Ten of the Strangest Creatures from Myth and Folklore

Happy Halloween, everyone! It should come as no surprise to those of you who know me that I absolutely adore the spookiest season of the year. Something about the cooling of the weather, the changing of leaves, and of course, all things strange and spooky – especially monsters!

Whether it’s a blockbuster film or a campfire story, nothing lives in the imagination quite like tales of strange and terrifying monsters. Sometimes, these creatures are so straight up weird that they take on lives of their own. I present to you, ten of the most weird, wonderful, and what-the-fuck creatures dreamed up by the human imagination:

Mandrake 

The Mandrake is perhaps the most famous plant in mythology, having featured in everything from Shakespeare to the fantasy-comedy anime Delicious in Dungeon. An actual member of the nightshade family, the mandrake is a cousin of the potato. Due to both its toxic properties and the strangely human-shaped appearance of its roots, the mandrake has been associated with all kinds of magic and folk tales since ancient times.

Given its appearance, the mandrake has also been heavily anthropomorphized. The plant’s humanlike roots were often depicted with either masculine or feminine features, including genitalia, and it was said to have grown from dripping blood (or, in some cases, semen) of a hanged man. But perhaps the strangest myth about the mandrake was an ability to emit a deadly scream when uprooted, killing – or at least incapacitating – anyone unlucky enough to hear it. 

Despite all the dangers and general creepiness of these plants, several medieval texts feature complex instructions for safely harvesting them. Why, you might ask? Well, the mandrake was believed to be capable of curing just about everything, from infertility to insomnia – and the latter is actually a real thing, provided it’s not overdone and the patient falls into a coma. I don’t know about you, but I’d vote to just leave the screaming poison potatoes alone. 

Milk Hare

Sometimes known as “Troll Cats”, the Milk Hare is a vaguely-defined creation in Scandinavian Folklore. Often taking the form of either a rabbit or a cat, a Milk Hare could be created from a pile of dust, human hair, or other detritus by a skilled witch. Once animated, the creature functioned as a familiar for its magical creator with one very specific job.

The witch would send out the hare on a milk run – literally. Once it located a cow shed or pasture, the construct would fasten itself onto an udder, filling itself with milk like a water balloon. It would then return to the witch – I can’t help but imagine it rolling itself along like a leaky beach ball, trying to avoid sharp rocks and roots. Once it returned, the Milk Hare would regurgitate the stolen dairy into a container that the witch had on hand, and ... that's pretty much it. Why anyone would want to retrieve milk in this way is perhaps the greatest mystery surrounding this creature…but let me know if you hear anything about a Whisky Hare. 

Nuckelavee

A truly terrifying creature of Scottish myth, the Nuckelavee is body horror incarnate. Supposedly native to the ocean depths surrounding the remote Orkney Islands, this creature can only be described as an extremely messed-up centaur. Appearing as a one-ton amalgamation of horse and rider that is hairless, skinless, and fused together at the saddle, the Nuckelavee handily answers the question “What are nightmares made of?” 

Mercifully confined to the deep sea during the summer months, the Nuckelavee comes ashore on dry nights during the rest of the year. When it does, it is believed to be responsible for natural disasters like droughts and crop failures. In particular, the creature’s horse head could spread plague through its terrible breath. If you happen to come face to face with one of these things, know that they can’t cross fresh running water. If you’re lucky, there will be a bridge nearby; If not, it was nice knowing you.

Hecatoncheires

You don’t have to dive too deep into Greek Mythology to find anything strange or messed up, but one trio of demigods handily takes the cake for oddity. The Hecatoncheires. Translated directly as the “Hundred-Handers”, these lesser known creatures were giant beings with fifty heads, each with their own pair of hands. Presumably dreamed up by some proto-historian after discovering magic mushrooms, Hecatoncheires stand out in the mind for just how impossible and messy they are.

Possessed of monstrous strength, they aided Zeus and the Olympians in taking down the Titans and establishing the supremacy of the familiar Greek Pantheon. Like their Cyclops siblings, there were three named Hecatoncheires: Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges. Outside of their role in the conflict between the Olympians and the Titans, not much is known about these guys. How did they live? Is every head independent? How do they settle arguments between the heads? Did one head control all the arms, or do they each get a pair? How do they perform basic biological functions? The answers are as elusive as artistic consensus on their appearance. 

Jiangshi

Commonly referred to as a “Chinese Vampire” or “Hopping Vampire”, the jiāngshī is an undead creature that rises from its resting place to suck the life force out of its victims. Some Jiangshi are brought about by magical resurrection, while others are corpses possessed by a malevolent spirit.

 Jiangshi are so popular in China that (like the Vampire in the west) they have become a genre in their own right. This ubiquity has created  a uniform appearance that viewers can immediately recognize: they have green or gray skin, are dressed in the robes of a Qing Dynasty bureaucrat, and often have a paper talisman stuck to their foreheads. So why such specific period garments – was there a plague of Jiangshi during the dynasty? Nope! It’s actually because the early Jiangshi filmmakers had a low budget and those costumes were the cheapest and available in excess.

Since their bodies are typically overcome with rigor mortis, the Jiangshi move by hopping towards their victims with arms stiffly outstretched. To neutralize these vampiric pogo sticks, you can use a special mirror called a Bagua Mirror or a sword made from peach wood, or you could just throw rice at the monster if that’s easier. Wow, I guess empty carbs can be good for you!

Akaname 

In Japan, there exists an entire classification of supernatural creatures and spirits called Yōkai (literally “strange apparition”). Yokai run the gamut from garden variety vengeful ghosts to truly strange beings like the Akaname, or “Filth-Licker”. A skinny, implike creature with an impossibly long, sticky tongue, the Akaname loves nothing more than to lap up dirt and scum from poorly-cleaned households.

The Akaname is particularly fond of toilets and bath houses, and its presence is akin to a cockroach infestation: a sign that the owners have severely neglected a proper cleaning regime. While it might appear harmless, these creatures are said to spread diseases if left unchecked. Personally, I’d be happy to let them do their thing if only they wiped everything down with disinfectant afterwards.

Kappa

Staying in Japan, the Kappa is a river or pond-dwelling amphibian spirit that looks a bit like a bipedal turtle with all the charm of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. As swift in the water as it is slow and awkward on land, the Kappa is depicted with a tonsure, also known as the friar haircut, with a depression or “dish” of water contained in the center atop its head. Kappas love three things: cucumbers, sumo wrestling, and trying to steal a secret ball from your anus…wait, what?

Yes, according to Japanese folklore, human beings have a physical manifestation of their soul inside their bodies: a small, hardened ball called a “shirikodama”. Apparently, Kappas really, really want it. What they plan to do with the butt-ball is a mystery, but their desire is enough to present a danger to any human that encounters one. Luckily, there are a number of ways to either placate or neutralize a Kappa. Tricking it into spilling the water atop its head will significantly weaken the creature, but if you’re feeling charitable, chucking a cucumber into its pond will distract it long enough for you to get away. 

Rokurokubi

Okay, this is the last one from Japan, I swear. The Rokurokubi are another yokai that appear and function as normal human women during the daytime. By night however, they tend to loosen up a bit, particularly in the neck area. Rokuokubi come in two distinct varieties based on how they use their heads. The first type, known as Nukekubi, quite literally lose their heads at night; leaving their bodies behind to fly around, and terrorize their neighbors while they drink the blood of local wildlife.

The second variety is even stranger. These Rokurokubi keep their heads attached to their bodies…sort of. At night, their necks elongate, stretching away from the sleeping body to impossible lengths as though they were made from play-doh and nightmares.

While their existence may be terrifying for any mere mortals in the vicinity, it’s actually far worse for the Rokurokubi herself. According to the legends, each Rokurokubi was originally a normal woman put under a curse, sometimes even unknowingly. Typically, a supernatural curse is imparted for some moral transgression on the part of the victim. But in this case, the poor women don’t even have to be the perpetrators. Sometimes, all it takes is a man who is close to the woman – a brother, father, or husband – to commit some sin or another, and BAM! Hello, long-necked nightmare.

 Sheesh, no wonder all the stories feature Rokurokubi scaring the pants off the men-folk. Someone needs to put in a gender discrimination complaint to Japan’s Yokai Curse department.

Krampus

 Hailing from Germanic tradition, the Krampus is part of their Christmas tradition. Described as a goat-like, anthropomorphic figure with a tongue so long it could make Gene Simmons envious, he accompanies Saint Nicolas (aka Santa Claus) as he visits children in early December. More specific descriptions of his appearance vary, but the Krampus commonly is covered in dark fur with mismatched feet: one human, the other a cloven hoof.

So what does this hairy Heavy Metal album cover have to do with Santa Claus, you might ask? Well it turns out, he’s the bad cop to Santa’s good cop. You see, the night St. Nicolas visits children (December 5th traditionally) is known as Krampusnacht or “Night of Krampus”, the day before the Feast of St. Nicolas. While old St. Nick bestows gifts to children on Christmas if they’ve been good, the Krampus comes to remind them of what happens if they aren’t. Is he in charge of handing out coal, perhaps? Nope – instead, the Krampus spanks the crap out of naughty children with a stick, and In some tellings, he straight-up abducts them.

The Yule Lads

The Yule Lads are a posse of thirteen pranksters from Icelandic Folklore with some…very niche obsessions. Roughly humanoid in appearance, the lads are frequently depicted as smiling, bearded fellows complete with garden-gnome-esque bulbous noses and pointed hats.

Much like the Krampus in Germany, the lads have traditionally served as a warning to the would-be naughty children of Iceland. In the thirteen nights leading up to Christmas, each of the lads would take a turn to visit every child, leaving small gifts or candy in the shoes of those who have been good. For kids on the naughty list, however, it’s a grab bag of unpleasantness.

 Instead of candy, a poorly behaved child might find their shoes filled with rotten potatoes if they were lucky. In earlier tellings, the Yule Lads would not be content to merely play a prank or leave behind something disgusting, instead kidnapping the naughty child to be boiled alive by their monstrous mother, an ogress called Grýla. 

But wait, what was that about a niche obsession? Well, here’s where it gets weird. Each of the yule lads has a very particular personality quirk that manifests in some patently strange behavior. Much like Snow White’s seven dwarves, these quirks are so iconic that each lad is named for it. Among the strangest of the lads we’ve got Bjúgnakrækir ( “Sausage Swiper”), Stekkjarstaur (“Sheep Harasser”), and Gáttaþefur (“Doorway Sniffer”).

 I’d try to offer an explanation on that last one, but I really don’t want that in my search history. I’m not one to kink-shame, but dude…