BestiarypediaThe bestiary of every mythology
Curated catalog of supernatural beings in 10 languages. Mythology, demonology, cryptozoology and folklore documented with relationships, taxonomies and sources.
Emperor Jiangshi
The highest grade of the Chinese reanimated corpse
A jiangshi of imperial rank: it keeps its will, drags lesser corpses along and resists common seals.
Hopping Jiangshi
The classic form of the jiangshi, the hopping corpse
Chinese corpse that advances in hops, drains qi through the breath and is frozen by a Taoist talisman.
Yamauba
Yamauba, man-eating crone of the Japanese mountains
Supernatural mountain crone: she offers the traveller shelter and hot food, and by night devours him.
Kosodate-yลซrei
Kosodate-yลซrei, the ghost who bought candy
A mother dead in childbirth who buys candy each night for the child born in her grave.
Manananggal
Manananggal Segmented Flying Torso
Village woman who at dusk separates at the waist, flies with bat wings and sucks fetuses from pregnant women with a proboscis tongue.
Pontianak
Pontianak, the woman dead in childbirth who named a city
Ghost of the woman dead in childbirth, a huge bird with a discordant cry that preys on men.
Langsuir
Langsuir, the owl vampire of Malay folklore
Woman dead in childbirth who returns as a long-clawed owl, with a hole in the back of her neck.
Tamamo no Mae
Tamamo no Mae, the kitsune of Toba's court
Nine-tailed vixen who sickened Emperor Toba and, killed at Nasu, became the stone that kills.
Oni
Oni, the Japanese demonic ogre of superhuman strength who punishes the wicked
The oni is a Japanese yokai ogre with colored skin, horns, and superhuman strength that terrorizes and punishes the wicked.
Karasu-tengu
The crow-headed tengu
The lesser tengu of Japan's mountains: beak, wings and claws, and the abduction that explained disappearances.
Oiwa
Oiwa, the ghost of the Yotsuya Kaidan
The most staged ghost in Japan: poisoned by her husband, she returns with half her face undone.
Penanggalan
Penanggalan, the Malay vampire of floating head and glowing entrails
The penanggalan is a Malay female vampire that detaches as a floating head with glowing entrails to hunt blood at night.
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