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In anticipation of Halloween this week, we’ve teamed up with @epic to highlight mythical creatures from around the globe. (Scarier than this ghost, perhaps.) Follow along in the thread to see the creatures, spirits, and myths that will send a shiver down your spine this season.
If you hear a scream and stumble across a one-legged woman standing in the Andean wilderness, you’ve just seen La Patasola. But La Patasola is more than just a haunting sight—she represents a powerful and humbling protector of nature for modern times. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-la-patasola
In Ireland, beware the shapeshifting trickster spirit of Celtic folklore known as the púca. Often associated with Samhain, the autumn festival marking the end of the harvest season, the púca is said to destroy any crops not picked before November 1. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-puca
In West Africa, the adze’s bite is said to drain someone of life or possess them, consigning them to madness or misery. It may have originated to explain insect-borne diseases, but it now stands for a range of other evils—personal, cosmic, biological. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-adze
Onryō spirits are driven by the desire to get even for some perceived wrong. Their stories are supernatural, but they often deal with corrosive jealousy and crimes of passion, culminating in a cosmic rage transcending life and death. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-onryo
For the Martu, the Aboriginal people who have lived in the Outback region of Pilbara for thousands of years, the lakebed Kumpupirntily must be avoided at all costs. Legend holds that beneath these sands reside the Ngayurnangalku, or fanged body snatchers. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-ngayurnangalku
According to legend, werehyenas have long plagued places around the Horn of Africa. But the werehyena's ominous figure cuts beyond a natural fear of the animal: in some regions, its mythology evolved into a means of further isolating “othered” populations. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-werehyena
