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The main motive in mythology is the struggle between good and evil. Each side is supported by a host of creatures. Some of those who "play" for the side of evil are able to intimidate today.
1. Dybbuk
"Dybbuk" is translated from Hebrew as "clinging". It is an evil spirit in Ashkenazi Jewish folklore that is the soul of a deceased evil person. A dybbuk soul cannot part with earthly existence because of grave crimes and sins committed by a person, for example, if a person commits suicide.
Dybbuks have been mentioned in Kabbalistic literature since the 17th century. The dybbuk is expelled by the tzadik (righteous man) and ten other members of the Jewish community, who are dressed in funeral shirts. In the process of expelling the dybbuk, fragrant substances are burned, prayers are read and the shofar is blown. Dybbuks can be correlated with demons and spirits, which in the Catholic Church are expelled with the help of the rite of exorcism.
2. Basilisk
Basilisk is a zoomorphic creature. He was usually depicted as a monster with the head of a rooster, the eyes of a toad, the wings of a bat, and the body of a dragon. From his sight or breath, all living things turn to stone. Basilisk can only be killed by its own reflection in the mirror, these creatures feed on stones.
In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the basilisk was born from an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad on a bed of manure.
The basilisk also cannot stand the cry of a rooster (which is why it gets out of the caves only at night) and is afraid of unicorns, as it is too “clean” an animal.
The basilisk got its name because of the crest or diadem on the head, which look like a crown.
3. Rakshasas
Rakshasas are extremely unpleasant creatures. They are mentioned in both Buddhism and Hinduism. There, rakshasas are called cannibalistic demons and evil spirits. Female Rakshasas are called Rakshasis.
In Hinduism, rakshasas are a collective image of the dark principle (tamas), that is, everything that brings suffering, injustice and evil to the existing world, violates the dharmic order.
Rakshasas only spoil everything: they interfere with worship, desecrate graves, they can move into a person when he eats or drinks, they begin to torment him and can even drive him to suicide. Rakshasas are also able to turn into different animals and even take on a human form. Always - with malicious goals - to mischief, quarrel, lead a person to trouble ...
4. Abaaasy
Abaasy is the common name for countless evil deities and spirits of the upper, middle and lower worlds in Yakut mythology. The word itself comes from the root "aba" - evil. In the Yakut epic "Olonkho", the celestial and underground abaas are often also called "adyaray" (monster).
In one of the Yakut beliefs, there is a legend that abaasy is born from a black stone, similar to a child. At first, abaasy are no different from people and eat the same things, but when they grow up, they begin to eat people themselves.
Abaasy tempt people to bad deeds, crimes, inspire fear, inflict suffering and illness on them, and can drive them to suicide. Often the relatives of the sick or deceased sacrificed an animal to the abaasy, as if exchanging his soul for the soul of the person they threaten.
Abaas are absolute evil. All harmful and dangerous things, animals and plants, are created by abaas.
5 Lernaean Hydra
The Lernean hydra (“hydra” is translated from ancient Greek as “water”) is familiar to us from childhood - it is one of those whom Hercules defeats. This is a snake-like monster with poisonous breath that lived in underground waters. In ancient Greek mythology, Hydra was considered the daughter of Typhon and Echidna.
Descriptions of the Hydra vary. Usually she has many heads and has a very important applied "skill" - in place of a severed head, she grows several new ones. One head of the Hydra is completely immortal.
Hercules lured the Hydra out of the cave with burning arrows, and then, with the help of Iolaus, who burned the places where the head was cut off, defeated the monster. Hercules buried the immortal head and covered it with a heavy stone. True, due to the fact that the hero did not cope with the monster alone, the feat was not credited to him by Eurystheus.
6. Genies
Jinn - in Islam and in the pre-Islamic era, real spirits created from pure smokeless flame. Jinn live in parallel with humans, but are not perceived by any of the five senses.
According to Salafism, jinn are able to appear before a person in the form of a person, animal or plant. They can take over the mind and body of living beings, sometimes they do it for the purpose of causing harm, or if they fall in love with a person.
To protect oneself from unwanted contact with a jinn, a Muslim should read the Qur'an at home more often. If the jinn nevertheless moved into a person, he can be expelled only in the name of Allah. Evil jinn or shaitans incline a person to vices and idolatry. To prevent the genie from entering the house, the Muslim says "Bismillah" before entering.
Genies serve Iblis, the Islamic counterpart of Satan. He, having fallen away from God himself, inclined the forefathers of the human race to fall, torn away some other spirits from God; thus came the jinn, devas and peri.
In Islamic mythology, jinn are the only creatures other than humans that have free will. Jinn, like humans, are born, marry, procreate, and die. But the jinn are free to choose whether to believe in the existence of Allah or not. Jinn are of different types, but the most malicious of them are ifrits: huge, winged, evil and cunning fiends of hell living underground
7. Gaki
One of the most prolific mythology for terrible creatures is Japanese. So, it has eternally hungry demons called gakami. It is believed that those who indulged in gluttony or threw away edible food are reborn into gakov after death.
Gaki constantly want to eat, but they cannot die of hunger at the same time. They are able to eat everything, including their children, but they cannot get enough. When gaki enter the human world, they become cannibals.
10. Hongdong
You won't see any eyes, mouth, or ears on the image of the hundun, since the hundun is the personification of chaos, an absolutely faceless deity from Chinese folk beliefs. Hundun is described as a humanoid creature resembling a living shapeless bag without holes.
Hundun was a malevolent creature and brought misfortune to life. Hundun, meanwhile, has a rather tragic fate. The Chinese gods Shu and Hu, who considered him a freak, decided to perform plastic surgery on Hundun and drill through his eyes, mouth and nose, but the patient did not survive the operation ...
Looking at the many spineless, teenage, and friendly vampire characters that are featured in modern books and films, it's easy to forget that vampires were originally completely different and much, oh, much more scary.
The world is full of legends and tales of mythical monsters, mysterious creatures and incredible beasts. Some of these monsters were inspired by real animals or fossils found, while others are symbolic expressions of people's deepest fears.
Centuries ago, our ancestors trembled and were horrified at the mere mention of the name of monsters, which is not at all surprising, considering how nightmarish their mythology could be.
In this short review, we will focus only on the 20 most terrible, and sometimes strange monsters - vampires, monstrous creatures and other undead, which, even by the standards of our ancestors, were one of the most terrible and disgusting creatures in the world.
Callicanzaro
Callicanzaro spends most of the year in the underworld (whose location is unknown) and only appears for the 12 nights between Christmas and Epiphany, because he knows that on these festive nights people are too drunk to run away. Even though the mere sight of his black, distorted face, red eyes, and fanged-filled mouth is enough to drive the holiday spirit out of anyone, Callicanzaro isn't content with robbing everyone of the fun. The monster tears apart anyone it meets with its long claws, and then devours the torn body.
According to Greek lore, any child born between Christmas and Epiphany will eventually become Callicanzaro. Scary, isn't it? But parents should not be afraid, because there is a cure. All you have to do is hold the newborn's feet over the fire until his toenails are scorched, such a procedure should break the curse.
But what kind of holidays would it be without a family reunion! Touchingly, Callicanzaro remembers his family from when he was human and has been known to eagerly go in search of his former siblings. But only to devour them when he finally finds them.
Soucoyant
Soukoyant in Caribbean mythology is a type of werewolf that belongs to the class of "jambi", local incorporeal spirits. During the day, a jambi soukoyant looks like a frail old woman, and at night this creature sheds its skin, puts it in a mortar with a special solution, and, turning into a fiery flying ball, goes in search of a victim. Soukoyanth sucks out night wanderers, and then trades it with demons for mystical power.
Like European myths about vampires, if the victim survives, then he becomes the same accomplice. To kill a monster, you need to pour salt into the solution in which its skin lies, after which the creepy creature will die at dawn, as it will not be able to “put on” the skin back.
Penanggalan
It is possible that the creature that we will describe in this paragraph is the most disgusting of the entire list!
The Penanggalan is a nightmarish monster that looks like a woman during the day. However, at night, he "removes" his head and flies away in search of victims, while the spine and all the internal organs of Penanggalan hang from his neck. And this is really a real Malaysian legend, and not an invention of modern filmmakers!
The monster's internal organs glow in the dark and can be used as tentacles to clear the way for Penanggalan. In addition, the creature can grow its hair at will to grab its prey.
When Penanggalan notices a suitable house, he tries to get inside with the help of "tentacles". With luck, the monster devours all the small children in the house. If there is no way to get into the house, the mystical creature stretches its incredibly long tongue under the house and tries to reach the sleeping inhabitants through cracks in the floor. If the Penanggalan tongue reaches the bedroom, it digs into the body and sucks out the victim's blood.
In the morning, Penanggalan soaks his insides in vinegar so that they decrease in size and can again fit into his body.
Kelpie
Kelpie is a water spirit that lives in the rivers and lakes of Scotland. Although the kelpie usually appears in the form of a horse, it can also take the form of a human. Often, kelpies lure people into supposedly rolling them on their backs, after which they drag victims underwater and devour them. However, the tales of the vicious water horse also served as a wonderful warning to children to stay out of the water, and to women to be wary of beautiful strangers.
Ghoul
The ghoul may look just like an ordinary Russian person. He may even have the ability to walk in broad daylight like a Russian. However, he is not Russian. Behind its harmless façade hides a vicious vampire who will gladly refuse all the vodka in the world if they give him even one drop of blood for it. What's more, his love for blood is so great that after he rips you apart with his metal teeth, he might just eat your heart for fun.
The ghoul also loves children (although, you guessed it, not parental love), preferring the taste of their blood, and always drinking their blood before proceeding to drain their parents. He also doesn't dislike the taste of frozen mud, as legend has it that he uses his metal teeth to gnaw his way out of his grave in the dead of winter when his hands freeze due to poor insulation in the coffin.
Basilisk
The basilisk is usually described as a crested snake, although sometimes there are descriptions of a rooster with a snake's tail. This creature can kill birds with its fire breath, humans with a glance, and other living beings with a simple hiss. Legends say that the basilisk is born from a snake or toad egg that was incubated by a rooster. The word "basilisk" is translated from Greek as "little king", so this creature is often called the "serpent king". During the Middle Ages, basilisks were accused of causing plagues and mysterious murders.
Asasabonsam
You are probably familiar with the old urban legend of the Hook Man. Well, as it turns out, the Ashanti people of Ghana tell a similar (albeit much creepier) story about Asasabonsam, a strange vampire with curved iron hooks instead of legs, who lives in the depths of African forests. He hunts by hanging from the branches of trees and thrusting the aforementioned hooks into the body of those unfortunates who pass under this tree. Once he hauls you up a tree, he eats you alive with his iron teeth, and then presumably spends most of the night getting your bloodstains out of his hooks so they don't rust.
Unlike most vampires, he feeds on both humans and animals (so someone needs to alert People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)). The strangest fact about the Asasabonsam is that when its prey is a human, it will first bite off the thumb before moving on to the rest of the body, possibly to prevent you from hitching a ride and getting home if you like- somehow manage to escape from its hooks.
Asmodeus
Asmodeus is a demon of lust who is mostly known from the Book of Tobit (the deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament). He pursues a woman named Sarah and kills her seven husbands out of jealousy. In the Talmud, Asmodeus is mentioned as the prince of demons, who expelled King Solomon from his kingdom. Some folklorists believe that Asmodeus is the son of Lilith and Adam. The legend says that it is he who is responsible for the perversion of people's sexual desires.
Varakolach
Varakolach(s) is arguably the most powerful of all vampires, so it's not at all clear why so little is known about him other than the fact that he has a difficult-to-pronounce name (seriously, try saying it out loud). According to legend, his skin is a dermatologist's worst nightmare - it is terribly pale and dry, and no amount of body lotion can cure it, but otherwise he looks like an ordinary person.
Oddly enough, such a frightening creature as the Romanian Varakolach has only one superpower, but what a superpower! He can devour the sun and moon (in other words, he can cause solar and lunar eclipses at will), which in itself is the coolest of all tricks. However, in order to do this, he must sleep, because, apparently, the invocation of astrological phenomena, which can frighten us even today, and which must have inspired terrible fear in people of more primitive cultures, takes an enormous amount of his energy.
Yorogumo
There are probably more bizarre cryptozoological creatures in Japanese mythology than there are in all seasons of The X-Files. One of the most bizarre is the Yogorumo or "harlot" - a spider-like monster of the Yokai family (goblin-like creatures). The legend of Yogorumo originated during the Edo period in Japan. It is believed that when a spider reaches the age of 400 years, it acquires magical powers. In most legends, the spider turns into a beautiful woman, seduces men and lures them to his home, plays the biwa (Japanese lute) for them, and then entangles them with webs of cobwebs and devours them.
upier
The Russian ghoul (see above) has a nightmarish Polish cousin named Upier, who is famous for being even more bloodthirsty. Moreover, his thirst for blood is so strong and insatiable that in addition to drinking huge amounts of it inside, Upier loves to bathe and sleep in it. His body is filled with so much blood that if you drive a stake into him, he will explode into a huge geyser of blood, worthy of the elevator scene in The Shining.
He takes particular pleasure in sucking the blood of friends and family members who were dear to him during his human life, so if any of your friends or relatives have recently turned into Upier, you should know that you are most likely already recorded as a dish on his menu. When it finally finds you, it immobilizes you with a powerful hug (a kind of farewell bear hug) and then digs its spiked tongue into your neck and sucks every last drop of blood out of you.
Black Annis
A ghostly witch from English folklore, Black Annis is an old woman with a blue face and iron claws who haunted peasants in Leicestershire. Legend has it that she lives in a cave in the Dane Hills, and at night she wanders in search of children to devour. If Black Annis catches a child, she tans its skin and then wears it around the waist. Needless to say, parents scared Black Annis of their children when they misbehaved.
Neuntother
Attention! If you are a hypochondriac by nature, then you probably better not read about this monster!
The Neuntother is a walking biological weapon of mass destruction that does one thing and one thing only - it brings death wherever it goes. Neuntother lives in the myths of Germany and is the carrier of an endless number of terrible types of plague and deadly diseases, which he spreads around him like candy, in whichever city he is in, infecting everyone and everything that gets in his way. Therefore, it is not surprising that, according to legend, it appears only during massive and terrible epidemics.
Neuntother's body is covered in open sores and wounds that constantly ooze pus, and which most likely play an important role in the spread of deadly bacteria (if reading this sentence made you an irresistible desire to immediately bathe in a disinfectant, then you are not alone) . His well-chosen German name literally translates to "Killer of the Nine", and is a reference to the fact that it takes nine days for a corpse to fully transform into a Neuntothera.
Nabau
In 2009, two aerial photographs taken by researchers in Borneo, Indonesia, showed a 30-meter snake swimming down a river. There is still controversy regarding the authenticity of this photograph, as well as whether they actually depict a snake. Some argue that it is a log or a large boat. However, locals living along the Baleh River insist that the creature is Nabau, an ancient dragon-like monster from Indonesian folklore.
According to legends, the Nabau is over 30 meters long, has a head with seven nostrils, and can take the form of several different animals.
Yara-ma-yha-hu
Grab your didgeridoo, because the creature is truly strange. Australian Aboriginal legends describe Yara-ma-yha-hu as a humanoid creature 125 centimeters tall, with red skin and a huge head. Yara-ma-yha-hu spends most of his time in the trees. If you are not lucky enough to pass under such a tree, Yara-ma-yha-hu will jump on you and attach to your body with small suction cups that cover his fingers and toes, so no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to shake off.
Further - worse. Yara-ma-yha-hu made this list primarily due to the peculiarities of its feeding method. Because it doesn't have any fangs, it sucks your blood through the suction cups on your arms and legs until you're weakened to the point where you can't run or even move. After that, he leaves you lying on the ground like a discarded, half-empty juice can, while he leaves, presumably to have fun with kangaroos and koalas.
When he returns from his evening of fun, he gets down to business and swallows you whole with his huge mouth, then regurgitates you after a while, still alive and unharmed (yes, it's a gagging vampire). This process is repeated over and over again, and each time you become smaller and redder as a result of it digesting you. In the end, yes, yes, you guessed it, you yourself turn into Yara-ma-yha-hu. That's it!
Dullahan
Most people are familiar with Washington Irving's story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the story of the Headless Horseman. The Irish Dullahan or "dark man" is essentially the forerunner of the ghost of the decapitated Hessian soldier who pursued Ichabod Crane. In Celtic mythology, the dullahan is a harbinger of death. He rides a big black horse with glowing eyes and carries his head under his arm.
Some stories say that the dullahan calls out the name of the person who is about to die, while others say that he marks the person by pouring a bucket of blood over them. Like many monsters and mythical creatures, the Dullahan has one weakness: gold.
Nelapsi
This time the Czechs came up with something really disgusting. Nelapsi is a walking corpse who doesn't care to put on clothes, so he goes hunting in what his mother gave birth to. The lack of clothes, combined with glowing red eyes, long messy black hair, and teeth as thin as needles, is enough to make you want to leave the lights on at night, but unfortunately, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
In fact, Nelapsi can easily win the competition for the most powerful and overbearing of all vampires. He can destroy whole villages at once, and like that guy who is forbidden to approach the buffet, he does not stop until the morning, no matter how much he has already eaten during the night. He is not a picky eater at all and feeds on cattle as well as humans, and kills his victims by either tearing them apart with his teeth or crushing them with his Death's Embrace, which is so powerful it can easily crush bones. However, if given the opportunity, he will try to keep you alive for as long as possible and enjoy torturing his victims for weeks before killing them (because to be called a real villain, you have to torture people for weeks ). However, even that is not all. If Nelapsi leaves the tormented people alive for some reason (very unlikely, you guessed it), they are quickly brought down by a deadly Nointother-style plague that will follow the surviving human wherever they go.
Finally, if all of the above doesn't seem terrifying enough, Nelapsi can also kill people just by looking at them. One of his favorite pastimes is playing "I'm spying on you with one eye" from the tops of church spiers, causing any person that Nelapsi's eye falls on to die on the spot. We may have gone overboard with mentioning just how evil Nelapsi is, but he's such a scoundrel that it's impossible not to emphasize it enough.
Goblins "Red Caps"
Evil goblins in red caps live on the border between England and Scotland. According to legends, they usually live in ruined castles and kill wandering travelers by dropping boulders from cliffs on them. The goblins then paint the caps with the blood of their victims. Redcaps are forced to kill as often as possible because if the blood on their caps dries out, they die.
Evil creatures are usually depicted as old men with red eyes, big teeth, claws and a staff in hand. They are faster and stronger than humans. Legend has it that the only way to escape such a goblin is to shout out a quote from the Bible.
Manticore
This is a fabulous creature that looks like a sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with 3 rows of sharp teeth and a very loud voice, the tail of a dragon or a scorpion. The manticore shoots poisoned needles at the victim and then eats it whole, leaving nothing. From a distance, she can often be confused with a bearded man. Most likely, this will be the last mistake of the victim.
Indian vampire Brahmaparusha
Brahmaparusha is a vampire, but he is not at all ordinary. These malevolent spirits, which are described in Hindu mythology, have a passion for human brains. Unlike the suave, dapper vampires that live in Romania, the brahmaparusha is a grotesque creature that wears the intestines of its victims around its neck and head. He also carries a human skull with him and when he kills a new victim, he drains her blood into this skull and drinks from it.
In fact, humanity has invented truly nightmarish monsters in its history (and continues to invent!) far from two unfortunate dozens. There are just 20 monsters in our selection. But there is also the vile Japanese sea spirit Umibozu, the American forest human hunter Heidbeheind, a relative of the famous and no less terrible Wendigo, the huge Bakeneko cat, the incredibly fast cannibal Wendigo, the Scandinavian super-strong undead Draugr, the ancient Babylonian Tiamat and many, many others!
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Are you familiar with Greek mythology? This list will help you test your knowledge or even enrich it. Legendary creatures from ancient Greek folklore not without reason became famous throughout the world, because they possessed simply extraordinary qualities. These mythical monsters are some of the most bizarre, scary and incredible creatures, among which there are not only amazing animals, but also the strangest humanoids imaginable. Are you ready for the educational program?
25. Python or Python
Usually depicted as a snake guarding the entrance to the Delphic oracle. According to legend, the cruel Python was killed by Apollo himself, one of the famous Olympian gods. After the death of the serpent, Apollo founded his own oracle on the site of the Delphic oracle.
24. Orff, Orth, Ortr, Orthros, Orfr
Photo: wikimedia commons
A two-headed dog whose task was to guard a huge herd of magical red bulls. This monster was killed by the Greek hero Hercules, who took the whole herd for himself as proof of his victory over Orff. Orff was rumored to be the father of several other monsters, including the Sphinx and the Chimera, and his brother was the legendary Cerberus.
23. Ichthyocentaurs
Photo: Dr Murali Mohan Gurram
These were the sea gods centaurs-tritons, in which the upper body looked like a human, the lower pair of limbs was a horse, and they were followed by a fish tail. They were often depicted next to Aphrodite during her birth. Perhaps you could also meet these ichthyocentaurs in paintings dedicated to the zodiac constellation Pisces.
22. Skill
Photo: wikimedia commons
The six-headed Skilla was a sea monster that lived on one side of a narrow strait under a rock, while on the other side the no less dangerous Charybdis was waiting for the sailors (point 13). The distance between the shores of this narrow strait and the shelters of evil mythical creatures was equal to the flight of a launched arrow, so travelers very often sailed too close to one of the monsters and died.
21. Typhon
Photo: wikimedia commons
Typhon was the personification of the volcanic forces of the Earth and at the same time was considered the most deadly demon in all of Greece. His upper body was human, and this character was so huge that he propped up the starry sky, and his arms reached the eastern and western corners of the world. Instead of the usual human head, a hundred dragon heads erupted from Typhon's neck and shoulders.
20. Ophiotaurus
Photo: shutterstock
The Ophiotaurus was another Greek hybrid monster that was feared more than death. According to legend, the killing and ritual burning of the insides of this half-bull-half-snake gave the power with which you can defeat any gods. For the same reason, the titans killed the monster to overthrow the Olympian gods, but Zeus managed to send the Eagle to peck the giblets of the defeated creature before they were burned on the altar, and Olympus was saved.
19. Lamia
Photo: wikimedia commons
It is said that once Lamia was a beautiful ruler of the Libyan kingdom, but later became a cruel devourer of children and a dangerous demon. According to the myth, Zeus loved the charming Lamia so much, his wife Hera, out of jealousy, killed all the children of Lamia (except for the damned Skilla) and transformed the Libyan queen into a monster hunting other people's children.
18. Grays or Phorkiads
Photo: wikimedia commons
The Grays were three sisters with one common eye and tooth. It is not surprising that they were not famous at all for their beauty, but rather for their gray hairs and ugliness, instilling fear in everyone. In addition, their names were very eloquent: Deino (trembling or death), Enyo (horror) and Pemphredo (anxiety).
17. Echidna
Photo: shutterstock
Half woman half snake. Echidna was called the mother of all monsters, since most of the monsters from ancient Greek myths were considered her offspring. According to legend, Echidna and Typhon passionately loved each other, and it was their union that gave rise to many insidious creatures. The Greeks believed that she produced a poison that caused insanity.
16. Nemean lion
Photo: Yelkrokoyade
The Nemean Lion was a vicious monster that lived in the Nemea region. As a result, he was killed by the famous ancient Greek hero Hercules. It was impossible to kill this mythical creature with a simple weapon because of its extraordinary golden wool, which was unrealistic to pierce with ordinary swords, arrows or stakes, and therefore Hercules had to strangle the Nemean lion with his bare hands. The strong man managed to tear off the skin of the beast only with the help of the claws and teeth of the most defeated lion.
15. Sphinx
Photo: Tilemahos Efthimiadis / Athens, Greece
The Sphinx was a zoomorphic creature with the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, the tail of a bull, and the head of a woman. According to legend, this character was a ruthless and insidious monster. Those who could not solve the riddles, according to the tradition of all myths, died a painful death in the jaws of a furious Sphinx. The monster itself died only after the brave king Oedipus solved his riddle.
14. Erinyes
Photo: wikimedia commons
Erinia is translated from Greek as "angry". They were avenging goddesses. According to legend, they punished anyone who uttered false oaths, committed any atrocity, or said anything against one of the gods.
13. Charybdis
Photo: shutterstock
The daughter of Poseidon and Gaia, Charybdis was a huge sea monster with a mouth full of face and fins or flippers instead of arms and legs. Three times a day, she absorbed a huge amount of sea water, and then spat it back out, thus creating powerful whirlpools that easily sucked in large ships. It was she who was the neighbor of the deadly Skilla from 22 points.
12. Harpies
Photo: shutterstock
They were creatures with the bodies of birds and women's faces. They stole food from innocent victims and sent sinners straight to the vengeful Erinyes (point 14). Harpy translates as "kidnapper" or "predator". Zeus often turned to them so that these creatures would punish or torture someone.
11. Satyrs
Photo: shutterstock
Satyrs are often depicted as hybrids of humans and goats. They usually have goat horns and hind legs. Satyrs loved to drink, play the flute, and served the god of winemaking, Dionysus. These forest demons were true lazybones and led the most careless and unbridled way of life.
10. Sirens
Photo: shutterstock
Beautiful and very dangerous mythical characters. These fish-tailed goddesses of fate lured sailors with their sweet voices, and because of their charms, ships more than once flew into the rocks and crashed off the coast. Drowning wanderers were torn to pieces and eaten by these creatures.
9. Griffin
Photo: shutterstock
The griffin is a mythical creature with the body, tail and hind legs of a lion, and its head, wings and claws on the front legs were eagle. The lion was traditionally considered the king of all land monsters, and the eagle was the king of all birds, so in ancient Greek mythology the griffin was an incredibly powerful and majestic character.
8. Chimera
Photo: wikimedia commons
The Chimera was a fire-breathing monster whose body consisted of 3 different animals: a lion, a snake, and a goat. The monster was from Lycia (the ancient state of Asia Minor). Most often, a chimera was called any mythical or fictional creature with body parts from different animals. In a figurative sense, the chimera is considered the personification of any unfulfilled desire or fantasy.
7. Cerberus
Photo: wikimedia commons
Cerberus is one of the most famous characters in ancient Greek mythology. According to legend, it was a three-headed dog with a snake tail, guarding the gates to the Underworld. No one who crossed the River Styx could escape from the underworld, and the ferocious Cerberus strictly followed this, until one day Hercules defeated him.
6. Cyclops
Photo: Odilon Redon
The Cyclopes were a separate race of one-eyed giants. But these creatures were cruel and ferocious monsters who were not even afraid of the gods, but at the same time they served the god of fire and blacksmithing, Hephaestus.
5. Hydra
Photo: shutterstock
The Hydra was an ancient sea monster resembling a huge snake with reptilian features, from the body of which sprouted countless heads. Instead of one severed head, she always grew 2 new heads. The hydra had poisonous breath, and even its blood was so dangerous that the slightest contact with it was fatal.
4. Gorgons
Photo: shutterstock
Probably the most famous of all the ancient Greek Gorgons was Medusa. She was also the only mortal gorgon among her evil sisters. Instead of hair, Medusa grew snakes, and one look from her was enough to turn a person to stone. According to legend, Perseus managed to behead her, armed with a mirror instead of a shield.
3. Minotaur
Photo: shutterstock
The Minotaur was a mythical creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man who ate innocent people. He lived in the Knossos labyrinth, built by the ancient Greek engineer and artist Daedalus and his son Icarus. The monster was eventually slain by an Attic hero named Theseus.
2. Centaur
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The centaur was a fabulous creature with the head, arms and torso of a man, and below the waist he resembled an ordinary horse. Chiron was one of the most famous centaurs in Greek mythology. Most centaurs were violent and hostile creatures who liked to drink and revered only the god of winemaking, Dionysus. However, Chiron was a wise and kind creature and even a mentor to such ancient Greek heroes as Hercules and Achilles.
1 Pegasus
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This is one of the most famous mythical creatures of the ancient world. The Greeks believed that Pegasus was a divine stallion of snow-white color, and that he had huge wings. According to legend, Pegasus was the child of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. According to one of the legends, every time this fabulous horse hit the ground with its hoof, a new source of water was born.
Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of European civilization, which gave modernity a lot of cultural wealth and inspired scientists and artists. The myths of Ancient Greece hospitably open the doors to a world inhabited by gods, heroes and monsters. The intricacies of relationships, the deceit of nature, divine or human, unthinkable fantasies plunge us into the abyss of passions, making us shudder with horror, empathy and admiration for the harmony of that reality that existed many centuries ago, but so relevant at all times!
1) Typhon
The most powerful and intimidating creature of all those generated by Gaia, the personification of the fiery forces of the earth and its vapors, with their destructive actions. The monster has incredible strength and has 100 dragon heads on the back of its head, with black tongues and fiery eyes. From its mouths one hears the ordinary voice of the gods, then the roar of a terrible bull, then the roar of a lion, then the howl of a dog, then a sharp whistle that echoes in the mountains. Typhon was the father of mythical monsters from Echidna: Orff, Cerberus, Hydra, the Colchis Dragon and others who threatened the human race on earth and under the earth until the hero Hercules destroyed them, except for the Sphinx, Cerberus and Chimera. From Typhon all the empty winds went, except Notus, Boreas and Zephyr. Typhon, crossing the Aegean, scattered the islands of the Cyclades, which had previously been closely spaced. The fiery breath of the monster reached the island of Fer and destroyed its entire western half, and turned the rest into a scorched desert. The island has since taken on the shape of a crescent. Giant waves raised by Typhon reached the island of Crete and destroyed the kingdom of Minos. Typhon was so intimidating and strong that the Olympian gods fled from their abode, refusing to fight with him. Only Zeus, the bravest of the young gods, decided to fight Typhon. The fight went on for a long time, in the heat of battle, the opponents moved from Greece to Syria. Here Typhon shattered the earth with his giant body, subsequently these traces of the battle were filled with water and became rivers. Zeus pushed Typhon north and threw him into the Ionian Sea, near the Italian coast. The Thunderer incinerated the monster with lightning and threw him into Tartarus under Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. In ancient times, it was believed that the numerous eruptions of Etna occur due to the fact that lightning, previously thrown by Zeus, erupts from the mouth of the volcano. Typhon served as the personification of the destructive forces of nature, such as hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes. The word "typhoon" came from the English version of this Greek name.
2) Dracains
They represent a female snake or dragon, often with human features. Dracains include, in particular, Lamia and Echidna.
The name "lamia" etymologically comes from Assyria and Babylon, where the so-called demons who kill infants. Lamia, the daughter of Poseidon, was the queen of Libya, the beloved of Zeus and gave birth to children from him. The extraordinary beauty of Lamia herself kindled a fire of revenge in the heart of Hera, and out of jealousy, Hera killed Lamia's children, turned her beauty into ugliness and deprived her husband's beloved of sleep. Lamia was forced to take refuge in a cave and, at the behest of Hera, turned into a bloody monster, in desperation and madness, kidnapping and devouring other people's children. Since Hera deprived her of sleep, Lamia wandered tirelessly through the night. Zeus, who took pity on her, gave her the opportunity to take out her eyes in order to fall asleep, and only then could she become harmless. Becoming in a new form half woman, half snake, she gave birth to a terrible offspring called lamias. Lamia have polymorphic abilities, can act in various guises, usually as animal-human hybrids. However, more often they are likened to beautiful girls, because it is easier to charm careless men. They also attack the sleeping and deprive them of their vitality. These nocturnal ghosts, under the guise of beautiful maidens and young men, suck the blood of young people. Lamia in ancient times was also called ghouls and vampires, who, according to the popular idea of the modern Greeks, hypnotically lured young men and virgins and then killed them by drinking their blood. Lamia, with some skill, is easy to expose, for this it is enough to make her give a voice. Since the tongue of lamias is forked, they are deprived of the ability to speak, but they are able to whistle melodiously. In later legends of European peoples, Lamia was depicted as a snake with the head and chest of a beautiful woman. It was also associated with a nightmare - Mara.
The daughter of Forkis and Keto, the granddaughter of Gaia-Earth and the god of the sea Pontus, she was depicted as a gigantic woman with a beautiful face and a spotted snake body, less often a lizard, combining beauty with an insidious and malicious disposition. She gave birth to a whole host of monsters from Typhon, different in appearance, but disgusting in their essence. When she attacked the Olympians, Zeus drove her and Typhon away. After the victory, the Thunderer imprisoned Typhon under Mount Etna, but allowed Echidna and her children to live as a challenge to future heroes. She was immortal and ageless and lived in a gloomy cave underground far from people and gods. Crawling out to hunt, she lay in wait and lured travelers, further mercilessly devouring them. The mistress of snakes, Echidna, had an unusually hypnotic gaze, which not only people, but also animals were unable to resist. In various versions of the myths, Echidna was killed by Hercules, Bellerophon or Oedipus during her undisturbed sleep. Echidna is by nature a chthonic deity, whose power, embodied in his descendants, was destroyed by the heroes, marking the victory of ancient Greek heroic mythology over primitive teratomorphism. The ancient Greek legend of Echidna formed the basis of medieval legends about the monstrous reptile as the most vile of all creatures and the unconditional enemy of mankind, and also served as an explanation for the origin of dragons. Echidna is the name given to an egg-laying mammal covered with spines, living in Australia and the Pacific Islands, as well as the Australian snake, the largest of the poisonous snakes in the world. Echidna is also called an evil, caustic, insidious person.
3) Gorgons
These monsters were the daughters of the sea god Phorkis and his sister Keto. There is also a version that they were the daughters of Typhon and Echidna. There were three sisters: Euryale, Stheno and Medusa Gorgon - the most famous of them and the only mortal of the three monstrous sisters. Their appearance inspired horror: winged creatures covered with scales, with snakes instead of hair, fanged mouths, with a look that turns all living things into stone. During the fight between the hero Perseus and Medusa, she was pregnant by the god of the seas, Poseidon. From the headless body of Medusa with a stream of blood came her children from Poseidon - the giant Chrysaor (father of Geryon) and the winged horse Pegasus. From the drops of blood that fell into the sands of Libya, poisonous snakes appeared and destroyed all living things in it. Libyan legend says that red corals appeared from the stream of blood that spilled into the ocean. Perseus used the head of Medusa in a battle with a sea dragon sent by Poseidon to devastate Ethiopia. Showing the face of Medusa to the monster, Perseus turned it into stone and saved Andromeda, the royal daughter, who was intended to be sacrificed to the dragon. The island of Sicily is traditionally considered the place where the Gorgons lived and where Medusa, depicted on the flag of the region, was killed. In art, Medusa was depicted as a woman with snakes instead of hair and often boar tusks instead of teeth. In Hellenic images, a beautiful dying gorgon girl is sometimes found. Separate iconography - images of the severed head of Medusa in the hands of Perseus, on the shield or aegis of Athena and Zeus. The decorative motif - gorgoneion - still adorns clothes, household items, weapons, tools, jewelry, coins and building facades. It is believed that the myths about the Gorgon Medusa are connected with the cult of the Scythian snake-footed goddess Tabiti, whose existence is evidenced by references in ancient sources and archaeological finds of images. In the Slavic medieval book legends, Medusa Gorgon turned into a maiden with hair in the form of snakes - the maiden Gorgonia. The animal jellyfish got its name precisely because of the resemblance to the moving hair-snakes of the legendary Gorgon Medusa. In a figurative sense, a "gorgon" is a grouchy, vicious woman.
Three goddesses of old age, granddaughters of Gaia and Pontus, Gorgon sisters. Their names were Deino (Trembling), Pefredo (Alarm) and Enyo (Horror). They were gray from birth, for three of them they had one eye, which they used in turn. Only the Grays knew the location of the island of Medusa Gorgon. On the advice of Hermes, Perseus went to them. While one of the grays had an eye, the other two were blind, and the sighted gray led the blind sisters. When, having taken out the eye, the graya passed it on to the next one in turn, all three sisters were blind. It was this moment that Perseus chose to take the eye. The helpless grays were horrified and were ready to do everything if only the hero would return the treasure to them. After they had to tell them how to find Medusa Gorgon and where to get winged sandals, a magic bag and an invisibility helmet, Perseus gave the eye to the Grays.
This monster, born of Echidna and Typhon, had three heads: one was a lion's, the second was a goat's, growing on its back, and the third, a snake's, ended with a tail. It breathed fire and burned everything in its path, devastating the houses and crops of the inhabitants of Lycia. Repeated attempts to kill the Chimera, made by the king of Lycia, suffered invariable defeat. Not a single person dared to come close to her dwelling, surrounded by the decaying carcasses of decapitated animals. Fulfilling the will of King Jobat, the son of King Corinth, Bellerophon, on a winged Pegasus, went to the cave of Chimera. The hero killed her, as predicted by the gods, hitting the Chimera with an arrow from a bow. As proof of his feat, Bellerophon delivered one of the severed heads of the monster to the Lycian king. Chimera is the personification of a fire-breathing volcano, at the base of which snakes are teeming, there are many meadows and goat pastures on the slopes, flames blaze from the top and there, above, lions' dens; probably the Chimera is a metaphor for this unusual mountain. The Chimera Cave is considered to be the area near the Turkish village of Cirali, where there are exits to the surface of natural gas in concentrations sufficient for its open combustion. A detachment of deep-sea cartilaginous fish is named after the Chimera. In a figurative sense, a chimera is a fantasy, an unrealizable desire or action. In sculpture, images of fantastic monsters are called chimeras, while it is believed that stone chimeras can come to life to terrify people. The prototype of the chimera served as the basis for the terrible gargoyles, considered a symbol of horror and extremely popular in the architecture of Gothic buildings.
The winged horse that emerged from the dying Gorgon Medusa at the moment when Perseus cut off her head. Since the horse appeared at the source of the Ocean (in the ideas of the ancient Greeks, the Ocean was a river encircling the Earth), it was called Pegasus (translated from Greek - “stormy current”). Swift and graceful, Pegasus immediately became the object of desire for many heroes of Greece. Day and night, hunters ambushed Mount Helikon, where Pegasus, with one blow of his hoof, made clean, cool water of a strange dark violet color, but very tasty, spring up. This is how the famous source of Hippocrene's poetic inspiration appeared - the Horse Spring. The most patient have happened to see a ghostly steed; Pegasus let the most lucky ones get so close to him that it seemed a little more - and you can touch his beautiful white skin. But no one managed to catch Pegasus: at the last moment, this indomitable creature flapped its wings and, with the speed of lightning, was carried away beyond the clouds. Only after Athena gave the young Bellerophon a magical bridle, he was able to saddle the wonderful horse. Riding Pegasus, Bellerophon was able to get close to the Chimera and struck down the fire-breathing monster from the air. Intoxicated by his victories with the constant help of the devoted Pegasus, Bellerophon imagined himself equal to the gods and, saddling Pegasus, went to Olympus. The angry Zeus struck the proud, and Pegasus received the right to visit the shining peaks of Olympus. In later legends, Pegasus fell into the number of horses of Eos and into the society strashno.com.ua of muses, in the circle of the latter, in particular, because he stopped Mount Helikon with the blow of his hoof, which began to oscillate at the sound of the songs of the muses. From the point of view of symbolism, Pegasus combines the vitality and power of a horse with liberation, like a bird, from earthly gravity, so the idea is close to the unfettered spirit of the poet, overcoming earthly obstacles. Pegasus personified not only a wonderful friend and faithful comrade, but also boundless intelligence and talent. The favorite of the gods, muses and poets, Pegasus often appears in the visual arts. In honor of Pegasus, the constellation of the northern hemisphere, a genus of marine ray-finned fish and weapons are named.
7) Colchis dragon (Colchis)
Son of Typhon and Echidna, vigilantly awake fire-breathing huge dragon guarding the Golden Fleece. The name of the monster is given by the area of its location - Colchis. The king of Colchis, Eet, sacrificed a ram with a golden skin to Zeus, and hung the skin on an oak tree in the sacred grove of Ares, where Colchis guarded it. Jason, a pupil of the centaur Chiron, on behalf of Pelius, king of Iolk, went to Colchis for the Golden Fleece on the Argo ship, built specifically for this trip. King Eet gave Jason impossible assignments so that the Golden Fleece would remain forever in Colchis. But the god of love Eros ignited love for Jason in the heart of the sorceress Medea, daughter of Eet. The princess sprinkled Colchis with a sleeping potion, calling for help from the god of sleep, Hypnos. Jason stole the Golden Fleece, hastily sailing with Medea on the Argo back to Greece.
The giant, the son of Chrysaor, born from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, and the oceanid Kalliroi. He was known as the strongest on earth and was a terrible monster with three bodies fused at the waist, had three heads and six arms. Geryon owned wonderful cows of unusually beautiful red color, which he kept on the island of Erifia in the Ocean. Rumors about the beautiful cows of Geryon reached the Mycenaean king Eurystheus, and he sent Hercules after them, who was in his service. Hercules went through all of Libya before reaching the extreme West, where, according to the Greeks, the world ended, which was bordered by the Ocean River. The path to the ocean was blocked by mountains. Hercules parted them with his mighty hands, forming the Strait of Gibraltar, and installed stone steles on the southern and northern shores - the Pillars of Hercules. On the golden boat of Helios, the son of Zeus sailed to the island of Erifia. Hercules slew with his famous club the watchdog Orff, who was guarding the flock, killed the shepherd, and then took the fight with the three-headed master who came to the rescue. Geryon covered himself with three shields, three spears were in his powerful hands, but they turned out to be useless: the spears could not penetrate the skin of the Nemean lion thrown over the hero’s shoulders. Hercules also fired several poisonous arrows at Geryon, and one of them turned out to be fatal. Then he loaded the cows into the boat of Helios and swam across the Ocean in the opposite direction. So the demon of drought and darkness was defeated, and the heavenly cows - rain-bearing clouds - were released.
A huge two-headed dog guarding the cows of the giant Gerion. The offspring of Typhon and Echidna, the older brother of the dog Cerberus and other monsters. He is the father of the Sphinx and the Nemean lion (from Chimera), according to one version. Orff is not as famous as Cerberus, therefore much less is known about him and information about him is contradictory. Some myths report that in addition to two dog heads, Orff has seven more dragon heads, and there was a snake in place of the tail. And in Iberia, the dog had a sanctuary. He was killed by Hercules during the execution of his tenth feat. The plot of the death of Orff at the hands of Hercules, who led away the cows of Geryon, was often used by ancient Greek sculptors and potters; presented on numerous antique vases, amphoras, stamnos and skyphos. According to one of the very adventurous versions, Orff in ancient times could simultaneously personify two constellations - Canis Major and Minor. Now these stars are combined into two asterisms, and in the past their two brightest stars (Sirius and Procyon, respectively) could well be seen by people as fangs or the heads of a monstrous two-headed dog.
10) Cerberus (Cerberus)
The son of Typhon and Echidna, a terrible three-headed dog with a terrible dragon tail, covered with menacingly hissing snakes. Cerberus guarded the entrance to the gloomy, full of horrors of the underworld of Hades, making sure that no one came out of there. According to ancient texts, Cerberus welcomes those who enter hell with his tail and tears to pieces those who try to escape. In a later legend, he bites the new arrivals. To appease him, a honey gingerbread was placed in the coffin of the deceased. In Dante, Cerberus torments the souls of the dead. For a long time, at Cape Tenar, in the south of the Peloponnese, they showed a cave, claiming that here Hercules, on the instructions of King Eurystheus, descended into the kingdom of Hades in order to bring Cerberus out of there. Appearing before the throne of Hades, Hercules respectfully asked the underground god to allow him to take the dog to Mycenae. No matter how severe and gloomy Hades was, he could not refuse the son of the great Zeus. He set only one condition: Hercules must tame Cerberus without weapons. Hercules saw Cerberus on the banks of the Acheron River - the border between the world of the living and the dead. The hero grabbed the dog with his mighty hands and began to strangle him. The dog howled menacingly, trying to escape, the snakes writhed and stung Hercules, but he only squeezed his hands tighter. Finally, Cerberus gave in and agreed to follow Hercules, who took him to the walls of Mycenae. King Eurystheus was horrified at one glance at the terrible dog and ordered him to be sent back to Hades as soon as possible. Cerberus was returned to his place in Hades, and it was after this feat that Eurystheus gave Hercules freedom. During his stay on earth, Cerberus dropped drops of bloody foam from his mouth, from which the poisonous herb aconite later grew, otherwise called hecatine, since the goddess Hecate was the first to use it. Medea mixed this herb into her witch's potion. In the image of Cerberus, teratomorphism is traced, against which heroic mythology is fighting. The name of the vicious dog has become a household name to refer to an overly harsh, incorruptible watchman.
11) Sphinx
The most famous Sphinx in Greek mythology was from Ethiopia and lived in Thebes in Boeotia, as mentioned by the Greek poet Hesiod. It was a monster spawned by Typhon and Echidna, with the face and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. Sent by the Hero to Thebes as a punishment, the Sphinx settled on a mountain near Thebes and asked each passerby a riddle: “Which of the living creatures walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?” Unable to give a clue, the Sphinx killed and thus killed many noble Thebans, including the son of King Creon. Dejected with grief, Creon announced that he would give the kingdom and the hand of his sister Jocasta to the one who would save Thebes from the Sphinx. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering the Sphinx: "Man." The monster in despair threw himself into the abyss and crashed to death. This version of the myth supplanted the older version, in which the original name of the predator that lived in Boeotia on Mount Fikion was Fix, and then Orf and Echidna were named as his parents. The name Sphinx arose from the rapprochement with the verb “compress”, “strangle”, and the image itself - under the influence of the Asia Minor image of a winged half-maiden-half-lion. Ancient Fix was a ferocious monster capable of swallowing prey; he was defeated by Oedipus with weapons in his hands during a fierce battle. Depictions of the Sphinx abound in Classical art, from 18th-century British interiors to Romantic Empire furniture. Freemasons considered sphinxes as a symbol of the mysteries and used them in their architecture, considering them as guardians of the gates of the temple. In Masonic architecture, the sphinx is a frequent decorative detail, for example, even in the version of the image of his head on the form of documents. The Sphinx personifies mystery, wisdom, the idea of a person's struggle with fate.
12) Siren
Demonic creatures born from the god of fresh waters Aheloy and one of the muses: Melpomene or Terpsichore. Sirens, like many mythical creatures, are mixanthropic in nature, they are half-birds-half-women or half-fish-half-women who inherited a wild spontaneity from their father, and a divine voice from their mother. Their number ranges from a few to many. Dangerous maidens lived on the rocks of the island, littered with the bones and dried skin of their victims, whom the sirens lured with their singing. Hearing their sweet singing, the sailors, losing their minds, sent the ship straight to the rocks and eventually died in the depths of the sea. After that, the merciless virgins tore the bodies of the victims to pieces and ate them. According to one of the myths, Orpheus on the ship of the Argonauts sang sweeter than the sirens, and for this reason the sirens, in despair and violent anger, rushed into the sea and were turned into rocks, for they were destined to die when their spells were powerless. The appearance of sirens with wings makes them similar in appearance to harpies, and sirens with fish tails to mermaids. However, sirens, unlike mermaids, are of divine origin. Attractive appearance is also not their obligatory attribute. Sirens were also perceived as muses of another world - they were depicted on tombstones. In classical antiquity, wild chthonic sirens turn into sweet-voiced wise sirens, each of which sits on one of the eight celestial spheres of the world spindle of the goddess Ananke, creating the majestic harmony of the cosmos with their singing. To appease the sea deities and avoid shipwreck, sirens were often depicted as figures on ships. Over time, the image of sirens became so popular that a whole detachment of large marine mammals was called sirens, which includes dugongs, manatees, as well as sea (or Steller's) cows, which, unfortunately, were completely exterminated by the end of the 18th century.
13) Harpy
Daughters of the sea deity Thaumant and the oceanides Electra, archaic pre-Olympic deities. Their names - Aella ("Whirlwind"), Aellope ("Whirlwind"), Podarga ("Swift-footed"), Okipeta ("Fast"), Kelaino ("Gloomy") - indicate a connection with the elements and darkness. The word "harpy" comes from the Greek "grab", "abduct". In ancient myths, harpies were gods of the wind. The proximity of the strashno.com.ua harpies to the winds is reflected in the fact that the divine horses of Achilles were born from Podarga and Zephyr. They interfered little in the affairs of people, their duty was only to carry the souls of the dead to the underworld. But then the harpies began to kidnap children and annoy people, swooping in suddenly, like the wind, and just as suddenly disappearing. In various sources, harpies are described as winged deities with long flowing hair, flying faster than birds and winds, or as vultures with female faces and sharp hooked claws. They are invulnerable and stinking. Eternally tormented by a hunger that they cannot satisfy, the harpies descend from the mountains and, with piercing cries, devour and soil everything. The harpies were sent by the gods as punishment for the people who had been guilty of them. Monsters took away food from a person every time he took food, and this lasted until the person died of hunger. So, the story is known about how the harpies tortured King Phineus, damned for an involuntary crime, and, stealing his food, doomed him to starvation. However, the monsters were expelled by the sons of Boreas - the Argonauts Zet and Kalaid. The heroes of Zeus, their sister, the goddess of the rainbow Irida, prevented the heroes from killing the harpies. The habitat of the harpies was usually called the Strofada Islands in the Aegean Sea, later, along with other monsters, they were placed in the kingdom of gloomy Hades, where they were ranked among the most dangerous local creatures. Medieval moralists used harpies as symbols of greed, gluttony, and uncleanliness, often confusing them with furies. Evil women are also called harpies. The harpy is a large bird of prey from the hawk family that lives in South America.
The brainchild of Typhon and Echidna, the hideous Hydra had a long serpentine body and nine dragon heads. One of the heads was immortal. Hydra was considered invincible, since two new ones grew from a severed head. Coming out of the gloomy Tartarus, the Hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna, where the killers came to atone for their sins. This place became her home. Hence the name - Lernaean Hydra. The hydra was eternally hungry and devastated the surroundings, eating herds and burning crops with its fiery breath. Her body was thicker than the thickest tree and covered with shiny scales. When she rose on her tail, she could be seen far above the forests. King Eurystheus sent Hercules on a mission to kill the Lernean Hydra. Iolaus, the nephew of Hercules, during the battle of the hero with the Hydra, burned her neck with fire, from which Hercules knocked down his heads with his club. Hydra stopped growing new heads, and soon she had only one immortal head. In the end, she was demolished with a club and buried by Hercules under a huge rock. Then the hero cut Hydra's body and plunged his arrows into her poisonous blood. Since then, the wounds from his arrows have become incurable. However, this feat of the hero was not recognized by Eurystheus, since Hercules was helped by his nephew. The name Hydra is given to Pluto's satellite and the constellation in the southern hemisphere of the sky, the longest of all. The unusual properties of Hydra also gave their name to the genus of freshwater sessile coelenterates. A hydra is a person with an aggressive character and a predatory demeanor.
15) Stymphalian birds
Birds of prey with sharp bronze feathers, copper claws and beaks. Named after Lake Stimfal near the city of the same name in the mountains of Arcadia. Having multiplied with extraordinary speed, they turned into a huge flock and soon turned all the surroundings of the city almost into a desert: they destroyed the entire crop of the fields, exterminated the animals that grazed on the fat shores of the lake, and killed many shepherds and farmers. Taking off, the Stymphalian birds dropped their feathers like arrows, and they hit everyone who was in the open area with them, or tore them apart with copper claws and beaks. Upon learning of this misfortune of the Arcadians, Eurystheus sent Hercules to them, hoping that this time he would not be able to escape. Athena helped the hero by giving him copper rattles or timpani forged by Hephaestus. Alarming the birds with noise, Hercules began to shoot at them with his arrows poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Frightened birds left the shores of the lake, flying to the islands of the Black Sea. There the Stymphalidae were met by the Argonauts. They probably heard about the feat of Hercules and followed his example - they drove the birds away with a noise, hitting the shields with swords.
Forest deities who made up the retinue of the god Dionysus. Satyrs are shaggy and bearded, their legs end in goat (sometimes horse) hooves. Other characteristic features of the appearance of satyrs are horns on the head, a goat or bull tail and a human torso. Satyrs were endowed with the qualities of wild creatures with animal qualities, who thought little about human prohibitions and moral standards. In addition, they were distinguished by fantastic endurance, both in battle and at the festive table. A great passion was dancing and music, the flute is one of the main attributes of satyrs. Also, thyrsus, flute, leather bellows or vessels with wine were considered attributes of satyrs. Satyrs were often depicted on the canvases of great artists. Often the satyrs were accompanied by girls, for whom the satyrs had a certain weakness. According to a rationalistic interpretation, a tribe of shepherds who lived in forests and mountains could be reflected in the image of a satyr. A satyr is sometimes called a lover of alcohol, humor and sorority. The image of a satyr resembles a European devil.
17) Phoenix
Magic bird with golden and red feathers. In it you can see the collective image of many birds - an eagle, a crane, a peacock and many others. The most striking qualities of the Phoenix were the extraordinary life expectancy and the ability to be reborn from the ashes after self-immolation. There are several versions of the Phoenix myth. In the classical version, once every five hundred years, the Phoenix, bearing the sorrows of people, flies from India to the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, Libya. The head priest kindles a fire from the sacred vine, and the Phoenix throws itself into the fire. Its incense-soaked wings flare and it quickly burns. With this feat, Phoenix returns happiness and harmony to the world of people with its life and beauty. Having experienced torment and pain, three days later a new Phoenix grows from the ashes, which, having thanked the priest for the work done, returns to India, even more beautiful and shining with new colors. Experiencing cycles of birth, progress, death and renewal, Phoenix strives to become more and more perfect over and over again. Phoenix was the personification of the most ancient human desire for immortality. Even in the ancient world, the Phoenix began to be depicted on coins and seals, in heraldry and sculpture. The Phoenix has become a beloved symbol of light, rebirth and truth in poetry and prose. In honor of the Phoenix, the constellation of the southern hemisphere and the date palm were named.
18) Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla, the daughter of Echidna or Hecate, once a beautiful nymph, rejected everyone, including the sea god Glaucus, who asked for help from the sorceress Circe. But out of revenge, Circe, who was in love with Glaucus, turned Scylla into a monster, which began to lie in wait for sailors in a cave, on a steep rock of the narrow Strait of Sicily, on the other side of which lived another monster - Charybdis. Scylla has six dog heads on six necks, three rows of teeth and twelve legs. In translation, her name means "barking". Charybdis was the daughter of the gods Poseidon and Gaia. She was turned into a terrible monster by Zeus himself, while dropping into the sea. Charybdis has a gigantic mouth into which water flows non-stop. She personifies a terrible whirlpool, the opening of the deep sea, which arises three times in one day and absorbs and then spews water. No one has seen her, as she is hidden by the water column. That is how she ruined many sailors. Only Odysseus and the Argonauts managed to swim past Scylla and Charybdis. In the Adriatic Sea you can find the Scylleian rock. According to local legends, it was on it that Scylla lived. There is also a shrimp with the same name. The expression "to be between Scylla and Charybdis" means to be in danger from different sides at the same time.
19) Hippocampus
A marine animal that looks like a horse and ends in a fish tail, also called hydrippus - a water horse. According to other versions of the myths, the hippocampus is a sea creature in the form of a seahorse with the legs of a horse and a body ending in a snake or fish tail and webbed feet instead of hooves on the front legs. The front of the body is covered with thin scales in contrast to the large scales on the back of the body. According to some sources, lungs are used for breathing by the hippocampus, according to others, modified gills. Sea deities - nereids and tritons - were often depicted on chariots harnessed by hippocampuses, or seated on hippocampuses dissecting the abyss of water. This amazing horse appears in the poems of Homer as a symbol of Poseidon, whose chariot was drawn by fast horses and glided over the surface of the sea. In mosaic art, the hippocampus was often depicted as a hybrid animal with a green, scaly mane and appendages. The ancients believed that these animals were already the adult form of the seahorse. Other fish-tailed land animals that appear in Greek myth include the leocampus, a lion with a fish tail), the taurocampus, a bull with a fish tail, the pardalocampus, a fish-tailed leopard, and the aegikampus, a goat with a fish tail. The latter became a symbol of the constellation Capricorn.
20) Cyclops (Cyclops)
Cyclopes in the 8th-7th centuries BC. e. were considered a product of Uranus and Gaia, the titans. Three immortal one-eyed giants with eyes in the form of a ball belonged to the Cyclopes: Arg (“flash”), Bront (“thunder”) and Sterop (“lightning”). Immediately after the birth, the Cyclopes were thrown by Uranus into Tartarus (the deepest abyss) along with their violent hundred-handed brothers (hekatoncheirs), who were born shortly before them. The Cyclopes were freed by the rest of the Titans after the overthrow of Uranus, and then again thrown into Tartarus by their leader Kronos. When Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, began a struggle with Kronos for power, he, on the advice of their mother Gaia, freed the Cyclopes from Tartarus to help the Olympian gods in the war against the titans, known as gigantomachy. Zeus used lightning bolts made by the Cyclopes and thunder arrows, which he threw at the titans. In addition, the Cyclopes, being skilled blacksmiths, forged a trident and a manger for Poseidon for his horses, Hades - an invisibility helmet, Artemis - a silver bow and arrows, and also taught Athena and Hephaestus various crafts. After the end of the Gigantomachy, the Cyclopes continued to serve Zeus and forge weapons for him. As henchmen of Hephaestus, forging iron in the bowels of Etna, the Cyclopes forged the chariot of Ares, the aegis of Pallas and the armor of Aeneas. The mythical people of one-eyed cannibal giants who inhabited the islands of the Mediterranean Sea were also called Cyclopes. Among them, the most famous is the ferocious son of Poseidon, Polyphemus, whom Odysseus deprived of his only eye. Paleontologist Otenio Abel suggested in 1914 that ancient finds of pygmy elephant skulls gave rise to the myth of the Cyclopes, since the central nasal opening in the elephant's skull could be mistaken for a giant eye socket. The remains of these elephants have been found on the islands of Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese.
21) Minotaur
Half-bull-half-human, born as the fruit of the passion of the queen of Crete Pasiphae for a white bull, love for which Aphrodite inspired her as a punishment. The real name of the Minotaur was Asterius (that is, "star"), and the nickname Minotaur means "the bull of Minos." Subsequently, the inventor Daedalus, the creator of many devices, built a labyrinth in order to imprison her monster son in it. According to ancient Greek myths, the Minotaur ate human flesh, and in order to feed him, the king of Crete imposed a terrible tribute on the city of Athens - seven young men and seven girls had to be sent to Crete every nine years to be eaten by the Minotaur. When Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, fell to the lot to become a victim of an insatiable monster, he decided to rid his homeland of such a duty. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae, in love with the young man, gave him a magic thread so that he could find his way back from the labyrinth, and the hero managed not only to kill the monster, but also to free the rest of the captives and put an end to the terrible tribute. The myth of the Minotaur was probably an echo of the ancient pre-Hellenic bull cults with their characteristic sacred bullfights. Judging by the wall paintings, bull-headed human figures were common in Cretan demonology. In addition, the image of a bull appears on Minoan coins and seals. The minotaur is considered a symbol of anger and bestial savagery. The phrase "Ariadne's thread" means a way to get out of a difficult situation, to find the key to solving a difficult problem, to understand a difficult situation.
22) Hecatoncheires
Hundred-armed fifty-headed giants named Briares (Egeon), Kott and Gies (Guy) personify the underground forces, the sons of the supreme god Uranus, the symbol of Heaven, and Gaia-Earth. Immediately after their birth, the brothers were imprisoned in the bowels of the earth by their father, who feared for his dominion. In the midst of the fight against the Titans, the gods of Olympus called on the Hecatoncheirs, and their help ensured the victory of the Olympians. After their defeat, the titans were thrown into Tartarus, and the hekatoncheirs volunteered to guard them. Poseidon, the lord of the seas, gave Briareus his daughter Kimopolis as his wife. Hecatoncheirs are present in the book by the Strugatsky brothers "Monday begins on Saturday" as loaders at the Research Institute of FAQ.
23) Giants
The sons of Gaia, who were born from the blood of castrated Uranus, absorbed into the Earth-mother. According to another version, Gaia gave birth to them from Uranus after the titans were cast down by Zeus into Tartarus. The pre-Greek origin of the Giants is obvious. The story of the birth of the Giants and their death is told in detail by Apollodorus. The giants inspired horror with their appearance - thick hair and beards; their lower body was serpentine or octopus-like. They were born on the Phlegrean Fields in Halkidiki, in northern Greece. In the same place, then the battle of the Olympic gods with the Giants took place - gigantomachy. Giants, unlike titans, are mortal. By the will of fate, their death depended on the participation in the battle of mortal heroes who would come to the aid of the gods. Gaia was looking for a magical herb that would keep the Giants alive. But Zeus was ahead of Gaia and, having sent darkness to the earth, cut this grass himself. On the advice of Athena, Zeus called for Hercules to participate in the battle. In the Gigantomachy, the Olympians destroyed the Giants. Apollodorus mentions the names of 13 Giants, of which there are generally up to 150. Gigantomachy (like titanomachy) is based on the idea of ordering the world, embodied in the victory of the Olympic generation of gods over chthonic forces, strengthening the supreme power of Zeus.
This monstrous serpent, born of Gaia and Tartarus, guarded the sanctuary of the goddesses Gaia and Themis in Delphi, at the same time devastating their surroundings. Therefore, it was also called Dolphin. By order of the goddess Hera, Python raised an even more terrible monster - Typhon, and then began to pursue Laton, the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The grown-up Apollo, having received a bow and arrows forged by Hephaestus, went in search of a monster and overtook him in a deep cave. Apollo killed Python with his arrows and had to remain in exile for eight years in order to appease the angry Gaia. The huge dragon was periodically mentioned in Delphi during various sacred rites and processions. Apollo founded a temple on the site of an ancient soothsayer and established the Pythian games; this myth reflected the replacement of chthonic archaism by a new, Olympian deity. The plot, where a luminous deity kills a snake, a symbol of evil and an enemy of mankind, has become a classic for religious teachings and folk tales. The Temple of Apollo at Delphi became famous throughout Hellas and even beyond its borders. From a crevice in the rock, located in the middle of the temple, vapors rose, which had a strong effect on the consciousness and behavior of a person. The priestesses of the temple of the Pythia gave often confusing and vague predictions. From Python came the name of a whole family of non-poisonous snakes - pythons, sometimes reaching up to 10 meters in length.
25) Centaur
These legendary creatures with a human torso and a horse's torso and legs are the embodiment of natural strength, endurance, cruelty and unbridled disposition. Centaurs (translated from Greek as “killing bulls”) drove the chariot of Dionysus, the god of wine and winemaking; they were also ridden by the god of love, Eros, which implied their propensity for libations and unbridled passions. There are several legends about the origin of centaurs. A descendant of Apollo named Centaur entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares, which gave the appearance of a half-man, half-horse to all subsequent generations. According to another myth, in the pre-Olympic era, the smartest of the centaurs, Chiron, appeared. His parents were the oceanid Felira and the god Kron. Kron took the form of a horse, so the child from this marriage combined the features of a horse and a man. Chiron received an excellent education (medicine, hunting, gymnastics, music, divination) directly from Apollo and Artemis and was a mentor to many heroes of the Greek epics, as well as a personal friend of Hercules. His descendants, the centaurs, lived in the mountains of Thessaly, next to the Lapiths. These wild tribes peacefully got along with each other until, at the wedding of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous, the centaurs tried to kidnap the bride and several beautiful Lapithians. In a violent battle, called centauromachia, the Lapiths won, and the centaurs were scattered across mainland Greece, driven into mountainous regions and deaf caves. The appearance of the image of a centaur more than three thousand years ago suggests that even then the horse played an important role in human life. Perhaps the ancient farmers perceived horse riders as an integral being, but, most likely, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, prone to inventing "composite" creatures, having invented the centaur, thus simply reflected the spread of the horse. The Greeks, who bred and loved horses, were well acquainted with their temper. It is no coincidence that it was the nature of the horse that they associated with the unpredictable manifestations of violence in this generally positive animal. One of the constellations and signs of the zodiac is dedicated to the centaur. To refer to creatures that do not look like a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term "centauroids" is used in the scientific literature. There are variations in the appearance of centaurs. Onocentaur - half man, half donkey - was associated with a demon, Satan or a hypocritical person. The image is close to satyrs and European devils, as well as to the Egyptian god Seth.
The son of Gaia, nicknamed Panoptes, that is, the all-seeing, who became the personification of the starry sky. The goddess Hera forced him to guard Io, the beloved of her husband Zeus, who was turned into a cow by him in order to protect him from the wrath of his jealous wife. Hera begged a cow from Zeus and assigned to her an ideal caretaker, the hundred-eyed Argus, who vigilantly guarded her: only two of his eyes closed at the same time, the others were open and vigilantly watched Io. Only Hermes, the crafty and enterprising herald of the gods, managed to kill him, freeing Io. Hermes put Argus to sleep with a poppy and cut off his head with one blow. The name of Argus has become a household name for the vigilant, vigilant, all-seeing guardian, from whom no one and nothing can hide. Sometimes this is called, following an ancient legend, a pattern on peacock feathers, the so-called "peacock eye". According to legend, when Argus died at the hands of Hermes, Hera, regretting his death, collected all his eyes and attached them to the tails of her favorite birds, peacocks, which were supposed to always remind her of her devoted servant. The myth of Argus was often depicted on vases and on Pompeian wall paintings.
27) Griffin
Monstrous birds with a lion's body and an eagle's head and front paws. From their cry, flowers wither and grass withers, and all living beings fall dead. The eyes of a griffin with a golden tint. The head was the size of a wolf's head with a huge, intimidating beak, wings with a strange second joint to make it easier to fold them. The griffin in Greek mythology personified insightful and vigilant power. Closely associated with the god Apollo, appears as an animal that the god harnesses to his chariot. Some of the myths say that these creatures were harnessed to the cart of the goddess Nemesis, which symbolizes the speed of retribution for sins. In addition, the griffins rotated the wheel of fate, and were genetically related to Nemesis. The image of the griffin personified dominance over the elements of earth (lion) and air (eagle). The symbolism of this mythical animal is associated with the image of the Sun, since both the lion and the eagle in myths are always inextricably linked with it. In addition, the lion and eagle are associated with mythological motifs of speed and courage. The functional purpose of the griffin is protection, in this it is similar to the image of a dragon. As a rule, guards treasures or some secret knowledge. The bird served as an intermediary between the heavenly and earthly worlds, gods and people. Even then, ambivalence was embedded in the image of the griffin. Their role in various myths is ambiguous. They can act both as defenders, patrons, and as vicious, unrestrained animals. The Greeks believed that griffins guard the gold of the Scythians in northern Asia. Modern attempts to localize griffins vary greatly and place them from the northern Urals to the Altai Mountains. These mythological animals are widely represented in antiquity: Herodotus wrote about them, their images were found on the monuments of the period of prehistoric Crete and in Sparta - on weapons, household items, on coins and buildings.
28) Empusa
A female demon of the underworld from the retinue of Hekate. Empusa was a nocturnal vampire with donkey legs, one of which was copper. She took the form of cows, dogs or beautiful maidens, changing her appearance in a thousand ways. According to existing beliefs, the empusa often carried away small children, sucked blood from beautiful young men, appearing to them in the form of a lovely woman, and, having had enough of blood, often ate their meat. At night, on deserted roads, the empusa lay in wait for lone travelers, either frightening them in the form of an animal or a ghost, then captivating them with the appearance of a beauty, then attacking them in their true terrible form. According to popular beliefs, it was possible to drive away the empusa with abuse or a special amulet. In some sources, the empusa is described as close to the lamia, onocentaur, or female satyr.
29) Triton
The son of Poseidon and the mistress of the seas Amphitrite, depicted as an old man or a young man with a fish tail instead of legs. Triton became the ancestor of all newts - marine mixanthropic creatures frolicking in the waters, accompanying Poseidon's chariot. This retinue of lower sea deities was depicted as a half-fish and half-man blowing a snail-shaped shell to excite or tame the sea. In their appearance, they resembled classic mermaids. Tritons in the sea became, like satyrs and centaurs on land, minor deities serving the main gods. In honor of the tritons are named: in astronomy - a satellite of the planet Neptune; in biology - the genus of tailed amphibians of the salamander family and the genus of prone gill mollusks; in technology - a series of ultra-small submarines of the USSR Navy; in music, an interval formed by three tones.
Our world is not so harmless. After all, somewhere out there, in the dark, in forests isolated from the eyes and in the deep bowels of reservoirs, mysterious creatures live. They appear unexpectedly and just as suddenly disappear. Frightened bystanders are dumbfounded and bewildered.
As a result, no evidence of such meetings remains. But creatures continue to exist, in their secluded places, and even in our imagination. We will tell below about the ten most mysterious creatures that, according to many, still exist on our planet.
After all, there are eyewitnesses who saw them with their own eyes. Let some creatures be more incredible than others, but we will leave it to our imagination to decide whether they really exist.
Yeti. Bigfoot is perhaps the most frequently encountered mysterious creature. Yeti met in the forests and mountains almost all over the planet. Scientists still can not get reliable evidence of the existence of the Yeti. But every year there are more and more evidence of its existence. Interestingly, from Florida to Australia, people describe Bigfoot in a fairly consistent and similar way. The growth of the creature is from 2 to 2.5 meters. The yeti itself is covered in long brown, red, or white hair. A foul odor emanates from it. The large size of the legs, like the hands, is evidenced by prints on the ground. It is said that the yeti shuns humans and can howl at night. A huge number of meetings suggests that this creature has every chance of becoming real, unknown to science so far. But what is it? The missing link in evolution? Ancient ancestors of people left to live in deserts and mountains? Or maybe it's just an unknown species of monkey? Perhaps soon the secret will be revealed. After all, digital technology can significantly improve the observation of the area. In America, cameras are beginning to be installed in the forests, which will monitor movement around the clock, trying to detect a mysterious creature. In the meantime, all that enthusiasts have are prints of large feet, tufts of wool and eyewitness accounts.
Loch Ness monster. In this series, it is worth noting several monsters living in the depths of lakes at once. Although scientists today are equipped with sensitive electronic devices, water monsters still elude observation. But good observations of witnesses exist. The most famous monster is Loch Ness, also called Nessie. It is known that this inhabitant of the depths has a long head and neck, while the back is humpbacked. Similar animals were met in other places - Chessy in the Chesapeake Bay, Storsi in the Swedish lake Storson, Selma in Norway, Champion on Lake Champlain in New York. Most observers say that they noticed a towering hump above the water, only a few lucky ones were able to see an elongated breach with a head. Usually, the creature begins its dive immediately. Photo and video evidence of water monsters is very small and almost all of them are blurry. The most famous is a photograph of a fin taken by the Reines expedition in 1975. If the creature actually exists, then researchers believe it could be a plesiosaur. But he died out more than 66 million years ago! But could these incredible creatures have somehow managed to survive deep underwater?
Chupacabra. In our area, this mystical bloodsucker monster is little known. The first data about it appeared in the 70s. But the real fame came to this creature in the 90s with the development of the Internet. This creepy creature attacks livestock and poultry and sucks the blood out of them. The Chupacabra was most often seen in Puerto Rico. Farmers who observed the practice of killing wild dogs say that the monster, when killing them, did not eat them and did not drag them away, but drained the blood through small incisions. Eyewitnesses say that the Chupacabra is the size of a small monkey, while jumping like a kangaroo. The creature has red eyes, hairy skin, a tongue like a snake, and sharp fangs. Around the spine are feathers that can open. Some believe that these may be wings. By the end of the 90s, evidence of the existence of the monster began to become more and more. He was credited with killing animals in Mexico, south Texas, and South America. In 2000, a series of incidents involving the creature occurred in Chile. There are many theories about the origin of the mysterious creature. Perhaps this is just a natural, but unknown species of predator. Perhaps - the result of foreign genetic experiments. Most serious researchers believe that the Chupacabra is just an element of folklore, which the local superstitious people inspired. One can only be sure that news about the tricks of this creature will periodically appear.
Jersey Devil. They say that in the vicinity of the American city of New Jersey, a terrible humanoid creature roams. Its fearsome appearance has earned it the nickname the Jersey Devil. The legend about him first appeared in the middle of the 18th century. Then the appearance of this creature was considered an omen of war or great trouble. All this time, evidence of a meeting with this creature periodically appeared. There have been about 2000 of them for several centuries. Even today there are eyewitnesses of meetings with this monster. Although descriptions of it vary, there are some common features. The height of the devil is about a meter, the face is horse-like, and the head is elongated, like that of the Collie dog breed. The neck of the creature is long, there are half-meter wings on the back, and hooves on the legs. The creature holds its front paws in front of it. Many believe that this devil can become invisible. It is curious that there is some resemblance to the Chupacabra. The Devil is blamed for the unexplained deaths of dozens of animals and their injuries. Did some eyewitnesses go crazy after meeting him? What kind of creature is this? The theories are similar to those that explain the Chupacabra. One thing is clear, something definitely scary lives in the woods near New Jersey.
Moth Man. Starting in November 1966, for 13 months, strange events occurred in Point Pleasant, in West Virginia. In addition to many reports of UFO and poltergeist sightings, some witnesses have spoken of encountering a strange creature. As stated in John Keel's classic book The Moth's Prophecy, hundreds of witnesses saw a winged humanoid. He is described as a two-meter giant with a wingspan of about three meters. His gray skin was covered with scales. The huge red eyes had a hypnotic effect. Mothman could take off and land vertically, reaching speeds of up to 130 km / h in the air. Most often, the monster ate large dogs. The creature squealed like a rodent or an electric motor, causing radio and television interference. Some of the eyewitnesses of the meeting with the mothman said that they had opened an information channel. With its help, eyewitnesses began to receive strange predictions of the future, however, very inaccurate.
Elves and fairies. In modern society, there are few people who believe in the existence of fairies and elves. Some of them are ready to swear by anything that they saw these creatures with their own eyes. In the same way, someone saw Nessie, and someone saw a Bigfoot. Stories about elusive little magical creatures are quite ancient, found in almost every culture on Earth. The legends about elves, gnomes and trolls from Europe and Scandinavia are best known to us. These creatures have become the heroes of numerous children's fairy tales. Fairies were described as tiny, ephemeral creatures with wings that lived in forests. Elves and dwarves lived there. However, they outwardly resembled a person, differing only in small stature. It is often claimed that they had their own civilization, hidden from our eyes. In the summer of 1919, 13-year-old Harry Anderson saw a column of 20 men walking one after another. Their path was illuminated by moonlight. They were wearing leather pants with suspenders. The men were shirtless, bald and had pale white skin. As they passed the astonished boy, the creatures mumbled something under their breath. In Stowmarket, England, in 1842, a farmer recounted his encounter with fairies as he was returning home through the meadows: “There were at least a dozen of them, the largest being about a meter high. from the light. I saw them very clearly." When the man called his family to see the fairies, they were gone. In past cultures, elves and fairies were considered quite real, and part of their folklore has come down. Today, society has become much more technologically advanced, perhaps in our imagination, aliens with their spaceships have taken their place.
Trust Demon. In April 1977, near the city of Dover, in Massachusetts, a strange creature was seen several times. They called him the dover demon. Although there has been only a few evidence of its appearance, the creature is one of the most mysterious. For the first time, the monster was met by 17-year-old Bill Barnet, who, along with friends, was driving late at night. Suddenly he saw that an unusual creature was crawling along the stone wall not far from the roadside. Although the other boys did not see anything out of the ordinary, they noted their friend's great shock. Just a few hours later, 15-year-old John Baxter, returning from his girlfriend, saw something wrapped around a tree trunk. His description was the same as before. The final testimony came the next day, when 15-year-old Abby Brabham, along with a friend, saw a strange creature in the headlights of a car. It was about 1.2 meters high and stood on two legs. The body was naked with rough skin. His limbs were long and thin, brown in color. The head was shaped like a watermelon, it was as big as the body. The monster's eyes glowed orange. Further studies of this unusual case did not give a single proof of its reality. True, no motives for deception were found either. Skeptics suggest that teenagers could see a young elk, and ufologists prove the theory of meeting with aliens.
Loveland lizard. This creature is rather little known, because only two people saw it, albeit separately. On March 3, 1972, a police officer drove along Riverside Avenue, which lies along the Little Miami River in Loveland, Ohio. Suddenly, on the side of the road, he saw something that looked like a dead dog. The policeman stopped to move her out of the way. As the man approached, the creature quickly reared up on its hind legs. It turned out that this was not a dog at all, but some kind of monster a meter high. His weight was 20-30 kilograms, his skin was all in folds, his body had tangled hair, a short tail. The face and head of the monster looked like a frog or a lizard. The creature looked at the man and jumped into the river. The officer reported the incident and returned here with a partner. Evidence was immediately found - footprints on the slope that the lizard left when it rushed to the river. This story would have been forgotten, but two weeks later another policeman saw the monster. He also stopped when he saw a strange thing in the middle of the road. And in this case, the lizard disappeared towards the river. Subsequent investigations that one farmer said he saw some kind of large creatures, like lizards. Since then, no one has seen the lizard.
Living dinosaurs. In the movie Jurassic Park, digital technology was able to create a very realistic world of dinosaurs. Many are already looking forward to the time when cloning will bring out the long-gone inhabitants of the planet. What if dinosaurs are still alive? Maybe some of them didn't die out at all? Many people believe that this is true. For more than 200 years, stories have been heard from the secluded forests of Africa and South America that local tribes were familiar with large creatures. Their description perfectly fits the species of sauropods and apatosaurs. The natives called them giant divers. In 1913, the German explorer Freiherr von Stein said that the pygmies told him about a strange creature "river jam". It had brown smooth skin, it was the size of an elephant (up to 10 meters in length), a long flexible neck. The animal fed on plants, but could also attack people if they disturbed it. When an expedition to these tribes took place in 1980, and zoologists showed the natives large sauropods, they recognized them as their "river plugs". However, the testimony of illiterate tribes alone was not enough. It is assumed that the researchers were able to detect huge footprints. And in 1992, the Japanese were able to film 15 seconds of the movement of something huge in the water in these places from an airplane. There is no doubt that the search for dinosaurs in virgin forests will continue.
Jumper Jack. This creature is also called Spring-heeled Jack. It appeared in Victorian England. This monster is said to have attacked its victims in the dark in London in the 19th century. The victims got off with terrible scratches, and it was impossible to catch Jack because of his truly inhuman abilities. Waitress Polly Adams, who suffered from the monster, said that he tore her weekend blouse, touching her stomach with iron claws. Victims paint the big picture. The creature looks like a human, but with a hideous appearance. His claws were sharp and iron. He himself was thin, strong, tall and powerful. Jack's eyes burned, he himself could spit fire out of his mouth. Something tight was worn over the body of the monster, but on top was a dark cloak. He was said to be wearing some kind of helmet. And the fact that he was able to jump to incredible heights, even jumping over walls, gave him a nickname. The attacks prompted an official mayoral order to capture the perpetrator. But all attempts to catch him were unsuccessful. Rumors about the appearance of Jack appeared in the following decades. He frightened people with his appearance and quickly disappeared. Interestingly, Jack did not kill anyone, only 18-year-old Vesa Lucy, whom Jack exhaled flames in the face, was seriously injured. Who was this Jack? Devilishly smart maniac or demon? Or maybe an alien? We will hardly ever know the answer, and the Jumping Jack remains one of the most mysterious creatures of our time.
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