Rare Monsters

  The xiezhi was said to be a single horned ram, with black fur and burning eyes. Although in artistic depictions it more often looks like a cross between a qilin and a lion, always with a single horn or antler. The xiezhi is an ideally just beast and can intrinsically distinguish between the just and unjust people in the world. It is a highly intelligent beast and can understand all human languages. The xiezhi will hunt down evil doers and stab them with its single horn and devour them. It was believed that the legendary emperor Shun had a captive xiezhi, who would preside over court hearings and ram the guilty party. The censorate of the Ming and Qing periods wore xiezhi badges as a sign of their office. Among common people the image of the xiezhi was believed to ward off evil and protect them from crime. Similar creatures could be found in other parts of Asia. In Japan it was known as the sinyou and in Korea it was known as the haetae.  

  Back in my introductory post I said I would cover cryptids too, and I've yet to do that. So it's about time I covered something on the forteans side of things. On July 2 nd , 1954 Candian Italian miner, Ennio La Sarza witnessed a strange object in the sky outside Garson Ontario, a small nickel mining town near Sudbury. The incident happened at 5 pm that day, and in the northern latitude of Garson days last long into the evening, so there was still ample daylight at 5 pm. Shortly after the object appeared it hurtled town towards the ground, faster than any jet, La Sarza reported. Yet before it crashed into the ground it slowed down, deployed its landing gear and landed gently. La Sarza described the space craft as being roughly spherical in shape, 25 feet in diameter and having a circle of port hole windows encircling it's middle. Once the space craft had landed a door opened up and lowered down like a ramp. Three creatures emerged. Although only one of them approached ...

  The al-miraj is one of those monsters who's on the edge of being well known. More and more people have heard of it as of recently, but few people know anything about it other than being the 'unicorn bunny'. The al miraj comes from the Arabic translations of the tale of Alexander the Great. In this account Alexander travels to Jazirat Al-Tinnin, or Sea Serpent Island. There the locals are being tormented by a serpent like dragon who is devouring their livestock. Alexander defeated the dragon by filling a cow hide with poisonous substances. The dragon subsequently swallowed the decoy and was killed. For his efforts the islanders gave Alexander the al miraj as a gift. The al-miraj is always depicted as a horned rabbit or hare that's golden yellow in color. It tends to vary more in image then it does in written description. Occasionally the al miraj is drawn with leopard spots, or a gazelle stripe, while other times it's left plain. The texts always describe the al...

  In traditional Chinese folklore there are five dragon kings associated with each direction. There's Qinglong, the azure dragon of the east and of spring. Chilong, the red dragon of the south and of summer Bailong, the white dragon of the west and of autumn Heilong, the black dragon of the north and of winter And Huanglong, the yellow imperial dragon of the center and of late summer These directional associations exist in addition to the four beasts of the directions, the vermilion bird of the south, the white tiger of the west, the black turtle of the north and the azure dragon of the east, where Qinglong makes it into both groups. Already in early history there existed folk religion incantations to five seasonal dragons for rainmaking rituals. Although there were many different dragon king associated with smaller regional areas rather than one codified group of dragon kings. Later, Confucius texts associated each season with directions and colors, further codifying ...