Cryptids: Fjorulalli also known as the Shore Laddie, or Beach Walker

Created in Artbreeder (not accurate)

The Fjorulalli also known as the Shore Laddie, or Beach Walker is a creature seen along the coasts of the Westfjords of Iceland. It is said that locals of the Westfjords will see the Fjorulalli come from the ocean to the shore. It's said that these creatures will breed with sheep resulting in deformed lambs. 

The Fjorulalli is the size of a ram and has brownish-grey fur and either webbed feet or hooves. It seems as if mussels and barnacles grow on its fur allowing it to scrape or jingle as it walks. Making it easy for those around to hear it.


SOURCES:
Cryptid Wiki

The Reykavík Grapevine

The Popobawa

Created in Bing Creator

The Popobawa (translates to bat-wing) is a legendary creature from the Tanzanian island of Pemba. It is known for its nocturnal assaults on people and is especially fierce towards those skeptical of its existence. The Popobawa is described as a shapeshifter with one of its forms being a bat-like figure. It has been the catalyst for mass hysteria several times in Tanzania. 1995 was particularly spread from Pemba to Unguja, Zanzibar Archipelago. Again there was brief hysteria in both 2000 and 2007. 

During the day Popobawa looks like an ordinary human, but when night falls he acquires a different form. He has a hunched human-like form with grey skin, long, pointed ears, a wide smile with fangs, a single eye in the middle of the forehead, and wings so big that they can wrap around him like a cape. It's described as being able to change form, sometimes being able to blend into darkness. It also emits a smell of sulfur. 

The Popobawa's single eye possesses a paralyzing effect on anyone who looks into it. It uses this ability to instill fear into the hearts of victims. The Popobawa then will gain access to the home instigating a lasting sense of dread. It would also attack anyone in the home including children. The attacks include physical and sexual assault or a poltergeist-like phenomenon. 

Because the Popobawa was known for repeat visits people could protect themselves from Popobawa by staying awake throughout the night outdoors, usually around fires with other people. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Mythlok

Villians Wiki

Cryptids: Babi Ngepet

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A Babi Ngepet is an Indonesian cryptid similar to a werewolf but with a demon boar. According to legend the creature is believed to be a person practicing pesugihan bab black magic. Which is magic that helps people become rich instantly. In exchange for wealth, something must be sacrificed which is usually their humanity. This allows the person to become a Babi Ngepet where they either transform into a boar or a boar demon possesses them. The boar is described as being larger than the average boar, with a muddy complexion and bloody mouth, sometimes with a human face. 

Some of the stories told about a man enveloped in black robes and an assistant. The man in robes would then turn into a Babi Ngepet, He would then roam around the village rubbing his body against walls, doors, cupboards, and furniture. This was to magically carry away with the villager's money, gold, and valuables. If successful they transform back to their human self and the robes filled with the items. 

While this is happening the assistant would stay home and guard a lit candle floating in a water basin. If the candle is shaking, fading, or almost out that means the Babi Ngepet is in danger, caught by villagers, or returned to being human.

Because of this belief, Javanese villagers will often kill or chase away any boar near the village at night. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia
Mythlok
Cryptid Wiki
The Demonic Paradise Wiki

Ghosts: The Watercress Lady

 

Created in Bing Create

Pluckley, England is home to many hauntings. One of which is of a woman called the Watercress Lady. In the early 1900's likely the 1920's there was a gypsy woman who was living in Pluckley. Now Gypsies at the time were traveling nomads from either Ireland or Eastern Europeans living in wagons and at their stops would either earn money from trading things or working on local farms. This woman made a living gathering watercress and selling it to the villagers.

The old woman was known as an eccentric but harmless person. She was known for smoking her clay pipe and known to enjoy gin from her battered old flask. After the sun would set she would go to the crossroads bridge. She would sit on the walls enjoying the night air smoking her pipe and drinking her gin.

However one unfortunate night she fell asleep while doing so. She would spill her flask on herself and the pipe would fall and light her up. It was said that no one heard her screams. The next day she would be found as a pile of ashes with her flask and pipe nearby. Letting people know it was the Watercress Lady and she had a tragic end.

Even though the Watercress Lady's screams were not heard the night she died it was afterward. Her ghost would be seen many times after her death reliving her death. She would be covered in flames and her heartbreaking screams could be heard. Slowly however she stopped being a screaming ball of fire to a faint pink glow hovering over the place she burned to death.

SOURCES:
London Walking Tours

Ghost Connections

Ghosts Wiki

Urban Legends: Romãozinho

Image created in Bing Creator

In Boa Sorte district, Pedro Afonso, Goiás, Brazil Romãozinho was born to a farmer and his wife. As the boy grew up he was said to be disobedient, cruel, and evil. He was known to get great pleasure from treating animals cruelly and killing plants.

Sometimes Romãozinho's mother would tell the boy to bring his father lunch. His father worked in a garden. One day even though Romãozinho did not want to bring the food to his father he did. On the way, he would eat the chicken and place it back into the lunch box. 

He would hand the lunchbox to Father as he was supposed to. His father was confused when he opened the box and his food was eaten. The father asked the boy what the bones meant. In response Romãozinho did not take responsibility instead he told him that his mother sent it to him that way on purpose. That the bones were the leftovers from his mother and the man who came over when his father wasn't home.  

This enraged his father and caused him to go back home immediately. Romãozinho would follow along knowing that his mother was going to be on the other end of his father's wrath. When they arrived home his father would pull out a dagger and began stabbing his wife. All while this was happening Romãozinho laughed enjoying his mother's "punishment". 

Knowing her son was the reason for all this and his pure joy from her death she would curse him with her dying breath. "You will never die! You won't know heaven or hell, or even rest until there's just one person left living on Earth!"

Romãozinho would continue to laugh especially after she died. This came true as he never grew up. It's said that he can be seen wandering the street causing mayhem. This however doesn't always mean he was entirely bad. In one story Romãozinho assists a woman in labor by scaring a local midwife chicken. This would help the midwife find the lone woman and help her give birth. 

SOURCES: 

Wikipedia

Myths and Folklore Wiki

Ghosts: Gelin

The Gelin (meaning Bride in Turkish) is a female demon or ghost in Turkish and Anatolian Greek folklore. More than likely hear stories in Heybeliada from Prince Islands about them. She is often seen as a beautiful young woman wearing a white wedding dress. Many of them become Gelin due to tragedy. Like being betrayed by a husband or fiance or being unmarried and pregnant. They usually die brutally typically by suicide.

These women are typically a harbinger of death similar to a banshee. She can sometimes haunt a family line or sometimes she rides a white horse in a graveyard. In the graveyard, she attracts men and kills them if they make contact.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Sabah

Encyclopedia Mythica

Cryptids: Jackalope and Jackanape

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Jackalope is a well-known fearsome critter. It is described as a jackrabbit with antelope antlers sometimes even a pheasant tail or hind legs. The name "Jackalope" derives from jackrabbit and antelope. There have been similar cryptids in history, but this one is based in America. It's said that the first sighting was in 1829 in Douglas, Wyoming.

Jackalopes are said to be extremely shy unless approached. They can often run fast around 90 miles per hour. It is said that they can imitate almost any sound including human voices. When they use human voice usually it's in phrases such as "There he goes! That way!". It's said that if you leave a flask of alcohol out a Jackalope would drink it and become intoxicated making it easier to hunt. 

Jackanapes are the female version and are said to be able to milk while sleeping lying face up. Their milk is said to have medicinal uses. It is said that Jackanapes usually only breed during electrical storms or hail.

It's possible that the first sightings and some of them afterward were rabbits infected with the Shope papillomavirus. Which causes kreatine growths in rabbits typically near its head. It is probably the most common hoax taxidermied animal.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia (Jackalope)

Wikipedia ( Shope Papillomavirus)

Cryptid Wiki

Haunted Objects: Charley The Doll

Photo by Cauer an Atlas Obscura User

In 1968 a doll would be discovered in the attack of a Victorian home in Upstate New York. It was inside a forgotten trunk. It had laid among tattered newspapers from the early 1930s and a yellow piece of paper containing the Lord's Prayer. The doll however could not be dated. 

The doll would be given the name Charley and added to other antiques in the home. He would blend in well with the rest of the dolls in the collection. There was little attention given to him until he began moving from his place on the bench of dolls. 

The parents would blame their five children because if it wasn't the parents it had to be the children. The children never fessed up to moving the doll, however. The parents never witnessed anything, but the children began to act weird around the doll. 

The youngest daughter (4) had at one point claimed that Charley spoke to her when she got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. The parents believed it to be her wild imagination. Then the other four children refused to use the bathroom at night or go near the bench within 5 feet. One day the youngest was covered in scratches with the blame placed on Charley instead of their cat. 

The parents wanting to end the children's antics removed Charley from his place. They would lock him back up in the attic in the trunk he was originally found in. Everything would go back to normal and Charley wasn't being blamed for anything. He would lay there for years forgotten. 

Years later after the children were grown the house was sold. The trunk was found in the attic and sold in a garage sale. Charley was one of the last things to go and went to a woman wanting him for her own antique doll collection. She was warned of Charley's antics. 

Charley would switch hands several times with stories of moving from time to time. It was made sure his story of the family in 1968 was told to each owner. It's said that he is more active around children.

In Salem, Massachusetts a shop called the "Local Artisan". The shop beholds odd things suck as taxidermied animals, unusual art, and oddities. He can now be seen by the public. 

SOURCES:

Atlas Obscura

From Tiny Pennies

The Ghost in My Machine

Cryptids: Boroboroton

 

Boroboroton as depicted in Toriyama Sekien's Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro

The Boroboroton belongs is a specific kind of Japanese Yokai called Tsukumogami or artifact spirit. These kinds of spirits are from manmade objects either possessed by ghosts or spirits or they form their own spirit from constant use for at least 90 to 100 years. If They form their own spirit they often look brand new or pristine despite their old age.

The Boroboroton is a tattered futon or a Japanese sleeping mat. They come alive at night and will come to life at night especially if it feels ignored or needless. In revenge, they will rise up in the air and kill any sleeping person they make contact with. It will wrap around the head and neck of the sleeper with the intent of strangling them to death. 

Sometimes they will meet with other Tsukumogami and throw noisy parties or leave the gome search for other beings. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Yokai Wiki

The Wooden Man

 

The Egeskov Castle in Kværndrup, Denmark is home to the Wooden Man. He sleeps peacefully under the tower spire upon his pillow. Legend says the Wooden Man must stay or the house itself will suffer. It says that if he moves from his place the castle will sink into its moat on Christmas Night. Several owners believed the legend. They would spend Christmas away, but the current owners celebrate it and even leave a bowl of rice pudding for the Wooden Man. The Wooden Man is a doll the size of a child. 

Countess Nonni loaned the Wooden Man out to the National Museum of Demark. He was weighed, measured, and photographed. The loan agreement was only for 6 months but after 14 days Countess Nani asked for it back.  The castle creaked and groaned and the walls began to shake and once he restored to his pillow the castle became peaceful.

SOURCES:

Egeskov 

Obscura Atlas 

Urban Legends: Flying Mattress Mist

Image Made in Imagine AI Art Generator

In early November 2001, Judy R. and a friend were driving home along Highway 36 in New Jersey. The two were startled by a weird mist. At high speeds, a rectangular cloud of mist flew across the road in front of them. It was two feet thick and longer than her car. 

It's unknown what the two encountered on the road. There are some theories such as it being a ghost or even a natural occurrence with the weather. It's unknown in this case. 

SOURCES:

Limitless Possibilities

Urban Legendpedia

ObscUrban Legend 

Weird New Jersey

Ghosts: Mylings

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In Scandinavian Folklore, there are spirits called Mylings. These ghosts are of children who were killed by their parents. They're killed in infancy before they can be baptized. Because these unwanted children were not baptized they are left to roam restlessly. They appear as children with dead and ghastly appearances. 

They usually haunt the area where their parents or mother hid their bodies. They are often mischievous. they will transform into animals that humans capture and then trick humans into and change back into a child running away laughing. Sometimes the children would be hidden near their mother's home. Likely under the floor, dirt cellar, or in nearby woods. Mylings can be heard singing in the dark trying to reveal their death. 

Many tales tell of Mylingar wanting revenge and/or trying to kill their mother by sucking milk from the mother's breast and don't stop until it has sucked out all the blood from the woman's body. Mylingar are mischievous children spirits that like to play pranks on people. They could transform into animals that humans capture but then transform back into a child and run away laughing.

One simple way to give a Myling rest is simply by giving it a name. Many of them were likely newborns and were never given a name. Giving them a name will help them feel at peace. 

They have to try to convince someone to bury them in hallow grounds. The Myling will jump on the back of the person and hope for help. This person will carry the Myling to a cemetery, but sometimes it's difficult for the benefactor to do so. The Myling sometimes gets heavier and heavier even causing their benefactor to sink into the ground or suck the life from the benefactor making them weak. If the person is not able to bury them they kill that person in rage.

Sometimes Mylings will want revenge instead. They will do this by trying to kill their mother. They will suck the milk from their mother's breast and don't stop until they suck all the blood from her. 

SOURCES:
Wikipedia

Seeking Ghosts

Phasmophobia Wiki

Villians Wiki

Folklore: Dearg Due

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There is a  tragic tale in Celtic folklore that ends in revenge. The woman of this tale's name is long gone, but she is now known as Dearg Due. It's a tale of "Hell Hath no fury like a woman scorned". 

In life, Dearg Due was a woman who was born and raised in Ireland. She was said to be kind and sweet. She even fell in love with a local peasant who was similar as he was kind and handsome. Her father was cruel and greedy. He was lucky his daughter was so beautiful, and that a rich man wanted her. This was a time when arranged marriages were commonplace. 

She would then be sold into marriage and separated from her love and her father got richer. Her husband was a cruel older man who would place his hands on her and verbally berate her. Her husband seemed to love doing this to her. 

Knowing that she had a lover waiting for her outside he would lock her up in a tower. She was isolated as those she used to know would never see her again after the wedding. She would wait and pray for her love to come and save her, but he never was able to. She would begin to waste away as she refused to eat and drink. This would eventually die from this.She is buried in a small churchyard, near “Strongbow’s Tree,” in the County of Waterford in Southeast Ireland

Her husband and father did not grieve her death. Everyone else grieved her, especially her lover. He would visit the grave every night crying and talking to her. Her husband was said to have remarried quickly after. Her lover was filled with regret and rage at how her life had been ruined. 

Dearg Due was also filled with rage. She craved retribution so much that she was able to crawl out of her grave. The first person she visited was in the home she grew up in. She would stand next to her father and watch as he slept. The cruel man would sleep as if his daughter did not have a cruel fate. She would place her lips on his and suck the life out of him. 

She would then go to the home she would die in. She would find her husband surrounded by women. He also did not care about what he put her through. The women were fulfilling his lustful desires and she would stand there watching. Rage would fill her and she would throw herself at her husband and draw his life. Her fury was so harsh that not only did she take his last breath but all his blood. 

She would meet her love again. Even though his love and rage brought her back to life she did not feel love anymore. She would also make the man a victim of hers. 

It said that she only hunts on the night of her death. She then kills men on that night. 

SOURCES:

Irish Central

Got Ireland

Myth and Folklore Wiki

Irish Road Trip

Monsters: Tsurube Otoshi (Falling in Well Bucket)

"Nishioka no Tsurube-oroshi" (The Tsurube-Oroshi of Nishioka) from the Kokon Hyakumonogatari Hyōban written by Yamaoka Genrin, edited by Yamaoka Motoyoshi

Tsurube Otoshi (Falling in Well Bucket) is a yokai from Japan. It is a gigantic disembodied head of either a human, a tengu, or an oni and sometimes appears as fireball flames with facial features. Its size is the typical size of a human head to two meters in diameter. They live and spend most of their time in the tree tops preferring taller trees like pines, kayas, and other such conifers. The trees they live in are typically deep along paths in the forest and outside of towns where travelers are likely to be. The places they are known to be is the Wakayama Prefecture, the Kyoto Prefecture, the Shiga Prefecture, the Gifu Prefecture, and the Aichi Prefecture.

At night they wait in the treetops for unspecting creatures and travelers. When they need to eat they will quickly fall to the ground to trap their prey. This is how it got its name. They enjoy this kind of killing and let out a laugh as they hunt and eat their meal. Sometimes when they are not hungry they will come down and do the same crushing people to death for fun. Sometimes they don't use themselves, but large rocks or well buckets and enjoy the damage dealt. After they are done feeding and or having their fun they will slip back into the trees laughing and challenging others to pass underneath their tree.

Travelers are warned to not pass under the tall trees at night because the Tsurube Otoshi might get them. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Yokai

Yokai Wiki

GHOSTS: Maggie's Bridge

             Facebook / Haunted Eastern Shore

In the late 1800s, Maggie Bloxom was going down Woodland Church Rd around a mile south of Woodland Ferry landing in Delaware. She was traveling by horse and buggy. Some say that she was pregnant at the time and was planning to marry her lover. She was leaving because she did not want to be judged by her parents let alone people she knew as she was not married yet.

When the carriage was crossing the bridge that went over a small branch on the Nanticoke River the horse was spooked. This would cause the horse to rear up and bring tragedy. Maggie and her carriage would go over the side of the bridge into the water. The accident was so bad she was decapitated.

It is said that if you go to the bridge and follow a ritual you can meet the spirit of Maggie. Most say that between midnight and 1 am, you should start the ritual. You will call out "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie" and you might hear a horse coming towards you. You will call again "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie" and you might see a woman-shaped shadow. A third and last time you will call "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie" and Maggie will come out of the woods holding her head asking to be put together again and be alive.

Sometimes people chant "Maggie Maggie we have your baby!" instead of "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie"

Some say that Maggie can be seen best on the night of the blue moon. A breeze will come and little flashes of firefly-like lights can be seen. These lights are known as ghost pits. The lights come closer and closer with each flash.

Sometimes it stated that Maggie can also mess with cars on the bridge. It's stated that cars have been known to stall on it.

Did Maggie actually exist? Maybe. There is a grave nearby with her name on it. I couldn't find anything about her death in newspapers, and could not find any information on her.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Chesapeake Ghosts

Only In Your State

Urban Legends: Steop

In Gelderland, Netherlands roams a creature called the Steop. It's a wolf-like terror and is known to torment people. He is known to jump on the back of people and grow increasingly heavy. There is no way to get him off of your back and will do this for hours. He is also known to make things disappear and watch people stress about the missing items. 

SOURCES:

Dutch Folklore Wiki

GHOSTS: Hairy Hands of Dartmoor

Created in Imagine AI Generator

Between Postbridge and Two Bridges in Dartmoor, England there is a legend of a sector who loves to cause vehicle accidents. The story begins around 1910 and drivers and cyclists have reported that in this area their vehicle would jolt and steer off the road. The cause of it? The Hairy Hands appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the steering wheel or handlebars causing a crash. 

There would be no fatalities until 1921 when E.H. Helby would wreck his motorcycle. His two daughters who were sitting in the sidecar would survive, however. 

It's unknown who the spirit is and why they want to cause wrecks. Some suspect that it wasn't a spirit, but people unfamiliar with the area getting in accidents and knowing the legend and blaming it on that. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

ObscUrban Legends Wiki

Devils Trampling Ground

Photo by Opus2008

The Devil's Tramping Ground is a place that holds a mystery and a legend. It lies in a forest near the Harper's Crossroads area in Bear Creek, North Carolina two paths lead to what seems like a perfect circle where nothing grows. If anything is placed in the circle it is moved the next day. It's unknown who gave it its name. 

One Legend says that the Devil walks up one path leading to the circle and tramps around and around thinking of evil thoughts and plotting for evil. 

A Second legend is that before the white man came the Native Americans would meet for feasts here and would do celebrations and war dances there. This caused the ground to not grow anything.

A third legend is that two conflicting Native American tribes had a battle there. It's said the one Chief Croatan was killed and buried there. Its said that the great spirits keep mourning their fallen leader 

However, a scientific explanation is that the soil had been tested before and held high salt content. This could lead to nothing growing there even though people have tried before. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

The Orginal Devil's Tramping Ground

NCpedia

Urban Legends: Never open your door for the makcik keropok

Created in Imagine AI Art Generator

In Singapore, there is an urban legend that you don't open the door involving an elderly woman who would go door-to-door selling kerpok. She was known as Makciks Keropok and had a Pontianak as her assistant. Be careful opening your door because you may encounter her. You can tell it's not her if she doesn't greet you by saying "kum kum" *a shortened version of the Muslim greeting Assalamualaikum. She can not say it as she is unholy. She will release the Pontianak into the home.

If you open the door and buy her crackers she will release her assistant. The Pontianak is a vampire ghost. She will help the old woman gain her youth and beauty back by taking it from you.

SOURCES:
Honey Combers
Culture Trip

Urban Legends: 999 Phone Charging

Photo By Randy Lu

In 2012 rumor was spread around in the BlackBerry forums that if you call 999 it charges the battery. 999 is the emergency number in the United Kingdom. So those who believed it would make lots of false calls to law enforcement. It was so bad that in 2013 Derbyshire Constabulary had a press release telling the public that calling 999 doesn't charge your phone, but in fact wastes law enforcement time and help for those who need it. If there were calls with quick hangups or left in silence police would have to try to get in contact with the cell phone user to make sure there was no emergency. It was illegal for them to misuse the number. 

Whoever posted this in forums probably thought of it as a joke and likely didn't think people would be dumb enough to do it. 

SOURCES:

Urban Legendpedia

Wikipedia