Hellhounds are great infernal dogs that hunt the damned, guard the underworld and defend their demonic masters. There are tales of hellhounds in ancient Greek and Viking writings, and legends and even stories of sightings can now be found throughout the world. Hellhounds are often described as oversized black dogs with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. Hellhounds transcend supernatural categories, alternately considered apparitions (the Black Dogs of Britain), creatures of Faerie (the hellhounds of the Wild Hunt) or demons (the Cajedo Negro of South America). Continue reading
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Monster of the Week: Cerberus
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Hercules capturing Cerberus, 1545, by Sebald Beham
Cerberus (Kerberos), the hound of Hades, is a legendary three-headed dog of Greek and Roman mythology. Like his counterparts the four-eyed Norse dog Garmr and the jackal-headed Egyptian god Anubis, Cerberus is the guardian of the gates of the Underworld, tasked to keep out the living and keep in the dead. His back is covered by a mane of snakes, and his tail is described as being that of a dragon or a snake.
Monster of the Week: Giant Spiders
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Legends and lore of spiders are numerous and widespread, and many of these involve giant spiders, and human-spider hybrids. Spiders are spinners and weavers, and therefore often associated with the spinning of tales as well as webs. Here are a few of the trickster deities, monsters and cryptids from the fascinating world of arachnids. Continue reading
Monster of the Week: The Griffin
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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
The Supernatural Fox Sisters 