Posts

Iku Turso

Image
  Iku Turso is a war god, a giant and a sea monster from Finnish Mythology. He is a character who I’ve occasionally heard referred to as the Finnish Cthulhu. He’s almost certainly a composite character, with similarly named gods and monsters being condensed into one character over time. He has many epithets. The name Iku Turso means the eternal giant. He’s also known as The Bearded One, The One Who Stands on the Brink, the Ox of Death, The Thousand Headed, The Thousand Horned. One of his alternate names, Meritursas, is today one of the Finnish names for the common octopus. Iku Turso is able to take on multiple forms, one being that of a giant dressed in warrior’s armour, another that of a sea monster. In sea monster form his appearance is variable and unclear. He’s described as having a slimy beard of tentacles, walrus tusks, and horns or antlers. However it’s unclear if this form is bestial or humanoid. Iku Turso was fathered by the god of old age. He burst out of his m...
1 comment
Read more

Kotobuki

Image
   The kotobuki was a chimeric beast from Japan which was made of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. It had the head of a rat, the ears of a rabbit, the beard of a ram, the comb of a rooster, the horns of a bull, the neck of a dragon, the mane of a horse, the back of a boar, the belly of a tiger, the front legs of a monkey, the back legs of a dog and the tail of a snake. It’s name in Japanese means congratulations or long life.  It was said that the kotobuki lived in India, which often features as a place of holiness or goodness in Japanese stories as it’s the homeland of Buddhism. The kotobuki was also said to be able to understand human speech. Other than these two facts there’s little else said about the kotobuki as a creature, no legends or stories about it. The kotobuki was seen more as a luck charm that would grant people luck based on its association with the zodiac. It became popular to carry small woodcuts with images of the kotobuki during the Edo period....
Post a Comment
Read more

Cetus

Image
   In ancient Greece cetus referred to sea monsters in general, as well as whales, as they didn’t see a difference between the two, and it was seen as the ocean equivalent of the draikon, or dragon. While cetus was thought of as a type of monster, rather than an individual, there are two myths about notable individual cetus, the Trojan cetus, which was killed by Heracles, and the Ethiopian cetus, which was killed by Perseus. There were two main ways the cetus was depicted. One was as a bulky sea beast with the head of a boar and the tail of a whale, sometimes with paws. Another was a more serpentine creature, with the head of a greyhound, and it’s long serpent tail ending in a whale fluke. Even though there are two major cetus myths, both appearances were equally associated with both myths interchangeably, rather than each being a specific monster. The Trojan Cetus was sent by Poseidon to torment King Laomedon. Laomedon had asked Poseidon to build the walls of Troy f...
1 comment
Read more

Hellidid

Image
  The hellidid is one of the fearsome critters of American folklore. Unlike most other fearsome critters, it’s found in the deserts of the south west. It is a chimeric monster with the head of an ant eater, the body of a zebra and four ostrich like legs, and a fluffy tail. The hellidid primarily ate fibrous plants, such as yuccas. It would use its long, serrated tongue to lick at the plants, scraping off the soft bits and leaving the fibre within the leaves behind. The hellidid was also extremely shy and would run off, allowing only quick glimpses of the creature. However, at night it would approach travellers sleeping out in the open and use its rough tongue to lick all the hair off their heads, leaving them shaved in the morning. Obviously the legend of the hellidid was part of a prank cowboys would play on greenhorns and people who overslept, shaving their heads, and blaming it on the hellidid. Sources https://www.deviantart.com/monstrumamericanum/art/Hellidi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cahokia Dragon

Image
  What follows is the least modern of the modern dragon sightings I’ve researched, although it’s far from the medieval era where dragons belong. On October 5 th of 1877 a farm boy named Johnny Smith witnessed an epic battle between one of his bulls, and reportedly, a real dragon. All of this happened outside Saint Louis, about seven miles away from the ruins of the ancient city of Cahokia. In the farming community surrounding Saint Louis the Smith family was well known for being honest. Lead by their father Jabez, he was a pillar of truthfulness and practicality, never giving into any form of exaggeration or flights of fancy, to the point where he was known as truthful Jabez. Under his strict discipline his sons followed suit. So when his son Johnny reported seeing a monster fight their bull, and came home with a badly injured bull, people believed him, no matter how fanciful the events sounded. Around 4pm that day Johnny Smith had been sent out to collect one of t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Misplaced Modern Dragons

Image
 While dragons vary greatly around the world they can generally be placed into to broad categories, the eastern and western dragons. You would expect that if dragons are being seen in modern times that each type of dragon would be witnessed in their respective regions, eastern dragons being seen in Asia and western dragons being seen in Europe and North America. So far this has held true with the cases I’ve showcased in this blog, with western style dragons and wyverns appearing in America. However I’ve found two incidents that go against this trend, where each kind of dragon is found far outside their respective lands. In 2001 cryptozoologist Karl Shuker received a report from a group of scientists from the British Naturalists Association. They were adamant about keeping their anonymity, as any admission of a paranormal event happening to them would be career ending. In March of that year this group of scientists had been out at a quarry in Powys, Wales. There they saw a cre...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Jersey Dragons

Image
Even in comparison to the states I’ve covered so far, New Jersey has a lot of dragon sightings. Unfortunately they’re not as widely published as the other states, with so far only Lon Strickler compiling them. Another thing to consider is New Jersey has a lot of other flying cryptids which dragons could be mistaken for, or those cryptids mistaken for dragons, beings like the Jersey devil, thunderbirds and pterosaurs. Still, some of the dragon sightings are compelling, and I’ve recounted some of the best one bellow.  In this first story, the year was not given, but Lon Strickler said it was recent. A couple was driving home in the early morning after visiting a friend’s house. It was around 1:30 to 2:00 am and took place in Saleme County NJ. The witness was the wife of the duo, and she was driving home because her husband had a few drinks that evening. She was driving along back country roads while passing through a wooded area. It was then a huge creature flew over the vehicle,...
Post a Comment
Read more