Category Archives: Fiendish Creatures

Witches, wendigos, and werewolves—monsters that may be or once were human, but have become something unspeakable.

Monster of the Week: Kitsune

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Stone Kitsune

Stone Kitsune. Image from Japan Travel Guide

Kitsune are mischievious fox spirits. The term kitsune means “fox” in Japanese, but when used in English it refers to the mystical foxes of Japanese folklore. Kitsune are a type of yōkai, a creature with supernatural abilities. They are similar to the wild foxes found throughout the world, but for their magical powers. Continue reading →

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Monster of the Week: The Beholder

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Beholder by Hungrysparrow

Beholder © by Hungrysparrow at Deviantart.

The Beholder is a cruel and rapacious monster from the world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Unlike most other creatures found in the various versions of the role-playing game since its original 1974 release, the Beholder is unique to the D&D realms, and not based on any other monster.

Usually found underground in large, cavernous spaces, the Beholder is a floating monster with a spherical shape. It has one large eye, and ten smaller eyes on stalks. The D&D Monster Manual describes the Beholder’s appearance as “covered in chitinous plates, scales, or leathery flesh. Its great bulging eye sits above a wide, toothy maw, while the smaller eyestalks that crown its body twist and turn to keep its foes in sight.” Continue reading →

Monster of the Week: The Slender Man

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The Slender Man is a very young monster, having only come into existence in 2009, yet his notoriety is widespread. Slender Man is a popular figure in art, cosplay and fiction in the internet “creepypasta” tradition.

Slender Man is usually represented as an extraordinarily tall figure in a black suit and tie, with a featureless, bone-white face. He is often seen to have multiple long tentacles instead of, or in addition to, normal arms. He is associated with dark woodland areas and the disappearance of children. Continue reading →

Monster of the Week: The Griffin

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Griffin mosaic from the Acropolis of Rhodes, ca. 200 BCE

Griffin mosaic, Acropolis of Rhodes, ca 200 BCE

…but the Griffin hath a body bigger than eight Lions, and stronger than 100 Eagles, for certainly he will bear to his Nest flying, a Horse and a Man upon his Back, or two Oxen yoked together as they go to Plow, for he hath long Nails on his Feet as great as Horns of Oxen, and of those they make Cups there to drink with, and of his Ribs they do make Bows to shoot with.
—John Mandeville, The Voyages and Travels, 1357

The Griffin (also Griffon, Gryphon, or Grype, among other variants) is a legendary creature with the body of a lion, and the head, wings, and talons of an eagle. Depictions of the griffin date back to 3rd millennium BCE Egypt and earlier, but are also found in ancient Greece, India, and elsewhere around the world. It is said that the feather of a Griffin can cure blindness, and poison will change color when served in a cup fashioned from a Griffin’s talon. Continue reading →

Monster of the Week: The Dullahan

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The Dullahan is a headless horseman from the Unseelie Court of the Irish fairy realm. Although in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the mysterious rider is implied to be only a man in disguise, the early American short story’s antagonist is modeled from legends of the Dullahan.

Sleepy Hollow stampThe Dullahan carry their grotesque, rictal heads with them, either aloft in their hands or in their saddlebags. (They in fact see through the heads’ eyes, though their sight extends vastly farther than human eyes, and through the pitch black of night). Unlike Death itself, the Dullahan rides a steaming stallion of jet black. The Dullahan maintain classic hallmarks of a Death Omen—if it bears a lantern, it is made of human skull. If it wields a crop, it is the spine of a corpse. In some parts of Ireland the Dullahan is seen in a drawn coach rather than on horseback, with a carriage of skin and wheel spokes of bone. Whatever the conveyance, it is surely a terrifying sight. Continue reading →

Monster of the Week: The Penanggalan

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Mother Penanggalan

Mother Penanggalan by Kurt Komoda CC2.0

The Penanggalan is a vampiric monster borne of black magic. She is a normal human during the day, usually a midwife by trade, but at night she can detatch her head from her body. The disembodied head can then fly about, dangling glistening entrails behind it, which she manipulates like tentacles.

The Penanggalan flies around looking for victims to feed on, her preferences being pregnant women, women who have very recently given birth, and babies. Victims who survive having had their blood sucked by a Penanggalan develop an almost-penanggalanalways fatal wasting disease. After feeding, and before dawn, she returns home, where she keeps a vat of vinegar handy. She soaks her entrails in the vinegar to shrink them, so they will more easily fit back into her body. This is one way to identify a Penanggalan in daylight—she always smells of vinegar.
Continue reading →