fur white. They can change their gender at will and reproduce asexually.
  
• <England> - Hares are generally ill-omened beasts. Seeing a hare when setting out on a journey or to go fishing is a bad sign and one must return home immediately. A hare crossing the path of a wedding procession means misfortune for the marriage, and if a pregnant woman sees a hare her child will be born with a hare-lip. It is bad luck to see one jump a wall, and a hare running down a village's main street means there will soon be a fire. To dream of hares means one has enemies or that a family member will suffer misfortune. However, in some regions it is only white hares which are said to be unlucky, with black hares being correspondingly lucky. Witches often turn into hares and steal milk from the udders of cows; in this form they can only be hurt by silver, but any injuries they do receive will be reflected on their human bodies. A hare's right foot carried in the pocket prevents rheumatism.
  
• <Cornwall> - Girls who die of grief after being jilted return from the grave as white hares to haunt their lovers.
  

~Hedgehog

• <Bestiaries> - Hedgehogs steal grapes by shaking them off the vine and then rolling over them, causing them to stick to their quills and be carried away. Cooked hedgehog is medicinal. Hedgehogs can predict changes in the wind and so close up the entrance to their lairs that faces the wind.
  
• <England> - Hedgehogs should be killed on sight because they steal milk from cows in the field, causing what little milk the cows have left to give to be streaked with blood. A hedgehog entering a house is bad luck. Eating hedgehog meat cures fits. The pil from a hedgehog's left eye, dropped into a human's eye with one of the beast's own quills, is a cure for weak eyesight. Cures for rheumatism often incorporate the jawbone of a female hedgehog. Farmers use hedgehog hides as a form of home-made barbed wire.
  

~Horse

• <Bestiaries> - Horses are happy when in fields. They can smell war, and are roused to battle by the sound of a trumpet and to race by the sound of a voice; in both cases, they mourn if defeated and are ecstatic if victorious. Some horses are so loyal that they only let their owner ride them, bite their rider's enemies in battle, and mourn for their owner when he dies; they are the only animals to do so. Male horses live for fifty years, but mares have a shorter lifespan. Mares love their children more than any other animal, because immediately after giving birth she eats a small, black growth called horse-frenzy found on the foreheads of her foals; it is a powerful love potion. If horse-frenzy is removed by a human before the mother horse eats it, she will refuse to suckle the foals. After giving birth, a mare runs either north or south, depending on if her foal is male or female. A mare can be impregnated by the west wind, producing a foal which is as swift as the wind but only lives three years. To mate a mare with a donkey to produce a mule, the mare's mane must be cut short or else she will be too proud. There are three kinds of horses: one is good for war and work, one is good only for carrying loads, and the third is a hybrid of the first two.
  
• <England> - White or dappled grey horses are ominous, but whether good or bad omens depends on the region; the same is true for horses with one white stocking. Upon seeing a white horse, one must spit and make a wish, make a cross on the ground with one's foot, or keep the fingers crossed until a dog is seen; the same thing is done when a piebald is seen, to bring good luck. Skewbald horses are unlucky. There are several methods to cure whooping-cough which involve piebald horses: having the horse breathe on the child, letting the child ride the horse, or following the advice of the horse's owner no matter how ridiculous. Consumption and chest problems are cured by going a stable and breathing in the breath of a horse. It is lucky to lead a horse through a house. Horse skulls set on the gables of houses and horse bones bricked up in the walls protect the house. If a sickly horse is slaughtered, a healthy horse will soon die. When water is blown into a mare's ear, if she is in foal she will only shake her head. A pregnant mare must not be used to pull a coffin or else either she, or someone in her owner's family, will die. It is unlucky to harness a horse on New Year's Day or Good Friday. Horses can sense invisible spirits. Horses are vulnerable to control by witches, toad-men, and the possessors of the Horseman's Word; various charms are employed to protect them. Horse-hairs left in water turn into eels. A cure for worms in children is to make them eat chopped horse-hairs in bread and butter. Goitre can be cured by asking a horseman for hairs from a stallion's tail, without telling him why, and wearing them in a bag around the neck. Schoolboys believe that if they hide horse-hairs in their hand while being caned, the cane will split.
  

~Hyena

• <Bestiaries> - Hyenas are unclean and must not be eaten. Hyenas change between male and female every year. A hyena's spine is rigid so that it must turn its entire body to look behind itself. It imitates a human voice calling people's names at night to lure them outside to be eaten, and it imitates the sound of vomiting to attract dogs and eat them. It also digs up and eats corpses. Hyenas have many different eye colors. A hyenas shadow will render a dog mute if it touches it, and anyone who a hyena looks at three times is paralyzed. The offspring of a hyena and a lion is a leucrota. There is a gemstone called hyaenia in the eye or stomach of a hyena which gives a person the power to tell the future if placed under the tongue.
  

~Ibex

• <Bestiaries> - A type of mountain goat which lives so high up that it cannot been seen from the ground. Its horns are so strong that it can leap from peak to peak unharmed by using them to absorb the impact. When it sees hunters or predators approaching its mountain, it dive-bombs them from the peak.
  

~Lion

• <Bestiaries> - The lion is the king of the beasts. There are two kinds of lions: one is timid and has a short body covered in curly hair, while the other is fierce and has straight hair on a long body. When a lion sees it is being followed by a hunter, it erases its footprints with its tail. Lions always sleep with their eyes open. Lion cubs are born dead and come to life three days later when the mother breathes in their faces or the father roars over them; a lioness always gives birth to five cubs her first time, then progressively fewer with each pregnancy until she becomes infertile. Lions only attack when hungry, but when hungry they will leap upon prey as though full of rage; despite this, lions are said to be slow to anger. A hunting lion will encircle its prey with its tail; prey animals are afraid to cross a lion's tail and thus cannot escape. Animals become weak with fear just from hearing a lion's roar. Lions free captives, and will spare men who bow to them; lions never eat women or children. A lion who has lost its appetite will cure itself by drinking monkey blood. Lions alternate eating and drinking on different days, and will sometimes go three days without eating after a big meal; if a lion accidentally eats too much, it will pull the undigested food out of its stomach through its own throat. A lion will not eat day-old food. Scorpions and snakes are deadly enemies of lions. Lions look down at the ground when facing hunters so that they are not frightened by the sight of the spears; they are also afraid of fire, white roosters, and the sound of creaking cart wheels. A lion's breath is sometimes said to be poisonous.
  
• <England> - Lions only breed once every seven years, with harmful effects on breeding pigs.
  

~Lynx

• <Bestiaries> - A wolf with spots. Its urine hardens into a precious stone like a carbuncle, which is called lynx-water; lynxes cover their urine with sand to keep humans from finding it.
  

~Mole

• <Bestiaries> - Moles have no eyes. Their hearing is so powerful that they can tell if people aboveground are talking about them, and will flee if they are.
  
• <England> - Death's head caterpillars in due course turn into moles. Carrying a mole's feet in the pocket will cure a cramp in one's limbs, but care must be taken to match the mole limbs with the corresponding human limbs or else the cramp will be spread to both the arms and legs. A different cure for the same affliction is to wrap a mole's skin around the afflicted spot when going to bed. If a mole's foot is cut off while the poor animal is still alive, and the foot carried around in one's pocket, it will prevent rheumatism and toothache. The still-warm blood of a freshly killed mole cures warts, and a wen can be cured either by making a mole's nose bleed and smearing it nine times across the swelling before letting the animal go - causing the complaint to be transferred to it - or by tying two halves of a mole to the spot over night and burying them in the morning; as the halves decay in the ground, so will the swelling diminish. If a mole-hill suddenly appears in a garden formerly free from infestation, someone in the house will soon die; similarly, if moles tunnel under an outbuilding, such as a dairy house, then the woman of the house has not long to live.
  

~Mouse

• <Bestiaries> - Mice are born from the soil. Their livers grow larger at the time of the full moon. Mice in certain countries chew iron, and others swallow small bits of gold found in mines. Mice feed their parents when they grow old. Egyptian mice and Alpine mice walk on two legs.
  

~Ox

• <Bestiaries> - Oxen know when it will rain, and refuse to leave their stalls if it is about to. They dislike being separated from their own kind, and will refuse to pull a plough if yoked together with a different ox than they are used to. In India there are vicious, one-horned oxen which cannot be tamed, and the Garamantes have oxen that walk backwards when they graze. Ox horns are used to making drinking cups, and ox dung cures hydros venom.
  

~Panther

• <Bestiaries> - A big cat which is covered with multicolored spots. It is gentle and its only enemy is the dragon. It sleeps for three days in its cave after a meal; once it awakens it roars and lets out a sweet scent which attracts all the animals in the forest. Only the dragon stays away because of its great fear of the panther. Female panthers can only give birth once because their cubs tear at her womb as they emerge.
  

~Ram

• <Bestiaries> - Rams were the first animals to be sacrificed on altars. A ram can be tamed by drilling a hole in its horn near the ear.
  

~Sheep

• <Bestiaries> - Sheep gather grass in early winter before it dies from the cold. Female sheep give birth to male lambs when the north wind is blowing, and females when the south wind blows; thunder causes a pregnant sheep to miscarry if alone, but not when she is with the flock. No matter how large a flock is, lambs and their parents always recognize each other by the sound of their voices.
  

~Stag

• <Bestiaries> - Stags are the enemies of snakes. If a stag finds a snake in its hole, the stag will spit water into the hole, draw the snake out with its breath, and trample it to death; if a stag is sick or old it will instead eat the snake and, after drinking large amounts of water to purge the venom, will retreat to a secret place and renew itself by shedding its antlers. An experiment by Alexander the Great proved that stags can live at least a hundred years by renewing themselves periodically like this. The right antler is never found after it is shed, but it is believed to be a powerful medicine. Stags also cure themselves of venomous spider bites by eating crabs, and heal their own arrow wounds with the herb dittany. Stags never have fevers, and neither do humans who regularly eat venison; a drink that cures heart troubles can be made from a stag's tears and heart bones. The smoke from burning stag antlers is lethal to snakes, as is a stag's breath; the smoke also cures epilepsy in humans. Stags cross rivers by forming a line with each resting his head on the rear of the one in front; when the lead stag tires he goes to the back of the line to rest. When they hear hunting dogs barking, they get upwind of them so they can't be tracked. Stags can be lead by the sound of pipes, like rats to the Pied Piper. Stags are lustful, but does only conceive at the rising of the star Arcturus. Eagles fight stags by perching on their antlers and shaking dust in their eyes.
  

~Tiger

• <Bestiaries> - Tigers are swift, spotted animals. To steal a tiger's cubs, a human will drop a glass sphere behind him; the mother tigress will be momentarily confused as she mistakes her own reflection in the sphere for one of her cubs. Tigers mate with female dogs to produce ferocious dogs which can overcome lions.
  

~Weasel

• <Bestiaries> - Weasels give birth through the ear: males through the right ear and females through the left. There are two types of weasels: a large kind that lives in the forest and a smaller kind that lives in houses. Due to their diet of rue, they are the only animal that can defeat a basilisk; they also use a yellow flower to revive seemingly dead members of their own species.
  
• <England> - Weasels, especially those with white fur, are bad luck; witches and evil spirits commonly appear in this form. It is unfortunate to see a weasel near a house, and to hear one squeaking means certain death. If one crosses a traveler's path it is a bad sign, particularly if this happens at the beginning of a journey, and especially if the weasel goes from right to left; also unfortunate is for a weasel to proceed ahead of one and then suddenly double back on itself. Ghostly weasels are sometimes seen, and invariably mean that a disaster will soon occur.
  
• <Wales> - A weasel going ahead of a person without turning back means that person will triumph over his/her enemies, but if it veers to the left then the enemies are members of the person's own household.
  

~Wolf

• <Bestiaries> - If a wolf sees a man first the man will become temporarily mute, but if the man sees the wolf first the wolf will lose its fierceness; if a man loses his voice in this way he can still keep the wolf from attacking by taking off his clothes and banging two rocks together. Wolves can go a long time without eating, but when they do eat they gorge themselves on many animals. When a wolf hunts for food for its cubs, it hunts far from its den (presumably to keep from depleting the resources closer to home?); when a wolf hunts sheep, it pretends to be a tame dog and walks upwind of the sheepdogs so they can not smell it and realize that it is a wolf. If a wolf steps on a twig and makes noise while stalking prey, it punishes the offending foot by biting it. If a wolf looks away from its food, it forgets about it and goes hunting for more. Wolves cannot bend their necks, and so must turn their entire bodies to look behind them. A wolf has power in its feet; anything it steps on will die. Wolves are also strong in their mouths and shoulders, but weak in the loins. The tip of a wolf's tail has a tuft of hair which can be used to create love potions, but it must be plucked from a living wolf to be effective; therefore, wolves if about to be captured will bite off the hair so that it cannot be used. Wolves from cold regions are fierce, but those from warm regions are weak; Ethiopian wolves have manes of every color in the rainbow and can leap so high they seem to be flying. Wolves mate only twelve days out of the year, and only give birth during the first thunderstorm in the month of May. A wolf eating large amounts of dirt while barring the way to travelers approaching from its right side is considered one of the best omens.
  
• <Russia> - Anyone who eats wolf meat will become a werewolf.
  
• <Otia Imperialia> - Wolves run with their mouths open because their jaws lock in place and can only be pried open with their paws, which they obviously cannot do while using said paws for locomotion. The author assures us this is true, as he was told it by a werewolf and he ought to know.
  

~Barnacle Goose

• <Bestiaries> - Barnacle geese begin life as a sappy substance growing from trees, or from driftwood. As they develop, they are enclosed in shells, and eventually drop off of the wood as fully formed birds. If they fall in the water, they swim away, but they die if they fall on land. There is considerable debate about whether they count as birds or fish, and thus whether they are allowed to be eaten during fast days.
  

~Bat

• <Bestiaries> - If, when several bats are hanging upside down together, one falls then so will the rest.
  
• <England> - If bats emerge early in the evening and fly as if playing there will be good weather ahead, but if a bat flies three times around a house then someone living there will soon die. Children say rhymes to ward off bad luck upon seeing bats. If a bat lands on a woman's head, it will become completely tangled in her hair and can only be freed by cutting the hair off.
  
• <Isle of Man> - Witches change into bats and enter houses at night. It is a very fortunate sign if a bat falls on someone.
  
• <Scotland> - When bats suddenly rise into the air and then just as quickly descend, the witching hour has come when witches have power over everyone not protected from them.
  

~Bittern

• <Bestiaries> - At dawn the bittern puts its beak underwater or into reeds to make a booming sound which is heard for two leagues.
  

~Blackbird

• <Bestiaries> - Blackbirds are all black except for those from Achaea or Arcadia, which are white. They sing sweetly in April and May, but have unpleasant voices in winter.
  

~Rooster

• <Bestiaries> - Roosters strike themselves just before crowing. A rooster's limbs are destroyed if mixed with liquid gold.
  
• <England> - In honor of their ancestor, who first proclaimed Jesus' birth, roosters crow all through the night on Christmas Eve. On Judgement Day, all the roosters in the world and all the metal roosters on weather vanes will crow at once. If a rooster crows at midnight, it means the Angel of Death is passing and will kill whoever hears it or one of their family or friends; a rooster crowing three times between sunset and midnight is also a death omen. A rooster may unexpectedly crow during the day as a warning to its owner. If one crows near the door, then strangers will soon visit the house. If it crows on a gate, or at nightfall, or goes to roost early, then the next day will be rainy. On Shrove Tuesday, the first pancake made must be given to the rooster and no more may be made until he has eaten it; as many hens are attracted to help him eat it, so many years will the (presumably the eldest in the case of multiple children) daughter of the house have to wait before being married. White roosters are lucky to have, and will protect the farmyard from all sorts of dangers even up to repelling meteors; it is very bad luck to kill such a bird. If a black rooster is killed as a person is dying, they will be more likely to be let into heaven because Saint Peter will be reminded of his own denial of Christ.
  
• <Cornwall> - Epilepsy is cured by burying a live black rooster without any white feathers up to the neck at the spot where the patient had his/her first seizure.
  
• <Scotland> - The same Cornish remedy for epilepsy is found in Scotland. A more elaborate treatment for the same illness is also found; the patient's fingernail and toenail clippings must be tied together with sixpence and then wrapped - along with a silver sixpence - in a paper with the names of the Trinity written on it. The whole parcel is then tied under the wing of a black rooster and buried alive. The final step is to have the holiest man in the village pray all night by a fire which must not be allowed to go out.
  
• <France> - If a person takes a black rooster to a crossroads at midnight and says three times, “Poule noire a vendre! (Black chicken for sale!)” the devil will appear and trade the rooster for a handful of coins.
  
• <Russia> - If a rooster crows at a person three times before noon, they will lose a member of their family within a fortnight. The bird should be killed but not eaten, or else an even greater calamity will occur.
  

~Coot

• <Bestiaries> - The coot is an intelligent bird which does not fly around, but stays in one place. It eats fish, but will not eat carrion. It builds its nest on top of stagnant water or on a stone surrounded by water; when it sees a storm coming it hides in its nest or dives underwater. It accepts the rejected chicks of eagles and raises them with just as much love as its own children.
  

~Crane

• <Bestiaries> - Cranes agree on a place and time to meet every year, then flock together to migrate. The crane at the front of the formation leads them with its voice; when its throat becomes sore, another crane takes over for it. At night one crane stands watch while the others sleep; it holds a stone in its talon, and is woken by the stone falling if it falls asleep and loosens its grip. In heavy winds, they swallow sand and carry stones as a ballast. They wage a never-ending war with the pygmies.
  

~Crow

• <Bestiaries> - Crows are long-lived birds which crack open nuts and hard-shelled animals by dropping them from great heights. Despite their intelligence, however, they have absolutely no concept of how to pick a safe location for their nests. They are among the best parents in the bird family, because they escort their young in flight and continue feeding their children even after they grow to adulthood. Their croaking is unlucky, especially when heard in their breeding season. Numerous omens about topics as varied as the weather or warnings of an ambush can be read from the behavior of crows, but it is a great sin to believe in such things. Crows lead flocks of storks when they migrate to Asia. A crow, upon finding a corpse, will eat the eyes first.
  
• <England> - It is unfortunate to see a lone crow, but two together means a wedding - or if flying over a house, a birth in that house - and three together means good luck for the observer. If several crows fly around a person's head that person will soon die, and if a crow perches in a cemetery there will be a funeral not too far in the future. It is a very bad omen to hear a single crow croaking from one's left side early in the morning; also, the first crow heard in a day predicts good weather if it croaks an even number of times, but rain or storms if it calls an odd number of times. If a single bird flies three times around a house, lands on it, or flutters around a window, then someone there will die; if one croaks three times near a house or four fly over it then it merely predicts misfortune for an individual living there.
  

~Cuckoo

• <Bestiaries> - The cuckoo is a weak bird, and so it travels on the back of a kite (the bird, not the toy). Its saliva produces either cicadas or grasshoppers, depending on the writer.
  

~Dove

• <Bestiaries> - Each different color of dove has a different personality; the red dove is the ruler and brings the others into the dovecote when its time to roost. In the wild, they nest in holes in rocks. They have no gall, and their necks change colors. They constantly kiss each other and always give birth to twins. Ring doves mate for life. They never eat carrion, but only dine on the best seeds. Doves sit on water so they can see in the reflection if a hawk is swooping down on them. When attacked by a dragon, they retreat to the safety of the peridexion tree.
  

~Duck

• <Bestiaries> - Some ducks, called germanae, yield more food than others. The ducks native to Pontus feed on “the poison of the sea” and thus cannot be safely eaten, but their blood is an ingredient in antidotes to poison.
  

~Eagle

• <Bestiaries> - The eagle has such keen eyesight that it can spot fish to catch from far beyond the limits of human sight, and it can stare into the sun without blinking; if any of its fledglings are unable to do so, the eagle throws them out of the nest and they are raised by the coot. As soon as its children can fly, the eagle chases them far away so they don't compete with it for food. With old age, the eagle's feathers become ragged and its eyesight dims, but it rejuvenates itself by flying into the sun and then plunging into the water. Eagles never die of old age or sickness, but they sometimes starve to death because their beaks grow inward with age so that they cannot open them; this can be remedied, however, by striking them against a rock until the superfluous bits break off. Eagles have stones called eagle-stones in their nests, which are fireproof and are useful for many magical cures; an eagle-stone can be identified because a smaller stone can be heard rattling inside it when it is shaken.
  

~Goose

• <Bestiaries> - Geese make good watch animals, because they can smell humans better than any animal and will cackle if someone approaches in the night; a goose saved the city of Rome from a Gaulish attack in this way. Geese migrate from Gaul to Rome on foot; if a goose gets tired it is moved to the front and pushed along by the others. The only bird larger than a goose is an ostrich. Wild geese fly high in the sky, but domesticated geese live in villages. Medicine can be made by mixing goose fat and cinnamon in a bronze bowl which is then covered with snow and allowed to steep. Geese that are kept in a fishpond will hold their breath until they die, and lose their flavor besides.
  

~Hawk

• <Bestiaries> - Hawks are small, but make up for their lack of size with their courage and determination. They steal food from other birds. So that their children do not become lazy as adults, they cast them out of the nest and make them hunt for their own food as soon as they can fly, beating them with their wings if they try to return. There are two types of hawks: wild hawks, who hunt and eat tame birds, and domesticated hawks which return their catchers to their owner. When its feathers are old, it holds them against a warm wind to make them fall out, but beats them against a rock instead if no wind is available.
  

~Hen

• <Bestiaries> - Hens are weakened more than any other bird by having chicks.
  

~Heron

• <Bestiaries> - The heron is the wisest of all birds, because it nests near to its food source. Herons never eat carrion. They are afraid of lightning, so they fly high above storm clouds to avoid them; therefore, storms can be predicted by observing the flight of herons. They use their beaks to protect their chicks from predators. The night heron, called Nocticora in bestiaries, is a night bird that searches for corpses and is blinded by the sun.
  

~Hoopoe

• <Bestiaries> - The hoopoe is a foul bird which lives near tombs and both eats and makes its nests out of human feces. If its blood is rubbed on a sleeping person, it will summon demons to strangle the victim. When hoopoes grow old and start to lose their sight, their children come and pull their old feathers out and lick the cataracts away from their eyes, rejuvenating them.
  

~Ibis

• <Bestiaries> - The ibis is the dirtiest bird because it only eats carrion; the reason for this is because it cannot swim and never tries to learn, and thus cannot reach the live fish in the deep water. It is the enemy of snakes; snakes flee from it, it feeds their eggs to its young, and it warns humans of snakes' approach.
  

~Jay

• <Bestiary> - A rude and noisy bird which can be tamed and taught to talk; if it is released or escapes back to the wild it becomes even noisier and more annoying than before.
  

~Kingfisher

• <Bestiaries> - At midwinter, when the ocean storms are strongest, the kingfisher lays her eggs on the beach. For seven days while she hatches the eggs, and an additional seven days while she raises the chicks, the storms stop and the sea is perfectly calm; these are called the “halcyon days.”
  

~Kite

• <Bestiaries> - The kite is a bird which is always hungry, and thus it eats carrion and steals raw meat from butchers; however, it will not steal food from funerals. It is bold in small matters, but too cowardly to try anything ambitious. It is unable to catch wild birds, so it kills domestic fowl instead.
  

~Magpie

• <Bestiaries> - Magpies hang from branches and chatter annoyingly, but certain kinds can be taught to speak so clearly that one would think it were a human if the bird were not seen, though they have no understanding of human languages. If a word is too difficult for a magpie to learn, it may die, but it will cheer up greatly if it is reminded of a word it had forgotten.
  

~Nightingale

• <Bestiaries> - Nightingales are very skilled in music, with each bird knowing several distinct songs; when young, they are given singing lessons by their elders. They often compete with each other, and the loser often dies from lack of breath. They sing at dawn every morning, and when the first leaves appear in spring they sing continuously for fifteen days and nights.
  

~Osprey

• <Bestiaries> - The osprey has one foot with talons adapted for catching prey, while the other foot is harmless and only useful for swimming. It often hovers over the water while it uses its keen eyesight to locate a fish, then dives to catch it.
  

~Ostrich

• <Bestiaries> - Ostriches can digest anything, even iron. It either has camel's feet, or cloven feet like a deer or a cow, which it uses to throw stones at its pursuers while it runs. It is so stupid that it thinks it is hidden when it puts its head behind a bush. Ostriches lay eggs when the star Vigilia is rising, but they carelessly leave them to be warmed by the sand.
  

~Owl

• <Bestiaries> - Owls have a mixed, but largely negative, reputation. There are several kinds of owls: the bubo (screech owl) is deadly but lazy and weighted down by heavy feathers, lives in caves and tombs, flies both by day and night, and pollutes its own nest; the noctua (night-owl) is smaller than the bubo and only flies at night because it is blinded by sunlight, lives in the walls of abandoned buildings, lies on its back and fight with its feet
  and beak when outnumbered by other birds, has an alliance with hawks, and dies immediately if brought to the island of Crete; the nycticorax (night-raven) is also blinded by sunlight is other times used as a synonym for the noctua; the strix (another kind of screech owl) loves babies and freely offers its milk to them; and the eagle-owl lives in deserts and other inhospitable places and is a bad omen if it is seen during the day or in a city. Owls in general never fly in a straight line, and are sometimes said to fly backwards as well. They are hated by all other birds, who will noisily attack it if they find its hiding place during the day. They can sense when a person will die, and cry out as an omen.
  

~Parrot

• <Bestiaries> - All parrots can say “Ave” (a Latin greeting), but must be taught other words. In order to train a parrot, it must be hit over the head with an iron bar, as its skull is so thick that it doesn't feel any lesser blows. Parrots with three toes are mean, but six-toed parrots are gentle. A parrot's beak is so hard that if it falls it uses it to break its fall, and it always uses its beak to support itself when it perches on trees since its feet are too weak.
  

~Partridge

• <Bestiaries> - Partridges steal the eggs of other birds and hatch them, but this does not help them at all because the fledglings fly back to their real mother as soon as they hear her voice. They hide themselves from predators by lying on their backs and covering themselves with dirt, and they disguise their nests by covering them with thorns and covering the eggs with dust; if something approaches the nest regardless of these precautions, the mother partridge will lure it away by pretending to be injured. Female partridges are impregnated just by being breathed on by a male partridge. Female partridges carry their chicks, because the males will kill the chicks if they are annoyed by them.
  

~Peacock

• <Bestiaries> - The meat of the peacock never rots, but neither can it be cooked or digested. Its cry is terrifying to hear, especially if it comes without warning. The peacock is very vain; it lifts its tailfeathers when it hears someone compliment its beauty, it cries out in fear when it is awakened suddenly because it thinks it has lost its beauty, and it refuses to fly higher than a few feet off the ground lest people be able to see how ugly its feet are. Despite all this, it is a bird with great foresight.
  
• <England> - Peacock feathers are very unlucky, probably because the “eyes” on them are reminiscent of the Evil Eye.
  

~Pelican

• <Bestiaries> - Pelicans live in Egypt, where there are two kinds: the kind that live in the water and eat poisonous reptiles, and the kind called onocrotalus which have a long neck and beak and make a sound like a donkey when they drink water; some instead say that the water-dwelling kind eat fish and the kind that live on islands eat unclean animals. Whatever they eat, pelicans are constantly hungry because everything they swallow is instantly digested. As young pelicans grow older, they begin to strike their mother in the face. Eventually, she loses her temper and kills them all, then three days later she pierces her own flesh and revives them with her blood.
  

~Quail

• <Bestiaries> - Quails feed on poisonous seeds, so therefore they are unsafe for human consumption. The leader of a quail flock is the ortygometra (mother of birds), but the quails seek a leader from a different species of birds, because the ortygometra is always attacked by hawks whenever she lands on the ground.
  

~Raven

• <Bestiaries> - Ravens are born with light feathers which darken over time; the parents refuse to feed their chicks until they have turned black, so they must feed on dew instead. When a raven eats a corpse, it first pecks out the eyes so it can reach the brain.
  

~Sparrow

• <Bestiaries> - Sparrows are very fast, and only live in cracks in walls instead of in the forest.
  

~Stork

• <Bestiaries> - Storks are good parents, to the point that they lose feathers from so intently watching their nests, and in turn are taken care of in old age by their children. Storks are friends to humans, but enemies to snakes. Two crows lead the storks when they migrate to Asia.
  

~Swallow

• <Bestiaries> - Swallows are noisy and fly in circles. They never land on the ground, eating only what they can find in the air. They are excellent at nest building and parenting, and they can tell when a building will collapse and will desert it ahead of time. Mother swallows have the medical knowledge to heal their chicks' eyes if they are injured.
  

~Swan

• <Bestiaries> - Swans have melodious voices because of their long, curved necks, and they sing their most beautiful songs right before they die. In Hyperborea, the swans join the bards in song. Sailors consider swans to be a good omen.
  

~Titmouse

• <Bestiaries> - These birds are curious about other birds and will take any opportunity to see them, alive or dead. Therefore, all a hunter has to do to catch one is to use a dead bird as bait.
  

Creatures to Add
In no particular order, here are some creatures from both medieval bestiaries and European folklore (most folklore wasn't recorded until well after the medieval period, but we can assume it was as least similar to what was recorded) to add to the collab, if we ever get entities working at all. Some of these are monsters, some are essentially mutant humans, and others are spirits and other supernatural beings. I have merely summarized these, and folklore is often contradictory, so be sure to look these up yourself for more information. Besides, its always fun to find out more about these weird beasties.

~Giant Snail <Medieval margin doodles> - Just what the name suggests. Medieval manuscripts often featured drawings in the margins of knights fighting giant snails, with no context whatsoever. To my ears, the most likely theory that has been proposed is that it was a visual gag about how snails wear “armor” just like knights.
~Parandrus <Medieval bestiaries> - An ox-sized, long-haired beast with a stag's head and cloven hoofs which is native to Ethiopia. Its natural color is the same as a bear's, but it can change its color like a chameleon to camouflage itself.
~Yale <Bestiaries> - A black, horse-sized animal with an elephant's tail and a boar's jaw. It has long, prehensile horns. When fighting, it keeps one horn facing forward and the other backward as a spare in case the other horn breaks. It is the natural enemy of the basilisk, and said creature will sting any sleeping yale it finds between the eyes, causing its eyes to swell until they burst.
~Wether <Bestiaries> - A type of abnormally strong, male sheep with worms living in its head. When the worms make them itch, they headbutt each other.
~Bonnacon <Bestiaries> - A bull-like beast with a horse's mane and horns that curl backward and are thus useless for combat. It instead defends itself by launching corrosive feces from a distance of up to three acres.
~Griffin <Bestiaries> - A creature with the hindquarters of a lion, and the front half and wings of an eagle. It is strong enough to carry off an entire ox, and will hunt humans to carry back to its nest to feed its young with. It hates horses and will attack them on sight. It digs in the mountains for gold, which it decorates its nest with and guards jealously. Griffins fear poisonous creatures and keep an emerald in their nests to repel them. The early medieval text Wonders of the East bizarrely describes griffins as having the front half of an eagle and the tail of a cow. A drinking horn made from a griffin's claw purifies any poison poured into it, and griffins will entrust these claws to holy men who heal them when they are ill.
~Torpedo <Bestiaries> - A fish which becomes stiff when touched. Anyone who touches it, even if they use a pole, is temporarily paralyzed. Its breath can also paralyze humans and animals.
~Sea-pig <Bestiaries> - An underwater creature which digs in the sand on the ocean floor for food, just like regular pigs do in the dirt on land.
~Hydros <Bestiaries> - A poisonous water snake. Its bite is cured with ox dung.
~Cinnamologus <Bestiaries> - A bird which makes makes nests from cinnamon. Cinnamon used by this bird is considered the tastiest of all, but its nests are too high to be reached, so hunters use lead-weighted arrows to knock down the nests.
~Corocotta <Bestiaries> - The offspring of a dog and a wolf, the corocotta is spotted hyena-like animal which is immune to steel weapons. It listens to woodcutters calling to each other and learns their names; it then calls their names in the night to lure them into the woods to be eaten. Its teeth can bite through anything, and it can immediately digest any substance. Every other year it changes between male and female. Like the hyena, it digs up graves to eat corpses, imitates vomiting sounds to attract dogs to eat, its shadow makes dogs mute, and it can paralyze any living thing by circling it three times. Corocotta can be born with one of a thousand different eye colors. They also dig away the foundations of buildings and cause them to collapse.
~Leucrocotta <Bestiaries> - A hyena-like creature the size of a wild donkey, with stag legs, the neck, chest, and tail of a lion, and a badger's mouth which extends all the way to its ears. Instead of teeth, it has two single strips of bone in its mouth. Like the corocotta, it can imitate human voices to lure out its prey. It is the offspring of either a lioness and a hyena, or a lioness and a corocotta. It is the fastest land animal in the world.
~Lomie <Bestiaries> - A type of moose with a neck-bladder of scalding water which it sprays at hunters. Some sources say the water is also toxic and causes incurable wounds. It is native to Bohemia.
~Catoblepas <Bestiaries> - A creature the size of a bull, with a mane which covers its face. Its head is so huge that it cannot lift it off the ground, which is a good thing since anyone who sees its tiny, bloodshot eyes dies instantly. Another source says it feeds on poisonous plants, which gives it the power to belch toxic gas. Before belching, it shakes and its mane stands on end as a warning to predators.
~Hercinia <Bestiaries> - A bird native to the Hercynian forest in Germany, which has feathers which glow in the dark.
~Trebius (or Trebius Niger) <Bestiaries> - A foot long fish which is white in summer and black in winter. It has a beard, clawed feet, and a long, pointed nose which it uses to sink boats. It builds nests of seaweed in trees to lay its eggs. It can attach itself to even the largest ships and stop them from moving. Salted pieces of a trebius attract gold.
~Serra <Bestiaries> - A gigantic sea monster with fins which catch the wind and let it glide through the air. It does this to chase ships, but gives up when it gets bored. It has a serrated crest on its back which it slices open the bottoms of ships with so it can feast on the drowning sailors, but there are also accounts of it saving sinking ships by raising them on its back.
~Pard <Bestiaries> - A bearded big cat with multicolored stripes and spots. It is very fast and kills its prey by leaping on them. It likes to drink blood. The offspring of a pard and a lioness is the leopard.
~Utelif <Bestiaries> - A human-sized fish with a three-foot long saw studded with fifty-one teeth on its forehead. Its saw-blade has the same magical properties as a unicorn's horn.
~Calopus <Bestiaries> - A creature like a roe deer but with two serrated horns which it uses to cut through both tree branches and hunters, but get caught in thickets and make them easy targets.
~Skeletons <Medieval art> - Living skeletons are ubiquitous in medieval art as metaphors for death, but don't really show up much in folklore. We could use them in the game as low-level undead, though.
~Amphiptere <Medieval heraldry> - A type of feathered, legless dragon with a long tail. Its body has yellow feathers while its batlike wings have green feathers. This monster was only used in heraldry, and never seriously believed in, but we can still use it in the game.
~Lampago <Heraldry> - Has the body of a tiger and the head of a man.
~Enfield <Heraldry> - Has a fox's head, an eagle's forelegs, a greyhound's chest, a lion's body, and a wolf's hindquarters. According to legend it was first seen when it rose from the sea to guard the body of King Tadhg Mór Ua Cellaigh after he fell in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
~Pantheon <Heraldry> - A deer with a fox tail and stars along its fur.
~Wyvern <Heraldry> - A dragon with two legs, wings, and a diamond-shaped point on its tail.
~Sea-Lion (or merlion) <Heraldry> - Has a lion's front half, webbed forelegs, and a fish tail. They hunt in packs along rocky coasts for fish and shipwrecked sailors.
~Syrbotae <Bestiaries> - A race of giants that dwell in Africa, which are eight cubits (about 12 feet) tall.
~Amphisbaena (goes both ways) <Bestiaries> - A type of venomous snake with a head at each end. Like all snakes, medieval artists embellished it with legs and wings. It has rough scales in dark, earthy tones. Though it has poor eyesight, its eyes glow. Amphisbaenas can reattach themselves if cut in half. They are cold resistant and thus the first snakes to emerge in spring. They are excellent at digging, and use this to dig for beetles, earthworms, and their favorite food: ants. The bite of an amphisbaena is twice as venomous as a regular snake's, but is otherwise indistinguishable from viper venom, but with the additional remedy of coriander. Amphisbaenas lay eggs from the mouth of the tail end, and are very loving and protective parents. They can instantly be killed if struck with a vine-branch, and their skin, if wrapped around a walking stick, repels venomous creatures. If wrapped around an olive branch, the skin cures cold shivers. If nailed to a tree, the tree can be cut down easily and the logger will not get cold. The vapors from a dead amphisbaena will cause a miscarriage in any pregnant woman who steps over one, unless she carries a box with a live amphisbaena in it at the same time.
~Pareas <Bestiaries> - A snake which carries its head high off the ground. Because its bite is harmless, it is a symbol of medicine.
~Prester <Bestiaries> - A fast snake which is so hot that steam constantly billows out of its open mouth. Its venom causes its victim to swell until they are a disgusting heap of flesh which even scavengers avoid. Remedies include wild purslane, castoreum, opopopnax and rue in wine, and sprats.
~Echeneis <Bestiaries> - An inedible fish which latches onto the bottoms of ships and stops them from moving. It has a bad reputation because it is used in potions to cloud people's reason and make them do whatever you say. However, the echeneis can also be used to prevent miscarriages.
~Draconcopedes <Bestiaries> - A huge serpent with a woman's head, and sometimes chest. It is classified as a dragon, and is sometimes identified as the serpent which tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.
~Hypnalis <Bestiaries> - A type of asp which only bites people in their sleep.
~Calygreyhound <Heraldry> - Has a wildcat's head with antlers, a deer's body, an eagle's forelegs, a lion's hind legs with ox hooves for feet, a poodle or lion tail, and occasionally wings. It represents speed.
~Gold-Digging Ant <Bestiaries> - A species of giant ants with spotted fur, which live in an Indian desert where the sand contains gold dust. The ants, in digging their huge anthills, uncover large quantities of this gold. They are hostile to outsiders, so humans who want their gold leave camels as a distraction.
~Monoceros (one horn) <Bestiaries> - A fierce beast with an antlerless stag's head, a horse's body, an elephant's feet, and the tail of a wild boar. Its most striking feature is the two cubit (1 to 3 meters) long black horn on its forehead. The monoceros is said to be impossible to capture alive, and it can escape hunters by jumping off high cliffs and absorbing the fall with its horn.
~Sciritae <Bestiaries> - A tribe of people in India with snake-like nostrils and bandy legs.
~Gorgades <Bestiaries> - A race of savages whose women are covered in hair and possibly reproduce asexually.
~Mandi <Bestiaries> - A race of people whose women can give birth at age seven, and who have a lifespan of forty years. They eat locusts and are very fast runners. Sometimes conflated with Macrobii.
~Macrobii <Bestiaries> - A race of people whose women can only give birth once in their lives. Isidore of Seville adds that they are twelve feet tall.
~Calingi <Bestiaries> - A race of people with a lifespan of eight years, and whose women give birth at age five. They inhabit a large area, and are split into three groups: the Calingae, the Gangarides-Calingae, and the Macco-Calingae. Their largest cities are Dandaguda and Protalis.
~Scitalis <Bestiaries> - A slow snake with markings on its back which are so bright that they stun its prey. It is so hot that it even sheds its skin in winter.
~Dispas (thirsty) <Bestiaries> - A tiny snake that lives near water sources, with a bite so painless that people often don't realize they have been bitten until the effects of the venom set in. Dispas venom causes an unquenchable thirst, causing the victim to drink so much that their stomach literally bursts.
~Haemorrhois (blood-letter) <Bestiaries> - A type of slow, foot-long viper with horns and rough scales which make a rustling sound when it moves. They dwell in rocky areas. Males hold their heads up, while females stay low to the ground and produce a venom which specifically targets the gums and fingernails. Haemorrhois venom causes blood to gush from every orifice until the victim bleeds out. Remedies include vine-leaves with honey, powdered haemorrhois head in water, garlic with fleur-de-lis oil, and raisins. Cures used for other snakes might also work.
~Jaculus (javelin) <Bestiaries> - A snake which coils up in trees and bushes, then shoots forward with the force of an arrow when human prey comes near. The wary can recognize its presence by the sound it makes in dry plants. The usual antidotes for viper bites also work for jaculus venom, but often the victim is already dead from the wound before the venom even takes effect. Even touching a jaculus can putrefy the limb used. Jaculus gall with Scythian stone produces an eye-salve.
~Cenchris (millet) <Bestiaries> - A two cubit (about one meter) long speckled snake the color of millet seed, with an upturned tail. It always travels in a straight line. It is most aggressive when millet is at its peak, and it uses its entire body to attack. Its venom causes lethargy, stomachache, and rotting flesh, and is fatal within two days if not treated. The only known cure is “lettuce, flax-seed, savory, rue, betony, and daffodil in three cups of wine, followed by two drams of centaury, gentian, hartwort, nosewort, or sesame.” (Quoted from A Book of Creatures)
~Pard <Bestiaries> - A spotted, bearded big cat which often lives in quarries, and is bloodthirsty and able to kill with a single leap. It is said the Antichrist will take the form of a pard. The offspring of a male pard and a lioness is a leopard (thus the name leo - pard). Pard skin is resistant to fleas, and thus makes an excellent bedsheet.
~Ethiopian Forest Bull <Bestiaries> - A ferocious beast like a bull but twice as large and with red hair and a mouth slit to the ears. They have movable horns like a yale, which they raise for battle. They kill and eat anything that moves. They are extremely fast and completely immune to all weapons; the only way to kill one is to trick it into falling in a pit, where it will “choke on its own rage.” Troglodytes consider the Forest Bull to be the king of all animals.
~Troglodytes (cave diver) <Bestiaries> - A race of cave-dwellers who are hunted for sport by the real life Garamante tribe. Troglodytes are the fastest humans, and have a language which sounds like bat screeches. They are usually described as having no possessions and living on snakes and lizards that they catch in the caves, but in some locations they have been recorded to raise horses and cattle, and drink milk mixed with blood. Additionally, they invented the sambuca, and also make panduras out of white mangrove. The only thing which they consider valuable is the gemstone called hexecontaltihon (sixty color stone).
~Monopods (one foot) <Bestiaries> - A race of people with only one huge foot, on which they can hop with surprising speed. When it is hot out, a monopod will lie on his/her back with his/her foot in the air to create shade; for this reason they are also called sciapods (shadow foot).
~Chromandi <Bestiaries> - A race of apelike, hairy savages with dog teeth.
~Arimaspians <Bestiaries> - A warlike race of one-eyed people who live north of Scythia. They steal gold from the griffins who live in the northernmost mountains.
~Blemmyes <Bestiaries> - A race of people with no head, but a face in the chest. They are sometimes described as being gold-skinned giants.
~Gegenees <Bestiaries> - A hostile race of savage six-armed giants.
~Machlyes <Bestiaries> - A race of people who are male on one side of the body and female on the other.
~Hippopodes (horse-footed) <Bestiaries> - A tribe of people with horse's feet and are thus very fast; they live on the islands north of Scythia.
~Panotii <Bestiaries> - A race of people with huge ears which they wrap themselves with in lieu of clothing. They live on an archipelago in the north called Panotiorum (All-Ears Islands).
~Centaurs <Bestiaries> - A race of half-human, half-horses who, while possessing reason, are mostly ruled by their baser impulses.
~Pygmies <Bestiaries> - A race of short people who practice agriculture and wage an unending war against the cranes who migrate to their lands every spring.
~Pandai <Bestiaries> - A warlike race of mountain-dwelling people with extremely long ears. Their women can only give birth once, and their children are born with a full set of teeth. Pandai have eight fingers and toes, and are covered in white hair which begins to darken at age 30, and turns black at age 60. They have a lifespan of 200 years. They are ruled by women, and their first queen was Hercules' daughter.
~Anthrophagi (man-eaters) <Bestiaries> - A race of cannibals. They are sometimes said to be one and the same as Gog and Magog.
~Astomi <Bestiaries> - A race of hairy people who wear wool clothing and have no mouths; they are nourished by the smell of food, but die if they smell a strong smell.
~Artabatitai (dependent on the tread) <Bestiaries> - A race of people who go about on all fours.
~Aegipanes <Bestiaries> - A race of goat-legged and horned people.
~Struthopodes (sparrow feet) <Bestiaries> - A race of people whose males have feet 18 inches long and whose women have feet the size of sparrow's feet.
~Dragon <Bestiaries> - Every culture has a multitude of beings which could be described as dragons, but here I will just relate how medieval bestiaries describe the generic dragon. The dragon is the largest animal on Earth, and has a crest, a small mouth, and a long tail which it uses to strangle its prey. It hates elephants, and waits along the elephants' path to attack them; this is why elephants give birth in the water. When dragons fly, the air around them glows. Dragons cannot touch the shadow of the peridexion tree, and hide in their holes when they hear the panther roar. There is a precious gem called dracontites in the brain of a dragon, which must be removed while the dragon is alive or else it loses its lustre.
~Tyger <Heraldry> - A creature with a body like a tiger's but with no stripes, a tufted lion's tail, a horse's mane, and a large, pointed jaw on a head unlike any other animal.
~Indus Worm (Indian worm) <Bestiaries> - A giant, white, carnivorous worm with two teeth. It can be melted down into an oil which acts like Greek fire.
~Cynocephalus (dog head) <Bestiaries> - A nomadic tribe of hairy, dog-headed humanoids. Different accounts conflict wildly, but generally they can understand human speech, but are only able to make barks and howls with their own vocal cords. They are generally considered reasonable, but have a reputation as fearsome warriors. Though some accounts mention them domesticating animals, most accounts say they hunt animals for food, killing them with their nails and teeth like wild dogs. They wear no other clothing but the pelts of the animals they have killed. One account gives them a lifespan of over 100 years. Sir John Mandeville, the medieval travelouge writer and notorious embellisher, claimed that they worshipped a god depicted as an ox and each wore a medal of an ox made of gold or silver on their foreheads; he went on to write that despite their civility in every other matter, they ate their prisoners of war. St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, was a cynocephali of unusual height.
~Seps <Bestiaries> - A snake with a corrosive venom which melts flesh and bones alike.
~Muscaliet <Bestiaries> - An animal with a body like a hare's (but smaller), a squirrel's legs and tail, weasel ears, a mole's snout, hair like a pig's, and boar's teeth. Its tail is prehensile, and it uses it to swing from tree to tree. The leaves and fruits of the trees it climbs wither, and when it makes its nest in a hollow beneath the tree, the muscaliet's intense body heat kills the tree from the roots.
~Onager <Bestiaries> - A type of wild donkey which brays every hour on the hour on March 25. Each herd is ruled over by a male who is very possessive of its females.
~Manticore <Bestiaries> - A beast with a body like a lion's, but colored blood red, a scorpion's tail which shoots poisonous spines, and the head of a man with three rows of teeth. Its voice sounds like beautiful music, which lures its prey to it. It is fond of human flesh.
~Hydrus <Bestiaries> - A small reptile found in the Nile River. Crocodiles coat it with mud before eating it, but the hydrus bursts free of the crocodile's stomach.
~Caladrius <Bestiaries> - A white waterbird whose flesh must not be eaten. It can cure jaundice by staring into a person's eyes, but there is no hope of recovery if it refuses to meet the patient's gaze. Its dung and thigh-bone marrow cure blindness. Merchants do a booming trade in live caladrius, but have to take special precautions to stop customers from being healed for free.
~Basilisk <Bestiaries> - Basilisks, cockatrices, and a mind-numbing variety of lesser known creatures have become hopelessly confused over time, but here I will relate the original description of the basilisk, and separate the additions of medieval authors into the cockatrice's entry. The basilisk is a deceptively small serpent with with a crown (variously described as a white spot, a crest, or even a literal crown) on its head, which it raises high in the air. Every part of the basilisk is toxic, and its very presence causes the landscape to turn into a barren desert. Its toxic blood can travel up a spear to poison its killer. It can spit its poison to hit birds traveling high overhead, but its most dangerous weapon is its ability to kill anyone it looks at with its shining red eyes. The basilisk can be defeated by using a weasel, the only animal immune to the basilisk's gaze and venom due to its diet of the herb rue; a rooster, whose crowing causes the basilisk to have fatal seizures; or by using a mirror to reflect the basilisk's own deadly gaze back at it. The principal ingredient in antidotes to basilisk venom is rue, and a dead basilisk scares away spiders.
~Cockatrice <Bestiaries> - The eventual result of the confusion surrounding the basilisk, the cockatrice is a half-snake, half-rooster monster with leathery, draconic wings which is born from an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad or a serpent. It does not merely kill its victims with its gaze, but turns them to stone.
~Zitiron <Flowers of Nature, a medieval book> - A dangerous type of merman found in the ocean around England, which has organic parts exactly resembling plate armor and a shield. It has a fish tail, which at first was depicted like a classic merperson's tail but later came to be drawn similar to an oceanic centaur to better match the idea of a knight on horseback. One source characterized the zitrions as adhering to a version of chivalery and, though usually loners, occasionally forming groups called “tables” with like-minded individuals.
~Sea Dog <Bestiaries> - Vicious, dog-like fish which are the enemies of all living things. Instead of barking, they “spew terrible breath from their mouths.” They chase schools of fish into undersea canyons; fishermen have learned to use this behavior to catch good hauls.
~Sea Deer <Bestiaries> - A fish with a head antlered like a deer. It raises its head above the water to lure birds into resting on its horns, then eats them (the birds, not the horns).
~Marineta <Bestiaries> - Small birds which dive into rivers to catch fish. They sometimes are black with a white belly, but but foreign variants have been observed which substitute red as the belly color and also as the color of the legs and beak as well as having beautiful green feathers on the back and wings. If stored in a dry place, a dead marineta will never decay, nor will anything stored with it. Additionally, if hung from the beak it will continue to molt and grow new feathers long after its death.
~Orphan Bird <Bestiaries> - A bird found in India which has a crest, head, and neck like a peacock, the beak of an eagle, the body of a crane, the legs of a swan, and wings in shades of red, white, and black. It lays its eggs directly on the water; the eggs of the chicks which will grow up to be good float, but the bad chicks sink to the bottom of the sea.
~Alerion <Bestiaries> - A bird like an eagle, but larger, and with fiery plumage; it is the lord of all birds. Its wings are as sharp as a razor. There are only two in the world at a time. When she is sixty years old, the female lays two eggs which take sixty days to hatch; when they do, the two adult alerions fly to the sea, accompanied by a retinue of other birds, and drown themselves. The other birds return to the nest and raise the two alerion chicks until they reach adulthood.
~Acheron <Visio Tnugdali> - A monster larger than the highest mountain, with a mouth wide enough for 9,000 people to fit inside; two people are cursed to hold its mouth open, one of them standing on his feet and the other upside down. The monster has three throats which breathe fire and are the entrances to Hell, which is inside the beast's womb.
~Donestre <Bestiaries> - A race of lion-headed humanoids whose actions are contradictory and baffling. They are able to speak any language, and use this to befriend foreign travelers. After traveling for a while, though, the donestre will suddenly dismember and eat his companion, leaving only the head, then weep for what he has done. Interestingly, in the earliest versions the donestres were described as appearing fully human, and in fact seductively handsome, but somewhere along the way the lion-headed iconography crept in.
~Onocentaur (donkey centaur) <Bestiaries> - To the Greeks and Romans, the onocentaur was like a regular centaur but with a donkey's body instead of a horse's. In medieval writings and artwork, however, it became the reverse: a man with a donkey's head. Onocentaurs produce a strange cry instead of speaking, and throw stones at anyone they see. They are alleged to have not been created by God along with the other animals, but to be unholy hybrids.
~Pilosus <Bestiaries> - A monster with a man's torso, a beast's lower half, and two horns on its head.
~Sea Monk <Bestiaries> - A fish which somewhat resembles a tonsured monk. It comes near the shore at night and plays with toys in order to lure people close enough to the water to be dragged in, drowned, and eaten.
~Epifugi <Liber Monstrorum> - A race of people similar to the blemmyae, except with their eyes in their shoulders rather than the chest.
~Eumenides <Liber Monstrorum> - Women with azure snakes for hair, tied back with bloody headbands, who live in iron bed-chambers in the underworld. This is actually a Greek name for the Furies, though I don't know where the author got this unusual description from.
~Conopeni <Liber Monstrorum> - Fire-breathing monsters with doglike heads and horse's manes. The author appears to have gotten the name from Iranian mythology, which is quite impressive for an Anglo-Saxon monk in England. The original Iranian version of the creature describes it as a large, muscular horse with the head of a donkey and the ability to breathe fire from its mouth and nostrils. It is stubborn and hard to tame, but if successfully tamed it is an excellent mount. The author of Wonders of the East, found in the same manuscript as Liber Monstrorum, further distorted the creatures, describing them as “half-dogs” with horse's manes, boar's tusks, and dog's heads, as well as the aforementioned fire-breathing ability. He places them in southern Babylonia and Egypt, in a region populated by donkeys with oxen's horns and an infestation of corsiae.
~Celeste <Liber Monstrorum - A type of small animal found the Brixontis river as well as the strectch of the Nile near there and is virtually unknown elsewhere.
~Corsiae <Liber Monstrorum and The Wonders of the East> - Serpents with ram's horns who either guard the bushes where white pepper grows or produce it themselves. Anyone struck by one swells up and dies, so people must light fires to scare the snakes away if they want to gather pepper; this has the effect of turning the peppercorns black from the fire.
~Styx <Liber Monstrorum> - The anonymous author of the Liber Monstrorum uniquely describes the Styx as an enormous black serpent which encircles the underworld nine times, rather than a river.
~Chelydri <Liber Monstrorum> - Black serpents who live in rocky lands, and whose teeth produce armed warriors when planted. This property is more usually ascribed to dragon teeth.
~Coluber <Liber Monstrorum> - An extremely venomous species of snakes which hide in the shadows to ambush their prey.
~Ophitae <Liber Monstrorum> - Horrible snakes native to India, which are found with scales of every color.
~Miscellaneous <Liber Monstrorum> - The bestiary Liber Monstrorum, the “Book of Monsters,” included several beasts and peoples which it did not give a name to.

• People who “are born reasonable in stature, except that their eyes shine like lanterns.”
  
• “A certain monster of the night, which always used to fly by night through the shade of the sky and the earth, terrifying people in cities with its dreadful cry, and it had as many eyes and ears and mouths, as it had feathers. And it is always said to have been without rest or sleep.”
  
• People who “reach fifteen feet in height and have bodies of marble whiteness, and ears like fans, with which they cover and conceal themselves at night, and when they see a human, they flee through the vastest deserts with ears outstretched.” (Possibly a description of the Panotti?)
  
• Freak births of “certain extremely bellicose men of huge bodily size who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Yet they were sound of mind, and differed from other people only in the addition of four digits.”
  
• A “person born in Asia from human parents with a monstrous mixture. He was like his father in the feet and stomach, but had two chests and four hands and two heads.”
  
• A preteen girl “discovered on the western shores of Europe, whom the waves of the sea brought to land from the Ocean; they marked her size with stones. Indeed 50 feet was the length of her body, and she was seven feet wide between the shoulders. She had come dressed in a purple cloak, bound with saplings, and fatally wounded in the head.”
  
• Desert-dwelling people who “have beards reaching right to their knees, and live on raw fish and by drinking water.”
  
• “Also certain people from near the Nile and Brixontis rivers are described as having bodies of amazing whiteness, twelve feet tall, with a split face, long nose, and skinny body.”
  
• Women who are “covered with hair, having long beards down to their breasts, who, since they are huntresses, rear tigers and leopards and swift kinds of wild animals instead of dogs.”
  
• A person who “had crescent-shaped feet with no more than two toes, and that their hands also are described as being formed after the measure of this pattern.”
  
• A coastal “beautiful race of people. And they claim that the cause of their pleasantness is that they eat raw meat and the purest of honey.”
  
• “There are, so they say, beautiful women living near the Red Sea, whose bodies shine with the brightness of marble, who are twelve feet tall and have hair flowing down to their ankles, cow-tails on their flanks, and the feet of camels.”
  
• A race that “have complete bodies, but the functions of the head seem at odds to the turned-back feet. And their footprints deceive those who do not know this.”
  
• A sea monster “who saw from the shore a boat slipping on the waves, and the sailors, terrified by the sight of him, hesitating to come to shore, and he snatched the ship and its crew from the midst of the sea and placed it on dry land.”
  
• People who are “black in body, and who reach eighteen feet in height; and, so they say, when they catch folk, they eat them raw.”
  
• “And they say there are monsters in swamps with three human heads and they are alleged to live like nymphs under the deepest pools. It is a profanity to believe this, since floods do not flow there, where a huge monster enters.”
  
• A race “who are said to be able to speak the languages of all nations. In this way they astonish people who come from afar, by naming their acquaintances, in order to deceive them, and eat them raw.” (Perhaps a reference to donestres?)
  
• “…lions and bears, boars also and wolves, who, whilst the rest of their body kept the nature of wild beasts, had human faces.”
  
• Beasts living in the Red Sea, with “eight feet on double limbs and two heads, with Gorgon's eyes.”
  
• “…azure dogs in the Mediterranean, the hind parts of whose bodies they share with fish…”
  
• “And they say that there are night-beasts, and not so much beasts as grim prodigies, since they are never seen in the light, but in the nocturnal shadows. They say that these are able to change themselves into the shapes of all beasts when they are disturbed by the fear of pursuers.”
  
• A beast with two heads, one with “the image of a two-horned moon, the other of a crocodile. And with its serrated back and armed with savage teeth it is described once as having leapt out on Alexander's soldiers and killed two.”
  
• “But that beast is said to be amongst the fiercest of all brutes, in which they assert that there is such a quantity of venom that lions fear it although it is an animal of weaker body, and they reckon that its poison has such strength, that the cutting-edge even of iron, dipped in it, melts.”
  
• Fantastic beasts from the river Ganges which “writers about these beasts claim to have kept quiet about them because of their incredibly-formed figures.”
  
• “Alexander of Macedon described to Aristotle that he had seen mice in India the size of foxes, and they used to tear men and pack-animals with their destructive biting.”
  
• A beast with “two tails which doubled to the size of six feet in length, when it open both claws, with which it used to strike and wound humans.”
  
• Serpents which have “two heads and twist the enormous coils of their body and shine with their four eyes through the nocturnal shadows like lanterns.”
  
• “In the valleys of Calabria there was also a snake of marvellous size in the time of Caesar Augustus, which in spring, living in the pools and swamps, sated its fierce greed on frogs and fish. But after the swamps dried up, burnt by the heat of the sun, then the enraged pest, lacking food and water, roamed the fields with flashing eyes and caused an excessive plague to mortals.”
  
• Serpents from India which “have the thickness of columns and have two or three crested heads, and journeying from the mountain hideaways they used to travel to water with puffed-up breasts, and so with curving movements and scales, they rendered the earth worn away, and with their eyes shining with horrid venom their mouths used to quiver with triple tongues and they breathed out deadly breath.”
  
• A serpent sighted in Sicily “that sliding on the slippery sinuousness of its sides dragged its sevenfold coils with its rounded body, and mingled its azure appearance with a golden sheen throughout all its scales.”
  
• “A certain serpent of horrendous size is also described as having been discovered by the Roman army in Africa near the River Bagrada. And, in revenge for the soldiers whom it devoured in its initial attack, all the Romans surrounded it with all their spears, and finally, struck by a mill-stone thrown from a ballista, its spine cracked, after it had previously repelled all the spears with its scales, like the slantingtestudoof shields. Its hide was brought across the Mediterranean to Rome, and is said to have been 120 feet long.”
  
• “And at the destruction of Troy, as the whole population looked on, two serpents thrashed with a great noise the waves from the island of Tenedos with their curving motion, and swam to shore with puffed-up breasts. As Vergil, the outstanding poet, sang, they had bloody crests and their eyes were grim with fire and gore. They tore apart in poisonous bites two little boys in their first attack, and a third man coming to their aid.”
  
• “Serpents are also said to be born in India in a valley which is called Iordia, in whose necks are found very precious stones, and their glitterings are called emeralds. They are fed on laser and white pepper. Alexander of Macedon carried off a few of the stones from the valley, closed off by pyramids with a length of five hundred and five feet.”
  
• “There is a certain island in the Mediterranean which, before humans, almost all kinds of serpents used to inhabit, amongst which there was a ruler-serpent which was bristly with such huge bodily bulk that those who saw the places in which it hid assert that a cow could enter.”
  

~Anabula <Bestiaries> - An Ethiopian beast which looks like an elephant with a horse's hooves, tail, and mane.
~Homodubii (doubtful ones) <Wonders of the East> - People who are six feet tall, have beards to their knees and hair to their heels, and eat only raw fish; they live in the land of Gorgoneous near the river Capi, home of the gold-digging ants. A few paragraphs later the author contradicts himself by using the same name to describe a race of people who live on an island in the southern ocean and have a human upper body, a donkey-like lower body with long legs like birds' legs, and a soft voice, who flee from humans.
~Hostes <Wonders of the East> - Black-skinned, cannibalistic giants found east of the river Brixontes, who have legs twelve feet long and a chest seven feet long.
~Lertices <Wonders of the East> - Animals found near the Brixontes River which have donkey's ears, sheep's wool, and bird's feet.
~Catini <Wonders of the East> - Very beautiful wild animals which live on the shore of the ocean.
~Miscellaneous <Wonders of the East>

• Rams as large as oxen, found on the island of Antimolima.
  
• Red hens which cause anyone who picks one up to spontaneously combust, found in a place near the Red Sea called Lentibeisinea.
  
• Lentibeisinea is also home to beasts with eight feet, two heads, and “valkyrie-like eyes.” They run when they hear a human voice, and they have the same incendiary properties as the red hens.
  
• Two-headed serpents with eyes which “shine at night as brightly as lanterns,” found in the land of Hascellentia.
  
• Donkeys with horns as big as oxen's, which live in a snake-infested wasteland in the south of Babylon and Egypt.
  
• People from the land of Locotheo, between the Nile and Bixontes rivers, who are fifteen feet tall, white, and have two faces on a single head, red feet and knees, long noses, and black hair. They travel by ship to India to give birth.
  
• People of Ciconia in Callia who have skin of three different colors, are twenty feet tall, have lions' manes, and have mouths as big as fans. They sweat blood and run away when they see humans.
  
• 150 foot long dragons as thick as stone pillars, which infest an island south of the Brixontes on which are also found blemmaes eight feet tall and eight feet wide.
  
• The cruelest and most barbarous people in the world, who have conquered 110 kings and inhabit a land with two lakes. The Lake of the Sun is hot in the day and cold at night, and the Lake of the Moon is the reverse.
  
• The same brief mention from the Liber Monstrorum about people with glowing eyes is repeated here.
  
• Women who live on the tallest mountain in the world, which is found somewhere in Babylon. They have long beards, wear clothes made of horse's hides, and train tigers and leopards as hunting dogs.
  
• Women with boar's tusks and teeth, hair down to their heels, camel's feet, and oxen's tails, who are thirteen feet tall and have skin as white as marble. They were genocided by Alexander the Great because he thought they looked ugly.
  
• Coastal people who eat only raw meat and honey.
  
• People from the left-hand side of the same kingdom where the catini and the honey-eaters are found, who are exceptionally long-lived. They are well-known for their hospitality and generosity. They have overthrown many tyrants and now rule over them, and they give a woman to every visitor to their kingdom. Alexander the Great visited them once but was so moved by their generosity that he left their country out of his conquest of the known world.
  
• Black people who are evidentially fire-proof, as they live on a mountain which is constantly wreathed in fire which incinerates anyone else who tries to explore it.
  

~Cirenus Bird <Hereford Map> - A bird which is only found on the Hereford Map, which places it in Palestine. Possibly misspelling of cinnamalogus?
~Marsok <Hereford Map> - A quadrupedal animal found in Asia. It has webbed feet on the right side of its body, toed or clawed feet on its left side, and is described as being able to change its shape.
~Griste <Hereford Map> - An evil race of people found in Scythia who, among other crimes not mentioned on the Hereford Map, make clothes and horse armor out of human skins taken from their slain enemies.
~Turchi (Turks) <Hereford Map> - A race of cannibals, descended from the apocalyptic hordes of Gog and Magog, who inhabit a city called Tarraconta in Scythia. They do not eat adults, only children and aborted fetuses.
~Scythians <Various Sources> - Although the Scythians were a real life culture, through the influence of Classical authors they became almost as mythical as the other “monstrous races” that haunted bestiaries and maps. The Scythians are a warlike race of barbarians. Social standing is determined by how many people one has killed, and the greatest shame a person can have is to have never killed anyone. When a Scythian kills his first warrior, he drinks the blood from the wounds. They also seal treaties by drinking each other's blood. Each Scythian makes his drinking cup from the hollowed out skull of his greatest enemy. The real life Scythians had some unique features of their own that are not mentioned in medieval texts. For one, they were known for using poisoned arrows. Also, both men and women fought in battle; indeed, a woman was not allowed to marry until she had killed at least three men.
~Scitotauri <Hereford Map and Collectanea rerum memorabilium> - A Scythian tribe who sacrifice foreigners to their pagan gods.
~Cathari <Hereford Map and Collectanea rerum memorabilium> - A Scythian tribe who outlawed the use of money, and therefore do not suffer from the sin of avarice.
~Essedones <Medieval Texts> - A tribe in Scythia who, as part of the funeral rites for their parents, rip off pieces of flesh from the corpse with their teeth and eat it together with cow intestines, considering it more honorable for the body to be eaten by relatives than by worms. They also inlay their deceased parents' skulls with precious metals and use them as drinking cups.
~Hyperboreans <Medieaval Texts> - A race of people who live beyond the north wind, where it is day for six months of the year and night for six other months. They live amongst the trees, and have no concept of evil or discord. They are immortal and never fall ill; when one is tired of life, he or she holds a feast and is anointed with oils, then jumps off a certain cliff, which they consider the best kind of funeral. Some medieval authors disputed their placement beyond the north wind, and instead contended that they must be in northern Europe.
~Albani <Medieval Texts> - I finally have a name to put with all those accounts of people with glowing eyes! The Albani inhabit Albania (a real country) and believe themselves to be descendants of the mythological hero Jason. They are born with white hair and have glowing eyes that allow them to see better at night than during the day. Albania is also home to giant dogs which fight and win against lions.
~Minotaur <Greek Mythology> - The original Greek story of the minotaur is well known and hardly bears repeating here. However, medieval artists for some ungodly reason tended to depict the minotaur as a bull with a man's head rather than the other way around. The Hereford Map depicts it as fully bovine, albeit bipedal, and also says there is an entire race of minotaurs in Scythia which are trained to be used in warfare.
~Cicone <Hereford Map and Collectanea rerum memorabilium> - A race of people from near the Hebrus River. Despite classical authors treating them as a rather generic human tribe, the Hereford Map inexplicably depicts them with bird's beaks and deformed limbs.
~Tigolopes <Hereford Map> - The tigolopes is a mystery, as no information besides its name is given on the map and there are no other references to it in any surviving texts. It is depicted as a humanoid with a tail, webbed feet, and carrying a staff.
~Corcina <Medieval Texts> - A race of people who live around Mount Maleus, and due to the strange effects of that mountain have shadows that fall to the north in winter and to the south in summer.
~Ambari <Hereford Map> - A race of earless people with backwards feet. All the quadrupeds that live in that land, even the elephants, are also earless.
Straw-Drinkers <Medieval Texts> - People who have moths which are sealed shut except for a tiny aperture, forcing them to suck individual kernels of grain through a straw.
~Himantapods <Hereford Map and Collectanea rerum memorabilium> - A race of people with weak, bandy legs which force them to move by an awkward half-crawling, half-slithering motion.
~Philli <Hereford Map and Collectanea rerum memorabilium> - A race of people who live near a fiery mountain infested wih venemous snakes. This does not trouble the philli, however, because they are immune to snake venom; their blood is also poisonous to snakes and even the scent of it makes serpents fall asleep. The men test whether their wives are faithful by exposing their newborn children to snakes; if the child has the blood of someone outside the tribe, it will be killed by the snake. Unfortunately, the philli were almost completely wiped out by the Nassamones.
~Maritime Ethiopians <Medieval Texts> - An Ethiopian civilization who have four eyes each, though several medieval authors disputed this and said that they merely gained this reputation due to their keen sight and skill at archery. Pliny divides them into the Nisicathae and Nisitae, who have three eyes and four eyes respectively.
~Gamphasantes <Hereford Map and Collectanea rerum memorabilium> - A tribe on the coast of Ethiopia who are pacifist, have no commerce, and hide from outsiders.
~Agriophagi <Bestiaries> - An Ethiopian tribe who only eat panthers and lions, and have a king with only one eye in the center of his forehead.
~Gens Labro Prominenti (Clan of the Jutting Lips) <Bestiaries> - A people who have huge lips with which they shade their faces from the sun.
~Man-Tyger <Heraldry> - A creature like a lampago – with a tiger's body and a man's head – but with the addition of monkey-like paws, tusks, and short horns.
~Satyral <Heraldry> - A monster with a lion's body, an old man's head, and an antelope's tail and horns.
~Cockodrill <The Travels of Sir John Mandeville> - Sixty-foot-long crocodiles with yellow scales which live on Silha Island, along with dragons, giant snakes, and two-headed geese.
~Loir <The Travels of Sir John Mandeville> - In the kingdom of Mancy (also known as Albany) in India, men train small beasts called loirs to dive into rivers and lakes and catch fish.
~Miscellaneous <The Travels of Sir John Mandeville>

• A race of island-dwelling women with gemstones for eyes, who strike dead anyone they look at.
  
• The inhabitants of the Isle of Dondun, who eat their relatives when they die.
  
• Desert-dwelling people with horns who do not speak, but make noises like grunting pigs.
  
• People from Albany, who have beard that are thin - having at most fifty hairs - but nevertheless are long. Their women, on the other hand, are more beautiful than any others in the world. Both men and women of this country are deathly pale, which is why the land is called Albany.
  
• People on an island near the Isle of Dondun, whose faces are completely flat, with only thin slits for the eyes and mouth.
  
• The people of Beaumare Isle, who are covered in hair except for the face and palms and can breathe equally well underwater or on land.
  
• People on another island near Dondun who have eight toes and always walk on their knees.
  
• People on yet another island near Dondun, who are covered in feathers, walk on hands and knees, and leap from tree to tree like apes.
  
• The people of Lamary, who buy and sell fat children for eating; their children's flesh is said to be the sweetest flavor in the world.
  
• The people of the Land of Lomb, where the women drink wine and must shave lest they grow beards, and the men can do neither. The people of that land also make an ointment for their hands and feet out of snails and other ingredients, which repels snakes and other venomous creatures.
  
• In Mancy, India, are found chickens that grow wool instead of feathers.
  
• Sheep the size of oxen which are found in Perilous Vale, the land of the giants.
  
• In Calonak there are snails so huge that people make small houses out of their shells.
  
• Cruel beasts from Arabia which have a bear's body, a boar's head, six feet bearing two wickedly sharp claws each, and a lion's tail.
  

~Bugbear <England> - A frightening bearlike monster that lurks in the woods and scares children.
~Grindylow <England> - A short humanoid with scaly green skin which lives in ponds, marshes, and swamps and uses its long arms to drag children underwater to be devoured.
~Shellycoat <England> - A river-dwelling being which wears a coat of shells which rattle when it walks. It is mischievous but not malicious; it likes to mislead travelers or pretend to be drowning.
~Asrai <England> - A shy female water spirit which is sometimes described as 2 to 4 feet tall, and other times as tall and graceful. Asrai skin is so cold that it burns human skin, leaving a permanent mark. Asrai come to the surface once every hundred years to bathe in moonlight, which makes them grow, but if they are exposed to sunlight for too long they melt. Asrai sometimes tempt humans into the water with promises of treasure, then drown them, but they are scared away by rude language.
~Church Grim <England and Scandinavia> - A spectral black dog which guards churches against vandals, both human and supernatural. It is believed that the grim may be the result of an ancient custom of burying a dog alive under the cornerstone of a church. If the church grim rings the church bells, it means a death will soon occur. When someone dies in the village, the vicar can see the church grim looking out of the belfry and can tell by its behavior whether the deceased is in Heaven or Hell.
~Tiddy Mun (tiny man) <England> - A short, old man with long, tangled white hair and beard and wearing a grey gown which makes him almost invisible at dusk. His laughter sounds like a peewit. He is the spirit of the bogs and swamps, and will send plagues to punish those who drain the swamps.
~Knucker <England> - A serpentine dragon which lives in deep pools of water called knuckerholes.
~Black Annis <England> - A giant, blue-faced hag with long claws who snatches children out of their houses with her long arms and eats them. She wears their skins around her belt. People know to get away from their windows and doors when they hear the sound of her loudly grinding her teeth.
~Knocky-boh <England> - A thing which hides behind the wainscot and frightens people by knocking on it.
~Henki <England> - A type of fairies who “hink” (limp) when they dance.
~Chappie <England> - A ghost which knocks at front doors but is never seen.
~Bluecap <England> - A mine spirit which which manifests as a small, hovering blue flame. If treated well, it leads the miners to rich veins and warns them of danger. Bluecaps will help to push the tubs of coal, but expects to be paid the same wages as the other miners. Its pay is left in a corner; it will not accept any more or any less than it is due.
~Cutty Soames <England> - A mine spirit which cuts the soames (ropes) by which the putters pull the coal tubs.
~Redcap <England> - A hideous goblin which haunts ruined castles and towers. It wears iron boots, carries a pike, and wears a cap stained red with the blood of its victims. If its cap ever dries, it will die. Redcaps are also sometimes seen on battlefields, staining their caps with the blood of the dead and dying. A redcap can be driven away by reciting Scripture or showing it a cross; this causes the redcap to vanish in flames, leaving behind a tooth.
~Barghest <England> - A terrifying spirit which can appear as a bear, a hare, a headless man, and any number of other forms, but usually as a large, black dog with fiery eyes the size of saucers. It preys on lone travelers. It also often appears as an omen of death, sometimes followed by a howling funeral procession of all the dogs in the village. If anyone gets in its way, it strikes them, leaving an incurable wound. It cannot cross running water.
~Nelly Longarms <England> - A hag with long arms who lives in ponds, rivers, and wells and drags in children who venture too near.
~Jenny Greenteeth <England> - A river hag with green skin; sharp, green teeth; and long, green hair which billows up and looks like duckweed on the surface of the water. She drags children and the elderly into the water and drowns them. She also takes the lives of those who mistake her green hair for solid ground and fall in.
~Kilmoulis <England> - A brownie-like creature with no mouth, but a huge nose which it uses to inhale its food. It lives in mills and does work for the miller, but gets its payment by eating its share of the grain and playing pranks on the miller.
~Duergar <England> - A race of dwarfs led by a dwarf named Heslop living in the Simonside Hills. They wear lambskin coats, moleskin pants and shoes, and hats made of moss with a feather stuck in each. They carry lighted torches to mislead travelers at night.
~Rawhead and Bloody Bones <England and Ireland> - A bogey invoked to frighten children into good behavior. Details about it are scarce, and it is unclear whether it is even one creature or two. It sometimes is said to inhabit ponds, marl pits, and the ocean, and drowns children who venture too close. One famous account by Ruth Tongue said it “lived in a dark cupboard, usually under the stairs. If you were heroic enough to peep through a crack you would get a glimpse of the dreadful, crouching creature, with blood running down his face, seated waiting on a pile of raw bones that had belonged to children who told lies or said bad words. If you peeped through the keyhole he got you anyway.”
~Clap-cans <England> - A spirit which makes a sound like cans being clapped together.
~Clim <England> - An imp which lives in nursery chimneys and steals bad children.
~Hob Over the Wall <England> - A spirit which is never seen, but makes noises from behind the wall.
~Hob in the Well <England> - Same as above, except in a well.
~Seven Whistlers <England> - Birds with a whistling call whose appearance heralds disaster. Sometimes they are depicted as a huge flock which flies in storms and blocks out the sun, other times as six birds searching for the seventh; when the seven are reunited, the world will end.
~Lubber Fiend (or Lubberkin, or Lob, or Lob, or Lurdane, or Lob Lie-by-the-fire) <England> - A house spirit taking the form of a large, hairy man with a tail. He performs household chores as long as he is offered milk and given a place to lie by the fire. Lubber fiends are rumored to be the offspring of witches with the Devil.
~Abbey Lubber <England> - A minor demon who haunts monasteries and tempts the monks to get drunk.
~Nanny Rutt <England> - An old woman with her face covered by a shawl, who warns young women who go to the woods at night to elope. If she ignores her warnings, the girl will find herself lost and eventually end up at Nanny Rutt's cottage in the woods. There, Nanny Rutt reveals what is beneath her shawl, and the girl is never seen again.
~Wat <England> - A spirit which haunts prisons. If a prisoner sees it when it appears as a hovering flame, that prisoner is doomed to be executed.
~Tom Loudy <England> - A bogey who shakes window panes and moans to frighten children.
~Tom Dockin <England> - A bogey with iron teeth who eats naughty children.
~Thrummy-cap <England> - A spirit who wears a hat made of thrums (weaver's ends) and haunts the cellars of old mansions.
~Jack-In-Irons <England> - A giant covered in chains and wearing the heads of his past victims, who ambushes travelers on lonely roads.
~Lantern Man <England> - A ghost light seen on the fens which tries to lure people into drowning in the reed beds. It is attracted by the sound of whistling, and anyone who has so foolishly summoned it can only avoid it by laying face-down in the mud. In one account, a person distracted it by hanging a horn on a pole outside the house he took refuge in; in the morning, the horn was found burnt to a crisp.
~Powrie <England> - A spirit which haunts old forts, castles, peel-towers, and dugeons. It constantly makes a sound like beating flax; if the sound suddenly becomes louder, it is a bad omen.
~Hyter-Sprite <England> - A type of small fairy with green or red eyes, who can transform into sand swallows. They help lost children find their way home, reward good deeds, and punish wickedness.
~Gooseberry Mother <England> - An enormous caterpillar which lives in gardens and eats children who pick gooseberries.
~Awd Goggie <England and Scotland> - Another giant caterpillar, this one is male and lives in the forest, eating children who pick fruits.
~Fetch <England> - A person's double, or doppleganger, which is a bad omen to encounter and, if at night, a death omen.
~Waff <England> - A dopleganger which is a death omen if seen by its owner or a close friend, but can be averted by speaking harshly to it.
~Bullbeggar <England> - An ambiguous type of bogie which haunts forlorn places and attacks people who visit them at night. For the most part, there is little surviving information about these specters besides the name, but one account from the 1880s gives some tantalizing clues which may or may not reflect beliefs dating to our game's time period. The bullbeggar in that instance was a shadowy thing that haunted a hill where two bodies were dug up. On one occasion it pretended to be someone lying unconscious in the road, then grew to a giant and chased a local farmer all the way to his house. On another occasion it actually attacked a traveler, but he found it was repelled by the ashen staff he was carrying and was able to fight it off until it disappeared at daybreak. The locals in this instance were adamant that it was not a ghost, as there were two bodies discovered, so it may be supposed that a bullbeggar forms from the energy of a place where tragedy has occured.
~Stock <England> - A piece of wood enchanted by the fairies to appear as a simulacrum of an adult human, which has only a short lifespan. While with children the fairies can leave behind a changeling, when they want to abduct an adult they must fake the person's death by replacing them with a stock because the charade would be too difficult to keep up for long.
~Melsh Dick <England> - A spirit who scares children to prevent them from picking unripe nuts.
~Spriggan <Cornwall> - Reputedly the ghost of a giant, a spriggan is a short, ugly, old man with a huge head who guards buried treasure in old ruins. When threatened, it has the power to grow to gigantic sizes. Spriggans amuse themselves by raising whirlwinds, sending storms to destroy crops, robbing houses, collapsing buildings, stealing cattle, and kidnapping infants and leaving behind a changeling. On Christmas Eve, all the spriggans in a region hold a midnight Mass in the bottom of the deepest mine. Spriggans are also sometimes employed as bodyguards by fairies.
~Knocker <Cornwall> - A two foot tall mine spirit who wears a miner's uniform and has a large head, long arms, and wrinkly skin. It is rarely seen, but is heard to knock on the mine walls to warn of a cave-in. It also plays pranks, like hiding tools and blowing out candles. Miners leave the last bite of their pasties as an offering to the knocker.
~Coblynau <Wales> - An ugly mine spirit half a yard tall, who wears miner's clothes and knocks on the walls to lead miners to rich veins of ore. They also do their own mining, but no matter how hard they work they never accomplish anything.
~Adar Llwch Gwin (bird lake wine) <Wales> - Large, intelligent birds which follow their owners' commands.
~Adar Rhiannon (birds of Rhiannon) <Wales> - Three birds whose singing can “wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.” They sound nearby even when they are far away.
~Water Leaper <Wales> - A swamp-and-pond-dwelling giant frog with no legs, bat wings, and a lizard's tail tipped with a stinger. It uses its wings to skip across the surface of the water, and it snaps fishing lines and preys on livestock and fishermen.
~Fad Felen (yellow death) <Wales> - In the 540s, a strange monster came out of the marsh of Rhianedd, spreading a deadly plague called the Yellow Death across Wales. It sometimes manifested as a yellow pillar of mist stretching into the sky, which gave the plague to anyone caught within it. Other times, it was a hag with claws and yellow hair, teeth, and eyes, which breaths out a poisonous gas that gives its victims the Yellow Death. Even just seeing it in this form was sometimes enough to kill someone.
~Aderyn y Corph (corpse bird) <Wales> - A wingless, featherless bird which comes from another plane of reality and hovers outside the door of a sick person and calls, “Dewch! Dewch!” or in English, “Come! Come!” This is a certain omen of death.
~Afanc (beaver) <Wales> - A lake monster which is alternately described as a giant crocodile, beaver, or platypus. In at least one legend, it is invisible and shoots poisonous darts.
~Morgen <Wales and Brittany> - A type of beautiful mermaids who live in underwater caves along the coast and use their hypnotic voices to lure in young men who are never seen again. They also know black magic, and cause floods. They are believed to descend from Princess Dahut, whose carelessness lead to the destruction of the legendary city of Ys and who was transformed into a morgen as punishment.
~Bendith y Mamau (mother's blessing) <Wales> - Short, ugly fairies who elf-ride horses and replace children with changelings. They can be pacified by leaving bowls of milk for them.
~Teulu <Wales> - A spectral funeral procession which appears as an omen of death; several days later a real funeral will follow the same path.
~Gwyllion <Wales> - The evil elves of the mountains, who appear as hideous women or as goats; the latter because they are friends with goats. They use a variety of auditory illusions to mislead travelers, but can be easily warded off with an iron knife. The most dangerous of them is the Old Woman of the Mountain, who wears an apron, grey clothes, and an oversized four-cornered hat, and carries a pot or a wooden vat. The gwyllions come down from the mountains and invite themselves to supper at the homes of humans who are too terrified to turn them away.
~Ellyllon <Wales> - The good counterparts to the gwyllions, who appear as tiny, translucent people. Their ruler is said to be Queen Mab, but this is likely an adoption of Shakespeare rather than authentic folklore; certainly, it is very unlikely to predate Shakespeare's time. They eat mushrooms and “elven oil” (a fungus found in old tree roots and cracks in limestone). A story is told about how they once appeared to a poor farmer and offered to do all the work for him as long as his wife kept the hearth swept clean. They agreed, and every morning the farmer and his wife would wake to find all the chores and all the farm work done, so that within three years they became wealthy. One night, his wife stayed up to watch the ellyllons at work, but they noticed her and left, never to come back. The farmer was already so well-off, though, that he was able to keep things running smoothly even without the supernatural assistance.
~Tylwyth Teg (fair family) <Wales> - Good fairies who are taller than the ellyllons, but usually described as somewhat shorter than humans. They have golden hair and pale, almost translucent, skin. They apparently acheive this look through careful manipulation of the gene pool, as they kidnap human children who have fair hair and replace them with their ugly offspring; it is sometimes said they are identical to the bendith y mamau. Their women also intermarry with humans, but dissapear and are unable to return if they accidentally touch iron. They live underground or underwater, frequently dance in fields and ride in parades, and live on the same diet as the ellyllons. They give gifts to people, but these items turn into garbage if the receiver mentions them to anyone.
~Bwgwl <Wales> - A spirit that inspires terror.
~Jimmy Squarefoot <Isle of Man> - A man with a boar's head and large, square feet wrapped in calico. In ancient times, before he gained a humanoid shape, he was the mount of a foawr. He is a peaceful traveler.
~Buggane <Isle of Man> - A huge, hairy monster with sharp tusks, which can also shapeshift into a variety of bizarre forms. It is sent by the fairies to wreak vengeance on those who have wronged them. It cannot cross running water or stand on holy ground. To confront one safely, you must speak nothing but the absolute truth in its presence.
~Foawr <Isle of Man> - Ancient giants who inadvertently built standing stones by throwing boulders at each other from the tops of mountains.
~Fenodryee (hairy stockings) <Isle of Man> - A short, naked being covered in hair, who does work for farmers in exchange for food. They are especially skilled at grass-cutting. They are driven off by gifts of clothing, which offends them.
~Ben-Varrey <Isle of Man> - A type of mermaid, although usually described as looking like a normal woman rather than fish-tailed. They can be dangerous like other varieties, enchanting and drowning men and stealing from land dwellers, but usually they are more benevolent. They warn fishermen of storms, and one ben-varrey who was washed ashore rewarded her rescuer with the location of buried treasure. They are fond of apples, which they call “land eggs,” and a story is told of one family which secured good luck for itself by making regular gifts of apples to a local ben-varrey. When the eldest son, who was the one in charge of delivering the apples to her, went away to sea, he planted an apple tree on the shore so she could have a regular supply of apples even while he was gone. This worked for a while, but she became impatient with how slowly the apples grew, and at last resolved to swim to sea and search for the lad; neither of them were ever seen again, and the family's fortunes sharply declined.
~Cughtagh <Isle of Man> - A spirit that haunts caves.
~Arkan Sonney (lucky piggy) <Isle of Man> - A fairy pig which is white and has red ears and eyes, and can change its shape. It is good luck to catch, but this is very difficult.
~Bauchan <Scotland> - A domestic spirit which is often antagonistic, but will help the family when it is truly needed.
~Fuath (hatred) <Scotland> - A class of water-dwelling supernatural beings with an inexorable hatred for humanity. They are described with a multitude of different features, and sometimes are said to dissolve into a gelatinous mass when out of water. Female (though sometimes male also) fuathan sometimes interbreed with humans, resulting in offspring with a mane and a tail. Beithr, shellycoats, and the Nuckelavee are classified as fuathan.
~Beithr (lightning) <Scotland> - The largest species of snake in the world, the beithr emerges from its lair in a mountain cave or valley during summer lightning storms to sting humans with the venomous sting on its tail. The victim must race the beithr to the nearest water source; if the human wins he is cured, but he dies if the beithr gets there first. Another cure is to drink water with a snake's head in it. When a regular snake is killed, the pieces must be kept separated or else they will join back together to form a beithr.
~Lavellan <Scotland> - A quick, large rat-like rodent with bright eyes which lives in freshwater. It is so toxic that it can poison cattle from a hundred feet away. Its skin dipped in water is a cure for lavellan poisoning, as is boiled lavellan head.
~Bregdi <Scotland> - A huge sea monster which chases boats, wraps its fins around them, and pulls them under. It can be scared off by steel weapons or amber beads.
~Biasd Na Srogaig (beast of the lowering/crumpled horn) <Scotland> - A loch-dwelling bogie which looks something like a unicorn, but uncannily distorted. It has long, gangly legs and a horn which is crumpled and bent in the middle.
~Cu Sith (fairy dog) <Scotland> - Huge, green dogs which are kept by fairies as guard dogs. However, sometimes they get loose and go on rampages, killing humans and livestock alike. Wild cu sith sleep in caves during the day, only emerging to hunt at night. They bark twice as a warning, and anyone still outdoors when the third bark sounds are prey for the monstrous dogs. Finding a discarded cu sith tooth brings good luck, and the tooth can be placed in water to create a cure for cattle disease, as well as placed in milk to break a witch's spell over it.
~Cirein-cròin <Scotland> - An enormous sea monster which feeds on seven whales a day. It disguises itself as a tiny silver fish and allows fisherman to catch it, then eats them.
~Cat-sith (fairy cat) <Scotland and Ireland> - A dog-sized black cat with a white spot on its chest which haunts the highlands. If it crosses over an unburied body, it will steal the deceased's soul. On Samhain, the cat-sith goes from house to house; if a saucer of milk has been left out for it, it will bless the house, but if not it curses all the household's cows to give no milk that year. Certain witches can transform into a cat-sith, but only nine times; if they transform for the ninth time, the witch is trapped as a cat forever.
~Baobhan Sith <Scotland> - A beautiful female vampire which appears to hunters and travelers who wish for their sweethearts when out at night. A baobhan sith wears a long, green dress to hide the fact that her feet are deer's hooves. She charms the man with her looks, so he does not even notice as she drains all his blood and leaves him dead. However, all baobhan sith must disappear at daybreak.
~Finfolk <Scotland (specifically Orkney isles)> - A race of malevolent undersea sorcerers. A male finfolk is a Finman; the female is called a Finwife. In winter, they live in Finfolkaheem (Finfolk's Home), a vast, beautiful underwater palace made of crystal, with seaweed gardens and lit by countless bioluminescent fish; it is sacred to them as their ancient homeland. In summer and spring, they live on land on Hildaland (Hidden Land), an island obscured from humans by a magical fog. It is during these land-dwelling months that they swim, or occasionally sail rowboats, along the shore in search of humans to kidnap and force into “marriage,” which in finfolk culture is more akin to slavery. All finfolk have a natural greed for silver, which their victims can exploit by throwing bits of silver to distract their would-be abductor. Finmen are tall, thin, and have morose faces. They are the most powerful in magic among the finfolk, and are able to propel their boats at incredible speed, conjure a flotilla of ghost ships, and other feats of sorcery. Finmen usually avoid human contact, but will readily try to swindle people out of their silver. Each finman claims a stretch of ocean as his, and will violently guard his territory from other finmen and humans alike, though his power can be nullified if the human vessel is marked with a cross. Finmen, when abducting a bride, prefer to shapeshift into the form of a sea animal or piece of floating jetsam so they can quietly float close enough to grab their intended victims. A finman may also disguise himself as a fisherman in a boat. Finwives are beautiful mermaids golden hair and pale skin, who prefer to use their natural beauty rather than shapeshifting to kidnap potential mates. There are, however, a very few stories in which a finwife gives up the ways of the finfolk and willing joins a human man on land. The reason for kidnapping among the finfolk is because if a finwife and a finman marry, the wife will get uglier every seven years. In the case of this unfortunate marriage, the finman will force his wife to live on land, disguised as a human, and earn silver coins through work as healer or a spinner. She must send all the silver she earns back to her husband under the sea or else he will beat her. Each finwife owns a familiar which transforms between a black cat and a fish to transport her earnings back to her husband.
~Trow <Orkney and Shetland islands> - An odd mixture of fairy and troll, trow are supernatural beings of whom some individuals are multi-headed giants, and others look more like traditional fae but wear gray instead of green. It is forbidden to speak of trow; it is bad luck to see one, but good luck to merely overhear one. Trow have a great fondness for music, and often kidnap mortals who are particularly skilled with an instrument. Neither are they unskilled themselves; many popular folk tunes are said to have been stolen from the trow. They are also skilled workers with iron and precious metals, but are repelled by steel weapons and silver coins. There are two types of trow: hill-trow and sea-trow; these two factions have been at war since time immemorial. Hill-trow emerge from their “trowie knowes” (fairy hills, barrows) at night - the only time except for the week of Christmas when they can enter or leave the mound - and enter humans' houses for no particular reason. If they cannot make it back to the trowie knowe before sunrise, they must wait on the surface until the next night to gain admittance. They tend to turn invisible whenever humans are nearby, but a person who has washed his or her face with eggs can see them. Sea-trows are hideous, scaly, horselike humanoids with matted hair, a sloped, apelike head, webbed hands and feet, round feet, and disproportionately large limbs. It is covered in seaweed. Their strange physiology makes them excellent swimmers, but slow on land. They steal fish from the line, cause storms, and generally give fishermen bad luck. They also sometimes emerge in the forms of wailing women, which is a bad omen. They are also said to sometimes come onto the land to do things with human women which are really not Scratch appropriate. In Shetland, a third type of trow is mentioned, called a Kunal-Trow (king trow). The race of kunal-trow consists only of males, and they are often found wandering at night, weeping from loneliness. Once in their lives, a kunal-trow may marry a human woman, but she will inevitably die in childbirth. The kunal-trow must subsequently kidnap a midwife to be a wet-nurse for his newborn son. There is one recorded instance in which a woman survived giving birth to a kunal-trow's children, because she used witchcraft to cheat death. Kunal-trow live on dirt which is magically transformed into a perfect replica of any food. Distressingly, they sometimes choose to eat magical replicas of human babies.
~Hogboon (mound-dweller) <Orkney> - Spirits, believed by the islands' original Norse settlers to be the spirits of their ancestors but eventually reduced to generic fairy folk, who live inside the mounds that dot the Orkney countryside. Many of these mounds have houses built near to them, because a hogboon will protect any nearby house and do chores around the farm at night, so long as it is propitiated with offerings of milk at Yuletide and wine from any weddings that occur. However, hogboons have bad tempers, and so a failure to provide the proper offerings or some other activity which annoys it will certainly invite thefts and mischief at the least, and more likely the deaths of some of the livestock. Anyone who attempts to enter a hogboon's mound and rob it of its treasure in effect signs his own death warrant.
~Tangie <Orkney and Shetland> - A sea spirit which appears either as a horse or as an old man; in both forms it is wrapped in seaweed. It abducts young women travelling at night near the lochs and devours them. The famous sheep rustler Black Eric rode a tangie on his raids. Tangies are sometimes identified with sea-trow.
~Nuggle <Shetland> - A freshwater spirit in the form of a male Shetland pony with a wheel-like tail which it attempts to hide behind its legs, the nuggle is similar to more famous water horses like the kelpie, but only scares the victims of its pranks rather than killing them. It often entices people into riding it, only to gallop into a pool and soak the victim's clothes.
~It <Shetland> - An amorphous, malevolent being which looks different to everyone who sees It. It terrorized a certain Shetland farmhouse every Christmas. It can be immobilized with holy words.
~Wulver <Shetland> - A peaceful, humanoid wolf who lives in a cave on the Isle of Unst. He spends his time fishing, and often anonymously leaves his catches at the houses of the poor.
~Marool <Shetland> - A sea demon in the form of a fish covered in glowing eyes and bearing a crest of fire. The phosphorescent sea-foam is the light of its eyes, and the sound of the wind howling during storms is the marool singing and laughing with malevolent joy at the sailors who are drowned.
~Kelpie <Scotland> - A river spirit in the form of a horse, which tempts people into riding it. Its back stretches to accommodate more riders, but once touching it the riders find they are stuck fast. The kelpie then dives into the river, where it drowns its victims and eats all but the entrails. The offspring of a kelpie and a mortal horse has short ears and can breathe underwater. Kelpies can also transform into human form, but can be recognized by having seaweed in their hair and horse's hooves for feet. They take this form to woo human women, or to jump onto a horse behind the rider and crush the rider to death. A kelpie in human form also disguises his bridle as a silver necklace; if this is stolen, the thief can force the kelpie to follow his/her commands. A kelpie's bridle also gives its owner the power to transform humans into horses. A kelpie can also be enslaved by managing to attach a halter marked with a cross to it, but this is easier said than done. A kelpie can be killed with silver or with red-hot iron, which causes it to dissolve into turf and a gelatinous substance.
~Each-uisge (water horse) <Scotland, Isle of Man, and Ireland> - A loch-dwelling spirit like a kelpie but far more vicious. It can appear as a pony, a horse, a handsome man, or a giant bird. It entices humans into riding it like the kelpie, but can be safely ridden and indeed makes a fine horse as long as it cannot see or smell water. If it does, it instantly becomes adhesive and plunges into the water, where it devours its rider except for the liver. It is deviously patient, and has been known to spend years as a well-behaved farm horse all to lull its owner into a false sense of security before devouring him. In human form, they often woo young women, but are just as likely to get bored with their new mates and eat them. They have even been known to cannibalize each other if the smell of humans clings to them from their last victim.
~Pech <Scotland> - A race of superhumanly strong dwarfs who brew heather ale and battled humans, but are now few in number. The standing stones and monuments which litter the countryside are the ruins of their civilization.
~Fachan <Scotland> - A monster with one eye in the center of its head, one hand in its chest, one leg, and one tuft of hair stronger than a mountain.
~Gigelorum <Scotland> - The smallest living thing in existence; it lives in the ears of mites.
~Giolcam-daobhram <Scotland> - The smallest animal which can be seen by people with extraordinary eyesight.
~Tarbh Uisge (water bull) <Scotland> - A huge, black bull with no ears which lives in lochs located on moors. It can shapeshift into human form, but only rarely does so, and can only be killed with silver. Water bulls often come on land to mate with cows, producing offspring with short ears. This offspring can breathe underwater and is of superior quality to normal cattle. According to one account, if kept separate from the herd and fed with the milk of three different cows, it will grow into a huge beast which will defend its owners from supernatural threats.
~Boobrie <Scotland> - A malevolent loch-dwelling (though occasionally nesting in inland patches of heather) shapeshifter which preys on livestock (especially cattle) being transported on ships, as well as otters. Its most common form is that of an enormous waterfowl like a cormorant or great auk, with a call like a bull's bellowing. It also manifests as a horse which gallops across water as if it were solid ground, as a tarbh uisge, or as a giant earwig with tentacles which sucks the blood of horses; the latter form is only used during August and September.
~Selkie (seal) <Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, and Ireland> - A peaceful race of merpeople in the forms of seals, who can shed their sealskin to come ashore in human form. According to some sources they can do this every seven years, according to others once a year during midsummer or thirteenth night. Some sources say this is a punishment, because they are the souls of those who were wicked but not bad enough for Hell, or because they are fallen angels. Fishermen only kill seals when they are in dire need, for fear of accidentally killing a selkie and incurring the wrath of his/her kin. Selkie blood causes storms when it falls into the ocean. There are male selkies, but most stories are of female selkies. If a man steals a selkie's sealskin, she cannot return to the land and must be his wife until she can find where it is hidden. This is usually presented as an unwilling relationship on the selkie's part, but in one story a selkie willingly gives up her sealskin and warns her husband to keep it hidden from her, and in another a selkie sacrifices her happy life on land to turn into a seal and rescue her husband from a shipwreck, knowing she will never again be able to return to land. This suggests that there is a psychological compulsion associated with the sealskin which causes a selkie to return to the sea against her own will. The offspring of selkies and humans have webbed hands and feet.
~Ceasg <Scotland> - A type of mermaid with the tail of a grilse (young salmon). They live in the ocean and in rivers and streams. If caught, a ceasg must grant three wishes. There are records of marriages between human men and ceasg, and their offspring grow up to be famous maritime pilots.
~Glaistig <Scotland> - A fuath or ghost in the form of a beautiful woman with greyish skin and long, yellow hair, who hides her goat legs with a long, green dress. Glaistigs are more often heard wailing than seen. Some glaistigs use song and dance to lure men to their lairs to devour them, or throw stones at travelers. However, glaistigs more usually take a benevolent role, guarding both cattle and the children of herdsmen and milkmaids. The glaistig is also the protector of the wild deer, and hunters must offer sacrifices to her to be allowed to hunt her deer. If a hunter shoots a doe rather than a buck, the glaistig will hide all the deer in the forest. Still other glaistigs, called Green Ladies, are mortal women who have either returned as ghosts or been transformed into fae as punishment for their misdeeds. These glaistigs haunt the castles where they lived in life, doing chores at night and rearranging the furniture. If the owner of the castle or the servants offend the green lady, they may find themselves on the receiving end of some pranks.
~Ettin <Scotland and England> - A type of giant with two to three heads, which is cunning but not particularly intelligent.
~Christie-Cleek <Scotland> - A butcher from Perth in 1340 who, along with his scavenging party, were reduced by a famine to cannibalism. They developed a taste for human flesh, and began laying in wait for travelers. He would use a shepherd's crook to pull riders from their horses, and his companions would then slaughter and eat the victims and the horses. They did not spare women or children, and in fact perhaps preferred them. Eventually, a militia from Perth defeated and apprehended all of them except Christie-Cleek himself, who moved to another town, changed his name, and lived out the rest of his life in relative peace. All this would be an interesting historical figure, but not exactly worthy of a creature entry, if not for the fact that Christie-Cleek was used as a boogeyman to frighten naughty children, even centuries after his death. Could this human cannibal have transformed into something distinctly inhuman?
~Gaishon <Scotland> - A violently insane skeleton, sometimes described as having skin stretched tightly across it and sometimes as bare bones.
~Úruisg <Scotland> - Believed to be the offspring of humans and fairies, these are large grey beings who siletnly watch travelers from atop a rock. They have been known to occasionally speak to humans, and even to travel with and protect certain travelers, but usually they keep to themselves, especially in summer. In winter, they enter houses through the chimney to warm themselves by the fire, then do farm work in return. They appreciate gifts of food and milk, but are driven away if they are offered clothes.
~Ogrie <Scotland> - A giant with fiery eyes who eats children.
~Sianach <Scotland> - An enormous, man-eating deer.
~S'thich <Scotland> - A type of fairy which bothers women in labor pains, steals newborns, and uses deadly weapons made of flint.
~Quhaip (curlew) <Scotland> - An evil spirit who lurks under the eaves of houses after nightfall. He has a beak like a pair of tongs with which he abducts the wicked.
~Blue Men of the Minch <Scotland> - Also known as the storm kelpies, the blue men are blue-skinned humanoids who inhabit caves on the seafloor of the Minch (the strait that separates the Outer Hebrides from mainland Scotland). According to legend, when Satan rebelled against God, the gates of heaven were closed and the angels were transformed depending on where they happened to be at that moment; all the angels in heaven remained angels, but those in Hell became demons, those on the land became fairies, those in the ocean became the blue men, and those in the sky became the “merry dancers” (the aurora borealis). The blue men have the power to raise storms, but in times of calm weather they spend their time floating on their backs on the surface or playing shinty. When they swim, they raise their torsos out of the water like porpoises. When ships try to sail through the Minch, the chief of the blue men will appear and challenge the skipper or captain of the vessel to a rhyming contest. The blue man will say two lines of verse each round, and the human must think of two verses that rhyme with them. This continues until one of the parties is unable to think of a line in time; if the captain wins, his ship can pass unharmed, but if the chief wins his blue men will conjure a storm and pull the ship down to the ocean floor. Sometimes, the blue men skip the theatrics and just board the ship and exact a tribute from the crew in exchange for safe passage. There are also storm kelpies in the Gulf of Corrievreckan who are said to be even fiercer, but only the Minch is home to the blue men.
~Sluagh (host) <Scotland and Ireland> - The souls of the unforgiven dead, the sluagh appears as a vast flock of huge black birds which abducts people and drops them off elsewhere, sometimes miles away from where they started. Other accounts has the sluagh stealing the souls of anyone it catches outside, adding the soul to its number.
~Werewolves of Ossory <Ireland> - The medieval Irish kingdom of Ossory had a large population of werewolves, descended from Laignech Fáelad, the ancestor of the royal family of Ossory. These werewolves would leave their bodies, which must be protected by their families, in the form of great wolves. Any wounds they receive in wolf form appear on their human bodies, and any prey they catch appears in the mouths of their human bodies.
~Far Darrig (red man) <Ireland> - Fat, humanoid rats who wear red coats and caps. They play particularly gruesome pranks on humans, as well as exchanging babies for changelings and causing nightmares.
~Oilliphéist (great worm) <Ireland> - A type of huge, serpentine lake and river monster.
~Dobhar-chú (water hound) <Ireland> - Man-eating lake monsters combining the attributes of dogs and otters. They are five times larger than regular otters and have white fur with black ear tips and a black cross on the back.
~Muirdris (sea bramble) <Ireland> - A horror in the bottom of Loch Rudraige which was killed by Fergus mac Léti. It was an indescribable thing with branches and spines like a briar bush, and which contracted and expanded like a bellows. Just seeing it causes one's mouth to permanently move to the back of one's head.
~Merrow (sea maid, alternatively sea singer) <Ireland> - Merrows are beautiful mermaids with green hair, webbed fingers, and green scaled fish tails. They are gentle by nature and often marry humans. They are able to travel between the land and the sea by wearing a cohuleen druith (little magic cap); if a merrow loses her cap, she can not return to the sea. Merrows warn their human husbands to hide their caps from them, for if a merrow discovers her cohuleen druith the call of the sea will compel her to return to the waves, even if it means abandoning her husband and children. Sometimes merrows bring humans to live with them underwater instead of the other way around. Children of merrows and humans have scaly skin and webbed fingers and toes. The reason merrows prefer to marry humans is because male merrows (who really shouldn't be called merrows, since that translates as sea maid, but don't really have a name of their own) are ugly and cruel monsters.
~Fear gorta (man of hunger) <Ireland> - A personification of hunger, who appears as an emaciated beggar wandering from town to town. Good luck comes to those who give it alms, but famine follows in its wake. It has a connection to hungry grass, a patch of cursed grass which causes insatiable hunger in anyone who touches it unless they have food on them at the time, but sources differ on whether the fear gorta creates hungry grass or is created by it.
~Dullahan <Ireland> - A headless rider on a black, fire-snorting horse which rides forth on the nights of certain ancient festivals, especially the festival of Crom Dubh (Black Crom, a Christianized version of the god Crom Cruach). It carries aloft its glowing, severed head, which has the consistency of moldy cheese and bears an ear-to-ear grin; its frantically darting eyes can see for miles, so hiding from it is impossible. It can only speak one word - the name of its victim - and once it reaches its victim or the spot where its victim is fated to die the next day and intones its victim's name, that person is doomed. The dullahan uses a human spine as a whip, and will throw a bowl of blood in the eyes of anyone who gets in its way. It can be repelled by gold.
~Alp-luachra (joint eater) <Ireland> - A fae parasite which lives in streams. When someone falls asleep beside a stream, the alp-luachra crawls down their throat in the form of a newt and thereafter eats half of everything its victim ingests, causing malnourishment. To get rid of an alp-luachra, the victim must consume large quantities of salt, then lie down next to a stream with their mouth open until the parasite crawls out in search of water.
~Púca <Ireland> - A small, black, furry creature which can shapeshift into a variety of forms; it can even appear human, but with some animal feature that gives it away. Púcaí are mischievous and often entice people into riding them in horse form; the púca then gives its victim a wild ride across the countryside all night long before returning him/her to where they started in the morning. The púca can however be controlled if its rider wears iron spurs, which púcaí refer to as “sharp things.” Púcaí are also sometimes helpful, and may act similarly to brownies in certain circumstances. Púcaí have also been known to give advice, prophecies, and even to protect humans from dangerous supernatural beings if given proper respect; conversely there are scattered accounts of púcaí vampirically draining victims' blood or even eating humans. November 1st is púca day, on which the púcaí go around spitting on all the blackberry bushes; it is unsafe to eat blackberries after this date. Púcaí day is also the only day when humans can meet púcaí without fear of being pranked, for púcaí never misbehave on this day. Any grain left in the fields after Samhain belongs to the púcaí.
~Leanan sídhe (fairy lover) <Ireland> - A type of beautiful female fairy who takes a human as a lover. This human will be a great poet or other artist, but will die young because the leanan sídhe feeds on his life force.
~Banshee (fairy woman) <Ireland> - Each noble family has its own banshee, which appears to predict a death in that family. The banshee is a one to four feet tall old crone with long hair, wearing a grey cloak over a green dress. She appears at night, weeping and shrieking outside the house of the one doomed to die. Some other accounts have the banshee appear in the form of a sweetly singing girl of the family who died young.
~Amadán Dubh (black fool) <Ireland> - A fairy who roams the hills at night, playing a pipe which causes anyone who hears its music to go mad.
~Amadán Mór (great fool) <Ireland> - A hero who sometimes leads the fairy host.
~Amadán na bruidhne (fool of the banquet hall) <Ireland> - Afflicts people with the fairy stroke, and is most active in June.
~Fir Fálgae (men of the Isle of Man) <Ireland> - The inhabitants of the mysterious island of Fálga, which is believed to have originally referred to the Isle of Man but was later mythologized. Its inhabitants wear no clothes and are covered in gray fur. They are often antagonists to Irish heroes, and the princess Bláthnat who famously caused such rivalry between the heroes Cú Roí and Cú Chulainn hailed from the island.
~Bugul Noz (night shepherd) <Brittany> - A forest spirit who is sad because he is the last of his kind, and because he is so ugly that even the animals run away from him. He calls out as he wanders as a warning to people to get away so they don't have to look at him. It is sometimes said that anyone who sees him will die.
~Jetin (to throw) <Brittanyy> - Tiny fairies (A Book of Creatures says from thumb size to 1.5 ft) who are supernaturally strong and love to show off by throwing huge boulders; this is the origin of standing stones. They live in seaside caves. They also tie knots in horses' tails, release livestock, and exchange human babies for changelings.
Margot la Fée (Margot the fairy) <Brittany> - A type of female fairy of various ages and appearances who transforms into a harmless grass snake without access to her magic powers once a year against her will, and must enlist human aid to protect her from predators and other humans. These fairies guard treasure in ancient ruins and will generously reward anyone who helps them, but woe to anyone who takes even a single coin more than the Margot instructed. Margot fairies partake in the usual fairy pastimes of dancing in circles and leaving changelings, and are repelled by holy objects, but for the most part are benevolent. They freely take care of livestock in their caves when their owners are out of town, and also raise livestock of their own in the caverns. If a Margot fairy is starving, she will eat a live cow, then bring it back to life the next morning; however, if a human ate any piece of it during that time, the cow will be missing that part when it is resurrected. Margot fairies sometimes take humans back to their caves as lovers; to the human involved, time seems to slow for them. They also give gifts of inexhaustible loaves of bread to the poor, but the enchantment on the bread is broken if the recipient offers any of the bread to someone the fairies consider unworthy.
~Teurdous (twister) <Brittany> - A man who offers to help women wring out their laundry. If they accept, he breaks both their arms.
~Pilou <Brittany> - Creatures haunting old houses, which are heard but never seen. At night, they march up and down in the attic and hit the insides of the walls with mallets, creating a terrible noise that keeps everyone in the house awake. The only way to make them stop is to ignore them.
~Bosch <Brittany> - An embodiment of bad luck, a bosch is created when someone steals from a ship. The bosch will hide in the bow of the ship and cause bad luck for anywhere from a month to a year until it finally fades from existence. There are two ways to get rid of a bosch. One way is to steal from another ship, causing the bosch to become their problem. The other way is for the captain to steal some hay and hide it somewhere aboard his ship during the day, then light it on fire near the mizzenmast at night and wake the sailors by yelling, “Devil on board!” The sailors must then jump out of bed, grab the first thing that comes to hand, and walk around the ship swinging their improvised weapon at random, until the smoke and confusion drives the bosch overboard.
~Mourioche <Brittany> - Rumored to be a human who sold his/her soul to the Devil, a werecreature, or even Satan himself, the mourioche is shapeshifter with a penchant for particularly sadistic “pranks.” It can appear as various animals, often with a pair of muscular arms. Its more harmless pranks include tricking people into riding it when in horse form, then plunging into a lake; wrestling travelers and throwing them into mud puddles; and making people question their sanity by following them and shapeshifting each time the mark looks at it. More typical of its sick sense of humor, however, is this story quoted from A Book of Creatures: “A farmer of Saint-Cast once found Mourioche in the form of an abandoned ewe, and took him home to his barn. The next day, when he went to check on his new sheep, he found a cow; the day after, it had become a horse. On the fourth night, it was a sheep again, who laughed and said “Why do you check on me every morning? You’re weird!” It was then that the farmer saw that all his animals had been slaughtered. He reached for his shotgun, but Mourioche took off, destroying half the barn and abducting the farmer’s three children (who were never seen again). Mourioche is not without mercy, though, and he left behind a golden necklace.” The only way to fend off the mourioche is to show no fear of it, as it has no idea how to respond to this and will simply flee.
~Agrippa <Brittany> - A living, evil grimoire as tall as a man, with black pages and text in red letters telling how to summon every demon in existence. An agrippa at first shows blank pages, and must be battled for hours until one earns its respect to be able to read it. An agrippa must be kept chained to a strong beam to keep it from running away, yet when someone wants to get rid of their agrippa they find it almost impossible; agrippas are fireproof, waterproof, and find their way home no matter how far away they are taken. The reason for trying to get rid of one's agrippa is because anyone who possesses an agrippa at their time of death goes straight to Hell, no matter how good they have lived otherwise. Thankfully, the local priest will usually destroy an agrippa for its owner, but priests like to make them sweat by waiting until the owner is on his/her deathbed before destroying the book. Only priests have the training to safely possess an agrippa, and every newly ordained priest finds one waiting on his table even though no one has been around to leave it there. Each priest uses his agrippa to make the demons reveal whether the recently deceased are in Heaven or in Hell. As long as a layperson in the parish owns an agrippa, the local priest will not sleep well. Laypersons who have been reading the agrippa smell of brimstone and walk oddly because they can now see spirits and are afraid to step on them.
~Yan-gant-y-tan (wanderer in the night / John with the fire) <Brittany> - A hairy demon with a candle on each finger of his right hand, which he spins around to make it look like a flaming wheel; this prevents him from making sharp turns for fear of blowing out the candles. It is bad luck to see him as he wanders at night, but he can be kept away by leaving a bag of gold around a travelers' post outside one's house, which he will steal in exchange for staying away until the next night.
~Groac'h <Brittany> - A water witch or fairy that lives in a lair at the bottoms of ponds, springs, and wells. They usually appear as old women with walrus tusks, but sometimes appear as beautiful young women; it is speculated that they become ugly with age, or undergo a cycle of ageing and rebirth. They are often malicious, but even when helpful are overbearing and even more easily offended than most fairies. They will invite humans to their lairs and offer treasures, magic artifacts, and cures; they also help women with laundry and spinning. They have control over the elements. They are sometimes accompanied by a retinue of korrigans, or by a green water horse and a pikeman.
~Korrigan <Brittany> - Dwarfs who dance around fountains and cannot say the word Sunday. The same name is also used for water-dwelling female beings with golden hair who look beautiful when seen by night, but by day are revealed as having red eyes, white hair, and wrinkled skin. They have a hatred for anything to do with Christianity, and especially the Virgin Mary, because they were once pagan priestesses who were changed into their current form by Mary because they would not convert to Christianity. They seduce men and drown them. They also can predict the future, shapeshift (though into what is not specified), move supernaturally quickly, and leave changelings. On Samhain they leave the water and hunt for victims around ancient dolmens.
~Iannic-ann-ôd (Little John of the shore) <Brittany> - The spirits of those who drowned at sea and were never buried. They wander the coastline at night calling, “Iou! Iou!” If anyone repeats one's call back to it, it jumps half the distance between them. A second time, it leaps half the remaining distance. If a foolish mortal repeats the iannic-ann-ôd's call a third time, it snaps his/her neck.
~Ogre <France> - A large, hairy humanoid with a large head and a taste for human flesh, especially children and infants. Ogres often appropriate abandoned castles, and hoard magical items.
~Farfadet <France> - Tiny, wrinkled fairies with brown skin, which wear tattered brown clothing or none at all. They live in the wilderness, but can be tempted by offerings of milk to do chores on a farm; they especially like grooming horses. If treated too nicely, and especially if given clothing, they will be scared off.
~Dard <France> - A small lizard with a viper's tail, a cat's head, and a horse's mane. They make terrifying whistling noises and steal milk from cows' udders. They bite ferociously when threatened, but are nonvenemous.
~Arassas <France> - A gray lizard with a cat's head, which lives in the walls of abandoned houses and kills instantly with its gaze.
~Lebraude <France> - A black and yellow lizard which breathes once per day; any living thing caught in its breath dies instantly.
~Lupuex (wolfish) <France> - A being with a wolf's head; no other details of its appearance are known because it is never seen, at least not by anyone who lived to tell the tale. The lupuex's friendy-sounding laughter is heard at night. If a person responds to it three times, they will hear the lupuex revealing all sorts of juicy secrets about the person's neighbors and friends. The victim is lured through the forest by the voice, desperate to hear more, until he/she happens upon a pond and is pushed in by the lupuex. As the victim drowns, the last thing he/she sees is the lupuex watching from a tree branch and saying in its friendly voice, “Now that's funny!”
~Camacrusa (raw leg) <France> - A severed, flayed leg which hops around at night hunting for children to eat. Somehow.
~Carcolh (snail) <France> - An enormous, serpentine snail covered in shaggy fur and armed with long tentacles which guards a treasure trove in a massive cavern somewhere in the maze of underground passages beneath the town of Hastingues. Anyone who ventures into the tunnels in search of treasure is seized by the carcolh's probing tentacles and dragged to its lair to be eaten.
~Traîcousse <France and Belgium> - A meter wide giant crab with brown scales and dozens of legs, which waits in hollows dug into the banks of rivers for prey to approach. It then seizes its victim, be it animal or human, drags it under, and devours it. Some time later it belches up the skin and bones.
~Stella (star) <France> - A meter wide sea star which is so hot that it liquifies anything it touches; this is its method of hunting fish.
~Duphon <France> - A supernatural being in the form of an eagle-owl, which lives in ruins and tangles horse's manes, pinches young women, and causes general mischief.
~Lavandière de Nuit (washerwoman of the night) <France> - Ghostly women who are condemned to wash clothes all night long as punishment for their sins in life. Sins which can turn a woman into a lavandière after death include washing clothes on a Sunday, refusing to give clothes to the poor, and infanticide; in the latter case, the clothes the ghost washes will bear a bloody stain in the shape of an infant's corpse, which can never be washed out. These ghosts gather in groups by ponds or on the side of the road, and demand that travelers help them do their laundry. Anyone who refuses is drowned, and anyone who agrees out of spite has their arms broken. Those who escape these punishments are scarcely better off; they must copy the movements of the ghosts exactly all night long. One mistake, and the victim is wrung out like laundry and left an unrecognizable, mangled corpse. One way to escape the ghosts entirely is to tell them, “Wring out your sins and I'll wring out mine.”
~Vouivre <France> - While there are a staggering variety of descriptions for this female dragon (I recommend checking out it's entry on A Book of Creatures), the classic vouivre is an immense winged serpent wreathed in flames, which haunts springs, ponds, caves, and ruined castles deep in the mountains. In place of eyes, she has a huge gemstone in her head, which she removes when bathing. This is the perfect opportunity to steal the stone, but thieves must beware the vouivre's wrath. The typical way of defeating one is to hide in a spiked barrel and let the dragon impale herself when she tries to constrict the barrel, but this seems to work about as often as it fails.
~Codrille <France> - A codrille is a monster born from a rooster's egg incubated in manure. Farmers are recommended to plant sprigs of ash on the first of May to prevent codrilles from hatching. Other roosters instinctively recognize the codrille as unnatural and will kill it on sight. The codrille is hatched as a very long and thin snake, which kills with its gaze anyone who cracks open its egg; if the baby codrille is seen first, though, it dies instead. The next stage of its life is as a small lizard which dies if seen by humans, so it hides in wells, tombs, and the walls of houses. It whistles at night and causes bad luck to the inhabitants of the house where it lives, and it can debilitate bulls by crawling under them. After seven years it metamorphizes into its final form: an enormous, leathery-winged dragon with a green gemstone in its forehead and with the ability to kill with its gaze. It flies toward the Tower of Babylon, spreading plague on the land beneath it.
~Fayette (little fairy) <France> - When Christianity came to Greece, the nymphs fled to France and were changed into fayettes. They are tiny fairies who are turned into moles in the daytime. They live in caves and forests, and come out at night to do their laundry with solid gold washboards. Travelers at night must sing loudly so the fayettes do not mistake them for threats. They also leave changelings, like other fairies.
~Quinotaur (bull with five horns) <France> - A half-fish, half-bull sea monster with five horns which is the ancestor of the Merovignian dynasty of Frankish kings.
~Matagot (kills Goths) <France> - A magical animal, usually a black cat, which in earlier stories was an evil spirit, but later developed into a lucky creature to have. To catch a matagot, one must lure it with fresh chicken, then pick it up and carry it home without looking back. If this is done correctly, the matagot will live in its owner's house and, if given the first bite of food and the first drink at every meal, will give its owner a gold coin every morning. However, if the owner does not get rid of his/her matagot before going to his/her deathbed, he/she will suffer a long and painful death.
~Picolaton <France> - A bird which nests in thorn bushes and nips at the heels of lazy children to make them walk faster.
~Dames Blanches (white ladies) <France> - Women dressed in white who appear at fords and narrow passes and require travelers to perform some seemingly pointless task in order to pass. Those who refuse are cast into a thorn bush, or plagued by mischievous fairies.
~Guivre <France> - A type of dragon found in ponds and other damp places, with a serpentine body and horns on its head. It attacks without provocation, but runs away in embarrassment if it sees a naked human.
~Gargouille (throat) <France> - A dragon which emerged from the sea and had the power to shoot water from its mouth. After it was slain by Saint Romanus, its head was mounted to the church and it became the first gargoyle.
~Grand'Goule (big mouth) <France> - A green dragon with a red band around its neck, bat wings, a scorpion tail, and a huge mouth. It killed people with its poisonous breath until it was killed Saint Radégonde with a prayer which literally struck the monster like an arrow.
~Velue (hairy one) <France> - A fire-breathing dragon the size of a large ox, with an egg-shaped body covered in green fur and spikes, a snakelike neck and head, turtle legs, and a prehensile tail which it used as a weapon. Noah forgot to give it a spot on the ark, but it survived anyway and vowed vengeance on humanity. Whenever it returned to its home in Huisne River, it displaced enough water to cause disastrous floods. It burned crops and gorged itself on livestock, but had a particular taste for women and children. It would even walk right into the city and to find meals; no one could stop it. Finally, it was killed by the fiancé of one of its meals.
~Tarasque <France> - The offspring of the highly improbable pairing of the Leviathan and a bonnacon, the tarasque was a dragon with a turtle shell studded with spikes, six legs with bear claws, a sharp ridge down its back, a lion's head, a horse's mane, and a serpent's tail, which lived in a pit full of snakes near the Rhone river. It terrorized boats on the river and killed people with its poisonous breath until Saint Martha rendered it harmless through prayer. She then led it to the town of Nerluc (black lake), where the townspeople killed it. The town was later renamed Tarascon in its honor.
~Barbegazi (frozen beard) <France and Switzerland> - Small mountain-dwelling dwarfs with white fur, long beards, and huge feet which they use as snowshoes or skis. They spend the summer in caves and tunnels. They help shepherds search for lost sheep, dig humans out of the snow, and whistle to warn people of avalanches as they surf on them.
~Cheval Mallet (mallet horse) <France> - A black or white horse which appears in full tack before weary travelers at night. Those who ride it are never seen again unless they bear the medal of Saint Benedict.
~Cheval Gauvin (gauvin horse) <France and Switzerland> - An evil spirt in the form of a horse which appears in rivers, forests, and cemeteries and kills its riders by drowning them or tossing them off cliffs.
~Latusé (used floorboard) <France> - Old floorboards come to life and become naked, pale-skinned monsters with huge eyes which hide in attics, under stairs, and beneath beds. They drain the lifeforce of children who go exploring where they shouldn't.
~Marcou <France> - When a woman gives birth to seven boys in a row, the seventh will be a marcou. He is born with a fleur-de-lys birthmark, and thus is able to cure scrofula by breathing on his patients or letting them touch his birthmark.
~Croque-Mitaine (bogeyman) <France> - An old hag who hides in lakes and rivers and comes out in the winter to eat children's noses and fingers.
~Voirloup <France> - A person with a “dark soul,” who has committed all seven cardinal sins, is possessed by Satan himself every night at midnight. In this state, they transform into various animals – usually wolves, but also including foxes, boars, goats, and cats – and attack dogs and livestock, start fires, and generally spread fear.
~Drac de Beaucaire (Dragon of Beaucaire) <France> - A dragon which terrorized the French town of Beaucaire. He lived underwater in the Rhone river and used his formidable magic powers to capture children to feast on. he would sometimes create illusions to lure children into the water, and other times would shapeshift or turn invisible and snatch children right off the city streets. Once he kidnapped a washerwoman and took her underwater to be a nanny for his son. One of her duties was to smear the young drac with a special ointment every day to enable him to turn invisible as well. One day she accidentally got some in one of her eyes and discovered that it gave her the ability to see the drac and his son as they truly were no matter what form they took, but she kept this a secret. After seven years of service under the water, she was allowed to return home. One day she recognized the drac using his human disguise to walk in the marketplace undetected, no doubt searching for a child to kidnap. She exposed him to the crowd, and for that the wicked drac gouged out the eye that had the ointment so she could never identify him again. Ever since then, there has been a three day festival in Beaucaire at the end of June to commemorate the story.
~Jack o' the Bowl <Switzerland> - A house spirit who safely leads cattle to graze in places too dangerous for humans, in exchange for a bowl of sweet cream each night.
~Türst <Switzerland> - A supernatural huntsman who appears during storms. First his hunting horn is heard echoing from the mountains, then he appears followed by a pack of three-legged hounds. He tells bystanders, “Step right, get out of my way!” and anyone who doesn't comply fast enough is turned into one of his hounds and must hunt with him for all eternity. Barn doors must be left open so he does not smash through them, and his presence is so terrifying that cows stop producing milk. Sometimes, he is said to be accompanied by his wife, a witch named Sträggele, and the Pfaffenkellnerin, the glowing-eyed ghost of a parson's mistress.
~Butatsch Cun Ilgs (cow's stomach) <Switzerland> - A giant monster that looks like a cow's stomach covered in hundreds of hypnotic eyes, which can make things melt by staring at them. It emerges from Lüschersee lake every 100 years.
~Colôrobètch (red beak) <Wallonia> - A bird, human, or horrific combination of the two with a blood-stained beak. It pecks at children who wander outside in the cold, and causes chapped skin and frostbite.
~Osschaert (strong horse) <Flanders> - A shapeshifting spirit which usually appears as a human-headed bull, but can also take on a wide variety of other terrifying forms; in all its forms, it drags chains behind it. It frequently jumps onto people's backs and makes them carry its heavy weight, then leaps from there into a woman's basket and causes her to collapse from the sudden increase in the basket's weight. He is not discriminating in his victims, but if at all possible he prefers to target the wicked. If fishermen return the first fish they catch every day to the water, Osschaert will grant them good luck, but if they don't ask his permission before fishing they will be attacked by him or find their nets full of horse manure. If a person dares Osschaert by saying Grypke, Grypke grauw, wilt gy my grypen, grypt my nou (“Grypke, Grypke grey, if you will gripe me, gripe me now”), he will appear and ride the person's back to the nearest crossroads or image of the Virgin Mary, leaving them with a horrible mauling. The more that people dare Osschaert with this formula, the more aggresive and dangerous he becomes.
~Drude <Germany> - A type of being which causes nightmares and participates in the Wild Hunt; some works on demonology list druden as their own class in the hierarchy of Hell. Druden can be warded off with the drudenfuss (drude's foot), a modified pentagram.
~Nachtkrapp (night raven) <Germany and Scandinavia> - A giant raven with holes in its wings and no eyes. Anyone who looks into the holes in its wings is struck with disease, and anyone who looks into its empty eye sockets dies immediately. It hunts at night for children who aren't in bed; upon finding them, it carries them back to its nest where it bites off one limb at a time before finally, mercifully ending the child's suffering by eating its heart.
~Wütender Nachtkrapp (angry night raven) <Germany> - Unlike the night raven, this creature merely makes scary noises outside the window until children are frightened into going to bed.
~Guter Nachtkrapp (good night raven) <Austria> - A raven which enters children's rooms at night at sweetly sings them to sleep.
~Askafroa (wife of the ash tree) <Germany and Scandinavia> - The female spirit of the ash tree, which must be placated with sacrifices of water poured on the roots on Ash Wednesday or else it will do great harm throughout the coming year. It also causes illness in whoever breaks an ash twig.
~Wolpertinger <Germany> - A hare with fangs, wings, and antlers.
~Rasselbock <Germany> - A rabbit with antlers. The females have smaller antlers.
~Elwetritsch <Germany> - A flightless chicken-like bird with antlers and scales which are born from the unlikely union of fairies and other forest spirits with fowl. Due to their magical heritage, their eggs grow after being laid.
~Aufhocker (leap upon) <Germany> - A shapeshifter who can appear as a goblin, a woman, a corpse, an animal, or any number of other forms. It attacks criminals (especially thieves), lone travelers, and elderly women by jumping on their backs. The victim is forced to carry the aufhocker, which cannot be dislodged and grows heavier with each step. It will jump off if the victim reaches his/her house, but the victim is often crushed to death first.
~Erdhenne (earth hen) <Germany> - A house spirit in the form of an old, short-necked, grey hen. It is usually unseen, hiding in the shadows in the kitchen or under the house, but it can be heard clucking when it wishes to warn the household of imminent danger. If it shows itself, the person seeing it will die within the year unless the erdhenne flaps its wings and clucks nine times, which instead means the head of the family will become seriously ill.
~Nixie <Germany> - A type of pond and lake spirit which is generally, but not universally, evil. Male nixies have slit ears and can change into various animal forms, while females are beautiful but have fish tails. Both genders can be recognized in human form because their clothes are always wet. They love music and dance. The nixie in the fairy tale “The Nixie of the Mill Pond” granted a miller riches in exchange for his son, and was able to cause devastating floods.
~Kobold <Germany> - A domestic spirit which can appear as an animal, an object, a flame, or a child-sized human, but usually remains invisible. There are three main types of kobolds, as well as two rarer sub classifications:

• House Kobold - The most common type, house kobolds dwell by the fire in houses and - when in human form - dress in peasant clothes
  (though presumably they would dress differently in homes of other social classes). It is common for peasant households to carve, paint, and clothe a wooden or wax effigy of their kobold and display it in a glass case near the fire, but it is unclear what the purpose is; the few references we have from the time period describe it as being “for fun,” but modern scholars maintain the peasants - or their ancestors - believed the kobold's spirit inhabited the effigy, either voluntarily or as a way of drafting a wild kobold into protecting the house. Kobolds do chores for their households, but can frequently be irritating, though some sources maintain that the obnoxiousness of a kobold is directly proportional to the vice of its household. Consequently, there are a number of beliefs around how to acquire or get rid of a kobold, depending on the head of the family's predilection. When a kobold takes up residence in a new house, it announces itself by littering the house with woodchips and putting cow patties in the milk cans at night. If the homeowner drinks the milk and refrains from cleaning away the woodchips, the kobold will become a permanent resident of the house. A kobold will also attach itself to a household if someone takes pity on it on a cold or rainy night and brings it inside to warm up. If a kobold does not show up of its own accord, a person can coerce one by going to the forest between 12 and 1 o'clock on St John's Day, where he/she will find a bird perched on an anthill. If the person says some magic words, which unfortunately have not survived to the modern day, the bird transforms into a tiny person and jumps into the person's bag. Once the person takes the bag back to his/her house, the kobold will take up residence there. Unlike some house spirits, kobolds have no limits on what kind or how many chores they will do, and will even help skilled craftsmen at their work, so long as the kobold is fed a portion of the family's meal at the same place and time every day; their favorite foods are grits (not sure what the medieval recipe for this was, since the modern one uses corn) and water-gruel. The house's kobold must also never be mocked, and some kobolds were even given their own rooms in the house; the kobold King Goldemar even had a private stall for his horses! No matter if all the house's servants leave, the kobold will remain, for good or ill. In addition to doing the household's unfinished chores every night, kobolds also bring general good luck. A kobold which is particularly happy with its owner will bring gifts, but they have a decidedly different view of morality from humans, and these gifts are consequently often stolen from the neighboring houses. Kobolds also warn their owners of danger. Even in their best mood, kobolds always play pranks, but when angered their pranks become deadly. King Goldemar once ripped a servant boy to pieces because he got dirt on him, then squeezed toad blood in the cook's soup when he reprimanded the kobold for murdering the poor boy, then threw the cook into the moat when he complained about the soup being ruined. Notable, however, in this case is the fact that the kobold did not take justice into his own hands until the owner of the castle ignored his request that the boy be punished. On another occasion the same kobold roasted and ate a man who tried to use ashes to see his footprints as he walked past invisibly. If a kobold becomes so unmanageable that the owner wishes to be rid of it, there are several methods available to him. One of the commonest methods is to simply move to another house, but those who try this invariably find that the kobold has followed them. Exorcism is also often tried, sometimes with success, but just as often the kobold chases off the exorcist rather than the other way around. The only method with a 100% success rate is insulting the kobold, but this is often more dangerous than keeping the kobold; an insulted kobold will place a curse on the house as it leaves, so that the household will be just as unlucky as it was lucky when the kobold was there. Methods of insulting a kobold include trying to see the kobold's true form (though this one sometimes just results in harsh punishment for the perpetrator, rather than the kobold being insulted enough to leave), giving the kobold clothing, rushing it in its work, burning down the house (though in one instance this was not enough to stop the kobold from following to the next house), and - inexplicably - leaving a wagon wheel in front of the house.
  
  
• Drake - A strange and rarely reported type of house kobold which appears as a tongue of fire, sometimes wearing red clothing as well, which always nods its head back and forth. It enters and exits its house through the chimney, and swoops out of the air to steal grain for its owner. It can be thwarted by throwing an iron knife at it, which causes it to temporarily dematerialize and drop the grain.
  
  
• Biersal - A kobold which inhabits breweries, inns, and taverns, and works for a payment of beer.
  
  
• Mine Kobold - A kobold which lives in mines, and appears as a hunched, ugly old figure with dark skin in miners' clothes when in human form. They can often be heard mining in distant tunnels, and unlike some other mine spirits are actually quite successful at this. Also unlike other mine spirits, mine kobolds do not bother with warning miners of danger, but actively seek their destruction. They cause cave-ins and create what appear to be rich veins of silver and gold but are in fact laced with the poisonous element cobalt, which is named after them. Miners offer sacrifices of precious metals to the kobolds and treat them respectfully, but opinions differ on whether this makes the kobolds any less malicious.
  
  
• Klabautermann - Kobolds which inhabit ships. They are originally tree spirits, and enter the ship from the wood it is made from; because of this, they often appear dressed as a ship's carpenter. More usually, though, they wear yellow sailing clothes and a woolen cap, smoke a pipe, and hold a caulking hammer. Like the house kobolds, an effigy of the kobold is often carved and attached to the mast for good luck. They do chores on board the ship, but are easily angered and will play minor pranks on the offender. Even more so than other varieties of kobold, sailors insist that everyone on board treats the Klabautermann respectfully, because if they are driven to leave the ship it will sink. These kobolds only become visible when the ship is doomed.
  

~Nachzehrer (after living off) <Germany> - A type of vampire which most often results from suicide, but can also form from the corpses of those killed by accidents or those who are buried in clothes with nametags in them. It constantly chews on its grave shroud, and even eats parts of its own body; the more it eats, the more of its living family sicken and die. It can also rise from the grave as a pig to drink the blood of its relatives. Its shadow kills those it falls on, and it also climbs to the church's belfry and rings the bells at midnight, killing anyone who hears them. Once the villagers become aware there is a nachzehrer on the loose, they can locate its grave by following the sounds of it grunting as it chews on its shroud. As if they needed any more proof, once the body is exhumed it will be found to have its thumb in its opposite hand and its left eye open. It can only be killed by putting a coin in its mouth and decapitating it.
~Weiße Frauen (white women) <Germany> - Ethereal women dressed in white who only appear in sunlight at noon, brushing their hair or bathing. They offer people treasure if they will free them from their curse, but to date no one has been successful
~Moss Folk <Germany> - Forest spirits usually the size of children but sometimes described as larger, who wear clothes made of moss. The males are hairy, with gray, wrinkled skin, but the females are sometimes described as being very beautiful. Each moss person is attached to certain tree, and dies if the inner bark of that tree is loosened. Moss folk are mostly good neighbors. They occasionally borrow from their human neighbors, but not only return the item on time, but give gifts of good advice and homemade bread. On the other hand, they are easily angered by refusing their gifts or by giving them caraway bread, which they despise. The female moss folk are able to cause plagues, but they also have the power to cure plagues and are often seen in times of sickness teaching villagers about the medicinal herbs of the forest. The moss folk are frequently hunted by the Wild Hunt, but they are able to escape by hiding in trees marked with a cross. The queen of the moss folk - but only of the females, oddly - is the Buschgroßmutter.
~Buschgroßmutter (bush grandmother) <Germany> - An ancient forest spirit from the deep wood who only appears every hundred years. She looks like an ugly old woman with wildly staring eyes and long, messy white hair full of lice. Sometimes she is said to have an iron head. She carries a walking stick and her feet are covered in moss. She carries a basket on her back and has her apron tied as though she is carrying something in it, but no one knows what. She appears to people and asks them to delouse her hair, which proves to be difficult because her hair is as cold as ice. If someone succeeds, she rewards them with a never-ending clew of yarn or leaves which turn into gold after she leaves. If anyone refuses or otherwise insults her, she breathes on them and causes a rash. She attacks children who go picking berries, and she steals milk from cows. On certain festival nights she travels the countryside in a cart, followed by a retinue of moss women; it is unwise to get in her way.
~Bergmönch (mountain monk) <Germany> - A giant who inhabits pit mines in the mountains. He is dressed like a monk and has white hair and huge, burning eyes. He can also appear dressed as a miner, in which case he is called Meister Hämmerling (master hammering guy), or as a horse with a long neck, or simply remain invisible. He is a very erratic and dangerous being. He is especially active on Fridays, when he spends all day moving ore back and forth between two buckets; anyone who makes fun of him for wasting his time at this pointless activity will find themselves the victim of his wrath. His breath can kill twelve men at once, and he has a habit of randomly picking up miners and moving them elsewhere, sometimes with enough force to break their bones. The giant brutally murders those who he deems sinful or who violate the taboos of the mine, such as whistling and cursing. He sometimes gives miners whose lamps are running out oil from his own lamp, which never burns out as long as the miner never reveals where he got it from. The bergmönch picks favorite miners, seemingly at random, whose work he does for them. He also leads his favorites to rich veins of ore, but they must sacrifice their tools to him or they will never find the ore again.
~Halgeist (salt ghost) <Germany> - A salt mine spirit with a long nose, who throws people who make fun of said nose off the side of the mountain.
~Feldgeister (field spirits) <Germany> - The spirits of the grain, the feldgeister are frustratingly both evil and dangerous, and necessary for human survival. They grow more and more powerful during the growing season, but in harvest they find themselves on the run and flee deeper into the fields to escape the reapers. Finally, they are trapped in the last cornstalk (corn being used as a general term for grain, as maize was not discovered yet), which is shaped into a doll and ceremonially brought back to the village to ensure a good harvest the next year. Direct contact to the feldgeister causes illness. Many of the feldgeister also exhibit traits of being wind spirits as well. There are feldgeister of all shapes and sizes, and all of them prey on humanity in some way; the ones who aren't described as doing such are the ones who don't have descriptions at all. I have listed the most common names below, but each creature has variations on its name depending on what crop is being grown.

• Roggenwolf (rye wolf) - A feldgeister shaped like a wolf, which kidnaps and eats children; children eaten by it are cursed to haunt the treetops near the field until harvest, when they can finally go to the afterlife. It also causes ergotism in grain.
  
• Erbsenbär (pea bear) - Shaped like a bear.
  
• Kornhund (corn dog) - A dog which eats the flour.
  
• Kiddelhunde (titillation dogs) - Dogs which tickle children to death.
  
• Kornkatze (corn cat) - Feldgeister in the form of a female cat.
  
• Kornkater (corn tomcat) - Tomcat which kidnaps children who go into the fields searching for cornflowers to pick.
  
• Scheunesel (barn donkey) - Shaped like a donkey.
  
• Roggensau (rye sow) - A female pig which steals children and jumps on travelers' backs.
  
• Korneber (corn boar) - Shaped like a boar.
  
• Kornstier (corn bull) - A bull which fertilizes the fruit trees at Christmas.
  
• Märzenkalb (March calf) - A calf which appears in the spring.
  
• Kornkuh - A cow.
  
• Haferbok (oat buck) - A male goat which fertilizes the fruit trees at Christmas and attacks or even steals naughty children.
  
• Habergeiß (oat goat) - A female goat, sometimes with three legs, or a three-legged yellow bird, or a goat-bird hybrid, or a chamois with wings. Its cry is both the harbinger of spring and of bad luck. If someone is so foolish as to imitate the habergeiß's cry, it will hunt and eat them unless they make it to their house, in which case the creature will instead change into a bloody coat and hang itself on the door. In the Wild Hunt, the habergeiß is the mount of the Devil. It slaps people who look out their windows at night, steals naughty children, and carries grain from fields belonging to one farmer to another's during storms. Its very presence hurts the crops and the livestock, and hearing its call in autumn foretells a long winter and little hay.
  
• Weizenvogel (wheat bird) - Form of an unspecified bird.
  
• Getreidehahn (grain rooster) - A rooster which pecks out the eyes of children who go wandering the fields.
  
• Erntehenne (harvest hen) - Form of a hen.
  
• Katzenmann (cat man) - Cat-man hybrid.
  
• Bockmann (buck man) - Goat-man hybrid that steals children.
  
• Roggenmuhme (rye aunt) - A huge, ugly, old woman with skin that is either pitch black or snow white, who has claws that shoot sparks and tar-filled, iron-tipped bosoms so long that she throws them over her shoulder when she runs. She has a crooked nose and sometimes wears glasses. She carries birch switch that shoots lightning. She has an iron heart. She wears ragged black or grey clothes, or occasionally a red dress and a red cap; she also wears a blue coat over her clothes and a white headscarf. Sometimes she walks on crutches. She can transform into various animals, but especially a wolf, as she is the mother of the roggenwolves. She lives in an underground place called the “root realm.” At noon she walks through the fields, eating the tallest ears of grain, which is a good omen for the harvest; however, if the grain is too dry she punishes the farmer. She must also be left a share of the harvest in order to receive her blessing on next year's crops. If she comes across someone in the field at noon, she either kills them or frightens them with cryptic prophecies of doom. She also visits the houses of new mothers between 12:00 and 1:00 and between 6:00 and 8:00 in the afternoon; if she finds the woman in bed, she does her field work for her, but if she is not in bed the roggenmuhme punishes her instead. She also punishes maidservants who have not completed all their spinning by Twelfth Night. She has also been known to kidnap babies and leave changelings in their place, but she returns the child if the changeling is not suckled; her favored target for child theft is illegitimate children. When the wind blows through the field, it means she is running through the field with her pet mastiffs. The activity of the roggenmuhme which there is the most written about is her propensity for kidnapping, killing, eating, and generally torturing children who go into the field in search of corn flowers. She sends her pet dogs to lure children to where she lies in wait. Once she catches them, she crushes them to death in her hug, or makes them suck poisonous milk from her bosom, or pokes or blows out their eyes, or flies to the ocean with them and drowns them, or makes them eat tar-covered bread and decapitates them if they refuse, or smears them with tar, or strangles them, or snaps their necks, or cuts off their noses and ears, or cuts off their legs with a sickle, or cuts off their fingers, or ties children together with thread and then beats them, or pinches them with tongs, or stabs them with one spike in each hand and one in the head, or hits them on the heels with a stick, or kills them with her voice, or whips them with her previously mentioned lightning-shooting switch, or puts them in a barrel full of nails and rolls them around in it, or beats them with a scepter or an iron shoe. She also sometimes sets traps in the cornfield so she can come collect the children at her leisure. When she is in a less violent mood, she grabs them with an iron crutch and leaves a toad to guard them until she makes up her mind what to do with them, or gets them lost and leaves them to starve, or summons elves to put them on enchanted pillows that cause them to sleep forever, or bewitches them with the evil eye, or sends evil spirits to give naughty children nightmares. Sometimes she is hungry enough to eat them right away, but sometimes she instead puts them in a sack, basket, or under her skirt and carries them to her root kingdom. There, when she gets hungry enough, she puts them into a meat grinder, or crushes them in an iron butter churn, or boils them in a giant kettle, or sucks their blood like a vampire. Instead of eating them herself, she may feed them to her fiery-horned cattle. She cannot be escaped, because she runs as fast as a horse.
  
• Kornmaid (corn maiden) - A younger version of the roggenmuhme.
  
• Hafermann (oat man) - A man with a big, black hat who kidnaps children. He throws an iron shillelagh as a weapon.
  
• Haferbräutigam (oat bridegroom) - A younger version of the hafermann.
  
• Heidmann (heath man) - A man who looks in windows at night. Anyone he sees is doomed to die exactly a year and a day from then.
  
• Der böse Sämann (the evil sower) - A male feldgeist who owns the grain rooster and can be exorcised by carrying burning wisps of straw through the fields on the first day of Lent.
  
• Kornkind (corn child) - The personification of the harvest.
  
• Haferkönig (oat king) - The king of the feldgeister.
  
• Haferkönigin (oat queen) - The queen of the feldgeister.
  
• Böcke (buck) - A feldgeister who grows in strength with the height of the crops. He can be invisible, or appear as a variety of animals, but he most often appears as a man with goat hooves. He rides the wind as it blows through the fields, and he scares children who come to pick cornflowers. When the last grains are being harvested and the feldgeister are dying, sometimes the Böcke‌ will go home with a kindhearted soul and stay the winter with them. In time, this changed so that they travel from house to house of their own accord all winter long. If they are fed when they make their unwanted visit, they will leave without causing any harm. If not treated hospitably, however, they will smash all the beer barrels, put weevils in the flour, and rot the grain.​
  
• Bilwis - This one and the following one don't really seem connected to the other feldgeister to me, but every source lists them among their number. A bilwis is a wind demon in the form of a man or woman with long, tangled hair flying in the wind, wrapped in a white sheet, and wearing a triangular hat. It comes to fields in the form of a whirlwind or a giant ball to steal crops; in these forms it can be repelled by throwing a knife with three crosses cut into the blade at it while yelling, “There you have it, bilwis!” It also tangles people's hair, spreads disease, and causes nightmares. Bilwisse live in mountains and trees. A human sorcerer or witch can also transform into a bilwis by walking through a field barefoot very early on Ascension Day, St John's Eve, or Trinity Sunday, and cutting a line through the young crops with a tiny sickle attached to the big toe of the right foot. This will cause a tenth of the grain to be magically carried to the bilwis at harvest. However, if someone calls out to the bilwis while doing this, the bilwis will die within a year unless he/she calls out to the other person first, in which case the other person dies. No bilwis can break into a field sowed from the outside-in. A bilwis can also be thwarted by adding twigs of juniper to the bilwis' portion of the grain while threshing it, which will cause the bilwiss to feel every blow on his/her own body and will make him/her admit to being the bilwis and beg the threshers to stop. Alternatively, some of the grain heads cut by the bilwis can be hung into the chimney, which causes the bilwis to slowly be mummified alive as the grain dries out from the heat of the fire.
  
• Windsbraut (wind's bride) - A female wind spirit which steals crops as a whirlwind. She can be chased away by throwing a knife into the whirlwind. She cannot remove the knife herself (presumably because it is made of iron) and must beg a human to remove it for her.
  

~Geltan (yellow tooth) <Germany> - A man with fiery eyes and one yellow tooth which lurks in barns, attics, and other places children are forbidden from, and eats them if they venture into those places.
~Böxenwolf (rifle wolf) <Germany> - A human who transforms into a wolf with supernatural strength by wearing a magic strap. It leaps on travelers' backs at night and makes them carry them for unclear reasons. Any wounds inflicted on it in wolf form will be mirrored in its human body
~Dwarf <Germany> - Short, ugly, long-bearded beings with supernatural strength which live inside hollow mountains or under the ground. They are very greedy. They are masters of mining and craftsmanship, as well as knowing secret methods of healing. Dwarfs often posses invisibility cloaks, along with other magical artifacts which they have made. Dwarfs are often said to be carved from stone, and thus only consist of males, but there are a very few references to beautiful female dwarfs (possibly the children of dwarfs and humans?). Dwarfs are often encountered in huge swarms on mountain sides. The king of the dwarfs is King Goldemar, which is also the name of a famous kobold.
~Bluatschink (blood thigh) <Austria> - A vampiric water spirit that appears as a humanoid with the torso and head of a bear or a dog. It lives in the river Lech and attacks people - especially children - who loiter on its banks, dragging them into the water and either eating them or sucking their blood.
~Ork <Tyrol> - Mountain spirits who warn animals of hunters and bring geisser to cattle. I have no idea what geisser is, and can find no references to it anywhere esle.
~Orco Burlevole (tricky ork) <Verona> - A tall man with a horse's feet and mane, who inhabits caves and abandoned buildings. He has practically godlike powers to warp reality and time, but uses them only to play elaborate but ultimately harmless pranks on humans. At the end of the prank, he says, “I fooled you!” and disappears in a cloud of sulphur.
~Musca Macedda <Sardinia> - Somewhere on the island of Sardinia, there are two barrels hidden. One of them contains fabulous wealth, but the other contains the Musca Macedda, a swarm of giant flies with deadly stingers which will destroy the world if they are unleashed. There is no way to tell one barrel from the other. The Musca Macedda can only be repelled by priests.
~Erchitu <Sardinia> - A person who is generally wicked or who commits a particular heinous act may be cursed to become an erchitu. Every night when there is a full moon, the person will transform into a giant white ox with a candle on each horn and paraded through the streets by demons and imps. Occasionally it stops in front of a house and bellows three times, so loud that it can be heard far off; anyone who lives in that house who hears the bellowing will die within a year. The only way to break the erchitu's curse is for someone else to either blow out both candles at once or to saw off both of its steel-strong horns.
~Squasc <Italy> - A small creature like a tailless squirrel with a humanlike face. It plays pranks on people, especially young girls.
~Borda <Italy> - An ugly, blindfolded witch who emerges from swamps and ponds at night or on foggy days. Anyone she meets, especially children, she strangles with a rope.
~Marabbecca <Sicily> - A nocturnal female bogey which lives in wells and resevoirs.
~Donas de fuera (ladies from the Outside) <Sicily> - A mysterious group of fairy-like beings who, despite the name, can be male or female. They dress in white, red, or black, and have feet like cat's paws, horse's hooves, or that are simply round. They choose women who have “sweet blood” to make contact with. The fairies come in companies of five or seven, each led by an ensign, to which the human women are assigned. There are separate companies for peasants and nobility. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday the women's spirits travel while they sleep to meet their assigned company in the woods for feasting and dancing to guitar or lute music played by a male fairy musician assigned to each group. In March, all the companies gather in Benevento (which is a real Italian city, but seems in this instance to refer to somewhere else) and are instructed by the Prince in how to live peacefully. Other accounts, which are suspect since they are confessions from the witch trials, claim that the donas de fuera are presided over by a Queen who is a beautiful woman and a King who is a teenage boy with red skin. The women are taught how to heal the sick, how to transform into cats, and how to become mysterious, deadly creatures called ayodons. The donas de fuera can only be seen by those chosen to join them, and will send mild punishments to those who accidentally strike or otherwise offend them. They also travel from house to house at night, feasting and taking care of human babies. Anyone who disrupts this nightly procession must pay one of the women chosen by the fairies to organize an apology feast for the fairies in his house the following night.
~Benandanti (good walkers) <Italy> - A person born with a caul on his/her head, which enables them to travel in spirit form while they sleep on the Thursdays between the Ember Days. In some accounts, they ride on various flying animals, while in others they themselves transform into small animals. The males fly into the clouds to fight the malandanti (bad walkers), witches who use the powers granted by a caul for evil instead of good. The bennandanti use fennel stalks as weapons, while the malandanti use sorgum stalks - the traditional material for making witches' brooms. If the benandanti win the battle, the harvest will be good, but if the malandanti win it will be poor. The females, meanwhile, travel to a feast attended by all manner of animals and supernatural beings, presided over by a mysterious being known only as the Abbess who sits by the edge of a well. At this feast, the female benandanti learn who will die in the village in the coming year.
~Pamarindo <Italy> - A type of spirit appearing as a short, very fat man who wears a pointy copper hat and copper shoes. He can run very fast, can become wide enough to block an entire road, and deflects thrown stones back at the thrower. His whistle hypnotizes livestock into running off of cliffs so he can eat them at his leisure.
~Hyana <Italy> - Spirits which live in forests or caves and are skilled at needlework and divining the location of hidden treasure. They have difficulty reproducing as male hyanas are rare and the females find dwarfs and giants to make poor husbands. Their singing is so wonderful that any mortal who hears it will become obsessed and follow it to its source, where the hyana pounces on the victim and drains his/her blood.
~Barabao <Venice> - A short, fat being which wears red clothes and a red cap, though it can also shapeshift. They love to play pranks, especially on women. They have been known to pretend to be orphaned babies to get free milk from women, and even hide inside chamber pots to scare people.
~Aguana <Italy> - The guardians of women and mountain springs, who appear as tall, beautiful women with long hair. They spend the spring and summer months roaming the alpine meadows and bathing in the streams and lakes. Anyone who wants to cross a stream - or worse, swim in it - must ask the aquans' permission; anyone who pollutes the pure springs will be dragged underwater and eaten by the aguans, as will men who commit crimes against women. Aguans are frequently seen to come down from the mountains to visit taverns and gossip with housewives while helping them with their chores. In summer they are seen working the fields with their children on their backs, but in winter they appear as hags with goat's legs or backwards feet and dressed in furs. They are frequent quarry of the wild hunt, but are protected as long as they stand in a circle drawn by a human.
~Draugr <Scandinavia> - A type of undead born from the corpse of a greedy or otherwise malicious person. They are often found guarding the treasures in ancient Norse burial mounds, fully armored and armed. The draugr has hideous skin blackened with decay and is followed by a stench so bad that people have been reported to have died from it. They are also sometimes described with claws like a cat's. They have incredible strength. Draugar are mainly motivated by greed and jealousy; they guard their treasures from grave robbers, but also roam the countryside at night, greedily gorging themselves on livestock despite not requiring food and killing humans out of envy for the living. They sometimes kill livestock in the conventional manner, but other times ride them until they die of exhaustion. Any human killed by a draugr rises as one themselves the following night. As one might imagine, this can cause a chain reaction; Norse sagas refer to it as an “epidemic” and describe it in terms we might use for a zombie apocalypse today. The way to tell if a deceased person will rise as a draugr is that the corpse, no matter how it is left, will always be found sitting up. A draugr has the power to shape-shift into a seal with human eyes, a flayed bull, a grey horse with a broken back and no ears or tail, and a cat which sits on a sleeping person and slowly increases its weight until the sleeper dies. The power of changing their mass is attributed to draugar more generally. They can haunt the dreams of the living, often leaving behind a token in the real world so the victim knows it was no ordinary dream. They can also spread disease, and cause the sky to become as dark as night during the day. The presence of a draugr in a burial mound can be seen from glowing lights which appear above it at night, and also from the fact that animals that come close to it are driven mad and eventually die. More powerful draugar are able to speak, and thus can put a curse on whoever causes their second death. The only way to kill a draugr is to decapitate it, then burn the body and dump the ashes in the sea for good measure. Draugar can only be harmed by iron weapons, but some are immune even to iron and must be wrestled all the way back to their tomb and sealed inside. It is also suggested that a draugr may be defeated or at least weakened if a brave soul breaks into its burial mound while it is inactive during the day and breaks its posture; however, the draugr even while inactive can still smite whoever tries this with the evil eye. Methods to prevent a draugr from rising in the first place include burying the corpse with open iron scissors, or stuffing its clothes with straw or twigs. The big toes might also be tied together to keep it from walking, and the corpse might be carried out of the house through a “corpse door” – a hole in the wall which is later bricked up – because a draugr can only enter its former home the way it left it.
~Haugbui <Scandinavia> - a less powerful draugr which cannot leave its tomb, and only attacks trespassers.
~Bergsrå (mountain Rå) <Scandinavia> - A mountain spirit which can be male or female. They live with relatives in a sort of feudal court, and are served by trolls.
~Gulon <Germany and Scandinavia> - A notoriously gluttonous creature shaped like a dog, with a cat's head and claws, shaggy brown fur, and a fox's tail. It gorges itself on prey until it is full, then squeezes itself between two trees to make itself vomit so it can eat some more.
~Myling <Scandinavia> - Mylingar are the ghosts of unwanted children murdered by their mothers, who haunt the earth until they can convince someone to give them a Christian burial, or to give them a name - which is most likely the earlier version. They are feared more than almost any other ghost, because they are filled with rage for having been denied a normal life; at the same time, they are pitied. They jump on travelers' backs and demand to be carried to the churchyard to be buried. They grow heavier with each step, and will kill the victim if he/she is unable to walk any farther.
~Mara (mare) <Scaninavia> - An evil spirit which attacks humans by laying on them while they are asleep, feeding on their life energy. The victim of a mara will have nightmares and difficulty breathing, and will wake tired and with hair tangled in martovor (mare-locks). Maras also attack animals, especially horses, and tangle their hair, and even trees with tangled branches are a mara's handiwork. In addition to the demonic spirits which naturally have these powers, a human woman born under certain conditions will have the power to send her spirit out at night as a mara, sometimes without even knowing it. This type of mara can turn into fog or will-o'-wisps to sneak into victims' homes through tiny cracks. A woman may be born as a mara if her family is cursed or if her ancestors were witches. Alternatively, if a pregnant woman practices svartkonst, a type of folk magic used to ease labor pains, her child will be a mara if female or a werewolf if male.
~Marulv <Scandinavia> - A rare occurence of a male being born with mara powers or both mara and werewolf powers.
~Ziphius (sword) <Scandinavia> - A type of whale with a beak and blazing eyes, surrounded by a bristly mane, giving it the appearance of an owl. It has a dorsal fin, paw-like flippers, and horizontal stripes. It is not picky about its meals, and will eat sailors just as readily as fish.
~Trolual (devil whale) <Scandinavia> - An enormous whale with tusks, frills, and paws, which is often mistaken for an island and landed upon with fatal results when the whale dives. Unlike other creatures of which similar stories are told, the trolual also hunts down ships and crushes them. It can be distracted by blowing a horn or by throwing crates into the water. The people of Iceland use trolual bones to build houses out of.
~Hafgufa (sea-steamer) <Norway> - An enormous whale which is often mistaken for an island. It uses its vomit to attract massive quantities of fish, then swallows them whole, including any ships caught in the pull. It is believed that there are only two, which are unable to mate and presumably immortal, because hafgufa sightings have only been reported in two locations and there have never been any dead ones found. A later Norse saga described it as the largest sea monster in existence, and claimed that the part seen on the surface is only its snout. When kraken sightings began in the 1700s, it was initially believed to be the hafgufa before it became clear it was a new creature entirely.
~Aspidochelone (asp-turtle) <Bestiaries> - A sea monster, originally described as a giant turtle but almost always drawn as a whale, which has a back covered in grass, rivers, and trees, so that it is mistaken for an island. When sailors land on it and light a fire, or try to drink from a pool of water which is actually its eye, it wakes up and dives beneath the surface, drowning the sailors.
~Jasconius <The Legend of Saint Brendan> - A giant fish which continually tries to bite its own tail, and which Saint Brendan's crew mistook for an island and held Mass on before it woke up.
~Ahuna <Bestiaries> - A gluttonous sea monster which feeds on octopi. Its mouth connects directly to its stomach, with no throat in between. It eats until its belly is larger than the fish itself. When it is under attack, it retracts its head and limbs inside its body; if its insatiable hunger strikes while it is in this state, it will eat parts of itself.
~Hulder <Scandinavia> - A forest spirit who looks like a beautiful woman from the front but from the back is hollow or has a tail, who uses her supernatural beauty to lure young men to their deaths. On the other hand, she is kind to charcoal burners; in fact, they trust her enough to let her guard themselves and their kilns while they take a nap.
~Bayfart <Finnmark> - A sea creature like a gray seal with small ears, a single horn on its head, bristles around its nose, two lion's paws in front, and two flippers in back.
~Troll <Scandinavia> - Trolls are hard to categorize, largely because the word was originally a catch-all term for dangerous supernatural beings, much like the Japanese word yokai. There are small trolls, trolls as large as humans, and giant trolls. There are trolls with one, two, three, or more heads. There are hideous trolls and there are beautiful trolls. Some trolls have magical powers, others do not. Trolls will be fun to implement, because we can randomly generate so much about them, sort of like Dwarf Fortress' night trolls. Some traits which trolls in general have in common are that they are barbarous non-Christians who live far from human society, they kidnap humans and possibly eat them, they tend to turn to stone in the day, they are afraid of lightning, they possess strength potions which allow them to wield giant swords, and they have extremely long noses.
~Troll Cat <Scandinavia> - A witch's familiar made from human hair, nails, and wood shavings. It looks like a ball of yarn, though sometimes it instead looks like a normal cat or other animal; injuries done to the more realistic-looking troll cats are replicated on the witch's body. Troll cats are sent to steal milk from cows, then spit the milk out in the witch's bucket. They also steal cream from houses. If a troll cat is injured, the stolen milk will gush out instead of blood. A witch who owns a troll cat must be buried with it, or else she will be forced to rise from the grave and search for it. Gypsies (or the more politically correct term Romani) have been known to stage troll cat hoaxes to disguise their own thefts.
~Skoge <Scandinavia> - A type of forest demon which has bizarre biological differences between the females and the males of the species. The females, who are the most commonly encountered, look like beautiful women with curly hair and sweet voices from the front, but actually have claws, a tail, and a hollow back. They are heard screaming in the woods. To escape a skoge's power, one must respond to her screams by yelling, “Hey!”; if one instead responds, “yes,” one will become a pupput for the skoge, who will make her victim walk through the forest all night and finally leave him in a thorn bush. If one instead ignores the skoge's screams, one will find oneself trapped in an invisible net which can only be dissolved by the sound of church bells. Other means of protection include turning one's jacket or socks inside out and repeating a prayer backwards - this breaks her spell - or warding her off with garlic or iron. If a hunter leaves a few coins as an offering on a stump before he goes hunting, the skoge will ensure he has a good hunt. A skoge will attempt to seduce a man, and if she succeeds he will slowly wither away and die. Their children will either be freaks who will themselves have normal children, or children with magical powers. Male skoges, on the other hand, is an old man with a cown's tail and wearing a wide-brimmed hat; he can change his size or transform into animals at will.
~Ketta (she-cat) <Scandinavia> - An enigmatic female spirit about which little is known; the two consistent features are that she has long claws and is extremely evil. A ketta is sometimes said to be the mother of a draugr, but even more ferocious, and will seek revenge if her son is killed, a description which seems at odds with the traditional origin of the draugr as an undead human. It has been suggested that this is the origin for Grendel's mother in Beowulf.
~Nisse <Scandinavia, espec. Norway> - A house spirit which appears as a small, bearded, old man wearing a woolen tunic, breeches, and stockings. It also has four fingers on each hand, pointed ears, and eyes (or sometimes just one eye) that glow in the dark. It is usually invisible anyway.
They use their supernatural strength to do chores on the farm, but will punish the farmer if he is lazy, makes poor management decisions, offends the nisse (including swearing or urinating in the barn), or breaks tradition. The nisse's punishments range from boxing the offender's ears, to killing livestock, to completely bankrupting the farm, depending on the seriousness of the offense. The nisse must be given a bowl of porridge with butter on top on Christmas Eve, or risk its displeasure. They love horses, and will often pick a certain favorite horse; a nisse's favorite horse can be identified because it is healthier and better taken care of than the other horses and will be found with its mane and tail braided. The nisse's most dangerous punishment is to bite someone; nisse's bites are venomous and can only be cured by magic.
~Fossegrim <Norway and Sweden> - A male river and mill pond spirit with supernatural talent at playing the harp. It has eleven variations on its song, the last of which causes everything and everyone - whether physically infirm or even an inanimate object - to dance. If secretly offered a white he-goat thrown into a north-flowing waterfall on a Thursday evening, or smoked mutton stolen from a neighbor four Thursday's in a row, the fossegrim will teach a human some of its skills. If the sacrifice is inadequate, it will only teach the human to tune the harp, but otherwise will run the human's fingers over the harp until they bleed; after this, the human will gain the fossegrim's talent at the harp.
~Rore-Trold <Norway> - A lake troll which can appear as a horse, a haystack, as a sea serpent, or as a whole crowd of people. Large chasms which appear in the ice when it is at its thickest are the work of the rore-trold.
~Valravn (raven of the slain) <Denmark> - When a raven eats the heart of a king killed in battle, it becomes an evil being with human intelligence and great magical power. Alternatively, it is human cursed to fly by night in the form of a raven until it can eat the heart of a child, or a half-raven half-wolf monster.
~Helhest (Hel horse) <Denmark> - A three-legged horse whose appearance is an omen of death. Originally the mount of the Norse goddess Hel, it later became an equine version of the church grim, the spirit of a horse buried beneath the church which circles said church to warn people of their deaths.
~Strand-varseler <Denmark> - The spirits of those drowned at sea, which attempt every night to enter the churchyard and finally move on to the afterlife, but are fought off by the church grim each time.
~Grave Sow <Norway> - The spirit of a piglet buried under the foundations of an ancient church, a grave sow appears as an omen of death. If it appears in the same spot night after night, it might instead be trying to reveal the location of a murdered child's shallow grave; the grave sow will stop appearing once the child is given a proper burial.
~Church Lamb <Scandinavia> - The spirit of a lamb buried under the church altar, it haunts the church when services are not being held. It appears to the grave-digger as an omen that a child will soon die.
~Natteramm (night raven) <Scania> - A raven which lives in the church belfry and protects the church at night. It also punishes people who commit scandals and thus hurt the church's good name.
~Sjöfru (mistress of the lake) <Sweden> - A seductive female lake spirit who lures in and drowns men who are cruel or disrespect the lake, but blesses those who are respectful with good fishing hauls. In winter, she sticks her hand out of the water; anyone who gives her a mitten will earn either a gift from her or a promise to help them once in any way.
~Trollgädda (troll pike) <Sweden> - The pet of the sjöfru, the trollgädda is a giant pike which is sometimes dangerous to humans. The sjöfru puts a cow bell around her trollgädda; anyone who returns one which has gotten lost is blessed with success at fishing, but anyone who kills one will lose all their livestock.
~Krongädda (crown pike) <Sweden> - Another of the sjöfru's pets, this is a giant pike with a “crown” on its head, which is actually the talons of a bird of prey which tried and failed to catch it. It is the sjöfru's prize possession.
~Skogsrå (forest Rå) <Sweden> - Similar to the hulder, it looks like a beautiful woman from the front but has a hollow back and a tail. She entices men into the forest, after which they are never seen again. The lover of a skogsrå will become introverted because she owns his soul, but will be blessed with good hunting unless he is unfaithful to her, in which case she will curse him. A skogsrå can only be killed with silver.
~Vittra <Sweden> - The vittor are invisible people who live underground, or occasionally in abandoned buildings, and raise invisible cattle. They try not to meddle with humans, but will take deadly vengeance if humans disrespect them or obstruct their houses and roads. Vittor sometimes borrow human cattle, but return them with the ability to produce incredible amounts of milk.
~Lindworm (limber dragon) <Germany and Scandinavia> - A long, serpentine dragon with two legs, which it uses like a mole lizard for traction while it slithers across the ground. Lindworms are dangerous to humans, but prefer to eat cattle and corpses dug up from the churchyard. Sighting a lindworm brings good luck, and its shed skin increases its finder's knowledge of nature and medicine.
~Ayattara (deceiver) <Finland> - Beautiful female forest demons who get people lost in the woods. They also lie down next to sleeping hunters, giving them nightmares.
~Vironkannas <Finland> - A spirit who makes oat fields fertile.
~Gofiterrak <Sápmi> - Invisible spirits who graze herds of invisible reindeer in mountains and tundra. They can be noticed by the sound of the bells hung around the reindeers' necks. If someone is brave enough to approach the herd while looking up and throw an iron object amongst the reindeer, the gofiterrak will be scared away and all the reindeer will belong to the human.
~Vatnagedda (loch pike) <Iceland> - An incredibly toxic fish which looks like a small, furry, golden flounder, with rare blue variants. It lives at the bottom of murky lakes, because sunlight instantly kills it. Its skin is so toxic that touching it causes instant death, and it can melt through any substance; it can even hurt ghosts, and thus it is greatly sought after to exorcise haunted houses. It can only be caught with a golden hook, by a fisherman wearing gloves made of human skin, and then must be wrapped in a human caul wrapped in a calf caul; anything less and it will melt through the container it is being carried in and sink deep into the earth. Besides being used to exorcise ghosts, its fat is a remedy for pains caused by supernatural agency.
~Hrökkáll (coil-eel) <Iceland> - The descendants of an ancient wizard's experiments in necromancy, these are two-foot-long undead eels with scales as hard as iron and razor-sharp fins which live in stagnant water. They excrete corrosive venom and are poisonous to eat; they have been known to escape from captivity by melting through solid dirt and stone. They constrict around people's and animal's legs and sever them at the foot, but cannot do this to sheep because their legs are too narrow.
~Skoffín <Iceland> - The offspring of a male Arctic fox and a female tabby cat, a skoffín is a malicious creature combining the craftiness of a fox with the cruelty of a cat. It is short-haired, with bald patches. They are born with their eyes open, and if not immediately killed will sink into the earth and emerge three years later to cause havoc. They can kill with their eyes like a basilisk, which they use on humans and livestock alike. They are craftier than most other creatures with deadly gazes; in one account a skoffín perched above the exit to a church so it could strike dead everyone as they left after the service. Skoffíns can be killed with bullets made of silver or sheep dung, fired from a gun with a human knucklebone attached to it or after making the sign of the cross (obviously this is impossible in-game unless we include the early firearms invented at the end of the medieval period). They are also vulnerable to their own reflections.
~Skuggabaldur (shadow Baldur) <Iceland> - The offspring of a tomcat and a vixen, it has dark fur and occasionally a deadly gaze, and preys on livestock. It is killed by the same methods as a skoffín, but will with its dying breath implore its killer to tell a certain person about its death. Unbenownst to the killer, the person named is the tomcat who fathered the skuggabaldur, and who will kill the person in revenge once he hears they have killed his offspring.
~Urdarköttur (ghoul cat) <Iceland> - Any cat which goes feral will eventually turn into a urdarköttur, and so will all-white kittens born with their eyes open and which sink into the ground and emerge three years later. They are the size of an ox, with shaggy white or black fur, and dig up and eat corpses from churchyards. They also attack the living on sight. Gryla's Yule Cat is believed to be a particularly large urdarköttur.
~Modyrmi (hay wormling) <Iceland> - A canine version of a skoffín.
~Flyðrumóðir (halibut mother) <Iceland> - A halibut the size of a fishing boat, which turns grey with age and is covered with shells, barnacles, and seaweed so that it looks like an island. It swims with halibut schools and sinks any boats that try to fish for them. It can be caught with a golden hook, but if it is caught all the fish in the local area will disappear forever.
~Laxamóðir (salmon mother) <Iceland> - A giant salmon which tears holes in fishing nets along rivers rich with salmon.
~Silungamóðir (trout mother) <Iceland> - A giant trout with a large head which is bad luck to catch, unless it is released.
~Selamóðir (seal mother) <Iceland> - A giant, reddish-pink seal with a tuft of hair between its glowing eyes. They can be found in both saltwater and fresh, as well as inland. They are summoned by seals to protect them from predators and human hunters, both of which they viciously attack.
~Skötumóðir (skate mother) <Iceland> - A giant, poisonous skate with nine tails which is always surrounded by an immense school of normal-sized skates. The more of the skate mother's school are caught, the shallower the sea seems to become, until the skötumóðir finally surfaces and drags the fishing boat beneath the water. It can be fought off by immediately chopping off its wings when they latch onto the boat.
~Skeljaskrímsli (shell monster) <Iceland> - A large, four-legged creature with a humped back and which is covered in a coat of shells which rattle as it walks. It has red eyes, a glowing mouth, a club tail like a stegosaurus, and round feet tipped with claws. Its stench can be smelled before it arrives, and its blood is toxic. It lives in the ocean, but emerges on moonless nights after storms to hunt on the shore. The only things that can harm it are bullets made from silver, grey willow catkins, or lamb droppings.
~Fjörulalli (beach walker) <Iceland> - A smaller, tailless version of a skeljaskrímsli, which is covered in fragments of cooled lava. It is mostly harmless to humans, but tears the udders of sheep and if seen by a pregnant woman will have a negative prenatal influence on her child.
~Selkolla (seal-head) - As a child, the people taking Selkolla to be baptized stopped to engage in immorality, which caused the child to be cursed with having a seal's head. After growing to adulthood she used shapeshifting powers to seduce men and killed them if they would not give in. She was infamous for making no secret of her identity and going about the town by broad daylight in her seal-head form. She was the nemesis of Bishop Guðmundur Arason.
~Tilberi (carrier) <Iceland> - A type of familiar which can only be created and owned by a woman. To create one, a woman must steal the rib of a recently buried person on Whitsunday morning, wrap it in grey wool stolen from between the shoulders of a recently shorn sheep belonging to a widow, and keep it in her bosom for three weeks. Each Sunday during this time, she must spit the communion wine on the rib. After the third Sunday, it will come to life and suckle on her inner thigh, causing a wart to grow there. The tilberi can now be sent out to steal milk from her neighbors' cows and ewes, and spit the stolen milk into her own butter churn. Butter made with this stolen milk curdles or evaporates when the sign of the cross or the smjörhnútur (butterknot) are made over it. The tilberi can also steal wool by rolling itself in recently sheared wool and forming a living ball. If the owner of a tilberi gives birth to a child, the tilberi will try suckle her to death. The traditional way of getting rid of a tilberi which has outlived its usefulness is to sent it up a mountain to collect all the sheep droppings, but any similarly impossible task will cause it to die of exhaustion and return to being an inanimate rib.
~Öfuguggi (reverse-fin trout) <Iceland> - A black trout with backwards fins. Its flesh is red because it eats drowned bodies. It is incredibly poisonous; eating it causes the victim to swell until they burst.
~Loðsilungur (shaggy trout) <Iceland> - A deformed trout the size of a man's finger, with black teeth, and covered in downy white hair which is only visible when it is both dead and underwater. It is incredibly poisonous and even dogs and birds of prey will not touch it. It is incredibly resilient, and has been known to still be alive and squirming a full day after being caught.
~Bjarndýrakóngur (the king of the bears) <Iceland> - The offspring of a female polar bear and a walrus or a bull, the bjarndýrakóngur has red cheeks and a horn on its forehead tipped with a glowing platinum orb. It can understand human speech and wisely rules all the polar bears, and is treated by humans with all the respect due a visiting monarch whenever it appears. It only kills in self defense or to punish polar bears who provoke conflict with humans. The only animal that will challenge the bjarndýrakóngur is the redcheek.
~Redcheek <Iceland> - A polar bear with red fur on one cheek, which attacks anything that moves.
~Vatnaormur (water serpent) <Iceland> - A huge freshwater serpent which can be created by placing a golden ring under a slug. Each has varying physical traits. At least one could spew poison, and occasionally it is described as growing larger as it hoards more treasure.
~Nykur <Iceland> - A water horse, usually grey in color, with backwards hooves which is found in both freshwater and the ocean. It can be ridden like a normal horse as long as it is inland, but as soon as it sees water it becomes adhesive and drowns its rider. It also breaks ice from underneath to send people to their deaths. It can shapeshift into a backward-hoofed cow, a giant salmon, a human, or more monstrous forms, but rarely does so. It is frightened of fire and holy water. A nykur can also be repelled by saying its name, or anything that sounds like its name. It can be tamed if someone punctures the swelling under its left shoulder, but care must be taken that one is not caught unawares when the swelling grows back.
~Illhveli (evil whales) <Iceland> - A classification of ten different kinds of monstrous whales which spend all their time trying to bring misery to humans and to good whales. They are so fundamentally wrong that eating their flesh has been outlawed, though this is mostly a moot point as illhveli meat disappears when cooked. They must not be mentioned at sea, because many of them can sense when their name is said and will hunt down the ship bearing the offending individual. Unlike normal whales, many of them have sharp teeth. Their enemy is the blue whale, mightiest of the good whales, which will defend humans from the evil whales' depredations.

• Múshveli (mouse-whale) - A ten meter long whale ranging from light grey to brownish black in coloration. Its body is mostly taken up by a gaping mouth wide enough to swallow a row boat in one bite. It also has large, mouse-like ears; two short legs with hoofs in place of front fins; and a long, rat-like tail in the back. It sinks fishing boats by ramming them or pushing them down with its legs, and can even clamber onto the beach to chase its prey if the boat makes it to land. However, it is largely ineffective against larger ships.
  
• Stökkull (leaper) - A whale ranging from 8 to 20 meters long, which is black on top and white on the bottom. Its eyes are covered with thick flaps of skin which prevent it from seeing straight ahead because it was cursed by God. To get around this it leaps out of the water, up to a mile in distance, and looks below it to find prey. Once it spots prey, it divebombs it with its reinforced snout, shattering ships and breaking the backs of whales. The ways of avoiding it include distracting it with debris thrown overboard or sailing in the direction of the sun to blind it.
  
• Raudkembingur (red crest) - The most bloodthirsty of the illhveli, this is an extremely fast whale which is twenty to forty cubits long and has a red crest. It neighs like a horse. It is followed by beluga whales and narwhals which eat the scraps left behind by the raudkembingur's carnage. It destorys boats by leaping on them, then feasts on the drowned sailors; it has been known to play dead for half a month to lure in ships. A raudkembingur will die of frustration if a ship escapes it and it does not sink another the same day, and can also die from overexertion while chasing a ship. There are tales of humans being transformed into a raudkembingur by the elfs as punishment for some misdeed; such a change seems to be permanent, or at least no nonlethal solutions have been recorded.
  
• Hrosshvalur (horse-whale) - A 30 to 80 cubit long whale covered in fur, with enormous eyes, a terrible stench, a horselike head, a red mane, a horse's tail, and a call like a horse's neighing. They chase boats with their heads above the water, and once in range jump on the ships to smash them. They can also create waves by whipping their tails, and the appearance of one is an omen of storms. Their large eyes are their weak points.
  
• Nauthveli (ox-whale) - The second largest of the illhveli, this is a finless whale which is spotted like a Holstein cow and has two nodules on its head like a bull's horns; its body tapers off into a thin tail like a cartoon ghost. When hungry, it makes a bull-like bellow which travels for miles and hypnotizes cattle into plunging into the sea to be eaten by it. Sacrificing a bull or cow will grant ships a reprieve from it.
  
• Katthveli (cat-whale) - At 8 meters long, this is the smallest illhveli. It comes in a variety of colors, and has a seal-like body which is bulky in front and narrow in back. Its head has nodules like cat ears, long whiskers, gleaming eyes, and boar's tusks. It also has two flippers with hook-like claws. It purrs and meows like a cat, and can be tamed. They sometimes join rorqual schools. Their method of hunting is to swim underneath boats and capsize them.
  
• Taumafiskur (bridle fish) - Slightly larger than a stökkull, this illhveli is jet-black with white or pink markings in the shape of a bridle. They attack ships by capsizing them, biting them, beating them with their tails, or even folding them in half. Worse yet is that they have an incredible memory and will instantly sense and hunt down survivors of its attacks if they ever put to sea again for the rest of their lives. They can be repelled by chewed angelica, rotting baitfish, bilge-water, cod-liver oil, live fire in a bucket, juniper, cow or sheep manure, sulfur, or yarrow - all of which are twice as potent if lit on fire first. It can also be distracted by loud noises or things thrown in the water, or blinded by sailing into the sun.
  
• Skeljúngur (shell whale) - A fat yet fast, 20 to 45 meters long whale covered in an armor of shells that rattle as it swims. It rubs against rocks to scratch the itch its shells cause. It sleeps and dives vertically. It hunts by blocking the path of ships, and moving to continue obstructing the boat when it tries to avoid the whale. Once in range, it smashes the boat with its fins and tail. It will also play dead to lure in ships. It is driven mad with fear by the sound of iron being filed, even beaching itself in its panic. Unlike other illhveli, its meat can be eaten and it will sometimes fight on the side of humans it deems worthy (or at least interesting).
  
• Lyngbakur (heather back) - A huge, slow-swimming whale with a back covered in heather and eyes located on top of its head. It tends to sleep on the surface, appearing like an island. Sailors sometimes land on it and are drowned when it wakes up and dives; it is especially certain to dive if someone mistakes its eyes for pools of water and attempts to drink from them. Once every three years, it feeds by sucking in everything in its path.
  
• Sverðhvalur (sword-whale) - A brown, swift whale about the size of a sperm whale, with a 3-12 cubits tall spike sticking out of its back which it uses to slice open both whales and ships from underneath. It only eats the tongues of its prey, but a smaller whale swims under its fin and eats its leftovers.
  

~Grýla <Iceland> - A troll or giantess whose name was mentioned as far back as the 13th century, but who only had concrete details written down about her in the 17th century. She is a witch who lives in a cave in the lava fields, from which she emerges at Christmas to catch naughty children and make stew out of them.
~Leppalúði <Iceland> - Grýla's lazy third husband.
~Jólakötturinn (yule cat) <Iceland> - Grýla's pet, a giant cat which eats people who don't receive new clothes for Christmas.
~Yule Lads <Iceland> - Grýla's and Leppalúði's thirteen sons, who arrive one per day in the thirteen nights before Christmas and depart in the same order after Christmas. They are mostly harmless, but apparently older stories of them were quite gruesome, as the King of Denmark considered it cruel to children to tell them such tales. Grýla is said to have also had many children with her previous two husbands, but they are rarely mentioned. In the east of Iceland, there is a group of Yule Lads who live in the ocean, and there are also two obscure Yule Lasses who steal melted butter by stuffing it up their noses

• Stekkjarstaur (Sheep-Cote Clod) - A peg-legged yule lad who harasses sheep. He arrives on December 12th and leaves on December 25th.
  
• Giljagaur (Gully Gawk) - Hides in gullies and steals milk from the cowshed. Arrives on the 13th and leaves on the 26th.
  
• Stúfur (Stubby) - Is shorter than his brothers and eats the crust left in pie pans. Arrives on the 14th and leaves on the 27th.
  
• Þvörusleikir (Spoon-Licker) - Steals and licks wooden spoons, and therefore is malnourished. You get the idea on when they arrive and leave.
  
• Pottaskefill (Pot-Scraper - Scrapes the leftovers out of pots and eats them.
  
• Askasleikir (Bowl-Licker) - Hides under beds, waiting for a chance to steal someone's askur (a type of traditional Icelandic bowl with a lid).
  
• Hurðaskellir (Door-Slammer) - Slams doors in the middle of the night.
  
• Skyrgámur (Skyr-Gobbler) - Steals skyr (Icelandic yogurt).
  
• Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage-Swiper) - Hides in the rafters to steal smoked sausages from over the fire.
  
• Gluggagægir (Window-Peeper) - Looks through windows to spot things to steal.
  
• Gáttaþefur (Doorway-Sniffer) - Uses his huge nose to sniff out and steal laufabrauð (leaf bread, a type of flat bread with a leaf-like geometric pattern cut into it).
  
• Ketkrókur (Meat-Hook) - Snatches meat on a hook and pulls it up to the rafters.
  
• Kertasníkir (Candle-Stealer) - Steals and eats children's tallow candles, leaving them alone in the dark.
  

~Strzyga <Poland and Silesia> - Some people, usually women, are born with two sets of teeth, two hearts, and two souls. They tend to die at an early age, but while one soul goes to the afterlife the other soul reanimates the body as a strzyga. Sleepwalkers, children born with teeth, and people without armpit hair can also be strzygi. These vampiric beings transform into owls and feed on the blood and intestines of travelers. They can survive on animal blood for a limited time if necessary. Many of the traditional methods of stopping vampires from rising, such as decapitation or pinning the body down, work on strzygi. Additionally, they can be defeated by being slapped in the face by someone's left hand and they turn to tar when they hear church bells. Scattering poppy seeds in every corner of one's house repels strzygi.
~Skrzak <Poland> - Small, flying humanoids with purplish-black skin and sharp claws and fangs, which live in the labyrinthine subterranean tunnels which formed when the gods were released from the Void. They prey on spelunkers, and their laughter drives people mad.
~Plague Maiden <Poland and Lithuania> - A woman in white who wears a fiery wreath on her head and waves a blood-stained handkerchief through the doors of those doomed to die of plague. A popular ballad tells how a man killed her with a sword inscribed with the names of Jesus and Mary and stole her handkerchief; he and his family died of plague but the rest of the town was safe from plague ever since.
~Topielec <Poland> - The spirits of drowned people, who suck living humans and animals down into the water. They sometimes allow their victims to escape if they correctly answer a riddle.
~Pyatnoty (spot) <Poland> - Household pests who live under a broom. They look like small, naked humanoids with patches of hair and a big head, a gaping mouth, bird talons for hands, and horse's hooves for feet. They interfere with household chores by spilling milk, tripping people who are carrying things, and other pranks. They can be driven out by ritually cleansing the house with a broom or, if that doesn't work, with the sign of the cross.
~Bebok <Poland> - The spirit of a disobedient child who is enslaved by witches, who send it out to capture more naughty children to turn into beboks. It looks like a hair-covered child with a hideous old man's face. It is rather stupid and is easily distracted from its mission if it sees an oportunity to cause mischief, such as smashing dishes.
~Zmora (mare) <Poland> - The spirits of people who were harmed in life, which manifest either as indistinct spirits or as extremely long-legged women. They are able to pass through doors to visit people in bed and suck their blood; this also causes the victims to have horrible nightmares and kick and sweat in bed.
~Dusiołki (strangler) <Poland> - A spirit which strangles people in their sleep.
~Liczyrzepa <Poland> - A mountain demon which appears as a bipedal deer with a devil's tail and horse hooves and carrying a staff. Anyone who goes to a liczyrzepa's mountain must offer a black rooster.
~Balts <Poland> - Demons who live under the cobblestones of crossroads, and cause anyone who passes over them at night to become lost.
~Bubák <Poland and Czech Republic> - A living scarecrow who catches people who are outside at night with his large sack, then carries them away in his cart pulled by giant cats. He likes to lure people to him by imitating a crying child. On nights when the moon is full, he weaves clothes from the souls of his victims.
~Ziburnis <Poland> - A shape-shifting spirit which most commonly appears as a glowing or fiery skeleton. It is an omen of death, but not necessarily for the person who sees it.
~Płanetnik (shepherd of the clouds) <Poland> - Płanetnicy are neutral spirits of the air, who might be helpful or hurtful to humans depending on how they are treated. Their main occupation is in controlling the weather by leading clouds on long ropes, but there are different ranks of płanetnicy with different responsibilities; some forge lightning bolts, others transport certain kinds of clouds, some create fog, and only the strongest are able to transport great storm clouds. Sometimes a group of them will transport a captured evil dragon to be executed, and this produces hail as they lead it overhead. Humans earn the płanetnicy's good favor by throwing bits of flour into the air and burning special herbs for them, and once this favor is secured they ring the churchbells as a signal for the spot to create clear weather. If a płanetnik is angered, however, it may bring storm clouds over the field or village of the offending individual or group, and may even destroy them. Płanetnicy appear on earth as tall old men wearing simple clothes of white linen, which drip water constantly even if it the weather is hot and dry, and wide-brimmed straw hats. They sometimes visit houses in this form, and must be treated as a dear member of the family to avoid angering them; a płanetnik so visiting must not be asked about his true identity unless he brings the subject up himself. A human may be an “earthly” płanetnik, either by being born that way or by making a pact with the płanetnicy. Such a person is easily recognizable by their wisdom and kindness, and they have the power to predict the weather and sometimes even to control it.
~Latawiec (flier) <Poland> - Latawce and latawice, their female counterparts, are demons in avian form created from the souls of unbaptized children and hanged criminals. They take the form of various types of black-feathered birds, and may appear as fully avian, as humans with black wings, or as any combination of bird and human in between. If one is hit by lightning, it will instantly die. Pre-Christian beliefs held that latawiec were only dangerous if angered, and could even be bribed by offerings and spells to become house spirits, especially for use in powering windmills. If angered, however, they will lash out with their wind powers and create violent storms. Thee were already stories in certain regions of Poland painting these spirits in a more negative light as the source of the fires caused by lightning strikes, but after the coming of Christianity they were recast as akin to demons. In this new version of the legend, they seduce mortals and lead them into sin, and eventually drive their victims insane by whispering their names on the wind.
~Biali Zimni Ludzie (white cold people) <Poland> - Demons with scrawny bodies covered in sickly-looking, ghostly white skin, which move with a feverish pace and range in size from about half a foot tall to the size of a pin. They live in swarms in puddles found in forests and swamps, from which they secretly infest their victims by climbing inside their clothes as they pass by. Once the victim goes to sleep, they creep out of his or her clothes and climb down the victim's nostrils, causing all sorts of diseases; one of the first symptoms is a high fever. Remedies include strong alcohol mixed with powdered crayfish eyes, or a stalk from an old broom eaten with bread and butter. Another possible cure is to breathe the demons out into a hole in a treetrunk, then clog it up with a wooden stake, but no method is guarenteed to work.
~Sântoaderi <Romania> - Seven or nine supernatural beings in the forms of young men wearing capes, with long feet and hooves, who travel from village to village singing, beating drums, and causing rheumatism in people by binding them with chains or stamping on them.

Creatures Con'td.
~Căpcăun (dog-head) <Romania> - A dog-headed monster with four eyes and sometimes four legs which eats humans and kidnaps children and young women, especially princesses.
~Vântoase <Romania> - Evil female spirits who live in forests, lakes, and the sky and use wind powers to attack children. The “grass of the wind” is a protection against them, but the knowledge of just what that is supposed to mean seems to have been lost.
~Iele <Romania> - Beautiful female spirits who live in the sky and in isolated places like caves and marshes. They are sometimes seen bathing in springs or at crossroads. They are solitary by nature, but will gather in groups of three or seven to dance manically in the moonlight in an immaterial form; at other times they are known to fully materialize. When dancing they are naked, have bells on their ankles, and carry candles; alternatively they rarely wear coats of mail. Their dancing places include glades, the tops of maple or walnut trees, the banks of rivers and ponds, crossroads, and the fireplaces of abandoned houses. In any case, after their dance the surroundings will be scorched and the grass will grow back red; animals instinctively avoid this grass but mushrooms grow well on it. The iele are able to fly under their own power but sometimes instead use fiery chariots, presumably for comfort and style. Anyone who overhears their singing becomes mute. When someone offends them, they dance around the person faster and faster and cause them to pass out from vertigo, after which they abduct the person, who is never seen again; things which offend the iele include spying on them when they dance, stepping on the burnt ground left after their dance, sleeping under a tree which belongs to them, drinking from their private springs, refusing to dance with them, or imitating the steps of their dance. They are also sent by God or the Devil to enact vengeance; these cases are mostly the same except ending with the victim going mad and dying rather than being abducted. Various holidays are dedicated to appeasing the iele, on which anyone disrespecting the day by continuing with their work will be afflicted with vertigo by the offended spirits. In extreme cases of disrespect, the iele will cause mysterious deaths and crippling of humans and livestock, hail, floods, withered trees, and fires. Wearing garlic and mugwort is a protection against the iele, as is placing a horse skull on a pole in front of one's home. When this is not enough, the Călușari may be called in to use their secret dance to cure the iele's victims. The iele hide their true names, and instead go by nicknames. Even these nicknames are powerful, and to say them carelessly could cause dangerous magic. Every witch knows nine of these names, and combines them in different ways to create spells.
~Muma Pădurii (mother of the forest) <Romania> - An ugly old witch who lives in a cottage or a hollow tree in the center of the forest. She protects and heals the plants and animals of the forest, but drives humans who enter the forest mad. She kidnaps children and eats or enslaves them, and thus a variety of spells are used against her by parents.
~Pricolici <Romania> - An undead werewolf born either from the spirit of a wicked human or a human who was a werewolf in life.
~Balaur <Romania> - A multi-headed dragon, sometimes with wings and golden scales, which kidnaps princesses and guards treasures, and is fought by brave heroes. Whoever kills a balaur will be forgiven of one sin by God. Their spit hardens into gemstones.
~Zmeu <Romania> - A humanoid dragon, sometimes described with a glowing gemstone in its forehead, which is able to speak human languages and ride a horse despite its draconic features. It is able to fly (sometimes with wings, sometimes in the form of a tongue of fire), breathe fire, and shapeshift. They are sometimes heroic, but more often they steal valuable treasures and kidnap women with the purpose of forcing them into marriage; in these cases, the zmei are invariably opposed by heroes.
~Muroni <Wallachia> - An undead vampire which can transform into various animals. In this way it is able to keep its presence secret, as its attacks are blamed on animals.
~Zână <Romania> - Female, forest-dwelling fairies who help lost travelers find their way and bestow gifts on unborn children.
~Vâlvă <Romania> - Female spirits who walk over hills at night, and can appear as shadows or black cats. There are good Vâlve Albe (White Vâlve), who protect villages from storms, and evil Vâlve Negre (Black Vâlve), and a Vâlvă can switch from one to the other depending on how she is treated. There are several different kinds, each of which has a different sphere of influence:

• Vâlva Apei (vâlva of the water) - Protects water sources.
  
• Vâlva Bucatelor (vâlva of the morsels) - Guardian of the poor, and of the crops.
  
• Vâlva Băilor (vâlva of the mines) - Inhabits mines and reveals the locations of veins of ore by knocking on the tunnel walls; without her help, it is impossible to find anything valuable. If a miner to whom she has given ore gets too greedy or spends it foolishly, or if someone steals her gift from the miner she revealed it to, she will become a Vâlva Negre and take revenge. If anyone ignores her advice, she collapses the tunnel on them. When a mine's vâlva leaves, that means there is no more ore in the mine.
  
• Vâlva Banilor (vâlva of the money) - Has dominion over money.
  
• Vâlva Comorilor (vâlva of the treasure) - Guards buried treasures.
  
• Vâlva Pădurii (vâlva of the forest) - Guardian of the forest.
  
• Vâlva Ciumei (vâlva of the plague) - Has control over diseases.
  
• Vâlva Zilelor (vâlva of the days) - There are seven of these, one having responsibility for each day of the week.
  
• Vâlva Cetăţilor (vâlva of the citadels) - Guards ruins.
  

~Marțolea <Romania> - A mountain demon who usually appears as a goat with a human head and horns, but can also show up in human form: to married women it looks like a huge, ugly, old woman dressed in black; to unmarried women it looks like a handsome young man or soldier; and to men it looks like a beautiful young woman. Every Tuesday night, it descends from the mountains and uses its hypnotic singing to lure in women who have defiled the holy day of Tuesday by spinning wool, sowing, doing laundry, or baking bread. It punishes unmarried women by ripping them open and nailing their guts to the wall near where they keep their dishes, but for married women it only kills or possesses their children or husbands. On the other hand, women who keep Tuesday holy are given eggs or rare flowers by Marțolea. Women who wear Mărțișor (March Trinkets) on the night of March 1st are visited by Marțolea and given a silver coin that they have to keep all year.
~Joimârița (Thursday) <Romania> - A creature who punishes lazy children (presumably on Thusdays).
~Moroi <Romania> - A term which may refer to ghosts, sometimes of unbaptized children, who drain energy from the living. Alternatively, it can refer to the children of strigoi or other vampires.
~Striga <Romania> - The origin of what modern people think of as a vampire. The seventh child of the same gender in a family or a child born with a caul may be born as a striga vui (living striga), developing the power to transform into animals and turn invisible upon reaching adulthood. On certain nights, strigoi vui fly in animal form to a meadow at the edge of the world where they fight each other all night but forgive each other in the morning. After death, a striga vui will rise from the grave as a striga mort (dead striga), with the same powers but having to suck the blood of the living to prolong their unnatural existence. They also eat babies, and a charm to keep away strigoi after a new birth is to throw a rock over one's shoulder and say, “This into the mouth of the strigoi!” Other reasons a dead person might return as a striga include being wicked in life, dying unwed, being executed for perjury, committing suicide, having red hair, or being killed by a witch's curse. The resting place of a striga mort can be determined by setting a seven year old boy loose in the graveyard at noon on the back of a white horse; the horse will stop when it comes to the striga's grave. Strigoi can be prevented from rising by driving a stake through the heart, beheading, or cremation. They are repelled by pork from a pig butchered on October 17th.
~Varcolac (wolf's fur) <Romania> - A type of vampire or werewolf which may be a living person or a ghost. A varcolac can come from a baby who died unbaptized, or a person who was cursed by God because they swept the house at sunset. They usually appear as monstrous wolves or dogs, often in pairs, but may take other forms as well. If a woman spins thread in the direction of the rising sun at midnight with no candles for light, a varcolac will climb up the thread into the sky and try to eat the moon; this can only be stopped if someone finds and breaks the thread. Living varcolaci have pale faces, and are prone to falling into a deep sleep. This trance is in fact caused by the varcolac's soul leaving his or her body because it was summoned to eat the moon; if the varcolac's body is moved, the soul will be unable to find its way back and the person will die.
~Sânziana (Diana) <Romania> - On the summer solstice in Romania, the festival of Sânziene is celebrated in honor of the fairies of the same name. On the night before the festival, the sânziene appear and bless the crops, as well as giving magic powers to the flowers that share their name (in English, they are called lady's bedstraws); if a man sees a sânziana, she will either kill him on the spot or inflict him with some disability, such as deafness, muteness, or insanity.
~Dhampir (tooth-drinker) <Balkans> - The child of a vampire and a living human. Dhampirs have the ability to see invisible vampires, and thus often take up the career of a vampire hunter. They also have enhanced senses and healing, and can control animals. (Allegedly. I'm not sure about the trustworthiness of the source for those claims.) They have unruly black hair; no shadow; are always dirty; have no nails or bones; a tail-like mark on the back; and a large nose, ears, eyes, and teeth. They often live a short life.
~Lidérc <Hungary> - A spirit which flies in the form of a flame which flies through the air and breathes flames to set fire to buildings and pig-pens. It also flies into the rooms of people whose husbands or wives are dead or away from home and seduces them by transforming into the shape of the shape of their loved one. It will return to the same person night after night, draining their life force, until they die and the lidérc must search out a new food source. It can be recognized for what it truly is because no matter what form it takes one leg will be that of a chicken, goose, or shod horse. It can be kept away from a house by garlic, trouser-cord, and other traditional repellents of the supernatural. A lidérc can also be a familiar in the form of a featherless chicken hatched from a black pullet's first egg, incubated under a man's armpit. It will perform whatever task its master sets for it, but if not constantly given a new task as soon as it finishes the old it will kill its master. The usual way of getting rid of one when it becomes too difficult to manage is to set it an impossible task. It eats butter. A third variation is a tiny devil found accidentally inside an old box or bottle and which will bring its owner riches in exchange for their soul.
~Táltos <Hungary> - A person born with teeth, a sixth finger, an extra bone, or a caul will become a táltos, with the ability to enter a trance called a révülés during which the person's spirit travels among the stars in order to heal sicknesses and learn hidden truths. During times of great national crisis, it is the responsibility of a táltos to warn the entire nation. One famous táltos went further and fought the enemy army himself by breathing fire. However, if a táltos' extra bone is broken before the age of seven, he will lose his powers permanently. Also, a táltos must be breastfed until the age of seven, but will gain superhuman strength from it.
~Táltos Paripa (táltos horse) <Hungary> - The mount of a táltos, though it can also appear in contexts unrelated to them. It first appears to a hero in the form of a worthless, mangey, old horse. If treated well, it will ask to be fed hot cinders, which causes it to turn into a marvelous flying speed which travels at extraordinary speeds. Different ones have different numbers of legs and the coat and saddle color of a different precious metal, depending on how powerful the táltos paripa is; the most powerful have six legs and a golden coat and saddle.
~Vadleány (wild girl) <Hungary> - A forest-spirit who appears as a naked girl with hair which reaches the ground. She seduces shepherds and drains their life force. However, she can be captured by leaving a boot for her to find; she will try to put both feet in one boot and get stuck.
~Szépasszony (fair lady) <Hungary> - A demoness in white, with long hair, who appears during hail storms and seduces young men.
~Sárkány (dragon) <Hungary> - When a pike lays in the mud for several months or a seven or thirteen year old rooster hides in the house for too long, it will transform into a dragon. They also can reproduce among their own kind; a female sárkány is pregnant for seven years and nurses its child for seven years after birth. Sárkány have heads in multiples of three or seven. People called Garabonciás (people who learn magic at a university, as opposed to being born with it like a táltos) can charm a sárkány and ride it. Wild sárkány live in hollow trees, burrows, and caves. They kidnap young women and must be fought by heroes. They often possess human-like charecteristics, such as singing, dancing, and enjoying wine.
~Guta <Hungary> - A demon who beats people to death and is associated with strokes, heart attacks, and paralasis.
~Cikavac <Serbia> - A familiar like a long-beaked pelican, created from a black hen's egg carried under a woman's arm for forty days during which she cannot go to confession, pray, cut her nails, or wash her face. Once the creature hatches, it can be used to steal honey and milk from the woman's neighbors, and will grant her the power to speak with animals.
~Čuma <Serbia> - An old woman in white who hates uncleanliness and so comes from her home far away to punish dirty people by giving them the plague. She can also be kept away with offerings of food, clean water, basil, and a comb.
~Bauk <Serbia> - An animal with a clumsy gait which hides in dark places to grab and eat humans, but is scared away by light and loud noises.
~Hala <Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria> - A female weather demon which can appear as a black wind, a giant, a snake, a dragon, a giant bull, a raven, or any number of shapes. When disguised in human form, a hala can only be seen for what it really is by a šestaci (a man born with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot). They live in clouds, lakes, mountain caves, forests, and giant trees. Anyone who sees a hala's face will go mad. The principal occupation of hali is bringing hail storms to destroy humans' crops or as a cover to steal crops and transport them to other fields. They also suck milk from sheep and uproot trees during storms, but the most dangerous thing they can do is to consume the fertility of the soil itself. They are opposed by dragons, imperial eagles, and Saint Elijah. They can also be warded off with spells or with hala's herbs, which grow in levees and the spots in the field where the plough makes a turn when ploughing a field. Hali also hunt and eat children by their smell and even try to eat the sun and the moon, which is seen from earth as an eclipse; if a hala ever succeeds in eating either celestial body, the world will end. They give diseases to people who encounter them, and they are indirectly responsible for rabies; skylarks who see the face of a hala go mad and fall to the ground, where they are eaten by dogs who consequently contract rabies. Hali eat their supper at the crossroads at night; anyone who tries to walk through a crossroads when it is being used by a hala will be struck blind, deaf, or lame. Hali gather together in gullies to celebrate holidays by luring humans there and forcing them to let them ride on their backs all night long. They also possess humans and cause them to have insatiable hunger. A hala's house is full of the blood and bones of the children it eats, and is where she keeps her “livestock” of wild animals. Humans may visit a hala's house and will be graciously received and granted favors if they are polite and do not mention how strange the surroundings are, but if anyone insinuates that there is something weird about having a house full of blood or raising owls and wolves as livestock then they will be blinded or even eaten by the enraged hala. A dead hala's body produces swarms of the bloodsucking Golubatz fly every year in late spring.
~Aloviti Man (hala-like man) <Serbia> - Can refer to a human possessed by a hala. Also refers to a person who survives a hala's poisonous breath, the offspring of a hala and a human woman (not sure how that works, since hali are always female), or a person born with a caul. These people have superhuman strength and can only be killed with silver or gold, but their most important power is that whenever a storm begins their spirits leave their bodies and guide the storm clouds to damage the fields of neighboring villages instead of their own. They also fight hali, with help from Aesculapian snakes; for this reason, these snakes must not be hurt by humans. Even children are able to be aloviti, and use ploughshares as their weapons against the hali.
~Bukavac (noise) <Syrmia> - A six-legged monster with horns which lives in ponds and lakes and makes a loud noise. It comes out of the water to jump on people and animals and strangle them.
~Vila (wind) <Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and possibly Russia> - Beautiful female fairies with long, golden hair; like most fairies, they can be helpful or harmful depending on the circumstances and their mood. Their power is their hair; if a human plucks even one of her hairs she will die. There are three types: those who live in forests and caves, those who live underwater, and those who live in castles in the clouds. The land-dwelling ones can shapeshift into swans, falcons, horses, or wolves, while the sky vile become whirlwinds and fly around at night creating the sound of pipes and drums; anyone who calls out to them becomes nearly paralytic and dies within two years. Vile spend their time hunting on horseback or the backs of stags, as well as dancing in a circle at night; anyone who joins the dance of the vile will never be seen again. They can be malicious, stealing babies and leaving changelings in their place, shooting people with invisible arrows which cause confusion, destroying crops, and luring young men into dancing with them and dying. However, they are usually more benevolent if treated with respect and left offerings of flowers, food, and drink in front of their caves; one should also avoid insulting them, ignoring their demands, or approaching their dances uninvited. Vile respect martial ability, and will often fall in love with handsome young warriors and aid them by giving them magic items and mounts, healing them with magic, and even fighting alongside them. When vile battle, the earth shakes. Rather than romantic love, some vile instead swear an oath of blood sisterhood with a warrior; in fact, nearly every hero in Serbian epic poetry has a vila blood sister. A vila may also become blood sisters with a human girl, granting her supernatural beauty and protecting the girl's sweetheart in battle. The vile have one freedom that neither God nor men has; they are able to choose when they die and when they are reborn. The queen of the vile is named Zlatna. Certain people called vilovnjak, vilenjak, vilenica, or vilaš are magicians given powers by the vile. The Croatian idea of vile is similar in terms of their powers, but gives them a much more passive role. To Croatians, the vile are the ghosts of young women who died suddenly or in the act of sin. Though they look beautiful, they are cursed to have animal legs; they are very ashamed of these legs and keep them hidden under their white dresses at all times.
~Vampire Watermelon <Serbia> - When gathered watermelons are allowed to sit longer than ten days without being eaten, or are kept past Christmas, they will develop red patches that look like blood and will begin shaking and making a sound like, “Brrl, brrl, brrl!” This means that they have become vampires. They will invade people's homes at night and try to attack people, but they are not greatly feared because they have no teeth. A vampire melon can be destroyed by being plunged into boiling water, brushed by a broom, and thrown away. The water used must be thrown out and the broom must be burned. There are also stories of vampire pumpkins, but since pumpkins are native to the Americas they obviously fall outside the scope of this project.
~Vampire Tools <Serbia> - Agricultural tools which are exposed to moonlight come to life and hunt for victims at night.
~Samodiva <Serbia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia> - (The details here might be suspect, as the article did not cite any sources). Samodivas are beautiful, blonde, slender, tall, female fairies with pale skin and fiery eyes, who posses power over fire. Their long hair is the source of their power, and if damaged leaves them powerless. They wear gowns made of feathers which grant them the power of flight. During the winter, they live in a distant village called Zmajkovo or Patelevo, but in spring they enter the human world and live in trees, abandoned houses, caves, mountains, or near water sources. Their favorite gathering place is Mount Pirin. Samodivas are almost entirely evil. They cause droughts, burn crops, and give cattle fevers. When in combat, they can transform into monstrous, fire-breathing birds. Any man who sees a samodiva instantly falls in love, and any woman commits suicide out of jealousy. A samodiva will seduce a shepherd or other man and siphon off his life energy, often giving him a lock of her hair to strengthen her power over him. Once the man is little more than an empty shell, she tortures him to death. Samodivas gather in groups to dance, beginning at midnight and ending at sunrise. Men who witness them are hypnotized by their singing and their beauty and will join in the dance, causing them to die from exhaustion. The leader of the dance is the Vila Samodiva, who is usually more reasonable than the others and is willing to help heroes on quests, though only after the hero performs a task to prove his worthiness. The Serbian folk hero Prince Marko was raised by the Vila Samodiva and gained magical powers from her milk. Samodivas know all the medicinal and magical herbs in the forest, but hoard this information for themselves and must be eavesdropped on to learn it from them. Despite the dangers usually associated with samodivas, travelers who encounter samodiva weddings are usually well received as long as they are polite. Samodiva weddings last all night long. A human guest to the wedding is given a cup of wine, and is expected to give the bride a gold coin in return. There are accounts of samodivas being forced to marry humans who steal their magic gowns. An invisible samodiva can be seen by a dog with four eyes or the child of a samodiva and a human. If a samodiva pricks herself on a thorn bush, she will evaporate. A repentant samodiva may give a man magic powers and knowledge of herbalism in exchange for entering his heart; after five years she will merge with his soul and hitch a ride to heaven when the man dies.
~Drekavac (the screamer) <Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina> - The ghost of an unbaptized child or a sinful adult, which wanders in the night letting out a horrible scream. It is most active during early spring and the twelve days of Christmas. When it appears as a child, it is a death omen, but in animal form it is only an omen of cattle disease. It can assume many different animal forms depending on the region, mostly with strange, uncanny differences to normal animals. Anyone who its shadow touches will become sick and die. It can be scared off by dogs and bright lights.
~Zduhać (storm) <Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina> - A person born with a white or red caul, at certain hours on a Friday, or conceived on certain festival days will become a zduhać, with the power to leave their bodies in their sleep, sometimes in the form of a fly, to protect the crops from storms. The zduhać's mother will often protect the caul by sewing it into a piece of clothing, because if the caul is destroyed the zduhać loses his/her powers. Another sign that a person is a zduhać is a tuft of hair on the shoulder or arm. The powers of a zduhać can also be passed from father to son, and a man who is not a zduhać can become one by refraining from praying or washing his face for forty days, then draw a circle on flat ground and sit inside it; the Devil will arrive and ask the man to join his army and what animal he wants to be, and if the man agrees he will become a zduhać and be given the ability to turn into the animal he requested. However, a zduhać who gains his powers through a satanic deal, or a natural-born zduhaći who allies himself with Satan, is doomed to return after death as a vampire unless he repents. Zduhaći are deep sleepers, and are very solemn and introspective when awake. They have shadowy eyes and puffy faces. They are known for their wisdom and business sense; any enterprise they enter into is bound to be successful. They are also skilled in scapulimancy, can communicate with domesticated animals, can hear everything that happens in the world, and are exceptional long jumpers. They mostly engage in their crop-protecting activities in spring, especially during the Nativity Fast. When heavy storms arise at night, the village's zduhać flies into the sky in spirit form to lead the storm clouds to a different village. If that village has its own zduhać, the two will do battle. If there are enough zduhaći in a region, they may band together to attack the zduhaći of a rival region; each band has its own leader. While individual combat between zduhaći arises spontaneously as a result of one trespassing on the village of another, large scale combat between two bands of zduhaći is highly formalized; both parties agree on a certain time and place, and the battle has rules more like a sport. The combatants use spindles, beech buds, sharp splinters, leaves, stalks of straw, fluff, flakes, sand, long twigs, cornel stones, pine cones, and eggshells as weapons, though other accounts have them using uprooted trees. The most deadly weapon is a stick of luč (fatwood) which has been burned at both ends, because any zduhać struck by one will die; people are forbidden from charring fatwood at both ends for fear of it being stolen and used against their own village's zduhać. As per the rules of the battle, each zduhać must also carry a milk bucket and a peck measure. The object of the match is to steal these items from the enemy; stealing the peck measures means transferring the harvest of the enemy's region to one's own, and stealing the milk buckets means the same but for the milk yield. Zduhaći who are injured in these battles are sick for a long time when they return to their bodies. If a zduhać is mortally wounded, he can still save himself by convincing someone to go on a highly symbolic quest; if the quest is completed within eight days the wounded zduhać will recover and his attacker will die in his place. An alternative method of healing is for the zduhać to cense himself with smoke from beech buds burned in a bucket and wafted with a spindle after having publicly confessed to being a zduhać, but this method is unpopular because a zduhać loses his powers if he confesses to being one. Domestic animals can also be zduhaći, and will fight other animal zduhaći at night to ensure the fertility of the farm's animals; animal zduhaći can be recognized because they make noises in their sleep.
~Vetrovnjak (wind) <Serbia> - A person who is born with a caul which is eaten by birds. He goes into a trance when a storm begins and flies in spirit form to fight the giant black bird which leads the storm clouds; they have also been known to fight storm-bringing demons and the spirits of hanged and drowned people. He can also cause storms to strike the fields of his enemies. When he returns to his body, he would be weak for a while. Though they are prized by the community, at the same time they are distrusted and people keep their children away from them because they “have business with devils.” When a vetrovnjak dies, a huge storm arises.
~Pogibaoci <Serbia> - The ghosts of hanged and drowned people who lead “cattle” (storm clouds) over neighboring villages.
~Dragon Man (or in Serbia, zmajevit (like a zmaj (dragon))) <Serbia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia> - The offspring of a dragon and a human, or else a child born with a caul or born an orphan. They often are born with teeth, have tails, or - especially - have small membranes like wings beneath the armpits. In order to preserve the newborn dragon boy's powers, twelve girls must go through every step of making a shirt - from picking the cotton (or equivalent since it was not available in medieval Europe) all the way to weaving the cloth and sewing it into the proper shape - within a day and a night during which they may not speak, and finally dress the boy in it; in lieu of maidens, three old women may be substituted. Another precaution which must be taken with an infant zmajevit is that the cradle must not be turned, because the dragon boy's spirit leaves his body in sleep and he will die if he can not reenter it the same way he left; this extends to adult dragon men, who must not be moved when they are in a trance. The child will die if seen by anyone except his mother for the first seventeen days after birth, or if his armpit wings are cut off. At the age of seven, a dragon boy will fly away to live on his own. Whenever a storm arose, a dragon man would drop everything and go in a trance in which his spirit would fly in the form of a snake or lizard and fly into the clouds to battle the storm-bringing hala by shooting thunderbolts. During this spirit battle, which could last for days, his body would not breathe and would appear dead. To prevent the hala from killing the dragon man by attacking his defenseless body, someone from the village must continuously swing a scythe in the air above him; if the dragon man is alone when the trance hits him, he can make do by planting the blade of a scythe into the ground. Dragon men also have extraordinary strength, and at least according to epic poems can also transform into dragon form at will when their lives are threatened. Their power is strongest at birth, and decreases with age. There are also animals which can be dragonlike and fight hali, especially rams and roosters; anyone who kills one will be struck mad as punishment. The most revered of these animals is the Aesculapian snake, which guards crop fields and vineyards, destroys clouds by hissing at them, helps dragon boys and men battle the hala, and will turn into a dragon itself if it lives to a certain age.
~Zmaj <Serbia> - A type of fire-breathing, fiery-winged dragon, sometimes possessing multiple heads, though it can shapeshift into an eagle, a snake, or a handsome man. Once a year, a new zmaj is born when a fireball flies out of a certain lake and splits into pieces; one flame becomes a zmaj while the others follow him until he is full grown. Each zmaj has its own territory, which it defends from the depredations of hali, aždaja, and other storm demons. A zmaj may be benevolent or malevolent to the humans in its territory depending on its personality and how the humans treat it. Zmajs desire to marry a beautiful woman, and may resort to kidnapping if necessary. While a zmaj is distracted by wooing or kidnapping a woman, the villages in his territory will suffer from storm demon attacks. The children of a zmaj and a woman may be sickly and mentally deficient, but they may instead become dragon men. The wife of a zmaj will wither and die unless she can escape.
~Aždaja <Serbia> - An evil dragon which is born from a one hundred year old snake which cannibalizes its own kind. An aždaja has a reptillian body, three or nine heads that breathe blue fire, four legs, and batlike wings. It lives in dark places and makes terrible shrieks, and attacks humans without provocation. It also flies in clouds and spews hailstones on the crops. It is fought by zmajs.
~Stuhać <Serbia and Herzegovina> - A mountain demon which pulls out human ligaments to make clutters.
~Osenya <Serbia> - A woman in white who appears at night on bridges, roads, and hills. She seduces men and then runs away, causing them to chase her across the fields all night until she dissapears with the dawn, leaving the man exhausted and miles from home.
~Zmei <Bulgaria> - A dragon which can be male or female and lives in the underworld. They can look like standard dragons, but can also become a winged human from the waist up and a serpent or fish from the waist down. They often fall in love with humans and may kidnap and marry them. The lover of a zmei will become pale and thin and will act strangely; they can only be cured by bathing in an infusion of certain herbs.
~Yuda <Bulgaria and Macedonia> - A type of evil vila who live near lakes in mountainous or forested regions. They are able to fly, and will capture any humans they see by wrapping them with their prehensile hair. They then torture the victim to death, taking particular pleasure in ripping out the eyeballs. Attractive men will be taken as husbands, but their souls will be removed and they will slowly decompose while still alive.
~Zmey <Macedonia> - A highly intelligent male dragon with hypnotic eyes. Each zmey has its own territory which it defends fiercely from other zmeys and lamyas. There are also humans born with the ability to project their souls to fight lamyas in a similar way to a zmey, but I could find no specific name for them unlike aloviti and drangue. A zmey can transform into a spark, smoke, a firebird, a snake, a cloud, or a handsome man; they use the latter form to seduce women. A zmey will fall hopelessly in love with a girl conceived or born on the same night as himself, and will protect her from birth. However, a zmey's love can cause a girl to become pale and antisocial, and suffer from watery eyes and hallucinations; this invariably ends in the girl committing suicide. Zmeys also kidnap other girls to be their servants in their mountain caves.
~Lamya <Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Serbia> - A yellow dragon with three to nine heads and webbed wings. They live in the bottoms of seas and lakes, in caverns, and inside hollow trees. They cause droughts and demand sacrifices, but are battled by zmeys and human heroes. When killed, three rivers gush out of its neck stumps: one of corn, one of red wine, and one of honey.
~Kallikantzaros <Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Turkey> - Goblin or devil-like creatures with varying descriptions but most commonly small, black humanoids with long tails. They live underground in a cavern where they constantly saw at the trunk of the World Tree, but when Christmas arrives they are able to go the surface and cause mischief; when they return they find the tree has healed itself and they must start all over again. Due to living underground they have poor eyesight, and they also speak with a lisp. They like to eat frogs and other small, repulsive animals. During the “unbatized days” from Chistmas to Epiphany, they travel at night causing mischief, though they are stupid and mostly harmless. They can be warded off by leaving a colander on one's doorstep; the kallikantzaroi would be forced to count all the holes it it, but they find this impossible because they cannot say the holy number three without dying. Other methods include throwing loukoumades (a type of syrup-filled donut) and sausages on the roof while singing a specific song, or burning old shoes. The fire should be left burning all night to prevent the creatures from coming down the chimney. Anyone born during the twelve days of Christmas will transform into a kallikantzaros every year unless the baby is bound with garlic and straw or has its toenails singed. People born on Sunday can see kallikantzaros. In Serbia, they jump on people's backs and force them to carry them all night, and they also torment adulterers until they confess. In Turkey, they have thick fur and appear during the first ten days of the Zemheri on dark street corners, asking seemingly innocuous questions to passers-by. They will attack unless you include the word black in each answer. At night, they imitate the voices of people's loved ones to lure them outside, where they will freeze to death. In Bulgaria they can shapeshift; live in caves, rivers, and abandoned mills; and can be repelled by the costumed dancers known as kukeri. The Albanian Kukuth, though related, is significantly different enough that it will get its own entry.
~Aerico <Greece> - A demon which spreads disease through the air. It is usually invisible, but can take human form.
~Mormo (hideous one) <Greece> - A female ghost or monster which eats children, especially infants.
~Gello <Greece> - A class of female demons which come from the ocean to cause infertility and devour newborns. They can also possess mortal women and use them as puppets to carry out their evil actions. A gello can be kept away hanging red coral and garlic near the childbed, sleeping on a donkey skin bedsheet, the eyes of a hyena in a purple pouch, galacite, amulets specially prepared against gelloudes, or learning the “twelve and a half” names of Gello (whatever a half name is supposed to be). At any rate, once a child is baptized it is safe from all child-stealing spirits, Gello included.
~Lamia (shark) <Greece> - An enormous, misshapen woman with mismatched legs, which feeds on infants and handsome young men. They mate with dragons, and are infamously horrendous at even the most basic of housekeeping. They will, however, reward anyone who helps them with their household chores. They are stupid and easily tricked, and they can be scared away by shouting and cursing. They can disguise themselves as attractive young women to seduce men and eat them. They can run extremely fast if their prey catches on and tries to escape. No plants will grow where their blood is spilled.
~Vrykolakas (wolf hair) <Greece> - A person who was sinful in life, died excommunicated, was buried in unconsecrated ground, had red hair and grey eyes, ate mutton from a sheep injured by a wolf or werewolf, or was a werewolf themselves in life will rise from the grave as a vrykolakas. They cause poltergeist activity, and sit on people as they sleep and suffocate them. They knock on doors and call out the name of the house's occupant; if someone answers the door they will die a few days later and rise as another vrykolakas. They also attack people and eat their livers. The only day that a vrykolakas rests in its grave is Sunday, and thus that is the only day one may be destroyed. That they must be located and destroyed is important, because their power grows the longer they are allowed to feed on the living. A vrykolakas may be recognized for what it is once dug up because it will not have decayed no matter how long it has been buried. They can be destroyed or prevented from rising in the first place via the standard methods of decapitation, cremation, or otherwise dismembering the corpse.
~Thessalonike <Greece> - The historical Thessalonike was the half-sister of Alexander the Great. According to legend, he acquired a flask of water from the fountain of youth, with which he washed her hair. When he met his death, Thessalonike was so grief-stricken that she tried to drown herself in the Aegean Sea. However, the magic water her hair had been washed with kept her alive and transformed into a mermaid, and ever since then she has roamed the seas in a state of insanity, asking sailors if Alexander lives. If they answer, “He lives and reigns and conquers the world,” she lets them pass, but any other answer causes her to transform into a gorgon and sink the ship, leaving no survivors.
~Perria <Albania> - White-clad female mountain spirits who punish people who waste bread by making them hunchbacks.
~Shtojzovalle <Albania> - Diminutive, beautiful forest spirits which can be male or female. They spend their time dancing, singing, and weaving the thread of fate, but are usually invisible to humans. If a person accidenatlly steps on a shtojzovalle, it will eat them alive. Humans can marry shtojzovalles, but the marriage will only last if the human gives his clothes to the shtojzovalle to wear. Houses that are built on lands belonging to shtojzovalles will be haunted at night by the sound of the shtojzovalles shaking heavy chains. It is believed that shtojzovalles are angels who remained neutral in the battle between Satan and the archangel Michael, and thus are not allowed into Heaven or Hell. They constantly weep because of this, and if their tears fall on a human that person will die.
~Zana (voices) <Albania> - Beautiful female fairies who are formidable, famously brave fighters and who bestow their blessing on human warriors who meet their approval; when a zana's chosen warrior dies she mourns for him like a mother for her son. Anyone who steps on a zana will be struck with epilepsy. They can petrify humans with their gaze. Every mountain has its own zana, who is often seen bathing naked in its streams; they strike dead anyone who sees them bathing. Each tribe has its own zana with a different color and characteristics; uniquely, the Shala tribe has a male zana. They are all ruled by the Great Zana, who is escorted by three wild goats with golden horns.
~Avullushe (steam) <Albania> - Evil spirits which suffocate humans with their breath.
~Bolla (snake) <Albania> - A snake-like monster born from a twelve year old snake. It keeps its eyes closed all the time except St. George's Day; on that day it opens its eyes and eats every human it sees. If it survives fifty years without being seen by a human or a wren, it turns into a bollar.
~Bollar <Albania> - A reptile which gives other snakes milk which helps them develop their venom. If it survives fifty years without being seen by a human or a wren, it turns into an errshaja.
~Errshaja <Albania> - A monstrous reptile which coils around humans' necks, punctures their chests, and eats their hearts. If it survives one hundred years without being seen by a human or a wren, it becomes a kulshedra.
~Kulshedra (amphibious snake) <Albania> - An enormous, female, fire-breathing serpentine dragon with seven to twelve heads, grotesquely long breasts, and a body covered in wooly red hair. They live in mountain caves, underground lakes, and swamps. Rust-colored particles in water are caused by a kulshedra accidentally scraping herself on a rock and bleeding into the water. Kulshedras cause storms when they approach, and also afflict humans with floods, earthquakes, and other disasters. They sometimes cause a well to dry up and only allow the people to have water if they sacrifice one maiden to it every day. In these efforts, though, the kulshedras often find themselves thwarted by a drangue. A kulshedra's most dangerous weapons are the toxic milk and urine that they spray. They will even attempt to steal the sun and the moon, visible as eclispses, and must be scared away by banging iron objects together and ringing church bells. Despite their evilness, they will sometimes help heroes on quests if they are handsome enough. A kulshedra can transform into a female eel, turtle, frog, or salamander. They also sometimes, for unclear reasons, disguise themselves as human women and live a normal life in a village, which finds itself mysteriously blessed with abundant harvests while all the surrounding villages suffer inexplicable famine.
~Shlliga (viper) <Albania> - Lesser storm demons which are the offspring of a kulshedra.
~Bollësharda <Albania> - A giant snake with many heads.
~Drangue (dragon, or wild baby animal) <Albania> - A baby boy whose ancestors have not committed adultery for three generations, or whose mother is a kulshedra, may be born “wearing a shirt and quelshe,” i.e. with a caul, and two to four wings under the armpits. The boy's mother must immediately hide the shirt and never reveal his true nature to anyone, or else he will die. The source of their power is in their wings and arms, so no one must ever, even in jest, curse a drangue's arms. A dragnue's heart is made of gold and has a gemstone in the center. Even from childhood they have extraordinary strength, and spend their time training to battle kulshedras. When a kulshedra does arrive, all the drangues in the region fly in spirit to a predetermined meeting point and from there go to battle the kulshedra. They throw cudgels, stones, plough shares, uprooted trees, and even entire houses at the kulshedra, and shoot lightning and meteors. Baby drangues are the best fighters because they are able to use their cradles as shields. A drangue can only be killed if the circumstances of his birth are replicated. All male animals except billy goats can also be a drangue.
~Div (ogre) <Albania> - A huge, enormously strong monstrous humanoid with a long mustache and a body covered in giant lice. It eats human flesh, and also kidnaps maidens and holds them prisoner in its cave or in the underworld. It loves eating contests, and its flatulence can shake a house. Though they are strong, divs are slow and clumsy and thus can be overcome by nimble heroes. When struck a mortal wound, a div will try to goad its enemy into striking again; this would restore it to life. Instead, the hero must say, “Only once does a man strike!” which causes the div to explode.
~Stihi (storm) <Albania and Italy> - A fire-breathing dragon which guards treasure and brings storms.
~Ljubi <Albania> - A female demonic dragon with 7 to 100 heads which regrow when cut off. She lives in a magical vegetable garden and causes droughts which only end when a virgin is sacrificed to her. She especially loves the taste of little girls.
~Dhamsutë (tooth hind) <Albania> - A deaf and dumb mare which appears to people who are in danger and lets them escape on it.
~Lugat <Albania> - When a wicked person, a miser, or a profiteer dies, their body may be possessed by an evil spirit and become a lugat with long fingernails. It rises from its grave every night except Saturday and returns to the homes of its former relatives and friends where it lived to smash windows, seduce women, and generally make a nuisance of itself. They are most active in winter. It is invulnerable while active, and can only be killed by cremation while it rests in its grave during the day. If a lugat is not burned in time, it will eventually become a kukudh. In order to tell if a suspected corpse is really a lugat, its grave should be dug up and a white horse brought to it; if the horse refuses to jump over the grave, it is certain that you have found a lugat. It is believed that Muslims are more likely to become lugats, though Christians are not immune. Muslim lugats and Christian lugats fight each other. If someone goes into a Muslim cemetary at night, the lugats will throw stones at them. The only thing that can force a lugat back into its grave before sunrise is a wolf. Lugats also try to steal the moon, causing a lunar eclipse, and must be scared away by making loud noises; pregnant women are forbidden to leave the house during such an eclipse. Another version says they are hideous vampires which live in dark places like wells, ruins, and caves; they fly on the wind to attack people in their sleep, and also lure children to their lairs to be eaten.
~Jahësme <Albania> - Female spirits which live in mountain forests and give protection to foresters, but also kidnap lost children and dance them to death.
~Katravesh (the four-eared one) <Albania> - A man-eating monster with four ears.
~Kore <Albania> - A female demon who eats children and is burned in effigy at Easter.
~Makth (nightmare) - A ghost which suffocates people, especially women, in their sleep. If its victim wakes up in time and overpowers the makth, it will grant one wish.
~Mauthia <Albania> - A beautiful woman in a golden dress and wearing a bejewlled fez which gives lifelong happiness to anyone who steals it.
~Sprija <Albania> - A female monster which spits snakes. Possibly a synonym for kulshedra.
~Syqenëz (dog eyes) <Albania> - An old woman with a second set of eyes in the back of her head which she keeps hidden by a scarf. She and her daughter lure young women to their house to cook and eat them.
~Syqenhënjeri (dog-eyed man-eater) <Albania> - A man-eating cyclops.
~Xhixhibreshka <Albania> - A beautiful fairy who can transform into a turtle.
~Vurkollak <Albania> - When a cat or other animal jumps over a corpse, it will become a vurkollak for forty days. During this time it does not decay, strange lights are seen above its tomb, and it rises from the grave every night to do evil. It can only be destroyed by being cremated on a Friday.
~Bush <Albania> - A child-eating steer which lives in ponds and swamps and can cause rain by bellowing.
~Bushtra <Albania> - A swamp-dwelling female dog which howls and spits fire and brimstone.
~Buba <Albania> - A snake-like monster which eats children and small farm animals, and hides things.
~Baljoz <Albania> - A giant sea monster which demands tribute of food, wine, and young women.
~Abe (coarse woolen cloak) <Albania> - A female ghost wearing a woolen cloak.
~Shtriga (witch) <Albania> - A woman who is envious or made bitter by childlessness may become a shtriga, a witch with the power to leave her body in the form of a moth, fly, or bee on the night before Ash Wednesday to fly down people's chimneys and suck their blood. The victim of a shtriga will grow sick and die unless the shtriga can be captured and forced to spit into her victim's mouth. After feeding, a shtriga goes into the woods and regurgitates the blood; if a silver coin is dipped in this blood and wrapped in a cloth it becomes an amulet that repels shtrigas. If a shtriga's body is moved while her soul is off hunting, she will die when she tries reenter it. A sure sign that a woman has become a shtriga is if her hair turns white when she is twenty years old. Other facial features that develop in a shtriga are pale eyes and a crooked nose, and eventually extreme hideousness. They at first continue to live among the community, but eventually relocate to remote cottages in the forest where they act as fairytale witches; they sometimes wear capes. They prefer to suck the blood of young boys, especially sons of other shtrigas. They will also eat people if they can, and especially love to gouge out a young man's heart and fry it. They also have the power of the evil eye. People who have strong faith in God are immune to shtrigas. For those with less faith, they can be repelled with garlic, puppets, holy water with a cross in it, amulets containing verses from the New Testament or the Qur'an, reciting certain verses from the Qur'an, spitting water on her, or rubbing a pinch of salt on various parts of their body before throwing it into the fire and saying, “syt i dalçin syt i plaçin.” If a sack is placed in the chimney any shtrigas attempting to enter the house will be caught and will offer great rewards to anyone who will release them. If a cross made from pigs' bones or a piece of pork left over from Shrovetide is placed at the entrance of a church on Easter Sunday any shtrigas inside will be unable to leave unless someone enters the church naked and washes the cross.
~Hizri <Albania> - A being, apparently sent from God, who goes from house to house in the form of a beggar to test homeowners' generosity. If not given charity, the hizri will put a curse on that house.
~Karkanxholl (black werewolf) <Albania> - A werewolf-like diminutive man wearing a magic chainmail shirt, or alternatively a reanimated gypsy corpse covered in chains, which appears during the twelve days of Christmas. It has poisonous breath and can cause travelers to become hopelessly lost.
~Katallan (murderer) <Albania> - A cave-dwelling, man-eating cyclops with no knees.
~Lahin <Albania> - A diminutive goblin which annoys people by calling their names at night, waking them up.
~Laura <Albania> - A freshwater-dwelling hag who can transform into a small amphibious animal. Travelers overhear her talking in a raucous voice from the riverbank, but she dives into the water if approached. She sometimes appears alongside roads, but is chased by dogs.
~Llamja <Albania> - A monster with a woman's upper half and a serpent's tail, who transforms into various forms to kidnap and eat children. She lives in the mountains and stagnant ponds, and prevents people from drinking from her private springs and watering holes.
~Mother of the Hearth <Albania> - An old woman who sits by the hearth at night and weaves or combs her hair. If she sees any children awake at night, she pokes out their eyes with her metal comb.
~Gogol <Albania and Sicily> - A giant who eats children that cry. He has a similarly disposed son.
~Gërshetëza (braid) <Albania> - A beautiful maiden who is seen combing her long, braided hair on the edges of bodies of water. She protects lakes and rivers.
~Jud (Jew ) <Albania> - The ghosts of an extinct race of giants, which wander at night and beat people up, especially drunkards. They can also transform into a variety of animals. When in horse form, they entice someone into riding them and then throw their rider and trample them to death. The only way to survive is to hide under the jud's stomach. They try to eat the moon, which causes an eclipse.
~Juda <Albania> - A long-haired female monster, possibly a female jud, which haunts water sources.
~Grabofç <Albania> - A two-headed serpent which hides one head and weeps with the other to lure people into range to be eaten by the other head.
~Flama <Albania> - A female restless spirit which causes epilepsy, nervous breakdowns, plague, glanders in horses, and a type of grapevine disease.
~Golden-Horned Goat <Albania> - Elusive mountain goats with golden horns. Zanas draw their strength from them, and lose their powers when the goats desert the mountain. In one story, a zana once disguised herself as a golden-horned goat and became the protector of the hero who managed to catch her.
~Bardha (white) <Albania> - Pale maidens of the mist who dwell underground or in the mountains. When stepped on, spoken badly of by, or otherwise offended by humans they paralyze them or render them mute. Even horses will stumble and throw their riders if they step on an invisible bardha. Bardhas are propitiated with offerings of honey, cakes, and sugar.
~Pëlhurëza (cloth) <Albania> - A tall, shrouded being which appears at night in mountains and meadows. It wraps travelers in its shroud, from which there is no escape.
~Vitore (weaver) <Albania> - A domestic spirit in the form of a small, colorful snake with golden horns. It lives in the walls, and brings good luck to the house and protects it from harm as long as it is treated respectfully. It lays gold coins, and it hisses to announce important events. When the last of the family dies, it deserts the house.
~Kukudh (plague) <Albania> - The ghost of a miser, or a lugat which is not burned in time. It looks like a short, fat man with a goat's tail, and it can only be killed with a grapevine noose. It haunts its former house, scaring away anyone who tries to stay there; if a brave hero does manage to survive the night in a kukudh's house, however, the kukudh's spirit will be freed and it will make the hero heir to his fortune. Alternatively, it is a blind woman who spreads a cholera-like disease called kukudhi.
~Kolivilor (werewolf) <Albania> - Filthy demons which appear nocturnally during the twelve days of Christmas, when they assault women, disorder herds of livestock, and do general mischief. They are afraid of fire.
~Xhindi (jinn) <Albania> - Invisible ghosts who return to the living world because of their sins or to get revenge on someone who insulted them by possessing them. The presence of a xhindi is indicated by flickering candles and creaking doors, and holy men are also able to sense them. Sometimes a xhindi possesses an entire house and drives away its occupants. Due to influence from the Arabic jinn, sometimes xhindi are described as a race of supernatural beings dwelling underground or in another world, who have institutions similar to humans. There are male and female xhindi, and they marry and have children. They have a monarchy, and they hold celebrations and festivals. There are Christian xhindi, Jewish xhindi, and Muslim xhindi. They react violently if their celebrations are intruded on, their invisible children are stepped on, or hot water is accidentally dumped on them.
~Drime (bitter) <Albania and Greece> - Demons which have a malign influence on wood and water, and are especially active in the dhrim days (variously defined as the first and last three days of March, or the first five to twelve days of August) which they are named for. During this time no one must trim grapevines or bathe.
~Gjakpirës (sanguineous) <Albania> The reanimated corpse of a person of Turkish descent, which hunts for human blood. It can be recognized because it wears a burial shroud and high heel shoes. Its grave can be located because it has a corpse candle floating over it at night; the body should then be dug up and a stake driven through its heart.
~Psoglav (dog head) <Montenegro, Bosnia, and Croatia> - A race of cannibals with horse's legs and a dog's head with iron teeth and only one centrally located eye. When they cannot procure living prey, they dig up graves to eat corpses. They live in the Dark Land, a land where the sun never shines and the ground is covered in precious gems.
~Kečizube (sturgeon's teeth) <Bosnia> - A small, hairy, forest-dwelling creature with long teeth which hides in bushes to ambush human prey. They can paralyze people by looking at them. They are sometimes described as a ball of fur with eyes and teeth.
~Lampir (butterfly) <Bosnia> - If a person steps over a piece of yarn, or has their corpse jumped over by a cat, seven or forty days after death their corpse will be possessed by an evil spirit and rise from the grave as a lampir; in both cases, the curse can be avoided if the action is immediately reversed. A lampir is hairy and wild looking, with long fingernails, goat eyes which it must hide to blend in with humans, no bones, and a body inflated with the blood it sucks from its victims. It can change into various animals, as well as changing its size; it can become long and thin to squeeze through a keyhole, or huge to intimidate its victims. Every night at midnight the lampir rises from its grave and goes to either the house of its living family or to a house near the cemetery where it is buried. It walks around the house, followed by the sound of ten sieves, and throws stones at the house. If it finds a way in it will suck the blood of the house's inhabitants, causing them to sicken and die. It also tries to pass itself off as human and convince people to sniff samples of dirt from its grave; this makes them sneeze and unless someone else is there to say “healthy” (the Bosnian equivalent of bless you) they will become a lampir when they die. Garlic and hawthorn stakes are used to stop lampirs from rising, but the only sure way is to cremate the body. If a witch gathers dirt from a lampir's grave while repeating “Adali Ada to protect me,” and then places the dirt in the threshold of her enemy's house as a corpse is carried out, the lampir will kill someone in that house that night.
~Alkarisis <Bosnia> - The ghost of an unmarried woman, which attacks pregnant women and causes problems with childbirth. They attempt to pass themselves off as living humans, but are given away because their voices sound like a goat bleating. There are two kinds: yellow and black. Yellow ones have blonde hair and can become goats and foxes. Black ones are more dangerous because they are more clever. They are scared away by men and guns.
~Aždaha <Bosnia> - A monster which is shaped like a stump, can fly without wings, eats goats, and can be heard from an hour's travel away. Long ago there were three suns in the sky, but an aždaha named Sap ate two of them. It would have eaten the third, but a gypsy woman came up with a plan to trick it into eating sheep carcasses filled with plaster, which fatally poisoned it.
~Kučibaba <Bosnia> - An old woman who lives in rivers and drags children in with her hook. Humorous stories about her and her husband playing tricks on each other were popular in medieval times.
~Zmajevi <Bosnia> - Male dragons in the form of giant, winged snakes. They mate with human women and female animals, especially cows. The offspring of such a union is a snijet or - worse - another dragon.
~Snijet <Bosnia> - The offspring of a zmajevi and a human. It develops like a normal pregnancy at first, but soon develops strange complications. The woman will bleed more than usual during birth, and what is produced is a hideous, red monster which must be immediately killed with a broom and buried in horse manure. The mother will take longer than usual to recover from giving birth, but if a woman gives birth to three snijets in her lifetime she is guaranteed to go to heaven when she dies. If a snijet is not killed immediately, it will escape but come back every day to nurse when the mother is asleep, until it is full grown and disappears to do who-knows-what.
~Karanđoloz <Bosnia> - A monster with a horrible stench which leaps on travelers' backs and forces them to carry it all night. It will ask them, “Am I heavy?” The victim must answer “no” or else it will become even heavier.
~Naletnjak <Bosnia> - A spirit which can become small to fit through keyholes, and also can transform into various animals. It appears in animal form to people who cross bridges at night and demands to be carried. It also appears as a horse and, when mounted, flies its terrified rider through the sky all night long until it is banished by the sunrise. It also frequently appears as a tall, black tornado. Naletnjaks communicate by whistling, so no one must whistle at night for fear of attracting one.
~Tvora <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which afflicts people with nightmares and hallucinations.
~Činilica <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which afflicts people with irrational anxiety and fear.
~Otrovnica <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which poisons people's blood.
~Krvopilica <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which drinks people's blood at night.
~Mraza <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which causes discord between people.
~Prikaze <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which appears at night as a cat, rabbit, goat, or dog; anyone who sees it sickens and dies shorly.
~Hudam (servant) <Bosnia> - An invisible spirit which can be summoned by repeating certain prayers for forty days while carrying an egg laid by a twenty year old rooster under the armpit. Once the hudam is summoned, the summoner must negotiate a contract with it. Once both parties are satisfied with the terms of the agreement, the hudam will become the summoner's servant.
~Urok <Bosnia> - An evil spirit which enters people who are envious and gives them the power of the evil eye.
~Mora (nightmare) <Bosnia and Croatia> - When a girl is jilted or cheated on by her sweetheart, she may be driven to sell her soul to Iblis and become a mora. She is able to turn invisible and sit on her faithless lover's chest as he sleeps every night, causing difficulty breathing and nightmares. To stop a mora, her victim must hold a green belt used in a traditional Bosnian funeral service in his right hand and pretend to sleep. When the mora sits on his chest, he must quickly put the belt on, which causes her to become visible. She will then agree to renounce her powers if he promises not to reveal her secret. A mora also loses her powers if she gets married. In Croatia, a mora is the offspring of a witch, and can transform into a fly to fit through her victim's keyhole; they can also turn into black cats. They feed off of the life force of their victims, and are not choosy, unlike the Bosnian moras.
~Tintilinić <Croatia> - The ghost of an unbaptized child, it looks like a demonic child wearing a red cap and walks through houses at night.
~Krsnik <Croatia> - A person whose soul travels at night as a white animal to fight kudlaks.
~Kudlak <Croatia> - A vampire which takes the form of a black animal.
~Pozoj <Croatia> - An enormous dragon which takes up residence under a city, with one end under the church and the other under the town square. Its motions cause earthquakes.
~Orko <Croatia> - An evil spirit which forms from chicken droppings that are not cleaned away for seven years. It takes the form of a horse which squeezes its way between a person's legs and carries them on its back to a faraway land, then abandons them there.
~Ved <Croatia> - An all-male race of hairy humanoids as tall as a peasant's house who are divided into tribes and live in hidden towns deep in the forest. Vedi have incredible strength, can cause storms simply by blowing, and can be heard from far away when they speak. Bad vedi, also known as forest vedi because of their isolationism, normally have no contact with humans but will enslave humans they catch in their territory for a time before setting them free. Good vedi, on the other hand, frequently help humans. Each ved picks a house to protect and do chores for, and will attack the vedi of rival houses.
~Krivomjeri <Croatia> - The invisible spirit of a person who lied about the boundaries of his/her land in life. All that is perceptible of the krivomjeri is the candle that carry and the sound of their chains clanking as they are forced to walk the earth each night until they have measured every inch of the land they lied about. Sometimes they are followed by a man carrying a huge rock; this is the ghost of a person who moved a boundary marker. He must carry the stone every night, asking everyone he meets three times, “Where must I place this stone?” He can only move on to the afterlife if someone answers, “Put it back where you found it.”
~Dark <Croatia> - An evil spirit in the form of a man wearing a big hat, who prefers to attack women. It appears at night on roads and in back yards, biting and slapping any women it sees; this causes large bruises and can result in unconsciousness. It also sometimes lies on the ground and lies in wait for women to trip over it in the darkness; this causes the victim to develop a fever which is fatal if not cured by someone versed in magic.
~Forest Girl <Croatia> - Diminutive, nude women which live in oak trees in the forest and are covered in long, brown hair. They are very fast and have long, strong arms. They cannot speak but communicate with each other by screaming. They are afraid of people but will nervously approach shepherds' bonfires to warm themselves when the first autumn fogs roll in. If hungry, a forest girl may approach a human house in search of food; if food is left for one in the corner of the backyard, the grateful forest girl will do small chores for the household. Even when mistreated, they never harm humans.
~The Little One <Croatia> - A being the size of a five or seven year-old, but with a clean-shaved forty year-old man's face. He wears earthy-colored clothes, a belt, and a pointy red hat. He usually stays in the buses near a field, but will sometimes ride a horse down the road. He is never in a hurry, and he never gets wet when he crosses streams. He resolves quarrels, especially between married couples. He is the protector of cows and milkmaids, but requires all milkmaids to sign their names in his book; if a woman who has not signed the book prays for more milk, the Little One will make sure that the cows actually give less milk. His favorite food is greasy oatmeal, and he will give gifts of wheat to anyone who feeds him this dish. He also repays favors more generally.
~Little Hunters <Croatia> - A troupe of green-clad, short hunters followed by tiny dogs. Their dogs and hunting horns can be heard from a great distance, but the hunters themselves are eerily silent. They suddenly appear and just as suddenly are gone with no explanation.
~Babaroga (horned old woman) <Croatia and Bosnia> - An old witch with a single horn on her forehead, who kidnaps children from their homes at night and eats them.
~Goldhorn <Slovenia, Austria, and Italy> - An elusive, white chamois buck with golden horns which lives on Mount Triglav. Its horns are the key to finding a treasure hidden somewhere on the mountain, but it is difficult to kill because its blood causes Triglav flowers to spring up, which instantly heal it when it eats them. The dazzling sun reflected off its horns has caused many would-be hunters to plunge to their deaths.
~Dziwożona (goddess) <Slovenia, Poland, and Czech Republic> - A malevolent swamp spirit created from the ghost of a midwife, old maid, unmarried mother, pregnant woman, or illegitimate child. She takes the form of a hideous old woman with a hair-covered body and breasts so long she washes her clothes with them; she wears a red hat with a fern twig stuck in it. She kidnaps human children and replaces them with changelings; her changelings are hairy and have a huge body, small head, thin arms and legs, claws, and a hump. They teeth unnaturally quickly and are spiteful to everyone, but afraid of their “mothers.” They are also noisy, gluttonous, refuse to take naps, and and often have a disability of some kind. In the rare case that one survives to adulthood, it is unable to talk and mistrusts people. To protect a child from being taken by a dziwożona, one must tie a red ribbon around its hand, put a red hat on its head, and not let it see the moon. The mother must also never wash the child's diapers after nightfall or let the child out of her sight. Dziwożonas can also be kept away by St. John's wort. To make one return an abducted child, take the changeling to a dump, whip it with a birch stick, and pour water over it from an eggshell, while shouting, “Take yours, give mine back!”
~Runa <Slovakia> - A wind spirit who spreads diseases but can be pacified by leaving a bowl of semolina on the doorstep as a gift to her and saying, “Here, wind, cook yourself a porridge.”‌‌​‌ She appears as an enormous woman with long, loose golden hair, wearing a white robe, and with a golden key on her belt. She is always surrounded by the children she abducts from neglectful mothers and raises as her own. She is the keeper of all hidden treasures, and will give people gold if they give her their own children. In mining regions she is regarded as an earth spirit who turns everything she touches to gold and steals food from miners. In many stories she is ambushed by the angry miners, tied up, and thrown in the river, but with her gone all the ore in the mountain disappears.
~Grgalica (bird's cry) <Slovakia and Poland> - A giantess of the forest who has black feet, shaggy hair, and enormous hands and eyes. She catches men and suffocates them with her breasts.
~Hejkalek <Czech Republic> - A hairy man with glowing eyes who lives in the forest; however, he is usually not seen at all, only heard and felt. He leads people astray in the woods, causes trees to fall and destroy wagons, and other mean-spirited tricks, always accompanied by the sound of his laughter echoing through the trees. If someone yells “Gu! Gu!” into the forest and receives an answer, that is the hejkalek; it will come to him and either force him to carry him to the next village or simply crush the victim to death right there. He subsists on whatever small animals he can forage, but will steal food from travelers if he gets the opportunity. One good thing about the hejkalek, though, is that no robbers have the courage to hide out in a forest haunted by one. Another good quality is that he will reward anyone who gives him water when he is thirsty.
~Babay (grandfather) <Ukraine and Russia> - A boogeyman usually described, when physically described at all, as a pitch-black, crooked old man; sometimes he also has some deformity, such as muteness, missing limbs, or a limp. He carries a cane and a bag. He lives in forests, swamps, and gardens, but at night wanders the streets stuffing people into his bag. He peers through windows at night to see if children are asleep; if they aren't, he rattles the windows to scare them. He sometimes hides under children's beds to abduct them if they get up in the night.
~Upiór <Ukraine and Poland> - Perhaps even more than the striga, the prototype of the modern vampire. An upiór is created when a person dies who was cursed, died suddenly, whose corpse was desecrated, had an animal jump over their corpse, committed suicide, was a witch, died unbaptized, was killed by another upiór, had red hair, was left-handed, had a limp, had a unibrow, had two sets of teeth, had a grey mark on their back, died in childbirth or shortly thereafter, was buried in an old shirt, followed a different religion to the rest of the community, had a large head, had no armpit hair, or liked walking by moonlight in life. A person long since buried can also become an upiór and seek revenge if one of their family members burns their portrait. Upiórs, unlike other vampires, are not killed by decapitation and so often are seen carrying their own heads; those without decapatated heads have glowing, wolf-like eyes. They come out at night to suck the blood of people and cattle, which causes symptoms of fatigue, paleness, seating, and recurring nightmares, eventually leading to death. They also attack people and tear them limb from limb with their supernatural strength or kill with their poisonous breath. Some of them are able to walk in the day; they climb up the church steeple and let out a shriek which kills everyone who hears it. They also cause people to have sleep paralysis or sleepwalk. Upiórs exhibit an unusual amount of their living personalities compared to other revenants; they have been known to return to breastfeed their living children, visit their widowed spouses, and do household chores. If an upiór (except the previously mentioned variety which can walk during the day) is unable to return to its grave before dawn, it dissolves into tar. To detect an upiór, a child should be made to ride into the churchyard on a horse and point out the grave; once exhumed, it will be found to have not suffered rigor mortis, will still have a ruddy face, and will have blood beneath its fingernails. No one should look into a mirror after dusk, because then they will see an upiór. To prevent a suspected upiór from rising, they should be taken from the house through a hole in the wall and buried with garlic, bricks, or chunks of metal in the mouth and branches of wild rose, hawthorn, or blackthorn in the coffin with them. If a person drinks an upiór's blood or eats dirt from its grave, they will never be attacked by it.
~Shubin <Ukraine and Russia> - A mine spirit which looks like a miner wearing a fur coat and carrying a torch. It is believed to be the ghost of a miner who perished in a gas explosion while testing whether the level of “firedamp” (methane) in the mine was safe; the fur coat was to provide minor protection from burns, but unfortunately was not enough. Now his ghost wanders the tunnels, leading lost miners to safety with his torch. Other legends instead claim the shubin was a cruel and murderous mining master, or a naïve new miner who was tricked into the dangerous job of testing the firedamp; in these cases the spirit deliberately causes accidents in the mine as revenge. An evil shubin must be exorcised with prayers. In yet other versions, the shubin can act good or evil depending on the worthiness of the miner it encounters.
~Mavka <Ukraine and Bulgaria> - It is a tradition to throw a handkerchief in the air on Pentecost, saying the name of a child who died unbaptized and adding, “I baptize you.” This is believed to allow the child's soul into heaven. A soul which goes seven years without being freed in this way will become a mavka, as will young girls who die tragically. Mavkas appear as beautiful girls, but can be recognized by the fact they have no shadows or reflections and - depending on the region - have hollow backs. They live in groups in forests, caves, and (presumably abandoned) sheds, which they like to decorate with rugs. They steal flax and use it, along with their supernatural skill, to spin transparent clothes for themselves. They love flowers, which they bedeck their hair with as well as planting them in the mountains in springtime to lure people to them. They seduce young men into the woods and tickle them to death; however, they are not completely evil as they look after cattle and drive wild animals away from farmland. On Pentecost, they hold dances, games, and licentious activities to the accompaniment of a demonic musician.
~Hovanets (to bring up) <Ukraine> - A combination of familiar and house spirit which can be created by incubating a rooster's egg under the armpit for nine days during which one must not pray or look at icons; a hovanets can also be created from a miscarriage after seven years, provided the mother never tells anyone of her pregnancy. A hovanets looks like a little man, sometimes with horns, or a dog or cat, though more exotic forms are not unheard of. It performs household chores like a normal house spirit and also steals from the surrounding houses and brings them to its owner, but the owner of a hovanets will eventually suffer a painful death and go to Hell; therefore, hovanets are seen feasting and celebrating when their masters are near death. A hovanets must be given unsalted food. If a person becomes repentant and wishes to rid themselves of their hovanets, they face a difficult challenge. The only sure way to destroy a hovanets is if it is struck by lightning, but an exorcism may work, and certain legends say a hovanets will die if struck by the back of the hand but will come back to life it struck with a wooden stick.
~Odminok <Ukraine> - A type of changeling left by Mamuna, the wife of Chort (devil). She creates it by beating ashes with a wooden rod, or has her husband create one from an axe handle carelessly left by a humans front door. Alternatively, sometimes it is just a child of Mamuna born on the same day as the kidnapped child. Another way that one can be created is if someone brings a log found in a field and brings it home; the log is actually sentient and will cause the mother to unknowingly overlay her child, and will then disguise itself as the child and replace it. An odminok has a small head and a huge stomach but never seems to grow like other children; however, as soon as it is left alone in the house it becomes huge and eats all the food in the house. An odminok which is raised to adulthood by humans may gain prophetic powers and become a vampire. The human child which is abducted is also turned into an odminok and used by the Chort as a servant.
~Yarchuk <Ukraine> - A black dog with white patches above its eyes is called “two-eyed” and is able to see invisible spirits. The firstborn, all black, female puppy, who is the ninth generation of such, is able to do one better. Such a dog is a yarchuk, a dog with wolf's teeth and poisonous vipers living inside it. A yarchuk can not only see spirits, but can also identify witches, and its bites are able to harm both witches and spirts, causing a wound which rots and does not heal. Because of this, witches will seek out a newly born yarchuk and kill it while it is still a defenseless puppy; this is why yarchuks are so rare.
~Vovkun <Ukraine> - A person who is conceived on Easter, the child of a woman who saw a wolf or ate meat from an animal killed by a wolf during her pregnancy, or who in adulthood breaks one of God's laws or is cursed by a witch, will turn into a wolf called a vovkun. They rob people on the roads and try to eat the moon, but can be restored to human form by peeling off their outer layer of wolf skin or by other methods which unfortunately were rendered illegible by Google Translate.
~Lazavik (vine bush) <Belarus> - A diminutive, long-bearded man with a single glowing eye in his head and carrying a whip which he uses to chase away lozniks. It lives in a small house with no windows or doors in a vine bush in a marsh, which it prefers to hide in when humans are around. It dies if its marsh is drained.
~Loznik (willow) <Belarus> - Small, mischievous devils which live in willow beds and die if these are uprooted or wither. They cause people to get tangled in roots and fall into the bog.
~Zhalezny Chalavek (iron man) <Belarus> - An enormous man made of iron which lives in iron-rich swamps and bogs and kills children and loose farm animals.
~Shatan <Belarus> - Cowardly, lazy beings which spend all day wandering aimlessly and annoying people; they also cause people they come in contact to develop the same habits. They cannot communicate and do not help each other when in trouble; they are picked on and sometimes even killed by more powerful beings.
~Zheuzhyk <Belarus> - A benevolent being which lives at the bottom of a lake. It is a thin old man with a long, red beard who spends the day swimming underwater and the night sailing in a rowboat. He will rescue anyone who is drowning, and is even able to stop storms.
~Zhytsen <Belarus> - A short, bearded man who causes good harvests. At harvest time, he inspects the fields; if he finds grain left unharvested he takes them to the field of a better farmer. He has a third eye in the back of his head to make him more efficient at inspecting fields.
~Zlyden <Belarus> - A small creature with a hunchback and both catlike and doglike features, which wears large boots and hats with earflaps. Groups of them infest the houses of greedy people and hide under the masonry stove. When the house is empty of people, they emerge and break things; their cries can be heard all over the village. The reason they act in groups is because they are too cowardly to try anything when alone.
~Hartsuk <Belarus> - Mountain-dwelling goblins which are followers of the pagan god Perun. They are able to walk without creating any sound, and can turn into birds of prey which can create hurricanes by flapping their wings. They spend their time playing like children, but they are also the enemies of the forest and will damage the plants there whenever they get a chance.
~Azarnitsy <Belarus> - Water spirits that live in the Black Lake. They look like seaweed-clad young women with dark skin, green hair, and flippers in place of feet; they have water in their veins instead of blood, so their skin is cold to the touch. On nights with a bright moon, they swim to the bank and sing; their song starts out sounding like frogs croaking when they are underwater, but becomes a sweet sound like nightingales when they emerge from the lake. They drag down and drown anyone they see.
~Apiven <Belarus> - A small creature with a sparse covering of dark hairs, a pig's snout, horns, and hooved feet; it can only be seen by people who are drunk. It sits at the end of the table at every feast and tempts those who are inclined to drink to get rip-roaring drunk; if this doesn't work, it slips a potion into their drink which increases its potency.
~Arzhaven <Belarus> - A fat, rust-covered monster with skinny legs which lives underwater in swamps with iron deposits. It drags under and eats animals and drunkards that get lost in the swamp. Its constant belching makes its fellow swamp spirits give it a wide berth. Even in winter, its presence can be detected by spots of rust on the ice.
~Mesha <Belarus> - An evil spirit which appears as a medium-sized, black, hairy beast or as an ugly human. It lives in abandoned buildings and scares people, but is cursed to be unable to do any more serious harm. Sometimes they enter inhabited houses and hide in the garbage hole under the stove, feeding on leftovers. They often become fast friends with the household's pet dog.
~Turosik <Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia> - A golden-horned deer or aurochs which leads hunters off the path and gets them lost.
~Hapun <Belarus and Ukraine> - An evil being which resembles a short, crooked old man with a knee-length grey beard who lives in a burrow beneath a snag in the center of a forest surrounded by swampland. He turns invisible and flies forth, looking for naughty children who cry; he cannot hurt them when they are at home, but as soon as they leave their yards he swoops down and snatches them up in his bag. He takes them back to his burrow, where he tortures them for years with whips and nettles until they grow up to become hapuns just like him. No one has ever escaped. In a bit of unfortunate cultural baggage, he also abducts Jews of all ages.
~Paliasia (fields) <Belarus> - A beautiful girl with a bird's nest on her head who takes care of the animals that live or graze in crop fields. She will help farmers search for lost cattle in exchange for bread or passing a message to the damaha (a female house spirit).
~Liadashсik <Belarus> - A winged demon covered in hair and with one eye. It hates women, so it causes female-specific illnesses, especially in regards to birth.
~Piachurnik (oven) <Belarus> - A domestic spirit which lives under the stove and takes the appearance of a bipedal cat, but prefers not to be seen at all. It likes for the woman of the house to leave it leftovers on the stove. It likes to play pranks, like hiding important items. When danger threatens the house, it will warn the inhabitants by moving furniture and breaking dishes. If disrespected, it yowls up the stovepipe.
~Lizun <Belarus> - A monster which lives in wells and vegetable gardens. It has a tongue like sandpaper which it uses to lick the skin off of nosy children.
~Kansy <Belarus> - Small creatures who attack in packs, latching onto their victim and sucking its blood like leeches. They go into a blood-frenzy which makes them withstand pain and even holy objects, but also causes them to have no sense of self-preservation and they frequently suffer heavy losses in their attacks; due to this and low birth rates, they are mercifully rare. If only two or three of them are present when they encounter potential prey, one will latch on while the others let out a high-pitched squeak to summon the rest of the pack; this squeak can only be heard by people carrying “Thursday Salt,” which is salt blessed by a priest on Good Thursday. They also squeak to summon more dangerous supernatural creatures if they are losing.
~Hajun <Belarus> - The guardian spirit of groves, this being looks like a bipedal bear with a human head and hair made of silver moss; all the animals in each hajun's grove obey him. There are some sections of the grove which are his favorite for their natural beauty, so he scares away any woodcutters who try to chop down trees in those sections. Sometimes his anger gets the best of him and he causes a tree to fall on the woodcutter without fair warning. No house should be built without the hajun's permission, especially not with wood from his grove. To gain a hajun's blessing, one should leave gifts on a tree stump and say, “Here is the treat for grove grandfather. Eat it by yourself or give to your granddaughters.” The next day, if the gifts are gone it is a good sign and the house will be exceptionally long-lasting, but if they are still there the hajun disapproves. If construction goes forward on a building the hajun disapproves of, he will send a rabbit to the house as a warning that it will soon collapse.
~Hajoŭkі <Belarus> - Nature spirits who are the granddaughters of a hajun. They are young women who are covered in white fur in the winter, but shed their skins in spring and are indistinguishable from humans (albeit unnaturally beautiful). They love all living things and all the animals in the forest know to come to them to be healed when they are injured. They cannot be caught or tamed, and will disappear if a human gets too close. The hajun forbids his granddaughters from leaving the grove, but they don't listen and sneak out to watch human festivals. When they see a girl wearing a pretty dress they like, they will wait until she is alone and steal her clothes. On Kupala Night, they come out to watch the bonfires, roll in rye, and collect healing herbs. At midnight on that night, they retire to the forest to watch the legendary fern-flower bloom, as only they know when and where it blooms; any human who follows them without being seen can find it.
~Habior <Belarus> - A giant crayfish with golden claws and eyes; he is the king of the crayfish.
~Damasia <Belarus> - A female spirit of the hearth who lives behind the stove.
~Comol (camel) <Slavic Bestiaries> - An animal whose urine sets anything it touches on fire.
~Bovesh (bull) <Slavic Bestiaries> - An Indian animal with five legs.
~Dobrokhozhiy (householder) <Belarus and Poland> - A domestic spirit which appears identical to the master of the house but can change his size. He can also appear differently to warn the master of some harm that will befall him, but his prophecies are difficult to understand. He can get angry if not treated well, but mostly means well; when angry, he can be pacified by singing a sad song to him, which makes him cry and forget what he was angry about. They enjoy playing with children. Whenever something is wrong in the house, the woman of the house should leave some food and new mittens in the corner of the yard as a gift to the dobrokhozhiy; then he will fix everything. Uniquely among house spirits, the dobrokhozhiy appreciates gifts of clothes, and it is polite to give him a new set of clothes on important festival days. When speaking to him, one must address him by all of his names and titles.
~Kryžacіk (cross) <Belarus> - When a person's tombstone is damaged within forty days of their burial, they become a kryžacіk and must haunt the churchyard or cemetery for the rest of time. They formless and invisible, manifesting as the groaning of the trees and the howling of the wind, but during the last days of Radonitsa they become more powerful and are able to take solid form as a grey crow with human eyes. They are unable to leave the bounds of the graveyard, which they protect from thieves and vandals. They also hate drunkards, and will push them into open graves. They are repelled by holy water and crosses.
~Zhaleznaja Baba (iron hag) <Belarus> - A short, old woman with iron breasts who live in fields and gardens. She catches children who try to steal food with her iron hook and grinds them in her giant mortar and pestle, then eats them.
~Vazila (to carry) <Belarus> - (This, and several other creatures from Belarus, are believed to have been fabricated by folklorist Pavel Drevlyanskiy in 1846. However, several of his presumed hoaxes were later revealed to be based on actual obscure folklore, so I wouldn't count any of them out.) A vazila is a domestic spirit which looks like a clothed man with a horse's ears and hooves. Every house has its own vazila, who lives in the stables and protects and tends to the horses. When taking horses out to graze at night, the herdsmen will plant a pole in the ground and top it with a horse skull to summon the vazila to guard the horses from attacks by wolves and especially kumelgans; the herdsmen do not consider it necessary to do anything further and will leave the horses in the vazila's care while they go off for a night of partying. If predators or a kumelgan show up, all the horses know to run to the pole; nothing will dare hurt them when they are in its shadow. Vazilas also sometimes carry a magic weed on their backs which they leave in the horse trough; it makes horses which eat it become strong and healthy. A vazila will mercilessly torture any kumelgan it catches in the stable.
~Kumelgan (hind legs) <Belarus> - An evil spirit which looks like a bipedal horse and is the arch enemy of the vazila. It hates horses, and will watch for any moment when the vazila is absent or distracted to sneak into the stables and torture and kill horses and poison their food. It is not very weak, and is easily killed by a couple of horses working together, to say nothing of a vazila; what it lacks in strength, however, it makes up for in cunning and agility. It will slip in unnoticed by walking on all fours and pretending to be a regular horse. It will then ambush the horses in their stalls and strangle them one by one. It can change its color to better blend in with the variety of horse on that particular farm. It will not kill foals, but instead kidnaps them and leaves them in the wilderness to be eaten by wild animals. It also leads horses away and tortures them in a similar manner when they are outside grazing.
~Balamutień (to muddle) <Belarus> - A water spirit which lives in rivers and ponds; he has a head like a jar, with a puffy face, goose-like skin, emaciated and crooked legs, and a bloated belly. He greatly likes human women, and goes to places on the bank where women do their laundry (he is especially drawn to linen) to engage in seemingly harmless teasing; he muddies the water, pulls girls in and gets their clothes wet, pinches their calves, and other tricks. However, there is a dark side to this behavior (as if it weren't already somewhat creepy from a modern perspective); the balamutień is actually examining his choices and picking his future mate. When he decides on a girl he wants, he lies in wait for her to approach the bank. When she does, he emerges and hypnotizes her into following him underwater to be his mate for the rest of her life.
~Bai <Belarus> - An invisible house spirit who lives in his own hut and lulls children to sleep at night with a barely audible lullaby. In exchange, he is given a bowl of milk and a spoonful of porridge daily.
~Zyuzya (to freeze) <Belarus> - The personification of winter, envisioned as a stocky man with white hair and a long, white beard. He wears an unbuttoned mantel and his feet and head are bare. He carries an iron mace which he strikes against trees to cause frost. He sometimes visits villages to warn the inhabitants of a harsh winter or to help people.
~Varhin (to torment) <Belarus> - A giant, demonic, black cat with fiery eyes which is the king of all cats. It sometimes disguises itself as a normal cat and is adopted as a pet, but it drives its owner to violent madness. Its purring summons clouds of insects that fly inside people's heads and kill them from the inside. He greatly fears wise men and women who can banish him or even destroy him.
~Zhizh <Belarus> - A flaming man who walks underground. When he walks slowly, the soil warms and the plants awake from their winter slumber; when he walks faster, he starts wildfires.
~Khikhitun (to giggle) <Belarus> - A minor demon with the appearance of a horned monkey. It laughs at people who will soon suffer misfortune, but a savvy person may be able to use this as a warning to avoid the disaster.
~Hut <Belarus> - A house spirit which lives in the attic and looks like a fireball, though it can change itself into inanimate objects as well. It flies through the air to steal grain and gold from other households; it is red when it carries gold and black when it brings sheaves of grain. The people of the house must keep it happy by feeding it fried eggs, or else it will burn down the house.
~Vužalka (grass snake) <Belarus> - The daughters of the king of the snakes, which have the upper bodies of beautiful women with long hair but snake tails for the lower half. They can also change fully into human form or fully into snake form; in every form they are recognizable by their golden earrings. They spend their time perched on the branches of old trees, combing their hair. They possess great riches which they will give to young men who they take a liking to, but they will kill the entire family of anyone who insults them.
~Kuk <Belarus> - A giant bird which is the ruler of all birds. Long ago it protected birds and scared away all predators, but then one day it disappeared and has not been seen since. The birds held a council and decided to appoint the cuckoo to search for the missing Kuk, and granted him the right to use their nests since he has no time to spare from his search to build a nest of his own. Ever since, the cuckoo has flown across the earth, calling the Kuk's name, but has never found it.
~Tsytsokhy <Belarus> - A monster which is half-woman, half-toad. She smothers naughty children to death with her iron breasts.
~Zazowka <Belarus> - A demon of the forest with the appearance of an inhumanly beautiful nude girl who covers herself with her long hair. She lures young men into the forest with her looks and her beautiful singing voice. Sometimes she kills men on the spot by overpowering them with her love, but others return home; those who survive inevitably go back into the forest in search of her and commit suicide when they cannot find her. She is never seen in winter.
~Koshkalacheń (cat skin) <Belarus> - A were-cat or were-frog.
~Ahniavіk (fire) <Belarus> - A household spirit in the form of a small, agile man who lives in the oven. When he hears the crackle of decrepitated wood, he throws coals or ashes in the food.
~Kastamahi (bone) <Belarus> - Animated skeletons which rise from their graves to frighten horses and cause horrible wrecks when carriages drive past the cemetery. This can be prevented by reversing the wheels from left to right and similarly reversing the team poles.
~Smaljany Chort (tar demon) <Belarus> - A demon who oversees the production of wood-tar. I'm not sure if we should include this, since while the use of birch tar did exist in medieval Europe, I'm not sure that it was as large a trade and as organized as the lore for this creature suggests. The Smaljany Chort oversees every step of the production: he helps to cut down the trees and follows the shipments of tar all the way to their buyers. During the day he masquerades as a simple human taskmaster in charge of managing the workers at the tar factory, but at night he becomes a black goat which guards the tarworks and licks up spilled tar.
~Puščavіk <Belarus> - The leshiy's older and more dangerous brother, who only inhabits untouched ancient forests. Unlike his more reasonable younger brother, the puščavіk has no mercy for humans or domesticated animals and sees it as his duty to protect his forest at all costs. He looks like a towering being covered in moss, so that when not in motion he cold be mistaken for an ancient tree. He can kill just by looking at a person, but if you can run out of the forest before he finds you then you are safe because he cannot leave the boundaries of his domain. He especially hates people who sing. Even if thwarted in killing a person, he may succeed in crippling them or at the very least will spoil any berries they pick in his woods.
~Lesavki <Belarus> - Small, carefree forest spirits which look like grey, humanoid hedgehogs and are the offspring of a leshiy and a kikimora. They spend their time playing and dancing in circles, but they like to play pranks on humans. They get people lost, dump rotten wood on their heads, and get them tangled in cobwebs. They live in piles of fallen leaves and stay awake from summer through the end of autumn, but hibernate through winter and spring.
~Kupal'ski Dzyadok (Kupala gaffer) <Belarus> - An old man who goes around on Kupala Night and collects all the magical fern flowers, thus why they are so rare. However, if someone encounters him and spreads a cloth on the ground, he will drop one of the precious flowers onto it.
~Domovichka <Belarus> - The unmarried daughter of a domovoy. She stays eternally young by seducing human men, but she demands they stay faithful to her and will punish them if they don't. She spends the rest of her time spinning thread beneath the floor with the other female house spirits.
~Ulišyca <Belarus> - Part of the traditional festivities for Kupala Night include setting fire to scarecrows; however, it is a bad sign if one of these effigies falls over. If it does, it must be thrown in the river, but sometimes one washes ashore. If it lays on dry land for as many months as there were people at the festival, it becomes an ulišyca, a female demon with red eyes, a mouth slit from ear to ear, a flat nose, and a cow's tail. She lures night travelers into her forest lair and then turns into a six-legged bear to torture them to death. She also digs up corpses in the graveyard, reanimates them, and has conversations with them, sometimes even moving each other to tears. In the morning, she disappears and the corpse climbs back into its coffin.
~Kapialiushniks (hat) <Belarus> - A man in ill-fitting clothes and a wide-brimmed hat casting his eyes in shadow, who creates fireballs which lure people to him. He then stands there, not speaking or reacting to them at all, until they start to leave; then he suddenly lets out a peal of terrifying laughter and creates the sound of wings flapping, which scares the people and causes them to run back home. It is unknown if he is truly dangerous or just enjoys scaring people, because no one has ever stuck around long enough to find out.
~White Baba (white hag) <Belarus> - A ghostly being which suddenly appears in front of a man, looking like a shapely young woman in a white wedding dress. She suddenly draws back her veil to reveal the rotting face of a corpse, then disappears; this is an omen of death for the viewer.
~Hohlik (topknot) <Belarus> - A small household spirit in the form of a cat who is the servant or child of a domovoy. It guards the pantry but will smash dishes and cause supplies to spoil if angered by the carelessness of the mistress of the house.
~Dzedka <Belarus> - A benevolent spirit which appears as an old beggar with a long red beard and red eyes, and carrying a bag. He travels the roads and fields, looking for unhappy people. When he spots one, he makes them fall asleep; if they are poor, he leaves them with a bag of money, but if they are already wealthy he gives them a dream showing what they must do to be happy.
~Belun <Belarus> - An old man with a white beard, wearing a white shroud, carrying a white staff, and with a bag around his neck. He helps people who are lost in the forest find their way, and he helps field laborers, but most commonly he appears in rye fields and asks people to wipe his nose. If someone does, the bag opens and some gold coins fall out, then he disappears. The amount of gold is enough to fill whatever the person used to wipe his nose.
~Zlydnja <Belarus> - Once, a swamp snake coiled around Chort's neck and tried to bite him. Presumably impressed, he transformed it into Zlydnja. She is an invisible woman without a tongue, eyes, or ears; instead of a soul she has a pot of abominations, which she distributes to humans.
~Kopsha <Belarus> - A female spirit of a terrifying and sooty appearance who must be appeased by leaving money in coffins, but who will help those who ask find buried treasure.
~Kanapelka (hemp) <Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania> - A nude, female water spirit which lives in the irrigation of hemp and flax fields. They tickle people to death with their sharp breasts.
~Vaўkalak​​ <Belarus> - When a person truly angers the Devil, he may transform that person into a wolf. This is no vicious werewolf, for the person retains his/her human intelligence and is easily recognized by family members, who take the vaўkalak in and provide food and shelter for it. However, such a person cannot stay in one place for long, suffering from an irresistable wanderlust.
~Laumė <Lithuania> - Once worshipped as goddesses, Laumės are fairies which live in lakes, abandoned bath-houses, lake islands, and dense forests. In the earliest stories, they appeared as mares and female goats, bears, and dogs, but later they began to appear as women with some combination of bird's feet, the head or lower body of a female goat, the lower half of a female dog or a mare, and a cyclopean eye. They also have large breasts made of stone. In still later beliefs (which may postdate the medieval period; Wikipedia doesn't specify dates for this) they appeared as beautiful women who are either nude or clad in expensive clothing. They tend to appear in groups of three, and are able to do “women's work” (weaving, spinning, etc.) with supernatural skill. They are protectors of children and often prophesy at births, but they hate men and will tickle or pinch them to death and eat them. They help those who are industrious, but punish those who are lazy or disrespectful. They can cause storms and hail by singing and dancing as punishment; a song and dance believed to have been learned from the Laumės was traditionally performed by young girls at Lithuanian weddings and was believed to have a diminished form of their rain-making ability. Laumės gather in meadows or near lakes, rivers, and swamps on nights of the full moon or the new moon to watch the dew fall and dance, leaving behind fairy rings. They are most powerful on a Friday night when there is a new moon. They raise giant cows which everyone is free to milk, but the cows cannot survive cold weather.
~Žaltys <Lithuania> - A small animal which was once believed to be sacred to the sun goddess. If found in a field and offered milk, it will become one's pet and live near the stove. A house with a Žaltys in it will be prosperous, but killing it brings bad luck on the house.
~Serbai <Lithuania and Belarus> - A personification of hunger and poverty which appears as a man wearing white clothes and a hat. He comes to houses or whole villages where people waste bread and punishes them by standing in front of ovens and not allowing anyone to get to the baking bread. He appears most often when beans are in bloom, and also sometimes at Easter. He can be kept away by bringing a sheave of wheat into one's home as soon as harvest begins. He also flees back to the forest when he sees women going out to reap the fields. When he is around, you have to sit on your left hand so you are not tempted to steal bread with it.
~Tranelis <Lithuania> - Tiny men in ragged clothing who secretly do chores for people who wish for help. If given clothes, however, they will leave and never return.
~Baubas <Lithuania> - A black figure with red eyes, long arms, and wrinkled fingers, who lives under the carpet or in a dark spot in the house. It tears people's hair or suffocates them.
~Vilkacis <Lithuania and Latvia> - A werewolf which sometimes reveals hidden treasure.
~Giristis <Lithuania> - A hairy, horned monster that lives in the forest. It kills people with its gaze, and kidnaps attractive young women.
~Shungalvis <Lithuania> - Dog-headed, man-eating humanoids who were used in warfare before the invention of weapons. They can run fast enough to catch any human, but not if the human wears his shoes backwards.
~Deive <Lithuania> - Beautiful women with long golden hair who are skilled at women's crafts, but punish women who work on Thursday.
~Pūķis <Lithuania and Latvia> - A multi-headed, fire-breathing dragon which lives in or near water sources. It can only be killed with silver. A pūķis can be tamed by selling one's soul to it or an already tamed one can be bought from the devil for the same price. Once tamed, it lives in an outbuilding on its owner's property and flies in the form of a fireball to steal large quantities of food, gold, and other goods in its sack-shaped tail. It must be fed with human blood and its master, when dying, will suffer greatly and ultimately go to Hell.
~Barzdukai (bearded man) <Lithuania and Prussia> - Small, bearded men who live underground and have great wealth. They keep their stores of bread and beer under elder trees. They most often appear on moonlit nights, and can only be seen by the sickly. Twice a year, people leave a feast for them in the threshing house; in the morning, omens regarding agriculture are read from which dishes they ate and which they left untouched. They also have close relatives called markopoles, but I could not find any meaningful distinction between them. Both kinds of beings are servants of the god Pushkaits and are believed to be humans cursed by the gods.
~Vilktakis (with wolf's hair) <Lithuania> - A type of werewolf; it appears like a normal wolf, but has human teeth, a white spot on its chest, and a shorter tail than a real wolf's. A person may be born a werewolf, or witches may turn themselves or others into one using a magic belt. A person who is already a werewolf can transfer the curse to someone else by toasting to that person's health and receiving thanks, and a person may become a werewolf by rolling over a rotten willow stump. A vilktakis who is injured in wolf form will have the same injuries in human form, and if killed will be revealed to be a person wearing a wolf skin. Those who are cursed with lycanthropy are mostly harmless because they retain a human mind and only lack the power of speech, but may be forced by hunger to eat livestock. Those who willingly choose to become werewolves, on the other hand, usually do so for evil intentions and are highly dangerous. The only way to permanently cure oneself of the curse is to kneel motionlessly for one hundred years.
~Lauma <Latvia> - A spirit who assists at births and tries to ensure the survival of both the mother and the baby. If the mother dies or gives the child up for adoption, the lauma will follow and protect the child throughout life as a spiritual foster mother. Laumas also spin the child's fate at birth.
Husbands, suspicious at the high rate of infant mortality despite the lauma's best efforts, began falsely accusing them of faking the child's death and abducting it. This caused the laumas to become corrupted into evil hags, but they still have hope that one day they will be restored.
~Vadatays <Latvia> - A restless spirit created when a person dies before being able to dig up their buried possessions, or from a person who died before his/her time or by suicide. At noon and midnight, they gain the power to cause people to wander far from where they intend to go. Sometimes it accomplishes this by appearing as a fellow traveler and distracting the victim with small talk, while other times it is an invisible force which compels a person to travel in a certain direction.
~Kratt <Estonia> - A familiar which is a piece of hay animated by the devil in exchange for three drops of its master's blood. It will fly through the air to steal for its master, but if not kept constantly busy it will attack its own master. When it outlives its usefulness, it can be gotten rid of by giving it an impossible task; this causes it to spontaneously combust.
~Ahyualune <Estonia> - A little man who lives under the stove or the floorboards. He comes out when soup is cooking and asks for a small taste. If taken pity on, he uses an enormous ladle to drink all the soup in one slurp and leaves the family to starve.
~Vanapagan (old pagan) <Estonia> - Malicious, dim-witted giants who live in caves, both at the bottoms of lakes and under dry ground. They are skilled blacksmiths and sometimes invite people to visit them and give them seemingly ordinary coals; if these coals are put in an apron, they turn to gold. Vanapagans will build bridges for humans, but the first person who crosses the bridge forfeits his/her soul to the Devil.
~Vanachalba (old devil) <Estonia> - Gray-haired beings who herd wild animals. They lead travelers astray through swamps and thickets, but a hunter can arrange a deal with one to be granted good luck in the hunt.
~Witkəś (water) <Russia> - When bears and elk become very old, they eat large quantities of dirt and sink underwater to become water spirits: witkəś in rivers and wiktul' if in lakes, though the distinction seems to be somewhat academic. They spend their time constantly digging to expand their own lake or river, and their shed antlers are mistaken by modern scientists for wooly mammoth tusks. They are known to invite humans to tea. Animals avoid the domain of a wiktul', and even birds will not fly over them. Witkəś lie in wait in whirlpools and drag in and drown anything that moves. The only known way to kill one is to sail a flaming boat full of salt, pitch, and gunpowder, manned by a scarecrow decoy, into the whirlpool. At around the time the ice starts to drift, it is traditional to sacrifice a reindeer to the witkəś; in other places sacrifices of copper cauldrons, silk handkerchiefs, and silver coins have been known.
~Fiery Serpent <Russia and Ukraine> - An evil spirit which streaks across the night sky as a comet, a flaming broom, or a blue fireball, and enters the houses of widows through the chimney. It shapeshifts into the form of the widow's husband, but can be recognized because it has no spinal cord and is unable to correctly pronounce certain holy words and phrases; however, its victims are usually so maddened by grief that they fall for it hook, line, and sinker. The serpent brings rich gifts to its lovers, but these turn into horse manure when the sun rises. Women visited by a fiery serpent suffer weight loss, hallucinations of being tortured, and finally commit suicide. The children of a human and a fiery serpent are born with cold, black skin; hooves; and no eyelids; and they live very short lives.
~Indrik (unicorn) <Russia> - A giant bull with a deer's legs, a horse's head, and a single horn on its nose. It lives on the Holy Mountain where no other living thing may tread and is the king of all animals; its motions cause earthquakes.
~Blud (debauchery) <Russia and Ukraine> - A demon which leads people in circles.
~Sirin <Russia> - A bird with the head of a woman wearing a crown. They live in the garden of Eden and sing beautiful songs to the saints, but it is dangerous for mortals to hear them when they occasionally fly into the fallen world because anyone who hears their melodies will stop caring about anything except hearing that music again. On the morning of the Apple Feast of the Savior, sirins fly into orchards and sing sadly.
~Alkonost <Russia> - A bird with a woman's head who lives in Eden with the sirins, but is believed to be an individual rather than a species. Her songs have a similar effects as sirins' on mortal hearers. She lays her eggs on a beach and rolls them into the water, where they float atop the sea. When they hatch, a storm sets in which makes the entire ocean impossible to traverse. In the afternoon on the Apple Feast of the Savior, she flies into apple orchards and sings happily and shakes dew onto the apples, giving them magical healing powers. She is the sister of the Raróg and the Stratim.
~Raróg <Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia> - A demon of fire which often appears as a fiery falcon. A raróg can hatch from an egg left on a stove for nine days and nights. Sometimes it is said to be a single individual while other times it is a species, but either way they nest atop the World Tree, guarding the entrance to Vyraj, a tropical paradise where birds go in winter. In Poland it is instead a tiny bird which brings happiness if kept in a pocket.
~Stratim <Russia> - A bird so large one of her wings could cover the world. She is the mother of all birds and continuously gives birth to more from her home at the bottom of the ocean.
~Layun (to bark) <Russia> - A spirit in the form of a dog which guards hidden treasure and barks when someone tries to steal it.
~Kolodechnik (well) <Russia> - A house spirit which guards the well.
~Mokrukha (wet) <Russia> - A female house spirit who spins thread at night. Her presence is only known from the wet footprints that are found in the morning.
~Domovoy (of the household) <Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Poland> - The ruler of all the domestic spirits in a specific household, and possibly the spirit of the house's original owner. It usually appears as a small, old man with flashing eyes, sometimes identical to the current master of the house or one of his deceased ancestors, and occasionally with a tail and horns; he can also appear as an animal. The domovoy of the house is traditionally represented by a little clay figurine; these were originally placed in niches near the front door, but after the invention of ovens began to be placed on the mantle. Domovoy protect their households, especially the children and animals, and fight each other in the interests of their respective families; when there is an eventual winner, the winning domovoy's household will become financially successful enough to take ownership of the loser's house. They give warnings of future disasters, but if a domovoy's family becomes wicked he will become angered and torment them and may eventually leave entirely. The domovoy should be regularly given the leftovers from the family's meal, and if angered should be appeased by sacrificing a rooster at midnight and sprinkling its blood in all the corners of the courtyard or common room. An alternative, less violent, approach is to offer a salted piece of bread wrapped in a white cloth while bowing in the four cardinal directions and praying to the domovoy. When a family moves into a new house, they should bury a hen and the first slice of bread cut in the house in the courtyard while saying, “Our supporter, come into the new house to eat bread and to obey your new master,” so the domovoy will follow them to the new house.
~Dvorovoi <Russia> - The spirit of the courtyard, who is in charge of the grounds, cattle shed, and stables. It is dangerous, and may harm livestock with white fur.
~Bannik <Russia> - The spirit of the bathhouse (something like a sauna), who appears as a small, nude, old man with a long beard, claws, and covered in birch leaves; he can also disguise himself as a neighbor or as a coal in the bathhouse oven. He is one of the most dangerous of the household spirits. The third or fourth firing of the oven in the day is reserved for the bannik and the demons and forest spirits he invites as his guests; therefore, no Christian images should be allowed in the bathhouse lest they offend the demons, and no one should enter the bathhouse during the bannik's private bath or they will be scalded with boiling water or even strangled to death. Before the bannik's private bath, offerings of fir branches, water, and soap should be left for him along with a verbal thank you. When angered, the bannik will cause everything to go wrong with the bathhouse unless appeased with the burial of a suffocated, unplucked, black hen beneath the threshold; the offeror of the sacrifice should then bow and back away slowly while chanting certain incantations. However, a bannik will never be truly happy until a woman has given birth in its bathhouse. To use a bannik for divination, one should stand back-to the bath with the door ajar. If all is well, one will feel the bannik gently massaging one's back, but if there is danger ahead it will slash one's back with its claws.
~Ovinnik <Russia and Belarus> - The spirit of the threshing house, who is prone to burn it down if not placated with offerings of roosters and bliny (a type of pancake). On New Year's Eve it predicts people's futures by touching them; a warm touch means luck in the coming year, but a cold touch means misfortune.
~Namnoi (to batter) <Russia> - A house spirit who appears as a shadow and presses on people in their sleep, leaving bruises. If the bruises feel stiff, it is an omen of bad luck, but if they are painless it means that the victim will overcome their imminent troubles. The spirit especially targets people who sleep in the threshold.
~Bomka <Russia> - A generic boogeyman.
~Buka <Russia> - A monster with disheveled hair and a long tongue hanging out of a huge mouth, which eats children. It lives in forests and abandoned buildings, and is sometimes thought of as an evil counterpart to the domovoy, the “master” of an empty building rather than an inhabited one. In Mordovia it is a living haystack which circles the church, and among the Altains it appears as various animals at dusk and causes illness and nightmares.
~Igrets (to play) <Russia> - A house spirit who plays mean-spirited pranks on its household, such as hiding things and scaring the cattle.
~Kikimora (nightmare) <Russia> - A malevolent female spirit which may take up residence in a human dwelling or in a swamp. Those that dwell in houses originate from the forest but enter a house to marry a domovoi; swamp kikimoras are married to leshies. A house kikimora lives in the cellar or behind the stove and makes sounds like mice foraging. She spins thread at night and looks after the chickens and housework if she finds the house in order, but if not she breaks dishes and keeps people awake by making noises in the house. However, even in the very best organized household the kikimora is still more harmful than helpful; she presses against people while they sleep and gives them nightmares and sleep paralysis, for instance. When builders want to get revenge on their clients, they lure a kikimora into taking up residence there. Swamp kikimoras are even more dangerous. They are hunchbacked hags with pointed noses and messy hair, who attack and occasionally drown travelers and kidnap children. At least one swamp kikimora was known to brew beer, which caused a fog to gather in the swamp.
~Vodyanoy (from the water) <Russia, Belarus, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Slovakia> - A malevolent spirit who lives in bodies of freshwater, especially millponds. Poorer ones simply live in the muck on the pond's bottom, but others have elaborate crystal palaces lit by magical glowing stones and decorated with treasure taken from shipwrecks. It tends to look at least humanoid, though there have been a few odd cases of ones that looked like bouquets of red flowers or as winged logs, but within that basic definition there is a staggering amount of variety. They may appear identical to a human and recognizable only by the water that constantly drips off of them, but they may also look like humanoid frogs, half-human half-fish beings, moss-covered giants, or various other guises. They may have frog-like skin, black scales, or white fur. They are immortal, but become older and younger with the phases of the moon. Though they generally dislike leaving the water because going on land weakens their powers, some of them will occasionally visit human markets; if they buy grain at high prices there will be a famine, but if they buy cheaply there will be a plentiful harvest. They will also ride livestock to exhaustion at night. Others, however, refuse to do any more than rising waist-height above the surface of the water. Some vodyany-ye ride half-sunken logs around the surface of the water like boats. They drown any humans who venture too close at night, and enslave or marry their ghosts. They have also been known to marry vodianikha, vodyanitsy, and rusalka. They are offended by mill dams and will destroy them with floods unless appeased sacrifices of honey-smeared horses; surreptitiously pushing in a few drunkards who no one will miss will also help a miller get in a vodyanoy's good graces. Millers must also offer regular sacrifices of bread, salt, vodka, black sows, and ram's heads, and must offer a black rooster for permission to build a new mill. A miller who is especially liked by the local vodyanoy will be invited to dine with him in his palace every night. Fishermen also make offerings of tobacco or butter to be allowed a good catch, and beekeepers give the vodyanoy honey and wax so that he will stop the humidity from damaging the hives. A grateful vodyanoy who has been aided by a human in fighting off a rival vodyanoy or some other task may be made to promise never to drown another human. In cases where such a solution is less easy to come by, exorcism may be resorted to; a vodyanoy can also be killed if buttons are used as bullets. According to northern Russians, the ruler of the vodyany-ye is Tsar Vodyanik, an old man wielding a club who rides on a black cloud to create new rivers and lakes for his followers to inhabit. West Slavic vodyanoy are imagined completely differently, as humanoids with green skin and hair, gills, and webbed fingers. They wear bizarre clothing and are capable of leaving the water for a few hours. There are both good and bad vodyanoy. The evil ones collect human souls in porcelain teapots, and the more souls one has collected the higher his social standing. They are served by fish. In their spare time, they like to play cards and smoke pipes.
~Vodyanitsa <Russia> - A green-haired water maiden who is often married to a vodyanoy. They can transform into swans or golden-scaled fish. Freshwater vodyanitsy are mostly harmless except for tearing fishing nets and damaging millstones, but ocean vodyanitsy attack ships. They are believed to be a type of rusalka which results from the drowning of a baptized girl, as opposed to other varieties which are unbaptized and thus more dangerous.
~Vodianikha <Russia> - The wife of a vodyanoy, who appears as a nude woman who sits on the bank trying in vain to brush her hopelessly tangled hair.
~Rusalka (Rosalia) <Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Poland> - An evil spirit usually associated with water, though it has been suggested that prior to the 19th century they may have been thought of as more benevolent or at least ambivalent and found in fields, mountains, and other locales as well. Theories aside, what we do have recorded about the rusalki says that they are naked, female water spirits which are created from young women who committed suicide by drowning or were forcibly drowned (not sure how this squares with the assertion that baptized women become vodyanitsas); in the latter case they can be laid to rest by bringing the murderer to justice. Despite carrying fish bone combs, rusalki have long, unkempt hair. They seduce young men into approaching the water, then ensnare them in their hair and drag them beneath the water. Their bodies are so slippery that no one can wrestle free of them. Their hair color varies from natural shades to green. In Poland and the Czech Republic there were said to be both water and forest rusalki; the water-dwelling ones look younger and have blonde hair, while the forest ones are mature women with black hair, but in both cases their faces become distorted and their hair turns green if someone looks too closely. During Rusalka Week in early June the rusalki become more powerful and more active, and swimming is strictly forbidden for fear of them; they are also able to come on land at night during this time, where they engage in circle dances and swing on the branches of birch and willow trees. A rusalka may be chosen as the bride of a vodyanoy.
~Loskotukha (to tickle) <Russia> - A variety of rusalka which has a playful personality and tickles its victims to death instead of drowning them. They can be found in fields as well as in ponds.
~Moryana <Russia> - Either an individual sea spirit and daughter of the Morskoy Tsar, or a species of marine rusalki. She is a very tall woman with hair like sea foam, who swims underwater as a fish in the day and comes ashore at night. She controls the winds, and may be helpful or harmful to ships depending on her mood. When thought of as a species, they tend to live near coastal cliffs.
~Brodnitsa <Russia> - A type of rusalka who inhabits fords. This is the most benevolent variety, and they rescue travelers and especially children who are in danger of drowning.
~Bolotnitsa <Russia> - Found in swamps, marshes, tundra, and large lakes, this is said to be the most beautiful type of rusalka. A bolotnitsa is created when a girl drowns in a swamp or is abducted by another swamp spirit. She has pale skin, brown or black hair decorated with sedge and forget-me-nots, blue or green eyes, and goose or frog legs; this last attribute she hides by sitting on a water lily with her legs tucked beneath her. She pretends to be lost or drowning so she can drag anyone who approaches to help her underwater, where she drowns them or tickles them to death. They also like to sing, cause crop-damaging storms, and steal canvases and food from women at night. In other regions, the bolotnitsa is instead characterized as a hideous hag with a huge head.
~Lobasta <Russia> - The most dangerous type of rusalka, which inhabits reeds on the banks of rivers, swamps, and lakes. It looks like a hag as tall as an aspen tree, with wicked claws. They drag people into the water and tickle them to death with their breasts.
~Bolotnik <Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland> - The swamp-dwelling counterpart to a vodyanoy. It looks like an old man with froglike eyes, long green hair and beard, and covered in dirt, algae, and scales. Other accounts depict them as eyeless or as possessing long arms and a tail. A bolotnik lures people into the swamp by imitating the sounds of various animals or human screaming, where he then grabs them by the feet and drowns them; he especially targets people playing shepherd's pipes at night. He also sometimes invites humans into his home and treats them to dances and music in ornate rooms and sends them on their way with lavish gifts, but when they exit they find it was all an illusion and they have really been sitting in the mud all night; the gifts are actually worthless garbage. Logs for building houses must not be carried through a swamp, or else the resident bolotnik will curse the logs and cause the building constructed from them to be full of misfortune. Bolotniks are most often single, but have been known to marry bolotnitsy. Unlike other evil spirits, bolotniki are not afraid of lightning because it disperses when it hits the water of the swamp. They freeze over with the water in winter, and die if the swamp is drained.
~Bagnik <Russia and Belarus> - A low-ranking bog spirit which cannot leave the water, but instead grabs people's feet and pulls them in. Its presence can be detected from bubbles in the water and strange lights seen at night.
~Anchutka <Russia> - A small creature with horns and no heels. It acts as a servant for boloniki and vodyany-ye, and causes seizures in swimmers.
~Leshy (he from the forest) <Russia, Belarus, and Poland> - The guardian of the forest, who can appear in various forms and can grow to be as tall as the tallest tree in his woods, but will shrink to the size of a blade of grass if he leaves the forest. At least one source I found says that in all his forms, be they human or animal, the leshy has horns and green eyes. A leshy's mood changes with the seasons; in spring he causes trouble, in summer he becomes more friendly and amuses himself by playing harmless pranks, in autumn he becomes more dangerous and will attack people who enter the forest, and in winter he hibernates. A leshy will lead people deeper into the woods until they are lost by imitating the voices of their loved ones, and he can also cause a traveler to not recognize where they are. A person can escape from a leshy's power by taking off their clothes and putting them back on inside out; the leshy will be amused by this and let the person go. The less fortunate who do not think to do this or are facing a leshy who is too angry to be amused will be tickled to death. A leshy may have pity on a lost child and, rather than killing them, may adopt them into his family; a leshy will also abduct a child who is cursed by its parents. A leshy's wife is either a leshachikha or a swamp kikimora, and their children are leshonki and other forest spirits. Leshies are particularly hostile toward hunters and woodsmen, but they can be placated if given gifts and if the woodsman uses the forest's resources responsibly. Leshies are given to gambling, and will frequently play cards against the leshies of other forests; instead of money, they bet on animals, and the animals of the loser's forest are seen migrating to the winner's. They also fight against each other if one leshy thinks the other is encroaching on his territory.
~Polevik (field) <Russia> - The spirit of crop fields and plains. He takes various forms and may wear white or black clothing but most usually he is a man with differently colored eyes and grass for hair, who grows and shrinks with the height of the crops. A happy polevik will cause the crops to be successful, but they are very dangerous to have around. Seeing a polevik is a bad omen. They cause peasants to get lost in the grain, strangle to death any workers who get drunk and fall asleep, and ride horses at breakneck speeds not caring if they run people over. A person who merely falls asleep on the job without drinking may be given a disease. Even a polevik's children are deadly; while running around the field catching birds for their parents to eat, they will smother anyone they find asleep in the fields. To appease an angry polevik, a person must place two eggs, a rooster, a toad, and a crow in a ditch without being seen.
~Poludnitsa (midday, referred to in English as Noon Witch or Lady Midday) <Russia, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia> - The spirit of the midday star, who appears on Earth as a tall, beautiful woman in white, though in other regions she is described as a curly-haired hag or as having horse's hooves, and she may also appear as a whirlwind holding scythes. Her main occupation is enforcing the traditional and religious ban on working in the fields at noon (though why anyone needed to be scared into not working is beyond me). She walks through the fields with a giant frying pan which she uses to shield the crops from the hot sun, but she will inflict heat stroke on anyone she finds working; she may instead pull their hair, break their bones, or snap their necks. She also appears to people and gives them a pop quiz about agriculture; if they get a question wrong or try to change the subject she inflicts them with a disease. She also likes to get children lost in the field. No one is a better dancer than her, but if she finds someone who is she will give them great wealth to be used as a dowry; she wakes girls who she finds asleep in the fields and asks them to dance with her, but if they agree they will be forced to dance all day. Poludnitsa also appears at midnight, and will help anyone who sees her find a magic flower that bestows the power of invisibility. In Poland, there are said to be multiple poludnitsas who are the ghosts of women who died on or near their wedding days.
~Habernitsa (Cornflower Wraith) <Russia, Poland, and Czech Republic> - A young woman in an azure dress and with her cornflowers in her hair who wanders the fields at noon. Anyone who she sees trampling the grain or using sharp tools will be put into an enchanted sleep by her whisper while she decides what to do to them; when they awake, they may have a headache, back pain, or even full paralysis. Sometimes she instead directly attacks people and breaks their arms, legs, or neck.
~Domovikha <Russia and Belarus> - A house where only men live has a domovoi, but an all-female house has his feminine counterpart, the domovikha; at least in Belarus, a mixed gender household will have both a domovoi and a domovikha who are married and have children. She is plump and matronly, and lives under the stove. Her job is to maintain harmony between the human occupants of the house, and she also does domestic chores, rocks the children to sleep, and uses magic herbs to cure the children of any disease or injury; however, if the woman of the house is lazy and slovenly the domovikha will retaliate by spoiling the food and causing quarrels and scandals between the members of the house. She spins thread at night, but if disrespected will ruin the humans' spinning by licking it. Her favorite food is potatoes with milk (which obviously won't work for our game's setting since potatoes weren't discovered yet), but on holidays she eats lard as well. Unlike other household spirits she is not given gifts of food, because as the spiritual matriarch of the house she rightfully owns all the food anyway and eats whatever she wants; thankfully she has a small appetite.
~Bukaritsa <Russia> - A female monster which lives under the house and scares children.
~Bukanai <Russia> - A bogey which lives in the hayloft or underground.
~Kladenets (the treasurer) <Russia and Belarus> - A mine spirit who protects miners, keeps them from getting lost, and leads them to rich veins. However, if a person is evil or insults the kladenets by whistling, throwing stones, or covering their head, the kladenets will first warn them by throwing clumps of dirt at them. If the bad behavior persists, the mine spirit will push them into a chasm or cause a cave-in.
~Firebird <Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia> - A bird resembling a falcon, with feathers which glow like fire and continue glowing even after falling off. Despite its beauty, it is always unfortunate to see, because people always take its molted feathers to the tsar expecting a reward but are instead sent out by the greedy tsar on a hopeless quest to capture the bird itself.
~Shishiga <Russia> - A female spirit found mostly in swamps but also in forests; she attacks drunks. She is pale, nude, and has messy hair.
The Komi people say that she lives in the Kama River and comes ashore to comb her hair; anyone who sees her will soon drown.
~Gamayun <Russia> - A giant, woman-headed bird who lives on an island close to Paradise. She knows everything that has ever happened and ever will happen, and occasionally flies forth to deliver prophecies.
~Gagana <Russia> - A female bird with an iron beak and copper claws who lives on the mythical island of Buyan and guards the Alatyr (a magical stone which is the source of all life energy and healing magic) alongside Garafena. She can perform powerful magic and will aid anyone who asks respectfully. She is the only bird which can produce milk.
~Garafena <Russia> - A serpent which guards the Alatyr alongside Gagana.
~Zmei (snake) <Russia> - A dragon with three, six, nine, or twelve heads, and which can take human form if need be. There are both males, and females (zmeya); the males capture human princesses, but the females do not do the same with human men. There are also certain supernatural but seemingly human beings in legends and folktales with the surname Zmeyevich (son of Zmei) who may or may not be literally the children of a zmei.
~Zmei Gorynych <Russia> - A specific zmei who spits fire and is associated with water.
~Chudo-Yudo <Russia> - A multi-headed dragon who is the offspring of Baba Yaga and the brother of Koschei the Deathless. It guards the waters of Life and Death, which are featured in many Russian fairy tales; the Water of Death is used to reattach the severed parts of a corpse, and the Water of Life is used to bring it back to life. If one of Chudo-Yudo's heads is severed, it can reattach it with its fiery fingers. It can apparently take a humanoid form, as it is often described riding a horse.
~Nocnitsa (night hag) <Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Belarus, Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia> - An evil female spirit who torments children at night by sitting on their chests and draining their life force; she will repeatedly visit the same child. A stone with a hole in the center is a protection against nocnitsas, as is putting an iron knife in the bed with the child (not exactly the safest idea) or drawing a circle around the child's bed with a knife. She may also attack adults if they unwittingly summon her by “sleeping with the dead,” that is, sleeping on one's back with one's arms folded across one's chest. The nocnitsa is sometimes said to be made of shadows and smell like moss and dirt.
~Shulikun <Russia> - The twelve days of Christmas are known as the “unbaptized days” because they correspond to the period of time between Jesus' birth and his baptism (although this is apocryphal since baptism was not yet invented, and Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25 anyway) and therefore a time when all manner of demons are free to walk the Earth. The shulikuns get a head start on the others, first appearing on Ignatius Day (January 2nd). The folklore of one region says they are the offspring of a kikimora, who constantly gives birth to them during Christmas, and that they fly out of her chimney; however, the consensus in the rest of Russia is that they live underwater, emerging on Ignatius Day by breaking through the ice with their pointed caps and riding off on an iron sleigh pulled by iron horses. They are only the size of a human fist, but no less dangerous for it. They wear brightly colored clothes festooned with sashes, and have no heels. They take joy in catching people with hooks as they ride past and dragging them into water to drown them, and they also push sleeping drunks into snow banks to freeze to death, but like other Slavic demons they can be defeated if someone manages to grasp one's little finger. It is customary for humans to drive sleighs pulled by three horses around the lakes, rivers, and ice holes where the shulikun congregate in hopes of running them over. On Epiphany, the shulikans are banished back to the water until next year when all the water sources are ritually baptized.
~Ratnik (warrior) <Russia and Belarus> - Sorcerers who try to repent during life but are not allowed to by their demonic masters become ratniks after death. They wait alongside roads to ambush travelers and strangle them to death, then suck their blood. If two or more ratniks meet each other, they will fight to the death; they are also vulnerable to dying from infection if wounded by a sharp object. Even death is not the end of their menace, as their bodies dissolve into a poisonous powder which spreads on the wind and gets in people's and animal's lungs and food.
~Stogovoi and Stozhikha <Russia> - Two obscure guardian hay spirits of the hay about which little is known, except that they look like very short people.
~Kutikha (corner) <Russia> - A female house spirit who sits in the corner, especially under or behind the stove, and spins thread invisibly; alternatively, she may live under the house.
~Yachichna <Russia> - An evil female spirit who lives in abandoned houses and is associated with spinning. There are many stories of girls jokingly calling out to an empty house for the yachichna to join them when they pass by on their way to gather and spin thread, only for her to actually show up and try to kill them all. Fortunately, she is banished by the crowing of a rooster.
~Vstrechnik <Russia> - An evil spirit which manifests as a fierce wind which rushes along the roads to collect the souls of dying sinners; it is also dangerous to drunks which it meets along the way.
~Baga <Russia> - A hunchbacked monster which frightens children.
~Kitovras <Kievan Rus Apocrypha> - A winged centaur who was either the brother of, enemy of, or a spirit summoned by Solomon. He rules the city of Lukorye, whose inhabitants are people during the day and animals at night.
~Polkan <Russia> - A race of giant, cannibalistic centaurs who can leap a mile and are able to split into two halves. They fought against many heroes and kings, but one individual became a famous hero himself.
~Kasyan <Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus> - The historical St. John Cassian the Roman, known to Slavs as St. Kasyan, was a talented theologian and introduced the concept of monasteries to the West, but was not particularly remarkable from a romantic (in the literary sense) point of view. Slavic folklore, however, against all reason transformed him into a fallen angel who repented of his sin and now is *only* punished by being chained in an underground cave and repeatedly hammered in the forehead by an angel. Every four years, however, on February 28 he is released into the world. He has skin like oak bark and is covered in black wool, and has eyelids that hang down to his feet. On his day of freedom every four years, various evil spirits lift his eyelids and allow him to look around; everything he looks upon suffers horrible misfortune. The legends of Kasyan are believed to have been the inspiration for Nikolai Gogol's famous short story Diy, though it has been suggested that the character of Diy may have also had a separate existence in folklore.
~Pain-Boshka <Russia> - An emaciated, clumsy old man in ragged clothes and with an oversized head, who lives in cranberry fields. He appears to people and asks for help finding a lost item; if they accept, he hooks a noose around the victim's neck and leads him/her off into the forest. At best, the victim will be released far from home with a bad headache, but other times they are never seen again.
~Vova <Russia> - A boogeyman who frightens children, or a dead person who haunts the dreams of the living.
~Bagiennik <Slavic Folklore> - Water demons who live in lakes and rivers, and attack by shooting a caustic oil from their nostrils, which are located either between the eyes or on the forehead. However, this oily substance can be used to treat a number of maladies, such as rheumatism, serious wounds, indigestion, heart illness, and infertility. The presence of a bagiennik can be detected by the water being dark, muddy, and bubbling. They are ruled by Wąda, Queen of the Underwater Lawns.
~Vytyanka (aching bone) <Kostroma> - A mournful wailing that issues forth from unburied human bones.
~Giant Mole <Siberia> - Giant moles live underground and tear up riverbanks, but die if exposed to sunlight. Modern scientists identify the giant mole bones as belonging to wooly mammoths, but we know better, don't we?
~Sendushny (tundra) <Siberia> - The spirit of the tundra, somewhat the counterpart to the leshy of the forest. He looks like an ordinary, if unusually tall, man, but is given away by the fact he has no facial hair at all, not even eyebrows or eyelashes, and he fastens all his clothes on the left side instead of the right. He kidnaps hunters and keeps them for three years as workers, but at the end of the three years sets them free and rewards them with many foxes; women who he takes are less fortunate, they must stay with him for life as a wife or as a nanny for his children. On New Year's Eve all the sendushny gather together to play cards, but they don't use clubs because they resemble a cross; the winner of the game gets a portion of the game animals from each of the losers' tundra. The sendushny drives a sledge pulled by wolves and/or foxes; if someone sees him, they must cross themselves and draw a circle around themselves, which makes the sledge break. The sendushny will demand the person fix his sledge, but they must not move from the protective circle until he offers to pay them with foxes. The person must then agree, but then say, “To hell with you, go away, your sled will work out.” This forces the sendushny to disappear but still honor his agreement to cause the person to catch many foxes when they go hunting.‌
~Abaasy (hate) <Siberia> - In the mythology of the Yakut people of Siberia, abaasy are undead beings which are sent to Earth by Arson-Duolai, ruler of the underworld, to spread death and madness. They congregate around cemeteries and other forlorn places. They appear as one-eyed, one-legged humanoids who ride two-headed, eight-legged, two-tailed dragons. They can be appeased with blood sacrifices. Their chief is a three-headed, six-armed, six-legged giant made of iron called Alyp Khara Aat Mogoidoon.
~Gallo de la Muerte (rooster of death) <Spain> - Every hundred years, a kite (the bird, not the toy) lays a red egg in a gorse bush in the mountains. The egg hatches into a black and white bird similar to a chicken but larger, which lives for fifty years. When it dies a green worm emerges from the body which grows into a Gallo de la Muerte, a rooster with black feathers and a white comb with blue and red spots. Anyone who hears its cry will die the next day unless treated with a concoction made of a certain blue herb with black roots which grows among mountain apple trees from the beginning of spring to May. It must be boiled in rosemary water and prayed over before drinking.
~Coco (head) <Spain and Portugal> - A boogeyman of ambiguous form which lurks on rooftops to spy naughty children to eat or kidnap. The oldest reference, from 1274, mentions “coco” in passing as a large fish which appeared on the shore. At some point after this in the medieval period, the coco developed into a type of female dragon which emerges from the sea to prey on women. A medieval tradition which still survives to this day in parts of Galicia is the battle as part of Corpus Christi between a man dressed as Saint George and a mechanical dragon referred to as Santa Coco (Saint Coco); if Saint George cuts off the dragon's ear there will be a good harvest, but if she unhorses him there will be a famine. Bizarrely, the audience cheers on the dragon; perhaps this originated as a superstitious attempt to confuse the evil spirits responsible for famine. The Cuca fera de Tortosa, first mentioned in 1457, will be documented separately as it could be argued to technically be a separate creature. In later folklore (though it could conceivably have coincided with the documented medieval dragon legends), however, El Coco became particularly associated with its head, which resembles the vegetables or frying pans which are traditionally carved with a face and lit with a candle on All Souls' Day and other holidays.
~Diano <Spain> - A demon which appears as a goat and bends its knees to weary travelers as if to offer a ride. When someone mounts it, it takes off into the forest at breakneck speeds. Its victim can only be saved by calling on all the saints.
~Gizotsu <Spain> - A humanoid wolf wrapped in chains, which appears at night in the woods and attacks people with its incredible strength.
~Xana <Asturias> - Female spirits which live in sources of pure water, especially in forests. There are good xanas which appear as impossibly beautiful women with curly blonde or light brown hair which they comb with gold combs made from sunlight or silver combs made from moonlight, but there are also evil xanas which are small, thin, and dark-skinned; however, it is possible that they in fact change between these forms depending on their purpose. They sing on spring and summer nights; anyone with a pure heart who hears it will be filled with peace, while anyone impure who hears the song will go insane. Xanas freely give “love water” (perhaps a love potion?) to travelers and will also give gold and silver to people they deem worthy. A xana is often under a curse, and will reward anyone who frees her with treasure and magic items. Evil xanas, however, slip into houses through the keyhole, where they steal food, attack people, and kidnap children; the latter they do because they cannot produce milk, and so must replace a human child with their own child (called a xanín) in order for it to survive. A xanín reveals its inhuman nature when it grows to adulthood in a few months, or when it is tricked into saying, “I was born one hundred years ago, and since then I have not seen so many egg shells near the fire!” when it sees someone put pots and eggshells near the fire.
~Mouro <Asturias, Galicia, and Portugal> - A race of supernatural warriors and giants who inhabited Iberia in ancient times but were forced either to retreat underground or across the sea, leaving behind ruins full of treasures and dangerous enchantments. They are skilled workers with precious metals and gemstones, which is how they created their vast treasures. They are not often seen, but when they are it is near the long barrows which are entrances to their underground land of Mourama, the underworld or fairyland; they only come to the surface to forage for food or on festivals such as Midsummer.
~Mourinho <Asturias, Galicia, and Portugal> - A type of mouro who is very tiny rather than a giant.
~Moura Encantada (enchanted moura (female mouro)) <Galicia and Portugal> - Seductive female spirits who were placed under a curse by the mouros to guard their ruins and treasures when they departed from the surface world. If freed from their curse, they will give the human who did it all the treasure and, if he is male, will become human and marry him; however, the moruo who put the spell on her will hunt her down and try to reenchant her. Also, the curse can only be broken on St. John's Day. A moura encantada's gold will be disguised as various worthless objects, and may be hidden inside a pan or a vase; in the latter case there may also be a pot of silver and a pot of plague next to the pot of gold to discourage theft, not that people don't still attempt and sometimes succeed at stealing the gold without breaking the moura encantada's curse. The fountain that a moura encantada haunts has magical properties to its water. Every moura encantada's spell is different, but common methods of breaking it include kissing her, offering her a cake or bread without salt, giving her milk, saying a certain word, or not looking at a certain hidden object; if the person attempting to break the curse fails, it will double in power. Mouras also often have large chair-shaped monoliths which they use as a throne and carry with them when they go to fetch water. In addition to the standard moura encantada, there are also several variants which may be encoutnered:

• Princesa Moura (princess moura) - A moura transformed into a snake with long, blonde hair. Due to the similarity of the words moura and moor, this variant came to be associated with tales of Moorish princesses who fall in love with Christian knights.
  
• Moura-fiandeira (spinning maiden moura) - Mouras with incredible strength who carry large stones on their heads while they spin thread. They are the builders of the ancient hill forts and still live there, but at night they are invisible and only the sound of their spinning gives away their presence. The coins found in their hill forts are called “moura's medals.”
  
• Pedra-Moura (stone moura) - A moura who lives inside a stone; this may refer to her being tiny enough to fit inside a small stone, but more often refers to the stone having a secret entrance which leads to an underground palace full of enchanted treasure. Anyone who sits on a moura's stone will become enchanted, and if one such stone is brought into a house all the animals of the house will die. Other stories speak of a moura riding a flying stone to travel to Mourama, the hidden land of the mouros.
  
• Moura-Serpente (serpent moura) - A moura who appears as a snake, cobra, dog, goat, horse, winged snake, or a half-woman half-animal. Milk should be offered to her.
  
• Moura-Mãe (mother moura) - A pregnant moura who seeks a human midwife
  
• Moura-Velha (old moura) - A rarely encountered moura variant who appears as an old woman.
  
• Moura-Lavadeira (washer-woman moura) - A moura who is seen putting white clothes out to dry in the sun, in contrast to the Lavandières of various nations' folklore who wash bloodstained clothes at night.
  
• Frade (friar) - The rare instance of a male mouro who is enchanted. He appears as a friar dressed in white, or disguised as a whine stone column.
  

~Cuélebre <Asturias and Cantabria> - A type of dragon which is used by the mouros to guard their treasures, as well as captive anjanas. They live forever, but as they age their scales become impenetrable and they grow bat wings; eventually they leave and go to a paradise across the ocean called Mar Cuajada. Their spit hardens into a magic stone with healing properties. They usually leave humans alone, but occasionally leave their dens to eat humans and livestock. The only time when a cuélebre can be killed and its treasure won and captive freed is during Midsummer; a common method is to feed it a red-hot stone or bread full of pins. However, on Saint Bartholomew's night its power doubles and, if unsuccessful attempts on its life were made earlier in the year, it goes on a rampage of revenge against the entire community.
~Pataricu <Asturias> - A type of enormous cyclopes who live on coastal cliffs. They feed on fish and mollusks, but prefer to eat shipwrecked sailors; they eat all their food raw as they don't know how to make fire. They track their prey with their keen sense of smell.
~Busgosu <Asturias> - A goat-legged and horned forest spirit who, on the one hand, helps lost travelers find their way out of the woods, but on the other hand is dangerous to women.
~Urco <Asturias, Galicia, and Portugal> - An enormous black or white dog with horns and wrapped in chains who lives in an underwater realm called Borrón. On foggy winter nights, it climbs out of the sea, dragging its chains behind it, and runs howling across the land. At every town and village, all the dogs are compelled to follow it and howl in time with it. It visits the houses of those who will soon die.
~Anjana <Cantabria> - Beautiful female spirits which are either protective tree spirits or angels sent by God to Earth to do good for 400 years before returning to Heaven. They are half a foot tall, with pale skin, slanted black or blue eyes, and transparent wings. Their voices are sweet, with some sounding like nightingales and others like the sound of a beetle stepping on fallen leaves. Their hair is either black or golden, and is arranged in long braids decked with bows and ribbons. They wear a long white tunic with a blue cape over it, a crown of wildflowers, and carry a wicker or hawthorn staff which glows a different color each day of the week. They are seen walking forest trails and resting beside springs and streams, where they converse with the water. They mend the damage caused by ojáncanu, help lost people find their way, and do any good work they can find to do. On January 5 they visit villages, bringing toys and gifts to the children. On the night of the spring equinox, they gather for a dance in the fells and scatter purple, blue, green, and gold roses; anyone who finds one of these flowers will be happy for the rest of their life. Anjanas can be summoned for help, but they can sense the intentions of the summoner and will punish him or her if he or she is wicked. Anjans are often held captive by a cuélebre, but can be rescued and married by a human.
~Ojáncanu <Cantabria> - A ten to sixteen foot tall cyclops with superhuman strength, ten digits on each hand and foot, two rows of teeth, and a long red head of hair and beard. It has a single white hair in its beard, and will die if it is plucked. They are cruel and evil, and spend their time damaging trees and animals, pulling up boulders, destroying houses, and blocking water sources. They fight and win against Cantabrian brown bears and Tudanca bulls, but fear anjanas. Though there are females of the species, they do not reproduce by mating. Rather, whenever an ojáncanu dies, his stomach is split open and he is buried by his fellows under an oak or yew tree; in due time, the intestines become huge worms which smell like rotten meat and are suckled on an ojáncana's blood for three years before growing into an adult ojáncanu. Once every hundred years, a good ojáncanu will be born who is in every way opposite in temperment to its cruel kin.
~Ojáncana <Cantabria> - A female Ojáncanu, who is just as cruel if not worse. She has long, messy, dark hair similar to her male counterpart, but lacks a beard. She is dirty and smelly, and has a flat and ugly face, penetrating eyes, crooked teeth which protrude from her mouth, and breasts so long that she must throw them behind her when she runs. They live in deep caves from which they emerge to find raw meat to eat, preferably human children.
~Arquetu <Cantabria> - An old man with a green cross and seven keys drawn on his forehead. He lends money to people who lose all their money, but if they lose that money too he curses them with eternal poverty.
~Caballucos del Diablu (little horses of the devil) <Cantabria> - After the bonfires on St. John's Eve have burned out, the Caballucos del Diablu leap from the ashes with a flash of fire and hideous screams. They are the tormented souls of sinners, in the forms of Percheron purebred horses with damselfly wings, black manes, glowing eyes, and foaming mouths. The color of the horse's coat indicates what kind of sinner it is: the red one - which is the most powerful one, can breathe fire, and is ridden by the devil himself at the head of the pack - is a moneylender who cheated farmers out of their land, the white one is a dishonest miller who stole from his master, the the black one a hermit who played pranks, the the blue one was an innkeeper, the orange one a child who abused his parents, and the green one was a lord who lived riotously and took advantage of young women. They ride throughout the land all night, attacking anyone who is not protected by a sprig of vervain picked the day before or by a bonfire. Their hoofbeats are so strong that they leave impressions in solid stone. They breathe strong blasts of cold wind which makes leaves fall off of plants and blows the corsages away that men try to give their sweethearts. They eat shamrocks, and when they rest their saliva drips onto the ground and becomes gold ingots; anyone who takes one of these ingots will be doomed to go to Hell when they die, no matter how good a person they are otherwise.
~Cuegle <Cantabria> - A type of humanoid monster with black skin, a long beard, grey hair, three arms without hands, five rows of teeth, a short horn, and three eyes: one yellow, one red, and one blue. It has great strength, and it attacks humans and livestock and steals babies. It can be kept away by leaving oak or holly leaves in the cradle.
~Guajona <Cantabria> - An old hag who is wrapped from head to toe in a thin black cloak, has bird legs in place of arms and legs, has a yellow face covered in hairy warts, and has small yet bright eyes. She breaks into houses at night and uses the single long, black tooth in her mouth to suck the blood of children; this does not kill them, but makes them pale and sickly. She also attacks adults on occasion.
~Ramidreju <Cantabria> - A weasel-like animal which is as long as a snake and has greenish fur, yellow eyes, and a hog's snout which it uses to dig holes. One is born every hundred years from a weasel or a marten in the forests and mountains. It is very sought after because its fur heals every sickness and its den is full of the gold it hoards.
~Trasgu <Cantabria, Asturias, and Portugal> - A mischievous household spirit which appears as a tiny, dark-skinned man who wears red clothes and a pointy red hat, has a hole in his left hand, and a limp in his right leg. He may also be described as having horns, a tail, sheep ears, long legs, and wearing and wearing a long black and grey cloak or a tight brown dress. He enters houses at night and plays pranks such as making noises, hiding objects, breaking kitchenware, spooking livestock, messing up folded clothes, and spilling water, but in the morning everything will be back just how it is supposed to be. However, if treated well he will do chores at night. If a trasgu has become annoying, he can be gotten rid of by giving him an impossible task; when he is unable to complete it, his pride will not allow him to show his face back in the house so he will leave for good. Another way is to scare him by tricking him into believing the house is haunted by something more powerful. In Cantabria, on the other hand, he is a forest spirit with a black face and green eyes who wears clothes made of leaves and moss, who mocks and plays pranks on shepherd girls.
~Trenti <Cantabria> - A forest spirit (perhaps the same as the trasgu?) which has a black face with green eyes and blends in by resembling leaves, mushrooms, and moss. It hides from humans most of the time, but likes to jump out of the bushes and scare people, as well as to pull women's skirts.
~Ventolín <Cantabria> - Angelic beings with green wings and white eyes who live in the reddish clouds of the sunset. When a fisherman becomes too old to do his work without help, the ventolines help him load the fish raise sails, and row the boat in to dock. When it is hot wipe his sweat away, and in the winter they wrap him in their wings. When there is no wind they fly behind his boat and blow gently into the sails.
~Almajona (amazon) <Cantabria> - Lost souls who appear as very tall women carrying children on their backs.
~Trastolillo <Cantabria> - A small, dark-skinned household spirit with long black hair, a red face, green eyes, a fat nose, large teeth, two small horns, and wearing eyeliner. They also wear a robe made of sewn-together bark and a white cap, and walk with a cane or crutch. They constantly laugh, and are responsible for all the inexplicable things that happen in a house.
~Oricuerno (wing) <Cantabria> - A white horse with the legs of a fallow deer, wings on the hooves, a lion's tail, a purple head, blue eyes, and a twisted horn on its forehead. The horn is white at the base, black in the middle, and red at the tip.
~Ieltxu <Basque Country> - A spirit which during the day appears as a human or a fire-breathing bird, and at night as a floating fireball. It lives in caves and wells, and enjoys jump-scaring people and getting people lost, especially near cliffs.
~Iditxu <Basque Country> - A spirit which appears at night as a small pig. When people try to catch it with an eye for making money off it, it leads them on a wild goose chase all night before disappearing in the morning, leaving the person exhausted and exactly where they started.
~Aatxe (young bull) <Basque Country> - A cave-dwelling spirit who usually appears as a young red bull but can also appear as a man. He emerges from his cave at night, especially in stormy weather, to punish criminals. He also scares people into staying home when some danger threatens. Folklorists theorize he was originally an avatar or servant of the goddess Mari, worship of whom persisted in a Christianized and sometimes not-so Christianized form through the Middle Ages.
~Akerbeltz (black billy goat) <Basque Country> - A powerful, possibly demonic spirit which lives underground and has elves as servants. It is most often described as a male black goat, but has also been described as various other animals, as a man with a huge face, or as a man with a face both in front and in back of his head. Originally he was a god who was prayed to for the protection of animals, but after the Christianization of Basque Country he was regarded as a figure akin to the devil, who organized black masses called Akelarre (meadow of the billy goat) which were attended by witches. That covens worshipping Akerbeltz really did persist is possible, but most likely both the quantity of worshippers and the content of their worship was grossly exaggerated by the Inquisition. The Akelarre was thought to consist of a parody of a Catholic mass held by Akerbeltz in which he delivered a parodic sermon and his followers offered him eggs, bread, and money. After the sermon, the witches would attend a feast alongside Akerbeltz's elves where they would dine on human flesh with their demonic host's horns serving as candles. After the meal, they would dance together to the sound of a tabor, and finally they would weave their evil spells. In the Pyrenees, it was believed that Akerbeltz and his witches could cause storms by flying to a house and cutting the beard of the goat raised there. Even as Akerbeltz was being demonized, people continued to believe that he would protect houses and farm animals, especially if a black male goat is kept on the farm. There are several stories about a cave full of gold which is guarded by Akerbeltz in the form of a serpent, which a priest repeatedly tried and failed to exorcise; in one version the snake ate the priest's hands.
~Basajaun (lord of the woods) <Basque Country> - Huge, hairy humanoids who live in the forest or caves and build megaliths, protect flocks, and originally taught agriculture, milling, and ironworking to humans. They call out to warn shepherds when a storm is coming, and they know they can sleep soundly when the sheep are in the care of a basajaun; the sheep announce a basajaun's presence by shuddering and ringing their bells all at once. The females are called basanderes, and are found combing their hair by waterfalls with golden combs; many stories revolve around a human stealing a basandere's comb, but it is difficult because she can vanish into thin air if someone gets too close.
~Gaueko (of the night) <Basque Country> - The personification of the night, who appears as a cow, a lion, a monster, or more commonly a blast of wind. He punishes those who do work outside at night, especially those who try to prove their bravery by taking bets to go out at night. These people are abducted either by Gaueko himself or another supernatural being serving him; Gaueko will then appear to those who posed the dare in a blast of wind with the words, “Gaua Gauekoarentzat, eguna egunezkoarentzat” (The night for Gaueko (the one of the night), the day for the one of the day). The vanished person will never be seen again, though in one account the poor girl's fate was made a bit less ambiguous by a mysterious trickle of human blood which appeared in the chimney immediately after her abduction by Gaueko.
~Herensuge <Basque Country> - A type of seven-headed dragon. The heads are actually the dragon's children, and will drop off in time to grow bodies of their own.
~Iratxo (the red pants) <Basque Country> - Beings which help with farm work if given food.
~Jentil (gentile) <Basque Country> - Hairy giants who once lived among the Basque people and built monoliths, dolmens, and isolated natural rocks by throwing boulders to each other for sport. They invented the Basque ball game pilota, and were the first to invent metallurgy, the saw, and how to sow wheat; however they refused to move to the valleys despite them being more fertile and their civilization stagnated. Eventually, they saw a star in the sky which signaled the birth of Christ and they knew their time was over, so they hid underground. The only one who remained on the surface is Olentzero, the Basque equivalent of Santa Claus. Despite their disappearance, people still fear the jentilak and refuse to go near their dolmens at night; in at least one story Gaueko used jentilak to abduct a young girl who tried to prove her bravery by spinning at night near a niche in the mountain where they were known to live.
~Lamina <Basque Country> - Beautiful women with long hair and duck's legs, who live in rivers and are often seen combing their hair on the banks with golden combs. Sometimes they are instead said to live on the other side of the rainbow; when the sun strikes their hair, a rainbow forms. Laminak will do work for people who give them gifts. This may be agricultural work, or the building of a bridge; however, a lamina will have to leave the bridge unfinished if the rooster crows to herald the morning while she is still working. The laminak are now much rarer because they were driven away when men began building churches. Male laminak are occasionally mentioned, who use extraordinary strength to build dolmens and who enter people's homes at night.
~Itsaslamia <Basque Country> - Sea-dwelling laminak with fish tails instead of duck feet.
~Tartalo <Basque Country> - A type of cave-dwelling, man-eating cyclops. They wear magic rings which, if worn by anyone else, constantly shout, “Here I am!” This is to thwart captives who try to escape by blinding the tartalo; they will naturally decide to rob the monster while they are at it, and thus will give away their position when they try on the ring. The ring cannot be removed, and so the only escape is to cut off the finger the ring is on and throw it off a cliff; the blinded tartalo will follow it off the ledge to its death.
~Olentzero (the time of the good ones) <Basque Country> - The last of the jentilak, Olentzero is the Basque Santa Claus who brings presents to children on the night of Christmas Eve, though in some places he does not come until December 27th or 31st. This version may only date from the 1970s, however; in the older legends he does not bring toys, but instead has red eyes and slits children's throats with a sickle if they do not go to sleep on Christmas Eve.
~Aidegaxto (air evil) <Basque Country> - An evil jinn who lives in Labourd. He can be summoned to send storms against one's enemies by burning bay leaves, wearing leaves of laurel and hawthorn on one's head in a storm, and laying an axe with the blade upward, a cross of laurel wood, sticks of hazel and ash, a branch of hawthorn, a thistle flower, and a sickle or scythe in the doorway; the scythe can be substituted with hay made from ferns.
~Mikolasak <Basque Country> - Small, bad-tempered beings with incredible strength who live in groups. They are skilled builders, but dislike and avoid humans.
~Cuca fera de Tortosa (cuca beast from Tortosa) <Catalonia> - A dragon with a horned tortoise shell which eats three cats and three children every night.
~Aloja <Catalonia> - Female freshwater spirits who can turn into water blackbirds. They are extremely beautiful and proud of it, with gold or red hair, deep green or blue eyes, sometimes wings of various colors, and fine clothing, and carry magic wands made of hazel wood. They keep their youth for thousands of years, but will eventually die. Though they try to hide from humans and only appear at night, they still do whatever they can to improve the wealth of the nearby human populations; the only exception to this is an evil individual aloja named Maria Enganxa who lives in wells and drags in and drowns children with a hook. Marriages between aloges and human men are possible, but the man must agree to all the aloja's stipulations, chief among which is that he must never tell anyone his wife's true nature; if he breaks any of the conditions, she will disappear and take all his money with her, though she will still come secretly every morning to comb and dress her children.
~Dip <Catalonia> - A vampiric, black hellhound who is an emissary of the Devil; he is lame in one leg (the dip, not the Devil).
~Marraco (shark) <Catalonia> - A dragon with a mouth wide enough to swallow children whole.
~Minairó <Catalonia> - Tiny beings which live inside of or are the seeds of St. John's Wort. However, the St. John's Wort of folklore is much different from the real life plant; it is found only in the deepest caves, guarded by giants and dragons, and can only have its seeds harvested at the stroke of midnight on Saint John's night. They must then be stored inside a small tube, such as a needle or a cane. They are like a buzzing swarm of mosquitos, each individual elf so small as to be almost invisible. The owner of such a tube can command them to do work for him, but he must take care not to accidentally release them without a task to do; many screes in Catalonia are said to have been built by an owner of minairons who hurriedly gave them a task to prevent them turning on him.
~Muladona (mule woman) <Catalonia> - A woman who was cursed by her neighbors for being irreligious, turning her into a mule with a woman's head. She wanders the mountains, especially at night, and joins mule trains; as soon as the mules notice her presence, they fly into a panic and stampede, sometimes off of cliffs. To prevent this, the muleteer must feed his mules muladona-shaped bread and must constantly count his mules to make sure she has not joined them.
~Negret (little black) <Catalonia> - A small, dark-skinned being which, if touched with a candle by a human, turns into a bunch of coins.
~Nitus <Catalonia> - A being so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, which infests people's brains and eats their memories.
~Pesanta <Catalonia> - A huge, hairy dog with steel claws which lies on people's chests at night, causing them to have trouble breathing and suffer from nightmares. It has holes in its paws which prevent it from stealing anything.
~Puigmal <Catalonia> - A mountain-dwelling spirit which defends trees and animals against humans.
~Home Dels Nassos (man of the noses) <Cantabria> - An invisible man with 365 noses, who loses one every day of the year. He only becomes visible on December 31st, when he has only one nose left, and children are tasked to find him.
~Bú <Castile> - An enormous, red-eyed, humanoid owl with razor-sharp talons and beak, which lives in oak groves. It climbs through windows at night to kidnap naughty children and take them back to its lair.
~Golden Clip Crayfish <Galicia> - A giant crayfish with a golden hair clip on its forehead, which fiercly guards a human skeleton made of gold and encrusted with gems at the bottom of the Barbana River.
~Santa Compaña (holy company) <Spain and Portugal> - A procession of ghosts clad in white, hooded robes and carrying candles, which travel the paths of a parish to collect the souls of the dying every night beginning at midnight. They can only be seen by people who were accidentally baptized with holy water reserved for the sick instead of that which was reserved for christening, but they can still be detected by the smell of their candles and by a strong shiver which goes through everyone who they pass by; some people can only see the lights of their candles. The procession is led by a living human, the gender depending on the gender of the parish's patron saint, who carries a cross and/or a cauldron of holy water. This person is compelled against his/her will to walk every night, and wakes with no memory of it. The curse can only be passed on by giving the cross and/or cauldron to someone else, but if it is not passed on to someone else within a few weeks the person will die. To avoid receiving the curse, one should make Solomon's circle or lay face-down on the ground when one sees the Santa Compaña approaching.
~Bruxsa (night-bird) <Portugal> - A female witch may rise from the dead as a bruxsa. She outwardly appears to be a normal woman, and continues her everyday life by day (but presumably in a different town, where people don't know that she is supposed to be dead), maybe even being married and having children. But at night she turns into a spectral bird which flies forth to suck people's blood. She is immune to wooden stakes, silver, and all other traditional protections from vampires; the only protection against a bruxsa is prayer.
~Besta-Fera (cruel beast / bestial beast) <Portugal> - A demonic centaur believed to be the Devil himself, which comes from Hell on the night of the full moon and rides through the forests. It whips all the animals it sees, and puts the “mark of the beast” on people to doom them to Hell. Anyone who sees its face goes mad for a few days, but then recovers. At the end of the night, it disappears inside a blood-red flower.
~Ghost <Worldwide> - Ghosts are usually described as the spirits of the dead haunting the living world. In medieval Europe, the earliest ghost stories were about ghosts appearing to their living relatives in visions to describe the afterlife, reveal some secret sin they had committed during life, ask for prayers, or give warnings. During the later medieval period, ghosts become more macabre and were encountered in waking life as a warning for people not to forget they will die one day and face the judgement of God, such as in the famous story of the “Three Dead and Three Living,” but actually dangerous manifestations were usually reserved for the corporeal undead (i.e. skeletons, revenants, and vampires).