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Monster Mythology

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Miniwashitu is described as a frightening-looking creature with an important job: breaking up the ice on the Missouri River with its saw-like backbone.
cryptozoology

In North Dakota, the Hideous Miniwashitu Ushers in Spring

The Madan people knew the Missouri River could bring both salvation and destruction.
April White May 5, 2023
Some residents of western Kenya consider night runners to be supernatural menaces. Others consider them an annoyance.
witchcraft

The Mysterious, Naked Night Runners of Western Kenya

"When the wind blows you run away because you think it’s a night runner.”
Joel Balsam May 4, 2023
The fossegrim might just be the most diabolical violin teacher you’ll ever meet.
forests

This Norwegian Water Spirit Just Wants to Teach You How to Fiddle

But make sure you bring the fossegrim the proper offering—or else.
Diana Hubbell May 3, 2023
A long-necked, plesiosaur-like creature, known as Nahuelito, has been spotted from the banks of Nahuel Huapi Lake in Patagonia for millennia.
cryptozoology

Argentina’s Loch Ness Monster Lurks Beneath a Patagonia Lake

Nahuelito’s plesiosaur visage can be found all over the small town of Bariloche.
Juan Relmucao May 2, 2023
There are many depictions of the bunyip, but one common iteration is a cow-sized, aquatic wombat-like creature.
cryptozoology

The Child-Eating Bunyip Haunts Australia’s Wetlands

But its complex Aboriginal Australian origins have today been commodified and suppressed.
Sarah Durn May 1, 2023
The ogre's watchful eyes.
Ipswich, England

The Ogre of Eagle Street

This monstrous face has watched over the passersby for centuries.
The rougarou, the Cajun cryptid said to haunt Louisiana's wetlands, is the mascot of a conservation effort for its traditional habitat.
monsters

The Rougarou, Beast of the Louisiana Bayou, Gets a Makeover

One man hopes to turn the wolfish cryptid into a mascot for saving the state's imperiled wetlands.
Joel Balsam October 19, 2022
Whether you call it shunka warak'in, the Rocky Mountain hyena or simply the beast, a mysterious canid preyed upon livestock in Montana in the late 1880s.
cryptozoology

Beware Montana’s Shunka Warak’in, the 'Rocky Mountain Hyena'

Is one of these crafty cryptids on display in a small museum?
J.W. Ocker October 19, 2022
While details of its appearance vary over time and across geography, the Wendigo is always a symbol of hunger and desperation during the coldest season. And Winter is coming.
cryptozoology

Beware the Wendigo, the Frostbitten Flesheater of North America’s Chilly Heartland

This terrifying creature has evolved over millennia—but never lost the need to feed.
J.W. Ocker October 12, 2022
"Mamu (Spooky Spirits)," a 2006 painting by Nura Rupert.
mythology

Mapping the Many Monsters of Aboriginal Australian Lore

A "terrifying pantheon" of ogres, sorcerers, and malevolent mermaids reflects a diversity in geography and environment.
Christine Judith Nicholls October 10, 2022
Through the centuries, the vampire myth has taken many different forms.
vampires

Five Vampire Stories You Haven’t Heard Yet

From Dracula’s Indian inspiration to just how long it would take these mythical bloodsuckers to annihilate humanity.
April White October 5, 2022
Skinwalkers are not hapless victims who fell prey to dark magic—they want to be monsters.
mythology

Beware the Skinwalkers, Werewolf Witches of the American Southwest

These canine-humanoid shapeshifters travel between worlds using magical doors.
J.W. Ocker October 5, 2022
‘David with the Head of Goliath and two Soldiers,’ from 1615. Found in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections.
biblical

Monsters Are Everywhere in the Bible—And Some Are Even Human

Scholars are learning what bestial and depraved characters can reveal about ancient authors and cultural attitudes.
Madadh Richey October 3, 2022
monsters

Podcast: The Honey Island Swamp Monster

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team August 18, 2022
Even though Mexico's "Weeping Woman" is thought to be pre-Hispanic, today her sorry tale reflects the brutalities of colonialism.
witchcraft

6 Legends That Manifest Fears of Powerful Women

From German witches to vampiric Malaysian spirits to a real-life poisoner.
Sarah Durn March 22, 2022
Cryptozoologist Richard Freeman says we "shouldn't be surprised" if hominids like Russia's yeti (known as the almasty) exist, given that other hominids, like <em>Homo floresiensis</em>, died out just 12,000 years ago. This sculpture of an almasty is at an alpine resort in Sochi, Russia.
cryptozoology

Could 'Monsters' Exist in the Modern World?

Cryptozoologist Richard Freeman on why we should still believe in unseen animals.
Sarah Durn February 28, 2022
The original vetala was a spirit who posed riddles.
vampires

One of Dracula's Often Overlooked Inspirations Is the Indian Vetala

It was an English "translation" that turned a wise, if mischievous, figure into a bloodsucker.
Emma Starer Gross October 30, 2020
Pishtacos are said to harvest people's vitality through their fat.
murder

In the Andes, the Fear of Oppressors Manifests as the Gruesome Pishtaco

They seem to be a monster that made the leap from legend to the real world.
Athena Frost October 30, 2020