Belphegor

Belphegor

Region of origin: The Kingdom of Moab

One of the seven princes of Hell as described in de Plancy’s nineteenth-century Dictionnaire Infernal, Belphegor was said to represent the deadly sin of sloth. He did this through granting an individual who made a pact with him, often after appearing to them as a beautiful woman, some clever thought or invention that would result in them gaining great wealth from as little effort as possible, becoming lazy and degenerate as a result. The name Belphegor is derived from Ba’al-Pe’or, or “Lord of Mount Pe’or”, and he was believed to be the patron deity of the nearby Moabites. He became associated with debauchery and orgies, and, with one taken meaning of “Pe’or” being “opening”, flatulence and feces resulting in him often being depicted as sitting on a commode. In more modern tales, Belphegor was sent to earth by Satan to learn if marital love in fact existed, and while he never succeeded in confirming this he did become enamored with Paris during his travels.

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Pocong

Pocong

Region of origin: Indonesia

In Malay folklore, the pocong or hantu pocong, also known in some regions as a hantu bungkus (“wrapped ghost”) is an animated corpse still bound its kain kafan funeral shroud. Based on a belief the spirit continues to inhabit its body for forty days after death, after this period the shroud must be untied to allow the spirit to leave the body and move on to the afterlife; if the shroud remains the spirit may become restless and becomes a pocong. Due to its bound feet, the pocong ambulates by hopping, similar to a jianghshi, but is not particularly impeded, capable of taking leaps up to of 50 meters and moving as fast as a car. The pocong is not inherently aggressive, but it may attack anyone who attempts to impede it or start incessantly following someone. It is said the best way to deal with a pocong is to hug it, and use the chance to untie its bonds; the pocong will be grateful for being granted its freedom and grant good luck or wealth to its rescuer.

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Matagot

Matagot

Region of origin: Provence, France

The matagot or mandragot is a household spirit or familiar that can take on the form of various animals but is most associated with black cats. There are a flurry of regional variations regarding names,  methods of acquisitions and specific behaviors, but largely they are associated with luck and wealth, bringing coins each day to owners who keep them well fed. It was said they could be found one night a year (specifically believed to be the eve of the feast of St. John on June 23rd in the Béarn region), and could be lured to a crossroads with a plump hen, at which point you could capture it in a sack, though you must return to your home silently and without looking back. If provided for, the cat would leave in the night and fetch the money for its owner; believed to be demonic spirits or fae creatures they were able to slip between realms to reach otherwise inaccessible places. A well-kept matagot is a boon to a household, but when poorly-treated or otherwise injured or malnourished may turn on their masters, attacking them or causing them to be stricken with agonizing pain, and even the behaved ones are thought to come at the cost of your soul, associating owners with witchcraft and sorcerers. The story of Puss In Boots was thought to be inspired by matagots, and the mandrake root takes its name from “mandragot”, believing the figure-shaped plant has some relation to spirit’s magic or may be themselves some early stage of the creature’s growth.

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Hitotsume kozō

Hitotsume kozō

Region of origin: Japan

Yokai spirits who take on the appearance of small one-eyed children, often dressed as little buddhist monks. Like many yokai they are not overly malicious but delight in spooking humans. In some regions of eastern Japan, they are believed to be emissaries of the god of disease and misfortune, traveling from home to home on December 8th and recording the families’ bad deeds to bring back to their lord and determine how bad a person’s luck should be for the following year. Bamboo baskets or holly ivy were sometimes hung outside the home to ward off the hitotsume kozō and prevent them from recording that family’s information in their ledgers.

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Sigbin (updated)

Sigbin

Region of origin: The Philippines

A vampiric goat-like creature, the sigbin will hunt its prey at night and is said to be able to drink a person’s blood and life force through their shadow. Their diet is thought to also consist of yellow squash, coal and dead animals, the latter which may account for a distinct rank odor they produce. They are kept as pets by aswang, another demonic creature from Filipino folklore, and it is believed capturing one for yourself will result in good fortune; there are rumors some prominent businessmen may have sigbins in their possession.

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An updated version of this post

Pixiu

Pixiu

Region of origin: China

The pixiu is a hybrid creature renowned for its ferocity and capability of flying between the earth and the heavens. It was used to ward off evil spirits and disease and is primarily associated with hoarding and protecting wealth. It has various origins, but the elements they all seem to share is that after some transgression the beast (sometimes formerly a person) is cursed to eat only gold, silver and jewels and then has its anus sealed up to prevent it from expelling anything it consumes, allowing the wealth to accumulate. Depictions of the pixiu are often used in architecture and feng shui to help bring wealth and safety to a household, and are usually kept in pairs known as Tiān lù (the male, shown with one antler) and Bìxié (a female with two antlers).

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Grootslang (updated)

Grootslang

Region of origin: South Africa

In a rare instance of gods realizing they might have made a mistake, the violent, lapivorous Grootslang was deemed too much of a jerk to exist and was separated into two different animals, which resulted in the creation of snakes and elephants. One Grootslang escaped the gods’ wrath and has since propagated, and are said to be living in a cave where they have secreted away their horde of diamonds. They will be aggressive or possibly murderous towards people who encounter them but it’s believed they are willing to accept bribes of delicious gemstones to not kill those who stumble into their domain.

An updated version of this post

Gnole

Gnole

Region of origin: Surrey, England

First described in 1912 in Lord Dunsany’s Book of Wonder, insomuch as no physical description was provided, gnoles were strange aggressive creatures who occupied houses in desolate woods far away from human society where they hoarded gems, emeralds in particular. It was never made clear if the dwellings they inhabit were their own constructions, abandoned structures they came upon or acquired from a previous human homeowner through presumably nefarious means. It was known, however, that once a group of gnoles took up occupancy it was no longer safe for a human to venture onto the premises or the surrounding woods, where they hollowed out trees to use as observation posts. The gnoles would capture and horrifically torture anyone they caught before eating them. Margaret St. Clair expanded on Dunsany’s tale in her 1951 short story, The Man Who Sold Ropes To Gnoles and provided new details to their appearance, describing them as like a large, motile Jerusalem artichoke with multiple faceted eyes that they could remove and keep on a shelf. St. Clair’s gnoles were not without a capacity for communication and even hospitality, but are still driven by their baser instincts.

The gnoles would provide inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons race of gnolls, backwards engineered to be a compound of “gnome” and “troll,” but would go through multiple revisions before the game’s release where they became the humanoid hyena creatures they’re more commonly thought of as today.

Cat Sith

Cat Sìth

Region of origin: Scottish Highlands

A fairy creature taking the form of a large black cat with a white patch on its chest. They were said to steal the souls of mortals who had recently died before they could be properly interred and sent on to the afterlife, resulting in people employing methods of discouragement and distraction, such as catnip, riddles and music to dance to, to keep them from the body before the funeral. During Samhain, saucers of milk would be left on the doorstep for cat sìth, and in return they would bless the house, cursing homes and livestock of those who neglected an offering. An alternative telling, some folklore claimed the cat sìth weren’t fairies but witches that had assumed an animal form; they would be able to do so eight times before being trapped in the cat’s form on the ninth; this possibly serving as the origin to the belief that cats had nine lives.

Originally posted on Tumblr on October 7, 2016

Babi Ngepet

Babi Ngepet

Region of origin: Java, Indonesia

The result of a black magic spell to gain material wealth, the person casting the spell is possessed by a demon and cursed to take on the form of a large boar, the Babi Ngepet. While a boar, they will wander by or into nearby homes at night, magically collecting money and jewelry as they pass until they can return home and safely resume their human form. It is thought the concept likely shares some origins with cèlèngan, a Javanese term associated with piggy banks.

Originally posted on Tumblr on September 12, 2016