Jaguar

Origin: Mesoamerican culture

To the Olmecs, one of the earliest Mesoamerican culture linked the Jaguar with royalty, fertility, and sorcery, as well as representing power, speed and prowess in hunting and battle.

Jaguars were also favored spirit companions (nagual) to shamans, for their ability to move swiftly between worlds-their home in the jungle to lowland swamps, and being able to hunt in both day and night. When seers and sorcerers meditated to mediate between the human world and the world of the spirits, jaguars could protect them on their journey.

Among the Maya, the Jaguar was a fertility icon. To the Aztecs, the animal was the totem of society of the Aztec warriors who wore its pelt into battle to signify that they were just as fierce and aggressive.

Cailleach

Type: Hag

Cailleach is a large woman who carries a staff, associated with the destructive powers of nature. In Scotland, she is sometimes described as having a blue face wearing plaid. She comes down from her mountain home beating her staff against the ground, causing it to freeze and bring snowstorms on the first of November. Mountains and other geographical features are created from her apron as she walks the land. Pictured above is one of many locations named after her.

Kami

Origin: Japan

Kami are spirits in the Shinto faith. It is said that there are eight million Kami; eight million implying an infinite number. Some are similar to humans in appearance, while others are nature spirits that represent the energy of a mountain or a stream. Some Kami may even be ancestors of the royal family and even occupations have a patron Kami.

Pictured above is Amaterasu, one of the more well known Kami.

Zombies

Type: The undead

There are many versions of zombies all around the world. The goddess Ishtar allowed the dead to ‘rise and eat the living’ as an act of revenge against the hero Gilgamesh. In France during the Middle Ages, it was believed that a person who was murdered might rise from the grave to avenge the crime. In England, a historian described ‘revenants’, or reanimated corpses, walking through villages at night spreading diseases and killing anyone they met.

Vrykolakas

Origin: Greece

Type: Undead

Vrykolakas were believed to be the spirit of a deceased person who’s body has not been properly mourned. If they had not been given the proper burial rites, the spirit may linger around the corpse and reanimate it. To prevent this, bodies would be exhumed three years after death, to be sure that it had decomposed. If the body was stiff and swollen, it was believed to be a vampire.

Jiang Shi

Origin: Chinese folklore

Type: Vampire

Jiang Shi, which means ‘stiff corpse’, were animated corpses, brought back by Taoist priests. They were hired by families who could not afford to travel to the deceased, so the animated corpse could ‘hop’ back. In many contemporary Chinese vampire movies, a Jiang Shi could be put to sleep by attaching a piece of yellow paper with a spell written on it onto its forehead. 

Jiang Shi could also be created by a dead body not decomposing, if the person’s soul refuses to leave, or if they suffered a premature burial.

Gremlin

Origin: British folklore

Type: Mischievous spirit

Said to have haunted and sabotaged aircraft during World War ll, they were mentioned in the Royal Air Force Journal as one of the causes of accidents during flights. Mechanically oriented, the name Gremlin may have come from an Old English word,  gremian, “to vex.”

Before Gremlins were thought to be trouble, a flight crew brought a good luck Gremlin mascot doll for all their missions.

Paul Bunyan

Origin: American folklore

Type: Giant

Paul Bunyan was a giant lumberjack with enormous strength, thought to have dug out the Grand Canyon by dragging his axe behind him. His footsteps created lakes in Minnesota, and he built Oregon’s Mount Hood by piling rocks on top of a campfire. He stars in many adventures, accompanied by his blue ox named Babe, who was also giant, measuring around 42 axe handles wide.

Kapre

Origin: Philippines

Type: Demon

Habitat: Trees

The Kapre is a 7 feet tall, hairy, bearded man-like creature that enjoys tobacco, and can be seen smoking a pipe or a cigar. They wear a loincloth and a magical belt that grants them the ability to become invisible to humans. They enjoys tricks, and like to confuse travelers so that they get lost in the woods.

The signs that a Kapre is nearby are rustling trees when the wind is still, loud laughter or a disembodied voice, or an abundance of fireflies.