From the cannibalistic Wendigo of North American forests to the skinless sea demon of the Orkney Islands, the world’s folklore is filled with creatures that have terrified and fascinated people across centuries. This A-Z guide brings together the most iconic mythical creatures and monsters from cultures around the globe, each with the lore, origin and characteristics that made them legendary. Whether you are a mythology enthusiast, horror writer, game designer or simply curious about the monsters that live in the human imagination, this is your reference.
A–Z Index of Legendary Monsters and Supernatural Beings
| Name | Origin | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Abada | Central Africa | A small, elusive creature resembling a donkey with two crooked horns, each said to be a powerful antidote against poison. Anyone who drank from a cup made from its horn was believed to be immune to all toxins. |
| Adze | Ghana / Togo | A vampire-like spirit that takes the form of a firefly and feeds on the blood of sleeping children. When captured it transforms into a human and confesses its crimes before being put to death. |
| Ahuizotl | Aztec | A water-dwelling creature described in Aztec codices as resembling a dog with a hand on the end of its tail. It used that hand to drag humans into the water and drowned them before consuming their eyes, teeth and nails, which were considered the most prized parts. |
| Amarok | Inuit | A giant wolf of Inuit legend, far larger than any natural animal, that hunts and devours those foolish enough to hunt alone at night. Unlike natural wolves, the Amarok is a solitary predator that cannot be reasoned with or appeased. |
| Aswang | Philippines | One of the most feared creatures in Philippine folklore, the Aswang is a shape-shifting monster that takes the form of an ordinary person by day. By night it transforms into a predator that targets unborn children and the recently dead, capable of turning into a dog, bird or other animal to approach its victims undetected. |
| Banshee | Ireland | A female spirit from Irish folklore whose wailing cry is an omen of imminent death, typically for a member of one of the ancient Irish families. She is not a cause of death but a messenger, sometimes seen as a mourning woman combing her long hair or washing funeral shrouds in a stream. |
| Basilisk | Europe (Medieval) | Described by Pliny the Elder and later medieval writers as the king of serpents, a creature so venomous that it could kill with its gaze, breath or touch. The only reliable defense was a mirror, which would reflect the basilisk’s deadly gaze back on itself. |
| Bigfoot | North America | A large bipedal humanoid said to inhabit the forests of North America, particularly the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of sightings have been reported since the 19th century and large footprints have been found in remote wilderness, though no physical specimen has ever been confirmed by science. |
| Bonnacon | Europe (Medieval) | A bull-like beast from medieval European bestiaries with horns so curved inward that they were useless for defense. To compensate, the Bonnacon would flee pursuers while expelling a stream of caustic dung that could cover several acres and set vegetation on fire. |
| Bunyip | Australia | A creature from Aboriginal Australian traditions said to lurk in swamps, creeks and waterholes. Described variously as having a dog-like face, a horse’s tail or dark fur, it was said to devour anyone who approached its water. European settlers in the 19th century reported strange sounds and tracks that they attributed to the Bunyip. |
| Camazotz | Maya | A bat deity from Maya mythology, whose name means “death bat” in Kʼicheʼ Mayan. He appears in the Popol Vuh as the lord of the bat house, one of the deadly trials the Hero Twins must survive in the underworld Xibalba, and is associated with night, sacrifice and the underworld. |
| Capelobo | Brazil | A forest monster from Brazilian folklore described as having the body of a large mammal and the head of an anteater or tapir, with no mouth opening large enough to eat. It was said to suck the brains from its victims through a small hole in their skull and was particularly feared by hunters who went into the forest alone. |
| Carbuncle | Chile / South America | A mysterious creature from South American legend known primarily for the brilliant gemstone or glowing jewel embedded in its forehead. Hunters who sought it for the gem were said to be led in circles or driven mad, and no one who pursued it ever succeeded in capturing it. |
| Chupacabra | Latin America | A cryptid that emerged in Puerto Rican folklore in 1995 following a series of livestock deaths with unusual puncture wounds and drained blood. The name means “goat-sucker” and the creature was described as reptilian with spines along its back, though later North American sightings described something more like a hairless dog or coyote. |
| Dullahan | Ireland | The headless horseman of Irish folklore, a fairy rider who carries his own severed head under his arm and rides a black horse. Where the Dullahan stops and calls a name, that person dies immediately. It cannot be stopped or bribed and the only thing that drives it away is gold. |
| Encantado | Brazil / Amazon | A shapeshifter from Amazonian folklore that spends most of its time as a pink river dolphin but transforms into a beautiful, irresistibly attractive human at night. Encantados are said to appear at festivals, seduce people and then drag them into the water to live in their enchanted underwater realm. |
| Grootslang | South Africa | A primordial beast from South African legend said to be one of the first creatures made by the gods, combining the strength of an elephant with the cunning of a serpent. When the gods realized their mistake they separated the two animals, but a few of the originals escaped into a vast underground cave where they guard a hoard of diamonds. |
| Impundulu | South Africa | A lightning bird from Zulu and Xhosa folklore that strikes the earth with lightning wherever it lands and feeds on blood. It is strongly associated with witchcraft and is said to be passed down as a familiar from one female witch to her heir, causing illness and misfortune to the enemies of whoever possesses it. |
| Jiangshi | China | A reanimated corpse from Chinese folklore that hops stiffly with arms outstretched and drains the life energy from living beings. Unlike Western vampires, the Jiangshi cannot breathe, which means it tracks victims by sensing their breath, so those who encounter one must hold their breath entirely to survive. |
| Kappa | Japan | A water-dwelling yokai from Japanese folklore, roughly the size of a child, with a tortoise shell on its back and a water-filled dish on top of its head. Kappa were said to drag people into water to drown them and steal the shirikodama, a mythical organ believed to contain the soul, located inside the body. Bowing to a Kappa causes it to bow back, spilling the water from its head and temporarily disabling it. |
| Karkinos | Greece | The giant crab of Greek mythology, sent by Hera to distract Heracles during his battle with the Lernaean Hydra. Heracles crushed it underfoot but Hera, honoring its service, placed it in the sky as the constellation Cancer. |
| Keelut | Inuit | A hairless black dog spirit from Inuit tradition that appears as a harbinger of death. Seeing one following you was understood as a sign that your death was imminent, and the creature would trail a person silently until the end came. |
| Khepri | Ancient Egypt | A solar deity depicted with the head of a scarab beetle, representing the rising morning sun and the concept of rebirth and self-creation. The Egyptians observed that scarab beetles appeared to emerge from the ground spontaneously, connecting them with creation and the daily resurrection of the sun. |
| Kumiho | Korea | A nine-tailed fox from Korean folklore that has lived for a thousand years and acquired powerful supernatural abilities. Unlike the more ambiguous Japanese kitsune, the Korean Kumiho is typically malevolent, disguising itself as a beautiful woman to seduce and devour men, particularly targeting their livers and hearts. |
| La Llorona | Mexico | The spirit of a weeping woman from Mexican and Latin American folklore, said to be the ghost of a woman who drowned her own children and now wanders rivers and lakes crying for them through eternity. Parents warn children to stay away from water at night, where her wailing can be heard calling them toward the depths. |
| Manananggal | Philippines | One of the most disturbing creatures in Philippine folklore, a woman who can sever her own upper torso from her legs and fly through the night on bat wings. She uses a long proboscis tongue to feed on fetuses through the walls of houses where pregnant women sleep. The only way to destroy her is to find her lower half while she is away and pour salt or garlic on it so she cannot reattach. |
| Mothman | USA | A winged humanoid creature reportedly seen in Point Pleasant, West Virginia between 1966 and 1967, shortly before the Silver Bridge collapsed killing 46 people. Witnesses described a large humanoid with glowing red eyes and enormous wings. Whether warning or coincidence, the Mothman has become one of the most documented cryptid cases in American history. |
| Nachzehrer | Germany | A German vampiric creature distinct from other European vampires in that it first devours itself inside its own coffin before moving on to drain the life force of living relatives. The sound of a church bell rung by a Nachzehrer was said to kill everyone who heard it. |
| Nuckelavee | Scotland (Orkney) | Described by British folklorist Katharine Briggs as “the nastiest” of all the demons of Scotland’s Northern Isles, the Nuckelavee is a sea demon that resembles a horse with a human torso fused to its back, both completely without skin. Black blood runs visibly through yellow veins and its breath is so toxic it withers crops and spreads plague across entire islands. Its only weakness is fresh water, which it refuses to cross. |
| Oni | Japan | Fearsome horned demons from Japanese folklore, typically depicted as enormous humanoids with red or blue skin, wild hair and carrying iron clubs. They serve as enforcers of divine punishment and appear in Buddhist tradition as tormentors of the souls of the wicked in the underworld, though regional folk traditions also describe them as protective forces that can be appeased. |
| Pabilsag | Babylonian | A centaur-like deity from Babylonian mythology with the body of a centaur, the wings of an eagle and a scorpion’s tail. He was identified with the constellation Sagittarius and was considered a protective warrior deity in some traditions. |
| Pontianak | Malaysia / Indonesia | The ghost of a woman who died in childbirth, one of the most feared supernatural entities in Malay folklore. She appears as a beautiful woman in white but reveals herself through a sweet, rotting smell and can be identified by the hole at the back of her neck. Driving a nail into that hole traps her and she becomes a benevolent spirit. |
| Rakshasa | India | Powerful supernatural beings from Hindu, Buddhist and Jain mythology who are associated with chaos, deception and devouring humans. They are shape-shifters capable of taking any form and are said to be most active at night. The demon king Ravana, antagonist of the Ramayana, is the most famous Rakshasa in Hindu tradition. |
| Scorpion Man | Babylonian | Guardians from Babylonian mythology described in the Epic of Gilgamesh, with human heads and upper bodies but the lower body and tail of a scorpion. They guarded the entrance to the mountains where the sun rises and set and were among the most powerful divine beings in the Babylonian cosmological order. |
| Selket | Ancient Egypt | A goddess of ancient Egypt depicted with a scorpion on her head, associated with healing, protection against venomous creatures and the protection of the dead. She was one of the four goddesses who guarded the canopic jars in royal tombs alongside Isis, Nephthys and Neith. |
| Skinwalker | Navajo (USA) | In Navajo tradition, a skinwalker is a person who has achieved powerful dark magic by violating a sacred cultural taboo and gained the ability to transform into any animal. They are considered among the most dangerous and feared beings in Navajo belief and discussing them openly is itself considered dangerous. This is a living spiritual tradition and should be treated with respect rather than treated purely as entertainment. |
| Strigoi | Romania | The most direct ancestor of the modern vampire myth, the Strigoi in Romanian tradition is the restless soul of a person who died under specific circumstances, such as dying unbaptized, committing suicide or living a wicked life. It returns from the grave to drain blood and life force from family members first, then strangers. |
| Thunderbird | North America (Indigenous) | A vast supernatural bird appearing in the traditions of many Indigenous peoples of North America, particularly those of the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains. Its wings create thunder when they beat and its eyes flash lightning. In many traditions it is not simply a monster but a powerful spiritual being that battles sea serpents to maintain the balance between sky and water. This is a living spiritual tradition and should be treated with respect. |
| Tikbalang | Philippines | A trickster creature from Philippine folklore with the body of a human and the head and hooves of a horse, said to lead travelers off the path so they become hopelessly lost in the forest. Wearing your shirt inside out is said to break the spell, and the Tikbalang can also be tamed by pulling out one of the long hairs from its mane. |
| Tiyanak | Philippines | A demonic creature from Philippine folklore that takes the form of a baby or young child, using its cries to lure people into the wilderness before attacking. It is most commonly said to be the spirit of an aborted or unbaptized child. |
| Vetala | India | A powerful supernatural being from Hindu and Buddhist tradition that inhabits corpses and haunts cremation grounds. In the Baital Pachisi, a collection of Sanskrit stories, a Vetala hangs upside down from a tree and poses philosophical riddles to King Vikramaditya, killing and returning to its tree each time the king speaks. |
| Wendigo | Algonquian (North America) | A malevolent spirit from the traditions of the Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Great Lakes and northern forests, associated with winter, famine and the taboo of cannibalism. A person who ate human flesh to survive starvation risked being possessed by or transforming into a Wendigo: an insatiable predator that grows larger with each victim it consumes and can never be satisfied. This is a living spiritual tradition and should be treated with respect. |
| Yeti | Nepal / Himalayas | Known as the Abominable Snowman in Western accounts, the Yeti is a large ape-like creature said to inhabit the high Himalayan mountains and has been part of the folklore of Sherpa and other Himalayan peoples for centuries. Expeditions have reported large footprints in the snow and strange sounds, though no confirmed specimen exists. |
| Zaratan | Arabic / Mediterranean | A creature from medieval Arabic seafaring lore, a sea turtle so massive that sailors would mistake its back for an island, anchor their ships to it and make camp. When the sailors lit fires to cook, the warmth would rouse the creature, which would dive into the sea and take the ships down with it. |
