The draug of Norse folklore is, perhaps, one of the most intractable monsters in the whole history of folklore. This creature has superhuman strength and reeks with the stench of the decay. He can rise from the grave as a wisp of smoke and transform into a:
Seal
Flayed bull
Gray horse without ears or a tail and a broken spine
Cat
Not only can the draug transform, he can also super-size and crush his victim. A special twist to the powers of the draug is that he is invisible to everyone except his future victims. So if you see him, you’re in big trouble.
If all this wasn’t enough, the draug can also drive animals mad, change the weather, and see the future. And he has the ability to enter the dream world and destroy his victims from inside their heads.
The draug kills his victims by crushing them when he is in his super-sized form. This is especially effective when he assumes the shape of a cat. As a cat he sits on the chest of the sleeping victim and grows heavier until the victim suffocates. Killing a draug is a complicated process. A hero who is pure of heart must wrestle the creature with his bare hands. When the draug is down, the hero must decapitate him with the draug’s own weapon. Once decapitated, a wooden stake goes through the heart then the whole thing body and head must be burned until nothing is left but ash. If any of these steps aren’t followed exactly the draug comes back to life.
In order to avoid the creation of the troublesome draug in the first place, the Norse bury the dead with a pair of open iron scissors on their chest. (hmmm) Straws or twigs are hidden in their clothes and the big toes are tied together. As an added precaution needles are driven through the soles of the feet to keep the dead from being able to walk.
Once the body is prepared, the coffin is lifted and lowered in three different directions to confuse the draug’s sense of direction.
A special corpse door is built in the tomb. As the body is carried in (feet first) the mourners gather around the door so the corpse won’t know where he’s going. The door is then bricked up for safety.
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No one has won the “Guess Kate’s Background Contest.” You can find out all about it here
What’s worse than having a birthday during the Christmas holidays? If you live in Greece and your birthday falls between Christmas and New Year’s Day you are ‘feast-blasted’ which is a fancy word for predestined to become a vampire. A callicantzaros is a Greek vampire who tears his victims apart with long fingernails. He can only indulge in his vampire ways during the twelve days of Christmas. Children born during this time are looked upon with fear because they are likely to become creatures who roam the darkness and plague other children unfortunate enough to be born at Christmastime. When American Christmas babies complain that one gift has to do double duty because their birthday is too close to Christmas, make sure to remind them that the consequences of such an untimely birth could be far worse.
According to Romanian folklore the Earth is a disc. Humans live on one side and the other side is a mirror image of our world populated by the Blajini. The Blajini (gentle ones) are small creatures with heads like rats who don’t understand the ways of human beings. They live peacefully in paradise on the other side of the disc. They once lived alongside humans but somehow when Moses parted the Red Sea they ended up on the wrong side of the returning water.
Throughout the year, the Blajini fast, which frees up resources for humans. Each Spring, to thank the Blajini, Romanians throw red Easter egg shells into streams. The egg shells are carried on the current through the Apa Sambetei (World Ocean) to the river along which the Blajini’s live. When the Blajini see the red egg shells they know it’s time for their annual feast.
The coyote, in Native American folklore, is a cunning shape-shifter who brings fire to humans. He also brings floods. The Trickster Coyote is often duped, but he laughs at his mistakes and teaches humans to do the same.
The audio on this post was recorded in the Sunland Tujunga section of Los Angeles. (Are these sounds reasonable to expect in the 2nd largest city in the US?) It seems a pack of tricksters are camping out across the street and laughing with much enthusiasm at their mistakes.
In southern Togo and Ghana the Ewe people fear a vampire that takes the shape of a firefly. The Adze enters a home through a keyhole while the inhabitants are sleeping. It prefers the blood of children especially infants. The Adze will also drink palm oil or coconut milk if it can’t find a supply of innocent blood. Sometimes an Adze will deplete a village’s entire supply of oil while it waits for a child to become available.
Although tiny, the Adze inflicts a great deal of damage. It often kills children by draining them completely of blood. It also carries disease that can infect the entire family.In firefly form the Adze is indestructible. No magic or net or insecticide can keep the Adze away from its victims. If captured, the Adze reverts to its human form. This is the only time in can be destroyed. The Adze, however, is remarkably agile and they are not often captured.
In Hindu folklore, the vetala is an evil spirit who haunts cemeteries and takes demonic possession of corpses. They can drive people mad, kill children, and cause miscarriages. Even though they are primarily evil they also do some good. They fiercely guard their villages.
Trolls are creatures that live in woods or underground caves. Their bodies are similar to humans except some have tails. Male trolls appear hideous to humans. They have broad features, large noses, and oversized teeth. The beauty of the female troll, however, outshines her human counterpart. Females occasionally lure human men away from their homes and keep them as pets.
Like humans, trolls keep livestock, cook, clean and throw parties. They enjoy arts and crafts, and are especially good at amassing wealth. When not enjoying these pass times, they like to cause mischief and steal from humans. Trolls have shape shifting abilities that make their pranks possible. They take the form of objects like fallen logs or balls of yarn so they can get close without being seen.
Although troll’s shenanigans are usually harmless pranks like eating off of someones plate when he’s not looking, they can turn mean when they’re crossed. When angry, trolls might steal all the cattle or crops and leave the humans to starve. Or they might abduct humans and make them work as slaves. In Scandanavia troll abducted people are called ‘bergtagna’ once they return home. The bergtagna never recover from their ordeal and spend the rest of their lives insane or apathetic.
Occasionally, trolls steal new-born babies and leave their own offspring in their place. Years later they return to reclaim the ‘changling’ and demand huge sums of money as payment. Many parents, when faced with an obvious changeling prevent future problems by roasting the hideous troll baby in the fire.
Some good things to know if you are ever confronted by a troll:
The ubour is a Bulgarian vampire who unlike many of his Hollywood counterparts has some disgusting habits. The ubour has only one nostril and a long, tongue with a barb on the end. In his native Bulgaria he is blamed for freeing cattle and throwing household items. The ubour also has a mean streak. He chokes the living in their sleep and smears dung on everything. He’s been known to eat regular food, but manure is his favorite. The ubour only drinks blood when no other nourishment is available.
Although it seems strange to us today, in the 18th Century, no one in the West had heard of vampires. Their discovery led to a tremendous uproar in Europe. Early in the century Austria annexed Serbia and much of what is now Bosnia. The people in this foreign land spoke with unusual accents. They had odd customs and strange looking clothes. But strangest of all was their stories. The inhabitants of this mysterious land told tales of corpses that rose from their graves and fed on the living. They told of eating dirt from the vampire’s grave and smearing themselves with its blood to prevent becoming vampires themselves. To European ears this sounded grim, gruesome, and horrific. So of course stories of vampires became all the rage.
In life Arnold Paole was not a remarkable man. He lived along the Turkish border. By the Spring of 1727 he had finished his military service and returned home to his family farm. He worked as a farmer until he fell to his death from a hay wagon. In life Arnold didn’t attract much attention, but in death he became a celebrity of monumental proportions. Arnold Paole was the very first vampire recognized as such by European authorities.
Shortly after Arnold was buried his neighbors began to complain that he visited them in their homes late at night. No information remains about what Arnold did on his nocturnal visits but within a few days the neighbors were dead. These victims too rose up and began to annoy their neighbors. In no time at all, the village was overrun with the undead. The situation grew so dire that the remaining villagers summoned the Austrian authorities.
Five years later the Austrian’s sent Johannes Fluckinger to investigate. He sampled the graveyard dirt, and poked around in the graveyard in search of signs of undead activity. Finally, prodded by the hysterical encouragement of the terrified townspeople, he disinterred the suspected vampires. His findings shocked the world.
Fluckinger with the help of a team of investigators and a a pair Austrian medical examiners opened the coffins of suspected vampires. The first suspected vampire was a woman named of Stana who died in childbirth. She had been buried for two months. Fluckinger found her body complete and undecayed. In his report he claimed – there was found in the cavitate pectoris a quantity of fresh extravascular blood. The vessels of the arteries and veins, like the ventriculis ortis, were not, as is usual, filled with coagulated blood, and the whole viscera, that is, the lung, liver, stomach, spleen, and intestines were quite fresh as they would be in a healthy person. The uterus was however quite enlarged and very inflamed externally, for the placenta and lochia had remained in place, wherefore the same was in complete putredine. The skin on her hands and feet, along with the old nails, fell away on their own, but on the other hand completely new nails were evident, along with a fresh and vivid skin.
The investigators made a similar find when opening the coffin of the 60 year old woman Miliza who had been dead 3 months. The found fresh blood in her chest cavity. Her other viscera were, like Stana before her, in a good condition. During her dissection, all the locals who were standing around marveled at her plump and perfect body. They said that in life she had been thin and dried up but now… she was a corpse hottie?
In opening coffin after coffin the investigators found similar circumstances – fresh blood – plump bodies – nice skin – new fingernails. Vampires every one. The proof was irrefutable. With the blessing of the Austrian government the local authorities hired gypsies to cut off the vampire’s heads and burn their bodies. They then threw the vampire ashes into the Morava river.
Arnold Paole the instigator of all the vampire trouble received extra special treatment. When his coffin was opened investigators found that he was complete and undecayed. Not only did fresh blood flow from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, but his shirt, the fabric he lay on, and the inside of the coffin itself were covered in blood. No doubt – here lay a vampire. Locals drove a stake through Arnold’s heart. At this he groaned and bled copiously, Once their heart rate slowed to a normal tempo the townspeople burned his body and buried his ashes.
The story of Arnold Paole and his minions spread quickly. Before long outbreaks of vampirism cropped up all over Eastern Europe. At every turn a revenant was rising from the dead and creating turmoil. The outbreaks grew to unmanageable proportions. Hoards of vampire slayer roamed the countryside overturning coffins and staking the undead.
The practice of killing vampires became so widespread and disruptive that Empress Maria Theresa of Austria became personally involved. She sent her royal physician to investigate the claims of vampiric activity. In spite of a great deal of evidence to the contrary the doctor concluded that vampires did not exist. Empress Marie Theresa forbade the opening of graves and desecrating of bodies. This proclamation effectively ended the vampire epidemic in Europe. And from the middle of the 18th Century onward vampires have been able to roam the countryside freely no longer impeded by pesky vampire hunters.
According to Malaysian folklore a women who dies in childbirth is in danger of becoming Pontianak. (Pontianak means child-bearing ghost). The Pontianak haunts graveyards or old trees. She lures her victims by crying like a baby. At first she appears as a beautiful woman or a lost child, but once her victims are close she transforms into an ugly crone with fangs. Sometimes only her head appears, with entrails dangling from her neck.
The Pontianak is one of the most violent spirits in folklore. Motivated by jealousy, she tears her victims apart with her sharp claws and devours their entrails. Her favorite prey is pregnant women or babies but she occasionally takes her revenge out on men. When attacking men she rips out their sex organs with her hands before slashing them open.
The spirit announces her presence with a cloud of fragrance from the kemboja flower followed by the stench of the grave. She can be tricky though. If her cry is loud she is far away, but if it’s soft she is close by. Pontianak locate their prey by sniffing laundry left outside to dry. Some Malaysians refuse to leave clothing outside.
A sharp nail helps to fend off Pontianak attacks. When a nail is plunged into the back of a Pontianak’s neck, she turn into a beautiful woman. She stays this way until the nail is pulled out.
With the Pontianak prevention is often the best medicine. When a woman dies in childbirth some Malaysians believe in taking precautionary measures to prevent her from turning. Glass beads are placed in the corpse’s mouth to prevent shrieking. Eggs are placed under her armpits and needles in her palms to prevent her from flying.
Should you ever find yourself faced with a Pontianak and all else fails, try reciting this charm.
“O Pontianak the Stillborn,
May you be struck dead by the soil from the grave-mound.
Thus cut the bamboo-joints,
the long and the short,
To cook therein the liver of the Jin Pontianak.
By the grace of ‘There is no god but God,
…etc.
note: I find the etc. at the end of the charm a little troubling and can’t guarantee it’s effectiveness.
Although it seems strange to us today, in the 18th Century, no one in the West had heard of vampires. Their discovery led to a tremendous uproar in Europe. Early in the century Austria annexed Serbia and much of what is now Bosnia. The people in this foreign land spoke with unusual accents. They had odd customs and strange looking clothes. But strangest of all was their stories. The inhabitants of this mysterious land told tales of corpses that rose from their graves and fed on the living. They told of eating dirt from the vampire’s grave and smearing themselves with its blood to prevent becoming vampires themselves. To European ears this sounded grim, gruesome, and horrific. So of course stories of vampires became all the rage. 
According to Malaysian folklore a women who dies in childbirth is in danger of becoming Pontianak. (Pontianak means child-bearing ghost). The Pontianak haunts graveyards or old trees. She lures her victims by crying like a baby. At first she appears as a beautiful woman or a lost child, but once her victims are close she transforms into an ugly crone with fangs. Sometimes only her head appears, with entrails dangling from her neck.
