2023

Yuki-Onna, the icy snow maiden of Japanese lore, might steal your heart, or your life. This harsh winter monster is beautiful and dangerous, the incarnation of winter storms.

If you are unlucky enough to summon Bloody Mary, there’s no real standard of what you’ll see. By some accounts, she’s hideously mutilated but in others she is beautiful but bloody—more commonly though—every aspect of her appearance is vague. There’s even versions where she was a witch burned at the stake in Salem. In some legends, she’s connected to a cult. But where she comes from and what she looks like is less important than the ritual that summons her.

Unicorns are all over the place in popular culture these days - movies, TV shows, toys, clothing and books for children and adults alike. But you might be interested to learn that the majestic, all-white horse with a spiralized horn on its forehead is just one version of the many varieties of unicorn that have appeared in folklore throughout history.

Advances in technology are always met with some degree of technophobia—and villainization. And cyborgs represent a special kind of fear inherent in losing ourselves in the technologies we create.

Humans have domesticated animals as beasts of burden for thousands of years and the vital role horses play in the evolution of culture in particular has inspired countless equine folklore, but none are quite like the centaur.

What inspired Pokémon’s Monster Mythology?

The nocturnal entity called Nishi reflects the complex nature of good vs. evil in Bengali.

Of all the many terrifying monsters haunting the waters of the world the Nixie stands out.

The trickster Púca is an animal-spirit that was once dreaded across many lands.