Rare Monsters

  The nachtkrapp is a boogeyman that haunts Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Poland. It’s name in German means night raven. The exact details of the legend vary quite a bit regionally. Sometimes it appears as a raven, or as a more human like undead being, or as a shadowy, shape shifting ghost. It also varies in size from huge, to human sized, to the size of an ordinary raven. The nachtkrapp is used as a cautionary tale to scare children into behaving. It’s said the nachtkrapp only comes out at night. If the nachtkrapp sees a child out at night it will carry the child off to its nest, rip the child apart limb from limb and eat its heart. Some tamer versions of the legend only have the Nachtkrapp putting children in a large bag it carries over its back and doesn’t say what’s done with them after that. The nachtkrapp has hollow skeletal eye sockets. If anyone looks into its empty eye holes they die instantly. Depending on the region the nachtkrapp is said to ha...

  The Alber is a demon or dragon from the legends of the Ziller Valley in Tyrol. It’s said to live on Teufelseck mountain, the mountain’s name meaning ‘devil’s corner’. At times the Alber would descend from the mountain, towards Ziller Valley as a giant fiery dragon, flying through a hole in the cliffs called the Bleiarzkar and down to the valley, spreading plagues, war and famine. It was thought the Alber was the devil himself in dragon form. Legend tells of two men from the village of Meran who witnessed the flight of the Alber and were lucky enough to survive such sights. One was the tailor Hanser, who was a wicked and dishonest man. He partook in every sort of sinful activity, lying, scamming, idleness and debauchery. The other was Loaserer Sepps, a good and honest villager. One night Hanser made a bet with his equally loathsome friends to steal cherries from the cherry tree in the yard of the Mission Cross of Algund. But Hanser was a coward and wouldn’t travel out there at nig...

  The straggeles are a group of Christmas demons from Switzerland, Austria and the alpine parts of Germany. They are the helpers of Frau Perchta, the crone of winter. She's a supernatural witch who's responsible for punishing the naughty during the holiday season. The straggeles are also known as the perchten, as they're Perchta's followers. Perchta is seen as a complex character, having both good and bad aspects. She's the upholder of cultural rules, and there for while she casts curses on people and sends her straggele demons out to torment them she does it for a purpose, to punish those people who ignore cultural traditions. Straggels look very similar to Krampus, the main difference being Krampus is an individual demon where as there are multiple straggeles. The exact number is never specified. Straggeles have a typically demonic face with a hooked nose, sharp chin, jagged teeth and glaring eyes. They have large goat horns on their heads, ranging in number from...