Complete Index of 357 Legendary Creatures

Explore the complete catalog of the Codex Monstrorum. An illustrated scholarly collection of mythical beasts, classic monsters, medieval bestiaries, and folkloric entities from Greek, Norse, Celtic, Asian, Indigenous American, Mesopotamian, and African traditions.

✦ Explore in Interactive 3D Viewer

North American Indigenous Spirits (1)

North American Indigenous traditions • Oral tradition

Acheri

The ghost of a girl, usually described as pale and sickly, who descends from the mountains at dusk to cast a shadow over or sing t...

Read full entry →

Inuit Folklore (4)

Inuit peoples • Inuit oral tradition

Adlet

Creatures with a human torso and a canine lower body, born from the union of an Inuit woman and a dog (or dog-spirit) in an origin...

Read full entry →

Inuit peoples • Inuit oral tradition

Akhlut

A shapeshifting spirit able to transition between orca and wolf forms: upon leaving the sea, it leaves wolf paw prints in the beac...

Read full entry →

Inuit peoples • Inuit oral tradition

Qalupalik

An aquatic humanoid covered in scales and greenish skin, with long hair and sharp nails, who lives beneath the sea ice and capture...

Read full entry →

Inuit peoples • Inuit oral tradition

Qiqirn

A large, nearly hairless creature resembling a giant dog, except for tufts of fur on its paws, mouth, and tail tip; it causes conv...

Read full entry →

Vampires (8)

Ewe peoples • Oral tradition

Adze

A being that flies as a firefly and so enters homes to suck the blood of sleepers, especially children, spreading disease. If caug...

Read full entry →

Akan peoples • Oral tradition

Asanbosam

A being that dwells in the trees of the deep forest, with iron teeth and legs ending in iron hooks by which it hangs from the bran...

Read full entry →

China • Imperial dynasties

Jiangshi

A reanimated corpse stiffened by rigor mortis that moves in hops with arms outstretched. It drains the life breath (qi) of the liv...

Read full entry →

Philippines • Colonial and oral folklore

Manananggal

A woman who, at night, separates her body at the waist: the upper half, bat-winged, flies in search of prey, leaving the lower hal...

Read full entry →

Central Europe and expressionist cinema • 19th-20th centuries

Nosferatu

An undead being that feeds on the blood of the living, tied to Count Orlok of Murnau's film: a cadaverous figure with pointed ears...

Read full entry →

Malaysia and Southeast Asia • Regional oral tradition

Penanggalan

A woman who, at night, detaches her head from her body, carrying the dangling entrails with her, and flies in search of blood, esp...

Read full entry →

Romania • Medieval and modern folklore

Strigoi

A Romanian undead that rises from the grave to drain the vitality of the living. Tradition separates the strigoi viu (a living, pr...

Read full entry →

Slavic traditions • Middle Ages

Upir

A Slavic corpse that rises from the grave to suck the blood or energy of the living. It is the direct linguistic ancestor of the '...

Read full entry →

Water Monsters (1)

Wales • Welsh tradition

Afanc

An aquatic monster described variably as a giant beaver, crocodile, or demon-like creature resembling a deformed dwarf, who inhabi...

Read full entry →

Cultural Cryptozoology (14)

Java • Modern reports

Ahool

A giant bat with a wingspan described as 3 to 4.5 meters, much larger than any bat known to science, who emits a characteristic cr...

Read full entry →

Georgia • Modern reports

Altamaha-ha

A serpentine or giant-sturgeon-like creature, 6 to 9 meters long, with a crocodile- or sturgeon-snout, front flippers, gray back a...

Read full entry →

North America • Modern reports and regional traditions

Bigfoot

A large bipedal hominid covered in dark fur, said to inhabit the remote forests of North America. Known for enormous footprints (h...

Read full entry →

Lake Champlain • Modern reports

Champ

An aquatic creature described with a long neck, humps, and a 'plesiosaur' profile, 5 to 25 meters depending on the report; it swim...

Read full entry →

Puerto Rico and the Americas • 20th century

Chupacabra

A nocturnal predator that attacks livestock — especially goats — and drains their blood through neck punctures. Described in two m...

Read full entry →

East Africa • Modern reports and regional tradition

Dingonek

A hybrid aquatic creature described as having a spotted leopard's body, walrus-like tusks, a fish or crocodile tail, and sometimes...

Read full entry →

Central Africa • Modern reports and regional tradition

Kongamato

A winged being described as a featherless reptile, with membranous wings, a long toothed beak, and a wingspan of one to two meters...

Read full entry →

Tanzania • Regional tradition and modern reports

Mngwa

A giant feline resembling a leopard, but with grayish fur and a size described as much larger than any known feline in the region;...

Read full entry →

Congo Basin • Modern reports and regional tradition

Mokele-mbembe

A huge aquatic animal described as sauropod-like — an elephant-sized body with a long neck and tail, dwelling in forest rivers and...

Read full entry →

Scotland • Modern reports

Loch Ness Monster

A large aquatic creature described with a long neck, small head, bulky body, and one or more humps breaking the surface — often li...

Read full entry →

Canada • Regional tradition and modern reports

Ogopogo

A long serpentine creature (described as 12 to 15 meters), a sinuous body with several humps, a head like a horse's, goat's, or se...

Read full entry →

Mongolia • Modern reports and regional tradition

Mongolian Death Worm

A thick, blood-red worm about half a meter to a meter and a half long, resembling an ox's intestine, with no distinct head or tail...

Read full entry →

Himalayas • Himalayan tradition and modern reports

Yeti

A large, ape-like hominid covered in fur, said to inhabit the high snowy mountains of the Himalayas. Popularized in the West as th...

Read full entry →

Australia • Regional traditions and modern reports

Yowie

A large, hairy, bipedal creature resembling a primitive human or great ape, dwelling in Australia's forests and rugged interior (b...

Read full entry →

Mesoamerican Creatures (1)

Aztec Mexico • Pre-Columbian period

Ahuizotl

A dog- or small-otter-like creature with black fur and humanoid hands, with a tail ending in a second prehensile hand; it inhabits...

Read full entry →

Khoisan Folklore (2)

Khoisan peoples • Oral tradition

Aigamuxa

A grotesque-looking cannibal humanoid, whose most distinctive trait is having its eyes located on its feet instead of its face, fo...

Read full entry →

Khoisan peoples • Oral tradition

Hai-uri

An asymmetrical creature with only half a functional body — one arm, one leg, half a face — who moves by hopping and attacks isola...

Read full entry →

Sacred Creatures (2)

India • Epic and Puranic literature

Airavata

A colossal white elephant with four tusks (in some versions) and multiple trunks, risen from the waters of the primordial ocean. K...

Read full entry →

India • Puranic literature

Kamadhenu

A miraculous cow that grants whatever is asked of her, an inexhaustible source of milk and abundance. Often depicted with the body...

Read full entry →

Yokai (22)

Japan • Edo period

Akaname

A small grotesque creature that appears at night in dirty, neglected bathrooms and bathhouses to lick, with its long sticky tongue...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Aobozu

A shaved-head monk ("bōzu") with bluish ("ao") skin and a single eye, who appears alone in fields, roads, or riverbanks at dusk to...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Bakeneko

A cat that, on aging or reaching a certain size, gains supernatural powers: it walks on its hind legs, speaks, shape-shifts (even ...

Read full entry →

Japan • Modern and artistic folklore

Gashadokuro

A colossal skeleton, dozens of times larger than a human, formed from the accumulated bones of people who died of starvation or in...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Ittan-momen

A strip of white cotton roughly one tan long (a traditional textile unit, ~10.6 m) that flies alone through the night and wraps ar...

Read full entry →

Japan • Edo period

Jorogumo

A spider that, on reaching great age (typically 400 years), gains magical powers and the ability to take the form of a seductive w...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Kamaitachi

A weasel (or trio of weasels) with sickle-shaped claws that travels in a whirlwind and slashes people's skin with clean, sudden, p...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Kappa

A child-sized creature with greenish skin, a turtle shell, a beak, and a dish-like cavity on top of its head (sara) filled with wa...

Read full entry →

Japan • Classical and medieval Japan

Kitsune

A fox endowed with intelligence and magical powers that grow with age; the oldest gain additional tails, up to nine (kyubi). It sh...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Nekomata

An advanced, more powerful form of the supernatural cat: on growing very old, the cat gains a second tail (nekomata, 'forked-tail ...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Noppera-bo

It appears as an ordinary person — a neighbor, a street vendor, a crying woman — until, upon turning around or being confronted, i...

Read full entry →

Japan • Medieval Japanese literature

Nue

A Japanese chimera with a monkey's head, a tanuki's (or tiger's) body, a tiger's legs, and a serpent's tail. It appears as a black...

Read full entry →

Japan • Edo period

Nurarihyon

An old man with an elongated (gourd- or drop-shaped) head and the robes of a monk or noble, who slips into homes at dusk, when the...

Read full entry →

Japan • Medieval Japan

Oni

A large, muscular being with red or blue skin, horns, fangs, and a tiger-skin loincloth, wielding an iron club (kanabo). Associate...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Raiju

A creature made of lightning, described as a fox, weasel, cat, badger, or wolf with an electric body, that falls to earth during s...

Read full entry →

Japan • Edo period

Rokurokubi

A human-looking being, usually a woman, whose neck stretches enormously at night (rokurokubi) or whose head detaches and flies thr...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Tanuki

A jovial, good-natured yokai, a master of transformation (bake), able to change shape and create illusions. Associated with abunda...

Read full entry →

Japan • Classical and medieval Japan

Tengu

A mountain spirit in two main forms: the karasu-tengu, with a crow's body and beak, and the konoha-tengu (or daitengu), with a red...

Read full entry →

Japan • Muromachi and Edo periods

Tsukumogami

Old household utensils — umbrellas (karakasa-obake), lanterns, sandals, instruments, screens, pots — that on aging acquire eyes, m...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese folklore

Ubume

The spirit of a woman who died in childbirth (or pregnant), bound between worlds by love for her child. She appears at night, bloo...

Read full entry →

Japan • Edo period

Wanyudo

A flaming ox-cart wheel (gissha) with a man's tortured face at its center, rolling alone down roads at night; looking directly at ...

Read full entry →

Japan • Japanese regional tales

Yuki-onna

A woman of supernatural beauty, snow-white skin, long hair, and white robes, who appears in snowstorms to freeze lost travelers wi...

Read full entry →

Ainu Folklore (1)

Ainu people • Ainu oral tradition

Akkorokamui

A colossal octopus (or octopus-like being) of vivid red color, described as able to reach hundreds of meters and to swallow boats ...

Read full entry →

Arabic Bestiaries (1)

Medieval Arabic literature • Middle Ages

Al-mi'raj

A yellow hare or rabbit the size of a common hare, but bearing a single black, spiraled horn on its forehead, like a unicorn's. De...

Read full entry →

Storm Demons (1)

Balkans • Balkan oral tradition

Ala

A giant, voracious demon associated with destructive storms and hail, who commands storm clouds to devastate crops; traditionally ...

Read full entry →

Slavic Birds (2)

Slavic traditions • Medieval and modern folklore

Alkonost

A creature with a bird's body and a woman's head (and sometimes bust), whose song is so beautiful and enrapturing that whoever hea...

Read full entry →

Russian and Byzantine traditions • Middle Ages

Sirin

A creature with a bird's body (usually an owl or bird of prey) and a woman's head and bust, with a halo, whose song is so beautifu...

Read full entry →

Night Spirits (4)

German folklore • Medieval and modern folklore

Alp

A being that settles on the sleeper's chest, causing paralysis, suffocation, and oppressive dreams. It may also sour milk and torm...

Read full entry →

Germanic and Nordic folklore • Middle Ages to modern folklore

Mare

A female entity that rides the sleeper's chest, pressing until suffocation and bad dreams set in. She may also 'ride' horses (leav...

Read full entry →

Brazil • Modern folklore

Pisadeira

A gaunt old woman with long nails, who lives on the rooftops and descends at night to tread on the chest of those who sleep belly-...

Read full entry →

Poland and Slavic traditions • Modern folklore

Zmora

A spirit, often the soul of a living woman, that leaves the body at night to sit on sleepers' chests, suffocate them, and suck the...

Read full entry →

Maya Folklore (1)

Maya peoples • Maya oral tradition

Alux

A small goblin-like being, child-sized, that protects milpas (cornfields) and forests; it can help farmers who treat it with respe...

Read full entry →

Egyptian Mythology (1)

Ancient Egypt • Ancient Egypt

Ammit

A composite female demon, 'the Devourer' (Ammit, 'she who devours'), with the head of a crocodile, the forequarters of a lion (or ...

Read full entry →

African and Diaspora Folklore (1)

Akan peoples and Caribbean diaspora • Oral tradition

Anansi

A cunning, wise spider who shifts between spider and human form. Clever, vain, and sometimes foolish, he defeats the stronger by i...

Read full entry →

Mythic Serpents (1)

North Africa and ancient Greece • Antiquity

Amphisbaena

A serpent whose Greek name means 'goes both ways': it has a head at each end and can move forward or backward, or bite one head on...

Read full entry →

Mythic Birds (7)

Mesopotamia • Antiquity

Anzu

A gigantic monstrous bird with a lion's head and an eagle's body, able to exhale storm and fire. It personifies the laden clouds a...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient China

Fenghuang

A splendid and auspicious bird, a synthesis of several birds, with multicolored plumage uniting the five virtuous colors. Original...

Read full entry →

Egypt, Greece, and later traditions • Antiquity

Phoenix

A unique and magnificent bird of flaming plumage that lives for centuries, builds an aromatic pyre, is consumed by fire, and is re...

Read full entry →

India • Epic and Puranic literature

Garuda

A being of enormous power, half man, half eagle: a human body, wings, beak, talons, and sometimes a bird's face. King of birds, sw...

Read full entry →

Slavic folklore • Slavic folktales

Firebird

A magical, dazzling bird whose plumage glows like fire (orange, gold, red), lighting the night and radiating heat. A single one of...

Read full entry →

Maranao people • Artistic and oral tradition

Sarimanok

A bird of vivid plumage, resembling a stylized rooster, with exuberant tail and wings, an ornate crest, and often a fish held in i...

Read full entry →

Persia • Antiquity to Persian Middle Ages

Simurgh

A benevolent, wise bird of enormous size and great longevity, dwelling in the tree of knowledge or on the cosmic Mount Alborz. A s...

Read full entry →

Guarani Mythology (6)

Guarani peoples • Guarani oral tradition

Ao Ao

A monstrous mammal resembling a sheep or tapir with sharp fangs, described as one of the seven monstrous children of Tau (the spir...

Read full entry →

Guarani peoples • Guarani oral tradition

Jasy Jatere

Unlike his brothers, he has the form of a beautiful child or dwarf, fair-haired and naked, carrying a magical golden staff (yvyra'...

Read full entry →

Guarani peoples • Guarani oral tradition

Mboi Tui

A hybrid creature of a serpent with a parrot's head, who inhabits swamps and flooded areas, known for its seductive song that lure...

Read full entry →

Guarani peoples • Guarani oral tradition

Kurupi

A fertility spirit of short stature, hairy, with notoriously exaggerated sexual characteristics, who inhabits the forest and pursu...

Read full entry →

Guarani peoples • Guarani oral tradition

Luison

A death spirit associated with cemeteries and lycanthropic transformation: in River Plate tradition, it is said that the seventh c...

Read full entry →

Guarani peoples • Guarani oral tradition

Teju Jagua

A being with a huge lizard's body and seven dog heads (in other versions, a single canine head with flaming eyes); despite its fea...

Read full entry →

Cosmic Serpents (2)

Ancient Egypt • Ancient Egypt

Apep

A colossal serpent (Apep, Gr. Apophis), the primordial enemy of the sun-god Ra, personifying chaos, darkness, and non-being. It ha...

Read full entry →

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Jormungandr

The Midgard Serpent, child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, sibling of Fenrir and Hel. So immense that it encircles the world an...

Read full entry →

Celestial Beings (4)

India and Southeast Asia • Epic and religious literature

Apsara

Female spirits of extraordinary beauty, dancers and courtesans of Indra's heaven. Wives of the gandharvas (celestial musicians), t...

Read full entry →

India • Vedic and epic literature

Gandharva

Male semi-divine beings, masters of music and song who enliven the court of the gods. They dwell in the heavens and the air, are s...

Read full entry →

India and Southeast Asia • Religious literature and temple art

Kinnari

Creatures with a human upper half and a bird's lower half (or with wings and a swan's tail), famous as celestial musicians and dan...

Read full entry →

Aztec Mexico • Pre-Columbian period

Tzitzimimeh

Skeletal female spirits associated with the stars, who threaten to descend to earth and devour humanity during solar eclipses or a...

Read full entry →

Vampires and Folk Witchcraft (2)

West Africa • Oral tradition

Asiman

A witch who transforms into a flying ball of fire at night to travel and feed spiritually on victims, often close relatives or nei...

Read full entry →

Akan peoples • Oral tradition

Obayifo

A living sorcerer of ordinary appearance, whose soul leaves at night glowing (like a firefly) to suck the blood of children and th...

Read full entry →

Cosmic Beings (1)

India and Buddhist traditions • Religious antiquity

Asura

A class of powerful beings, half-brothers and perpetual rivals of the devas (gods). Hungry for power and often endowed with great ...

Read full entry →

Shapeshifters and Vampires (1)

Philippines • Philippine oral tradition

Aswang

A category of creatures combining traits of vampire, ghoul, witch, and shape-shifter. By day, the aswang looks like an ordinary pe...

Read full entry →

Monstrous Birds (1)

Ancient Greece • Classical tradition

Stymphalian Birds

A flock of monstrous birds, sacred to Ares, that infested Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia. They had beaks, claws, and feathers of bronz...

Read full entry →

Slavic Folklore (1)

Slavic peoples • Slavic oral tradition

Baba Yaga

An old witch who lives in a hut on chicken legs, surrounded by a fence of bones and skulls. She flies in a mortar, steering with t...

Read full entry →

Cosmic Creatures (2)

Arabic cosmography • Islamic Middle Ages

Bahamut

A colossal fish of inconceivable proportions that supports the entire cosmic structure: the earth rests on a bull, the bull on a r...

Read full entry →

Mesoamerica • Pre-Columbian period

Cipactli

A primordial hybrid monster of crocodile, fish, and toad, covered in mouths and eyes all over its body, that floated alone in the ...

Read full entry →

Chinese Creatures (6)

China • Classical Chinese literature

Bai Ze

A creature of leonine or bovine appearance, sometimes with horns, eyes on its body, and the gift of speech. It knows the nature of...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient China

Longma

An auspicious creature with the body of a horse and the scales, horns, and traits of a dragon, able to fly or to tread on water. I...

Read full entry →

China • New Year folklore

Nian

A fierce monster that, at the end of each year, came down from the mountains (or out of the sea) to attack the villages, devouring...

Read full entry →

China • Imperial Chinese tradition

Pixiu

A winged hybrid combining a dragon's head, a lion's body, and generally one or two horns. Voracious for gold, silver, and jewels, ...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient China

Qilin

An auspicious chimeric quadruped with deer-like features, a scaled or flame-covered body, hooves, and one or two horns. So gentle ...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient China

Xiezhi

A creature resembling an ox or goat, with dark fur and a single horn on its forehead. Endowed with the gift of discerning right fr...

Read full entry →

Celestial Guardian (4)

China • Ancient Chinese cosmology

White Tiger

A celestial tiger ruling the West, the element Metal, autumn, and the color white. The second of the Four Symbols, it guards seven...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient Chinese cosmology

Azure Dragon

A celestial dragon ruling the East, the element Wood, spring, and the blue-green color (qing). It is the first of the Four Symbols...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient Chinese cosmology

Black Tortoise

A celestial creature ruling the North, the element Water, winter, and the color black, depicted as a tortoise entwined by a serpen...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient Chinese cosmology

Vermilion Bird

A flaming celestial bird ruling the South, the element Fire, summer, and the color red. The third of the Four Symbols, it guards s...

Read full entry →

Lunar Dragons and Serpents (1)

Philippines • Philippine mythology

Bakunawa

A colossal sea serpent or dragon with a mouth able to swallow the moon, furnished with fins, whiskers, and sometimes wings. It dwe...

Read full entry →

Household Spirits (6)

Slavic peoples • Slavic folklore

Bannik

A spirit dwelling in the banya, the traditional Russian sauna, a space of strong ritual charge (birth, healing, divination). Usual...

Read full entry →

England • Modern folklore

Boggart

A malign or degenerate version of the brownie: a spirit that inhabits houses, fields, or marshes and torments the dwellers — souri...

Read full entry →

Scotland and northern England • Oral tradition

Brownie

A small hairy being who, at night, performs household and farm chores (cleaning, threshing, milking) for the family that hosts it,...

Read full entry →

Slavic peoples • Oral tradition

Domovoi

A protective spirit of the house and family, generally described as a small, old, hairy little man, sometimes resembling the head ...

Read full entry →

Slavic peoples • Slavic folklore

Kikimora

A house-spirit, wife or counterpart of the domovoi, dwelling behind the stove or in the cellar. In one strand she is a hard-workin...

Read full entry →

Slavic peoples • Slavic folklore

Ovinnik

A spirit dwelling in the ovin, the barn where grain was dried and threshed with fire. Described as a huge black cat with glowing e...

Read full entry →

European Folklore (5)

Ireland • Medieval and modern oral tradition

Banshee

A spirit that announces an imminent death with a sharp, blood-chilling wail (the keen). It appears as a woman — maiden, matron, or...

Read full entry →

England • Medieval and modern tradition

Black Shuck

A huge black dog with a single flaming eye (or eyes) like an ember, roaming roads, coasts, and churchyards at night. At Bungay it ...

Read full entry →

Scotland • Celtic oral tradition

Kelpie

A spirit that takes the form of a beautiful horse beside rivers and lochs. It lures travelers to mount it; when they do, its hide ...

Read full entry →

France and medieval Europe • Middle Ages

Melusine

A most beautiful woman who marries a nobleman on one condition: that he never see her on Saturdays. On that day, from the waist do...

Read full entry →

Scotland, Ireland, and northern islands • Maritime oral tradition

Selkie

A seal that can shed its own skin to take human form on land. Seal-women of great beauty become wives of men who hide their skin; ...

Read full entry →

Vampires and Fairies (1)

Scotland • Gaelic tradition

Baobhan Sith

A most beautiful woman in a long green dress who appears at night — especially to hunters and travelers camping outdoors — invitin...

Read full entry →

Spectral Hounds (2)

Northern England • Medieval and modern folklore

Barghest

A monstrous black dog with huge flaming eyes, terrible claws and teeth, appearing at night as an omen of death. In some versions i...

Read full entry →

Scotland • Gaelic tradition

Cu Sith

A supernatural dog the size of a bullock, with dark-green fur (uncommon in dogs), broad paws, and a coiled or braided tail. It hun...

Read full entry →

Balinese Folklore (3)

Bali • Balinese ritual tradition

Barong

A fantastic leonine creature, with a long golden mane, an expressive mask with bulging eyes and a snapping jaw, a body covered in ...

Read full entry →

Bali • Balinese oral tradition

Leyak

A practitioner of black magic who at night transforms into a floating head with dangling viscera — heart, lungs, and liver trailin...

Read full entry →

Bali • Balinese ritual tradition

Rangda

A monstrous witch of dreadful aspect: long disheveled hair, bulging eyes, fangs, a flaming pendulous tongue, sagging breasts, and ...

Read full entry →

Medieval Bestiaries (5)

Ancient Mediterranean and medieval Europe • Antiquity-Middle Ages

Basilisk

A small serpent whose gaze, breath, and even touch are deadly; it withers plants, cracks stones, and poisons waters. Its name mean...

Read full entry →

Medieval Europe • Middle Ages

Bonnacon

A bull-like animal with a horse's mane and horns curved inward (useless for charging). Its famous defense: while fleeing, it shoot...

Read full entry →

Medieval Europe • Middle Ages

Cockatrice

A hybrid of rooster and serpent: a rooster's head, wings, and legs on a reptile's body and tail. Like the basilisk, it kills by ga...

Read full entry →

Mediterranean and Near East • Classical antiquity

Griffin

A hybrid with the body, claws, and tail of a lion and the head, wings, and foreclaws of an eagle. King of beasts and king of birds...

Read full entry →

Europe and ancient Asia • Antiquity to Middle Ages

Unicorn

A quadruped resembling a horse (or goat) with a single spiraled horn on its forehead, a symbol of purity and power. Untamable by f...

Read full entry →

Urban Bestiaries (1)

Switzerland • Medieval and modern folklore

Basel Basilisk

A hybrid rooster-serpent/toad creature, born according to legend from an egg laid by an old rooster and hatched by a toad, whose d...

Read full entry →

Scottish Folklore (2)

Scottish Highlands • Gaelic tradition

Bean-nighe

A female spirit seen by rivers and fords at night, washing the blood-stained clothes or shroud of those about to die. To see her i...

Read full entry →

Scotland • Oral tradition

Fachan

A grotesque, asymmetrical being: it has a single leg (in the middle of its body), a single arm (sprouting from the center of its c...

Read full entry →

Biblical Creatures (1)

Biblical traditions • Antiquity

Behemoth

A colossal creature of the dry land, of enormous strength, with bones like tubes of bronze and limbs like bars of iron, that eats ...

Read full entry →

Solar Birds (1)

Ancient Egypt • Ancient Egypt

Bennu

A self-created bird linked to the sun and to renewal, depicted as a heron (ardeid) with long legs and two erect plumes on its head...

Read full entry →

Historical Urban Legends (8)

Wisconsin • 20th century

Beast of Bray Road

A large, hairy, bipedal creature with a wolf's or dog's head, glowing eyes, an elongated muzzle, and an upright posture; seen at t...

Read full entry →

Massachusetts • 20th century

Dover Demon

A small humanoid creature with smooth peach or pinkish skin, a disproportionately large elongated head, huge glowing eyes (orange ...

Read full entry →

Illinois • 20th century

Enfield Horror

A being roughly 1.5 meters tall, grayish skin, three legs, two short arms, large glowing red eyes; it moves in swift, prodigious l...

Read full entry →

New Jersey • 18th-20th centuries

Jersey Devil

A winged bipedal being with a horse's or goat's head, bat wings, hooves, a forked tail, and claws; it lets out a piercing shriek a...

Read full entry →

West Virginia • 20th century

Flatwoods Monster

A tall figure (3 meters or more) with a red heart- or spade-shaped face, glowing eyes, a dark body wrapped in a skirt- or metallic...

Read full entry →

United States • 20th century

Mothman

A large winged humanoid with broad wings and glowing red eyes that reflect light. It is said to fly at great speed and to be assoc...

Read full entry →

Ohio • 20th century

Loveland Frog

A bipedal being about 1.2 meters tall, with the head and face of a frog (or lizard), leathery greenish skin, webbing, and large ey...

Read full entry →

Victorian England • 19th century

Spring-heeled Jack

A male figure of devilish appearance who attacked passers-by — especially women — at night, with cold metallic claws and breath of...

Read full entry →

Spirits and Ghosts (1)

India • Religious and oral tradition

Bhuta

Ghosts or restless spirits of those who died violently, prematurely, or without proper funeral rites. They wander the earth, espec...

Read full entry →

Chinese Birds (1)

China • Ancient Chinese texts

Bifang

A crane-like bird with a single leg, red plumage with blue spots, and a white beak. Where it appears, it announces or causes fires...

Read full entry →

Central African Folklore (1)

Mongo peoples • Oral tradition

Biloko

Anthropophagous beings dwelling in the heart of the jungle, described as dwarfs covered in grass instead of fur, with claws, ember...

Read full entry →

Dragon Sons (2)

China • Imperial Chinese tradition

Bixi

A creature with the body of a giant tortoise and the head of a dragon, depicted carrying monumental stone steles (engraved with im...

Read full entry →

China • Imperial Chinese tradition

Yazi

The most warlike of the dragon's sons, of fierce temperament and a taste for killing and fighting; its image was engraved on sword...

Read full entry →

Brazilian Folklore (9)

Brazil • Indigenous and colonial traditions

Boitata

A serpent of fire, described as a great luminous snake or a will-o'-the-wisp that roams fields and forests at night. It protects t...

Read full entry →

Northeastern Brazil • Regional oral tradition

Cabra Cabriola

A ghostly goat with glowing red eyes that appears on dark roads and crossroads at night, known for performing cabrioles (bizarre l...

Read full entry →

Brazil • Indigenous and colonial traditions

Caipora

A protector of game and wild animals, usually described as a small caboclo or Indian who rides a wild pig (caititu) and smokes a p...

Read full entry →

Brazil and Iberian Peninsula • Luso-Brazilian folklore

Cuca

A bogey used to frighten children, especially those who will not sleep. In Monteiro Lobato, it takes the fixed form of an old witc...

Read full entry →

Brazil • Colonial period and earlier traditions

Curupira

A protector of the forest and its animals, generally described as a boy or being with red (or fiery) hair and feet turned backward...

Read full entry →

Brazil • Amazonian oral tradition

Iara

A water-mother of extraordinary beauty, with long hair and, in the consolidated form, a fish tail. She dwells in Amazonian rivers ...

Read full entry →

Northeastern Brazil • Regional folklore

Labatut

A large, dark-furred ghostly dog with glowing eyes, who appears alone on rural roads at night, silently following travelers at a d...

Read full entry →

Brazil • Colonial folklore

Headless Mule

A spectral, fiery headless mule (or with flames in place of the head) that gallops on Thursday-into-Friday nights, spewing fire fr...

Read full entry →

Brazil • 19th-20th centuries

Saci

A one-legged black boy who wears a magical red cap and smokes a pipe. Mischievous and playful, he lives in whirlwinds and plays tr...

Read full entry →

Amazonian Folklore (3)

Brazilian Amazon • Amazonian oral tradition

Pink River Dolphin

The dolphin that, on festival nights (especially the June festivals), emerges from the river transformed into a most handsome man,...

Read full entry →

Amazon • Amazonian oral tradition

Capelobo

A hybrid monster with a hairy human body and an animal head — tapir or dog — that roams the forest attacking hunters and animals. ...

Read full entry →

Amazon • Amazonian oral tradition

Mapinguari

A monstrous, gigantic being covered in long reddish fur, with powerful claws. Traditionally described with a single leg or with a ...

Read full entry →

Korean Creatures (2)

Korea • Korean folklore

Bulgasari

A small creature formed from grains of rice (in some versions, molded by an imprisoned monk from cooked rice) that grows by devour...

Read full entry →

Korea • Korean tradition

Haetae

A leonine beast with scales, a horn on its forehead, a bell on its neck, and a body covered in fur, able to distinguish right from...

Read full entry →

Shapeshifters (4)

Kanuri and Lake Chad region • Oral tradition

Bultungin

A sorcerer able to take hyena form at will, attacking by night and vanishing by day within the community. The village of Kabultilo...

Read full entry →

Northeast Africa • Oral tradition

Werehyena

A human — often a blacksmith, sorcerer, or outsider — who turns into a hyena at night to dig up corpses, attack herds, and abduct ...

Read full entry →

Mesoamerica • Pre-Columbian and colonial traditions

Nahual

A magic practitioner able to turn into an animal — jaguar, coyote, bird, dog — to do harm, spy, or wield power. It is bound to the...

Read full entry →

Diné/Navajo traditions • Indigenous oral tradition

Skin-walker

A malevolent witch who, by donning an animal's skin, takes its shape — wolf, coyote, bear, owl — to bring disease, death, and misf...

Read full entry →

Australian Folklore (2)

Australia • Aboriginal traditions and colonial reports

Bunyip

A monster dwelling in swamps, lagoons, billabongs, and riverbeds, described in varied forms — with tusks, fins, fur or feathers, a...

Read full entry →

Australia • Oral tradition

Yara-ma-yha-who

A small, red, toothless being with a big head and a huge mouth, with suckers on the tips of its fingers and toes. It hides in fig ...

Read full entry →

North American Indigenous Folklore (5)

Iroquois traditions • Indigenous oral tradition

Flying Head

A monstrous, disembodied human head, wrapped in long, disheveled hair, with wings or its own propulsion allowing it to fly through...

Read full entry →

Wampanoag traditions and region • Indigenous oral tradition

Pukwudgie

A small humanoid creature (60–90 cm), with grayish or brownish skin, a large nose and fingers, who originally helped humans but, a...

Read full entry →

Multiple North American Indigenous traditions • Indigenous oral tradition

Horned Serpent

A giant, powerful serpent, often with deer horns on its head and a brilliant jewel or crystal (often called Ulun'suti in Cherokee ...

Read full entry →

Multiple North American Indigenous traditions • Indigenous oral tradition

Thunderbird

A supernatural bird of colossal size that controls thunder and lightning: the beating of its wings produces thunder, and lightning...

Read full entry →

Algonquian peoples • Indigenous oral tradition

Wendigo

A malevolent spirit associated with winter, extreme hunger, and cannibalism. It embodies insatiable greed: the more it devours, th...

Read full entry →

Roman Mythology (2)

Ancient Rome • Roman antiquity

Cacus

A fire-breathing semi-human giant, son of Vulcan, who lived in a cave on the Aventine Hill and terrorized the region with plunder,...

Read full entry →

Ancient Rome • Roman antiquity

Faun

A masculine spirit of countryside and herds, half man and half goat, with horns and caprine legs. In the singular he is the god Fa...

Read full entry →

Central American Folklore (1)

Central America • Colonial and modern folklore

Cadejo

A spirit in the form of a large dog with glowing eyes that appears at night on the roads. It exists in two types: the white cadejo...

Read full entry →

Chilote Folklore (2)

Chiloe Archipelago • Chilote oral tradition

Camahueto

A kind of sea-unicorn: it is born on land as a small calf with a silver horn and, on growing, hurls itself to the sea with such vi...

Read full entry →

Chiloe Archipelago • Chilote oral tradition

Trauco

A small, ugly, misshapen being with stunted legs, dressed in quilineja (a vine) and carrying a stone axe. Despite his looks, he wi...

Read full entry →

Mythic Bats (1)

Maya traditions • Pre-Columbian period

Camazotz

An anthropomorphic bat deity, lord of the House of Bats (Zotzilaha) in Xibalba (the Maya underworld), who decapitates the hero twi...

Read full entry →

South American Folklore (1)

Chile and Andean region • Colonial and modern folklore

Carbunclo

A tiny nocturnal creature that bears a luminous gemstone on its head (the 'carbuncle', from Latin carbunculus, ruby/ember). Whoeve...

Read full entry →

Sea Creatures (6)

Ancient Greece • Odyssey and classical tradition

Charybdis

A monstrous whirlpool that, three times a day, sucks in the waters of the sea and spews them back, destroying any ship that comes ...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Odyssey and classical tradition

Scylla

A sea monster dwelling on a cliff in a narrow strait. It has six long-necked heads, each with a triple row of teeth, and a girdle ...

Read full entry →

Scandinavia • 18th-19th centuries

Kraken

A colossal cephalopod creature that rises from the depths to drag whole ships down with its tentacles. So vast that sailors would ...

Read full entry →

Biblical and Near Eastern traditions • Antiquity

Leviathan

A colossal sea monster, serpent of primordial chaos, symbol of untamable waters. In Job it is the creature no human can capture; i...

Read full entry →

Bahamas • Modern maritime folklore

Lusca

A hybrid octopus-shark creature of gigantic proportions, who would inhabit the labyrinthine submerged cave systems of Andros's blu...

Read full entry →

Multiple maritime traditions • Antiquity to modern folklore

Mermaid

In its Greek origin, a being half woman, half bird, whose irresistible song lures sailors to death on the rocks. In later traditio...

Read full entry →

Supernatural Cats (1)

Scotland and Ireland • Gaelic tradition

Cat Sith

A large spectral cat, black with a white spot on the chest, able to walk upright and the size of a dog; a fairy creature (or trans...

Read full entry →

Ancient Bestiaries (3)

Greco-Roman accounts of Africa • Antiquity

Catoblepas

A medium-sized, heavy, sluggish quadruped with a head so large and drooping that it keeps it always turned to the ground. Its gaze...

Read full entry →

Greco-Roman tradition • Antiquity

Leucrota

A swift hybrid the size of a donkey, with a stag's legs, a lion's chest and tail, a badger's head, cloven hooves, and a mouth that...

Read full entry →

Persia and Greco-Roman tradition • Antiquity

Manticore

A beast with a red lion's body, a human face with a triple row of teeth, and a scorpion's tail able to launch venomous spines. It ...

Read full entry →

Greek Mythology (16)

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Centaur

A hybrid being with a human torso and head upon a horse's body. Generally wild, given to wine and violence, but with notable excep...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Cerberus

A monstrous multi-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades, preventing the dead from leaving and the living from entering. His captu...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Cyclops

A giant with a single eye in the middle of its forehead. In Homer, a wild, man-eating shepherd without laws or agriculture; in Hes...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Empusa

A shapeshifting specter of Hecate's retinue, able to assume a thousand forms. Generally described with one leg of bronze and the o...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Echidna

A creature of double nature: half a fair-eyed nymph, half a monstrous, dapple-skinned serpent. She dwells in a cave beneath the ea...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Graeae

Three sisters born old, gray-haired from the womb, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto and sisters of the Gorgons. Among themselves they...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Harpy

Winged beings with a woman's face and a bird-of-prey's body, swift as the wind. They snatch people and food and pollute what they ...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Lernaean Hydra

A multi-headed water serpent dwelling in the swamp of Lerna. For each head cut off, two grow back; one is immortal. Its blood and ...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Lamia

A monstrous woman who devours children and seduces young men to feed on them. In later versions she gains a serpentine body below ...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Medusa

A Gorgon with serpent hair whose gaze turns onlookers to stone. Of the three sisters (Stheno, Euryale, Medusa) she alone is mortal...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Minotaur

A being with a human body and a bull's head, named Asterion. Born of Pasiphaë, wife of Minos, and the Cretan Bull, the result of P...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Orthrus

A two-headed dog (in some versions with a serpent tail), brother of Cerberus, the Hydra, and the Chimera. In the far west he guard...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Pegasus

A white horse with great wings, a symbol of flight and poetic inspiration. Tamed by Bellerophon with the golden bridle given by At...

Read full entry →

Lycia and Greece • Classical antiquity

Chimera

A fire-breathing hybrid monster with a lion's body, a second goat head rising from its back, and a serpent's tail. It ravages Lyci...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Satyr

Companions of Dionysus, satyrs are male nature-spirits, lustful and drunken, with equine (in archaic art) or later caprine ears an...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Typhon

A monstrous giant, son of Gaia and Tartarus, tall as the stars, with a hundred serpent heads springing from his shoulders, eyes of...

Read full entry →

South Asian Spirits (1)

India, Pakistan, and region • Regional folklore

Churel

A vengeful female spirit, often one who died pregnant, in childbirth, or mistreated by her family. She is recognized by her backwa...

Read full entry →

Caribbean Folklore (1)

Dominican Republic • Modern oral tradition

Ciguapa

A wild woman of the mountains and rivers, with brown or bluish skin, long hair covering her naked body, and above all backward-fac...

Read full entry →

Brazilian Undead (1)

Brazil • Colonial and modern folklore

Corpo-seco

The corpse of a person so wicked in life that not even the earth accepts it: once buried, it is expelled from the soil, and not ev...

Read full entry →

Iberian and Latin Folklore (1)

Iberian Peninsula and the Americas • Modern folklore

Cucuy

A bogeyman monster that comes for disobedient children who will not sleep or who misbehave. Its form is deliberately vague — a sha...

Read full entry →

Demonic Beings (2)

Persia and Central Asia • Persian epic tradition

Div

A colossal demonic being of brute strength and monstrous aspect — a gigantic body, dark or white skin, horns, fangs, and a mane. A...

Read full entry →

India • Sanskrit epics

Rakshasa

Man-eating demonic beings, masters of illusion (maya), able to change shape. They disrupt sacrifices, haunt cemeteries, and devour...

Read full entry →

Middle Eastern Folklore (1)

Arabia and Islamic world • Late antiquity and Islamic tradition

Djinn

Beings created from smokeless fire, invisible to humans, endowed with free will: they may be believers or unbelievers, benevolent ...

Read full entry →

Korean Folklore (1)

Korea • Korean oral tradition

Dokkaebi

A mischievous, powerful supernatural being, often arising from discarded objects imbued with spirit (brooms, sticks, old utensils ...

Read full entry →

Dragons (6)

Medieval Europe • Middle Ages

European Dragon

A colossal, winged, fire-breathing reptile with armored scales and a whip-like tail, hoarding treasure and ravaging kingdoms. It f...

Read full entry →

Northern Europe • Medieval tradition

Lindworm

A wingless dragon with a serpentine body and usually two foreclaws (or none), crawling like a giant snake. It dwells in dens and m...

Read full entry →

China • Ancient China

Chinese Long

An elongated, benevolent, wingless serpent, capable of flying through cloud control and flying without needing them, associated wi...

Read full entry →

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Nidhogg

A dragon or serpent that dwells beneath the cosmic tree Yggdrasil, in Niflheim, gnawing ceaselessly at one of its roots. It also d...

Read full entry →

European heraldry • Late Middle Ages

Wyvern

A dragon with only two legs, bat-like wings, a reptilian body, and a serpent tail ending in a point or venomous barb. Smaller and ...

Read full entry →

East Slavic lands • Slavic epic tradition

Zmey Gorynych

A many-headed dragon (three, six, nine, or twelve heads) that breathes fire and flies, abducting princesses and demanding tribute....

Read full entry →

Norse Undead (1)

Norse mythology • Medieval sagas

Draugr

A dead person who remains animate in the grave-mound (haugr), endowed with superhuman strength, a swollen and blackened body, and ...

Read full entry →

Ibero-American Folklore (1)

Iberian Peninsula and Latin America • Modern folklore

Duende

A small mischievous spirit of child-like stature, usually wearing a characteristic hat, who inhabits rural areas, old houses, and ...

Read full entry →

Celtic Folklore (2)

Ireland • Celtic oral tradition

Dullahan

A decapitated horseman who carries his own head under his arm, mounted on a black horse. He wields a whip made of a human spine an...

Read full entry →

Ireland and Wales • Celtic oral tradition

Puca

An ambivalent fairy being that shifts shape — chiefly a black horse with fiery eyes, but also a goat, cat, hare, or man — and may ...

Read full entry →

Water Horses (1)

Scotland • Gaelic tradition

Each-uisge

One of the deadliest water-beings of Scottish folklore: a beautiful, docile horse at the water's edge inviting one to mount it; on...

Read full entry →

Norse Creatures (5)

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Eikthyrnir

A stag (or hart) that stands on the roof of Valhalla, feeding on the leaves of the tree Léraðr (associated with Yggdrasil). From i...

Read full entry →

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Fenrir

A monstrous wolf, child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, brother of Jormungandr and Hel. He grows so fearsome that the gods chai...

Read full entry →

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Heidrun

A goat that stands on the roof of Valhalla and feeds on the leaves of the tree Léraðr; from its udders flows not milk but mead, in...

Read full entry →

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Ratatoskr

A squirrel that runs up and down the world-tree Yggdrasil, carrying messages — above all insults and gossip — between the eagle pe...

Read full entry →

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Sleipnir

A gray eight-legged steed, the swiftest and best of all horses, able to ride through the air, over the sea, and between worlds, in...

Read full entry →

Latin American Folklore (2)

Venezuela and Colombia • Llanero oral tradition

El Silbon

A tall, skeletal ghost of a young man who killed his own father and was cursed to carry the paternal bones in a sack forever. He a...

Read full entry →

Mexico and Latin America • Colonial and modern folklore

La Llorona

The ghost of a woman in white who, having drowned her own children out of love or spite, wanders eternally by rivers and lakes cry...

Read full entry →

Ancient Mythologies (1)

Egypt and Greece • Antiquity

Sphinx

A monster with a woman's face, a lion's body, and a bird's wings, sent against Thebes. It poses a riddle to each traveler and devo...

Read full entry →

Gorgons (2)

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Stheno

The eldest of the three Gorgons and, like Euryale, immortal — unlike Medusa. With serpent hair and a petrifying gaze, she is held ...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Euryale

One of the three Gorgons, immortal like Stheno. With serpent hair and a petrifying gaze, she is distinguished in tradition by her ...

Read full entry →

Prophetic Birds (1)

Slavic traditions • Medieval and modern folklore

Gamayun

A creature with a bird's body and a woman's head (and bust) that knows all the secrets of creation and prophesies the future to th...

Read full entry →

Fantastic Architecture (1)

Medieval Europe • Middle Ages

Gargoyle

A grotesque sculpture in the form of a monstrous creature, placed at the edges of Gothic cathedral roofs to drain rainwater throug...

Read full entry →

Norse Hounds (1)

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Garmr

A bloodstained hound, said to be the greatest of dogs, chained before Gnipahellir, the cave giving access to Hel, the realm of the...

Read full entry →

Undead and Devourers (1)

Arabia • Arabic tradition

Ghoul

A desert demon, a kind of malevolent djinn, that shape-shifts — especially into a woman or animal — to lure solitary travelers, ki...

Read full entry →

Elementals (4)

Alchemy and European folklore • Renaissance to modern folklore

Gnome

The earth elemental, the gnome dwells underground and moves through rock as a fish moves through water. A guardian of mines and tr...

Read full entry →

European folklore and occultism • Middle Ages to Romanticism

Undine

The water elemental, the undine inhabits rivers, lakes, and seas. Beautiful and of feminine human form, she lacks an immortal soul...

Read full entry →

European alchemy • Renaissance

Elemental Salamander

The fire elemental, the salamander lives in and feeds on flames without burning. A small luminous lizard in iconography, it is the...

Read full entry →

European alchemy • Renaissance

Sylph

The air elemental, the sylph (sylphide in the feminine) inhabits the winds and moves through the atmosphere as a fish through wate...

Read full entry →

Artificial Creatures (1)

Jewish tradition • Middle Ages to modern period

Golem

A being of clay shaped and animated by sacred means — combinations of letters of the divine Name or the word emet (truth) inscribe...

Read full entry →

African Creatures (3)

South Africa • Modern folklore

Grootslang

A colossal serpent with elephant traits, described as an immense, ancient creature dwelling in deep caves and water holes. Cunning...

Read full entry →

Angola and Kimbundu peoples • Oral tradition

Kishi

A being with two faces: in front, the seductive face of a handsome young man; behind, hidden under hair or a hat, the face of a hy...

Read full entry →

West Africa • Oral tradition

Ninki Nanka

A colossal reptile, part dragon part serpent, with a long neck, crests or a dorsal ridge, and sometimes mirror-like eyes; it dwell...

Read full entry →

Korean Ghosts (1)

Korea • Korean folklore

Gwishin

The spirit of a dead person who remains in the world of the living because of a grievance or unfinished business (han). The most c...

Read full entry →

Southeast Asian Spirits (3)

Malaysia • Regional oral tradition

Hantu Raya

A powerful, invisible spirit, summoned and bound by a shaman (bomoh or dukun) through ritual pacts, who serves its summoner as a s...

Read full entry →

Thailand and region • Regional oral tradition

Krasue

A spirit that manifests at night as a floating female head, usually beautiful, with the entrails (esophagus, stomach, intestines, ...

Read full entry →

Malaysia and Indonesia • Regional oral tradition

Pontianak

The vengeful ghost of a woman who died during pregnancy or childbirth. She appears as a pale woman with long black hair and a whit...

Read full entry →

Literary Bestiaries (1)

European chivalric literature • Renaissance

Hippogriff

A winged mount with the forequarters of an eagle (head, wings, and talons) and the hindquarters of a horse. In Orlando Furioso it ...

Read full entry →

Maritime Folklore (2)

Scotland • Maritime oral tradition

Blue Men of the Minch

Blue-skinned aquatic beings who inhabit the stormy waters of the Minch strait, capable of creating storms and sinking ships; accor...

Read full entry →

Northern Germany • Modern maritime folklore

Klabautermann

A small maritime household spirit, resembling a goblin dressed as a sailor (yellow coat, pipe, oilskin clothing), who inhabits shi...

Read full entry →

Alchemical Creatures (1)

European alchemy • Renaissance

Homunculus

A miniature human being generated artificially outside the womb. In Paracelsus's recipe, human sperm putrefies in an alembic for f...

Read full entry →

Mesoamerican Shapeshifters (1)

Yucatan • Colonial and modern folklore

Huay Chivo

A sorcerer (brujo) transformed into a hybrid man-goat creature (or werewolf-like figure, in some versions), with glowing red eyes,...

Read full entry →

Nordic Folklore (1)

Scandinavia • Oral tradition

Huldra

A woman of extraordinary beauty who dwells in forests and mountains, with a cow's (or fox's) tail she tries to hide and, in some v...

Read full entry →

Fox Spirits (2)

China • Classical folklore and literature

Huli Jing

A fox that, with age and spiritual practice, acquires magical powers and the ability to take human form — generally that of a woma...

Read full entry →

Korea • Korean folklore

Kumiho

A fox that lives a thousand years and gains nine tails, able to take the form of a beautiful woman to seduce men. In Korean tradit...

Read full entry →

Mesopotamian Mythology (1)

Mesopotamia • Epic of Gilgamesh

Humbaba

Huwawa (Akkadian Humbaba), guardian appointed by the god Enlil to watch over the Cedar Forest. A colossal being with a terrible fa...

Read full entry →

Chaos Beings (1)

China • Ancient Chinese texts

Hundun

A formless, faceless being, resembling a sack or amorphous mass, without eyes, ears, nostrils, or mouth — the seven openings of th...

Read full entry →

Djinn (2)

Islamic world • Medieval Arabic literature

Ifrit

A djinn of great power and size, associated with fire and strength, often described as fearsome and imposing. It dwells in ruins a...

Read full entry →

Arabic and Islamic traditions • Medieval Arabic literature

Marid

The most powerful and arrogant of the jinn, associated with waters, the sea, and colossal forces. Proud and unruly, it is the jinn...

Read full entry →

African Folklore (2)

Southern Africa • Oral tradition

Impundulu

A man-sized bird associated with lightning and storm, the familiar of witches who pass it from mother to daughter. It drinks blood...

Read full entry →

Southern Africa • Oral tradition

Tokoloshe

A small, hairy, mischievous being created or controlled by a sorcerer (a dishonest sangoma) to frighten, sicken, or kill enemies. ...

Read full entry →

Korean Dragons (1)

Korea • Korean folklore

Imugi

A great imperfect serpent or hornless dragon that lives in water — lakes, rivers, caves, or wells — awaiting ascension to the cond...

Read full entry →

Storm Serpents (1)

South Africa • Oral and modern tradition

Inkanyamba

A giant winged serpent that inhabits the deep pool at the base of Howick Falls, capable of creating tornadoes and violent storms u...

Read full entry →

Modern Korean Legends (1)

Korea • Modern folklore

Jangsan Tiger

A shapeshifting supernatural tiger that mimics human voices — especially those of family members or close friends — to lure solita...

Read full entry →

Legendary Beasts (2)

Ancient Greece • Classical tradition

Erymanthian Boar

A gigantic, ferocious boar that ravaged the slopes of Mount Erymanthus in Arcadia. Unlike the lethal beasts of the other labors, i...

Read full entry →

Ancient Greece • Classical tradition

Nemean Lion

A monstrous lion with a hide impenetrable to any weapon, ravaging the region of Nemea in the Argolid, devouring flocks and men. Of...

Read full entry →

Modern Indonesian Folklore (1)

Indonesia • Modern folklore

Jenglot

A small humanoid being 10 to 15 cm tall, with long fangs, long hair, and sharp nails, presented by traditional healers (dukun) as ...

Read full entry →

Giants (1)

Norse mythology • Medieval Eddas

Jotunn

Beings of great power and antiquity, dwellers of Jotunheim, who personify the primordial and chaotic forces of nature — ice, mount...

Read full entry →

Philippine Folklore (2)

Philippines • Philippine oral tradition

Kapre

A gigantic, dark, hairy, foul-smelling being that dwells in great old trees — especially the balete (banyan fig), the mango, and b...

Read full entry →

Philippines • Philippine oral tradition

Tikbalang

A tall, lean creature with a human body and a horse's head and feet, with disproportionately long limbs. It dwells in forests and ...

Read full entry →

Tsukumogami (1)

Japan • Edo period

Karakasa-obake

An old paper umbrella with a single eye, a long tongue lolling from an open mouth, and a single leg that hops instead of walking; ...

Read full entry →

Persian Bestiaries (2)

Persia and Islamic world • Islamic Middle Ages

Karkadann

A fierce, powerful beast with a single horn on its brow, described sometimes as akin to the rhinoceros, sometimes as a fabulous cr...

Read full entry →

Medieval Persia • Persian Middle Ages

Shadhavar

A gazelle or deer with a single horn on its forehead, hollow and furnished with many branches or openings — forty-two, according t...

Read full entry →

Mine Spirits (1)

Cornwall • Mining folklore

Knocker

Small spirits or goblins inhabiting underground mines, identified by the knocking sound they produce on tunnel walls; they can gui...

Read full entry →

Household and Mine Spirits (1)

Germany • Modern folklore

Kobold

A minor spirit existing in several types: the household one, which helps with chores in exchange for food; the mine one, which hau...

Read full entry →

Forest Spirits (1)

Japan • Japanese folklore

Kodama

A spirit dwelling in certain ancient forest trees, granting them life and protection. It manifests through the forest's mysterious...

Read full entry →

Sacred Guardians (1)

Japan • Shinto and Buddhist tradition

Komainu

A pair of stylized lion-dogs placed in symmetrical pairs: one with an open mouth pronouncing the sacred sound "a" and the other wi...

Read full entry →

Dragons and Serpents (2)

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Ladon

A serpent-dragon of a hundred heads (according to some), son of Typhon and Echidna or of Phorcys and Ceto, who coils his body arou...

Read full entry →

Vedic India • Vedic literature

Vritra

A colossal serpent or dragon (Vritra, 'the enveloper, the obstacle') that imprisons the celestial waters, withholding rain and riv...

Read full entry →

Ancient Guardians (1)

Assyria and Mesopotamia • Antiquity

Lamassu

A hybrid being with the body of a bull or lion, eagle wings, and a bearded human head crowned with a horned tiara. Raised in colos...

Read full entry →

Irish Folklore (1)

Ireland • Medieval and modern folklore

Leprechaun

A solitary fairy in the form of a little man, usually a shoemaker, who guards a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Cunning and...

Read full entry →

Forest Guardians (1)

Slavic peoples • Slavic folklore

Leshy

Lord and guardian of the forest and its wild animals. He changes size — tall as the trees or low as the grass — and form, able to ...

Read full entry →

Slavic Spirits (1)

Slavic peoples • Oral tradition

Likho

A spirit of misfortune, usually described as a thin, tall one-eyed creature (One-eyed Likho), sometimes a gaunt old woman, that at...

Read full entry →

Mesopotamian Spirits (2)

Mesopotamia • Antiquity

Lilitu

A female nocturnal spirit, seductive and deadly, linked to wind, barrenness, and the death of newborns and women in childbirth. In...

Read full entry →

Mesopotamia • Antiquity

Pazuzu

King of the wind demons, son of Hanbi, lord of the southwest winds that brought drought in summer and storm in the rainy season. H...

Read full entry →

Werewolves (3)

Europe and the Americas • Antiquity to modern folklore

Werewolf

A human who transforms into a wolf, or a wolf-like hybrid, by curse, pact, or hereditary condition. It attacks flocks and people u...

Read full entry →

France and Louisiana • Modern folklore

Loup-garou

A human who turns into a wolf (or wolf-hybrid) through curse, pact, or a magical pelt/belt, attacking livestock and people at nigh...

Read full entry →

Cajun Louisiana • Modern oral tradition

Rougarou

A creature with a wolf's (or dog's/pig's) head and human body that prowls the swamps and cane fields, hunting those who stray or b...

Read full entry →

Latin American Werewolves (1)

Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay • Modern folklore

Lobizon

The seventh consecutive son who, by curse, turns into a wolfish creature on Friday nights (especially at full moon), roaming cemet...

Read full entry →

Australian Legends (1)

Australia • Regional traditions and modern reports

Min Min Lights

Mysterious, floating lights that appear at night on remote, desolate plains, following or approaching observers before disappearin...

Read full entry →

Thai Ghosts (1)

Thailand • Modern folklore

Mae Nak

The spirit of a young wife, Nak, who died in childbirth while her husband, Mak, was away at war. Out of love, she refuses to depar...

Read full entry →

Asuras and Shapeshifters (1)

India • Puranic literature

Mahisha

An asura able to take the form of a gigantic buffalo, granted the boon of being slain by no man nor male god. His pride and invinc...

Read full entry →

Sacred Aquatic Creatures (1)

India • Religious antiquity

Makara

A hybrid sea creature combining parts of several animals — generally the head and jaws of a crocodile, the trunk or snout of an el...

Read full entry →

Water Spirits (4)

West Africa and diaspora • Oral and modern tradition

Mami Wata

A female water-spirit of extreme beauty, often half-woman half-fish or accompanied by serpents, bringing fortune, fertility, and h...

Read full entry →

Germanic folklore • Medieval and modern folklore

Nixie

A being of rivers, lakes, and waterfalls, usually a seductive female (Nixe) or a musician male (Nix), who lures humans into the wa...

Read full entry →

Slavic peoples • Slavic folklore

Rusalka

A female water spirit, generally the soul of a young woman who died by drowning or by violent or impure death, especially virgins ...

Read full entry →

Slavic peoples • Slavic folklore

Vodyanoy

Lord of rivers, lakes, and mills, an old man with a beard of waterweed and a body covered in slime, who drowns careless bathers an...

Read full entry →

Oceanic Guardian Beings (1)

Aotearoa/New Zealand • Maori artistic and oral tradition

Manaia

A hybrid mythological figure with a bird's head, human body, and fish tail, considered a messenger between the realm of the living...

Read full entry →

Indigenous Water Beings (1)

Anishinaabe peoples and Great Lakes region • Indigenous oral tradition

Mishipeshu

A supernatural feline creature covered in copper scales, with horns, a long serpentine spiked tail along its back, who inhabits th...

Read full entry →

Portuguese Folklore (1)

Portugal • Medieval and modern folklore

Enchanted Moura

An enchanted woman of extraordinary beauty, often seen combing long golden or black hair near springs, wells, ruined castles, or c...

Read full entry →

Mesopotamian Dragons (1)

Babylon • Babylonian antiquity

Mushussu

A serpent-dragon (mušḫuššu, 'furious serpent') with a scaled body, snake neck and tail, a horned head with a forked tongue, feline...

Read full entry →

Vampires and Undead (1)

Germany • Medieval and modern folklore

Nachzehrer

A corpse that stays in its grave and devours its own shroud and flesh; from afar it drains the life of living relatives. Its name ...

Read full entry →

Sacred Serpents (1)

India and Southeast Asia • Ancient Asia

Naga

Semi-divine serpentine beings, often depicted as great snakes (cobras) or as human-serpent hybrids. They guard treasures and water...

Read full entry →

Plant Spirits (1)

Thailand • Regional oral tradition

Nang Tani

The spirit of a beautiful young woman, fair-skinned and dressed in a traditional green garment, who dwells in the clump of tani ba...

Read full entry →

Orcadian Folklore (1)

Orkney Islands • Oral tradition

Nuckelavee

One of the most terrible beings of British folklore: a monstrous horse fused with a human rider, both skinless — black muscles, ye...

Read full entry →

Invisible Peoples (1)

Malay world • Malay oral tradition

Orang Bunian

Beings similar to humans but invisible to most, who live in their own society in the deep forests, mountains, and remote areas. Th...

Read full entry →

Modern Legends (1)

Malaysia • 20th century

Orang Minyak

"Oily man": a male humanoid figure covered in sticky black oil from head to toe, who breaks into homes at night — easily escaping ...

Read full entry →

Cosmic Birds (2)

China • Ancient Daoist texts

Peng

A bird of inconceivable proportions, the transformation of the giant fish Kun, whose wings, when spread, cover the sky like clouds...

Read full entry →

Jewish tradition • Antiquity to Middle Ages

Ziz

An enormous bird, lord of the skies, so vast that its spread wings darken the sun and its feet touch the earth while its head reac...

Read full entry →

Persian Spirits (1)

Persia • Medieval Persian literature

Peri

A fairy-like being of extraordinary beauty, winged and luminous, generally feminine, descended from fallen angels and thus situate...

Read full entry →

Mapuche Folklore (1)

Mapuche people • Mapuche oral tradition

Peuchen

A winged, flying serpent able to change shape, which attacks animals and people to suck their blood. Its gaze can paralyze the vic...

Read full entry →

Thai Spirits (1)

Thailand • Regional folklore

Phi Pop

A viscera-devouring spirit that possesses a human body and, from within it, slowly consumes the victim's internal organs, who sick...

Read full entry →

Hungry Spirits (2)

India • Sanskrit literature

Pisacha

Malevolent, unclean spirits, eaters of human flesh and corpses, that haunt graveyards, cremation grounds, and waste places. They c...

Read full entry →

India and Asian Buddhism • Ancient religious literature

Preta

A spirit with a swollen belly and a throat as thin as a needle, condemned to eternal hunger and thirst: any food it tries to eat t...

Read full entry →

Andean Folklore (1)

Peru and Andes • Colonial and modern folklore

Pishtaco

A supernatural killer, often described as a white or foreign man, who would ambush isolated indigenous people and Andean peasants ...

Read full entry →

Field Spirits (1)

Slavic peoples • Oral tradition

Poludnitsa

A female spirit appearing in the fields in the scorching heat of a summer noon, usually as a woman in white (or an old woman, or a...

Read full entry →

Guarani Folklore (1)

Paraguay and Guarani region • Guarani oral tradition

Pombero

A nocturnal little man, short and stocky, covered in fur, with large feet, who moves in silence and imitates birdsong. Lord of the...

Read full entry →

Modern African Folklore (1)

Zanzibar • 20th century

Popobawa

A nocturnal demon (shetani) described as a one-eyed winged shape that assaults people in their homes during sleep — suffocating, c...

Read full entry →

Maori Mythology (2)

Aotearoa/New Zealand • Maori oral tradition

Pouakai

A gigantic bird capable of hunting and carrying off human beings, especially children, in its powerful talons; described in Maori ...

Read full entry →

Aotearoa/New Zealand • Maori oral tradition

Taniwha

A powerful entity dwelling in deep rivers, lakes, caves, and the sea, in forms ranging from serpent/dragon and giant eel to shark,...

Read full entry →

Afro-Brazilian Folklore (1)

Bahia and Afro-Brazilian traditions • Colonial and modern folklore

Quibungo

A being half man, half beast, with a great hole in the middle of its back that opens and closes like a mouth: into it he swallows ...

Read full entry →

Impossible Beasts (1)

Ancient Greece • Classical mythology

Teumessian Fox

A gigantic, voracious fox sent as a divine punishment against Thebes, to which fate had granted the gift of never being able to be...

Read full entry →

British Folklore (1)

Scotland and northern England • Medieval folklore

Redcap

A kind of malevolent, violent goblin that dwells in the ruins of castles where blood was shed. Old and stocky, with red eyes, eagl...

Read full entry →

Middle Eastern Bestiaries (1)

Hebrew and Arabic traditions • Antiquity to Middle Ages

Reem

A wild animal of extraordinary, indomitable strength, cited in Hebrew scriptures as impossible to domesticate or use for agricultu...

Read full entry →

Germanic Folklore (1)

Germany and Denmark • Folklore and Romanticism

Erlking

A supernatural king of the forest, a seductive and deadly spirit who appears to travelers — especially children — luring them to d...

Read full entry →

Colossal Birds (1)

Arabic and Persian literature • Middle Ages

Roc

A bird of prey of enormous size, so large it can carry elephants in its talons to feed its young. Its wings darken the sky, and it...

Read full entry →

African Bestiaries (1)

Africa and medieval bestiaries • Middle Ages

Rompo

A hybrid creature described with a humanoid or badger-like head, human ears, a lion's mane, a bear's or badger's body, and human f...

Read full entry →

Australian Aboriginal Mythologies (1)

Multiple Australian Aboriginal traditions • Ancient oral traditions

Rainbow Serpent

A colossal serpent associated with water, rain, and the rainbow, creator and shaper of the landscape: as it wound across the earth...

Read full entry →

Ancient Creatures (1)

Egypt and Mesopotamia • Antiquity

Serpopard

A feline (lion or leopard) with an extraordinarily long, serpentine neck. It generally appears in pairs, necks intertwined, formin...

Read full entry →

Indian Mythic Beasts (1)

India • Sanskrit literature

Sharabha

A colossal, fierce beast, part lion and part bird, with eight legs (in some versions), wings, claws, and at times traits of a deer...

Read full entry →

Near Eastern Spirits (1)

Jewish and Mesopotamian tradition • Antiquity to Middle Ages

Shedim

Malevolent spirits of a nature intermediate between human and angelic. According to the Talmud, they eat and drink, reproduce, and...

Read full entry →

Sea and Air Creatures (1)

Ancient Greece • Odyssey and classical tradition

Greek Siren

In the original Greek conception, a hybrid creature of woman and bird (not fish, as in the modern mermaid), who inhabits rocky isl...

Read full entry →

Caribbean Vampires (1)

Caribbean • Modern folklore

Soucouyant

An apparently ordinary old woman by day who, by night, sheds her own skin, hides it in a mortar or jar, and flies as a ball of fir...

Read full entry →

Cornish Folklore (1)

Cornwall • Regional oral tradition

Spriggan

A small grotesque being, held to be the ghost of ancient giants, able to swell to monstrous size. It guards treasures buried in ca...

Read full entry →

Mythic Automatons (1)

Ancient Greece • Classical antiquity

Talos

A bronze giant forged by Hephaestus (or Daedalus) and given to Minos to guard Crete. He circled the island thrice daily, repelling...

Read full entry →

Monstrous Motifs (1)

Ancient China • Chinese Bronze Age

Taotie

A frontal monstrous mask, generally bodiless or with only a suggested body, with bulging eyes, horns, fangs, and a gaping maw. It ...

Read full entry →

Four Perils (1)

China • Ancient Chinese texts

Taowu

A tiger-like beast with long fur, a human face, boar's tusks, and an extremely long tail. Untamable, quarrelsome, and stubborn, it...

Read full entry →

European Dragons and Monsters (1)

Provence • Medieval hagiography

Tarasque

An amphibious six-legged monster with a lion's head, a spiked turtle shell, a scaly body, and a serpent tail ending in a sting. It...

Read full entry →

Alpine Dragons (1)

Alps • Alpine folklore

Tatzelwurm

A serpentine creature one to two meters long, with a snake's body, a cat-like or feline head, and two short clawed forelegs (no hi...

Read full entry →

Sea Monsters (1)

Maori mythology • Maori oral tradition

Te Wheke-a-Muturangi

A monstrous octopus of colossal size, identified in the legends as Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, who pursued Kupe across the Pacific Ocean...

Read full entry →

Mesoamerican Vampires (1)

Tlaxcala • Colonial and modern folklore

Tlahuelpuchi

A woman born with the supernatural condition of transforming at night into a flying creature (often as lights or an animal), compe...

Read full entry →

Malay Folklore (1)

Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore • Modern folklore

Toyol

A small, mischievous child spirit, created by a bomoh or dukun (shaman) from the fetus of a dead child through a black magic ritua...

Read full entry →

Iberian Folklore (1)

Spain and Portugal • Oral tradition

Trasgo

A mischievous household spirit, usually invisible or seen only as a fleeting shadow, who inhabits old houses and barns, known for ...

Read full entry →

Maritime Yokai (1)

Japan • Japanese maritime folklore

Umibozu

A colossal black shape with a smooth, rounded head like a shaven monk's, that surges suddenly from calm waters to destroy ships. I...

Read full entry →

Epic Beings (1)

India • Sanskrit epics

Vanara

Beings half human, half monkey, endowed with speech, intelligence, valor, and supernatural powers. They live in their own forest k...

Read full entry →

Undead (1)

India • Sanskrit literature

Vetala

A being that inhabits and reanimates corpses, hanging upside down from trees in cremation grounds. It is not exactly an undead: it...

Read full entry →

Nature Spirits (3)

Balkans and South Slavic peoples • Oral tradition

Vila

A most beautiful female spirit of the mountains, forests, rivers, and clouds, with long hair and white robes, gifted with power ov...

Read full entry →

India • Religious antiquity

Yaksha

Semi-divine beings tied to forests, mountains, trees, and buried treasures. Ambivalent — generally benevolent and protective, guar...

Read full entry →

India • Religious antiquity

Yakshini

Female nature spirits, generally beautiful and sensual, associated with trees, fecundity, and abundance. Like the yakshas, they ar...

Read full entry →

North American Folklore (1)

Appalachia • Modern regional folklore

Wampus Cat

A kind of supernatural cougar, sometimes half-woman half-feline, that prowls the mountain forests at night, letting out chilling c...

Read full entry →

Folkloric Creatures (1)

Bavaria • Modern folklore

Wolpertinger

A taxidermic chimera combining parts of Alpine animals: a hare's or squirrel's body, deer antlers, boar tusks, and bird (or pheasa...

Read full entry →

Heraldry and Bestiaries (1)

Medieval Europe • Middle Ages

Yale

An animal the size of a hippopotamus (per Pliny), with an elephant's tail, a boar's jaws, and two great horns it can swivel indepe...

Read full entry →

Temple Guardians (1)

South India • Medieval temple art

Yali

A mythical lion whose head is frequently combined with elements of an elephant, horse, or other animals, carved on the pillars of ...

Read full entry →

Japanese Dragons (1)

Japan • Ancient Japanese mythology

Yamata no Orochi

A colossal serpent with eight heads and eight tails, eyes red as the winter-cherry, its body covered in moss and cypress, long as ...

Read full entry →

Household Yokai (1)

Japan • Japanese regional folklore

Zashiki-warashi

An invisible or semi-visible child spirit, usually with a straight-cut bob hairstyle (okappa), who inhabits the guest room (zashik...

Read full entry →