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toyastales

Meyle & Mayer snake brooch, c. 1900, crafted from silver, enamel, and opal.

xanaxfarts

Tile flooring at the Oceanário de Lisboa, an aquarium in Lisbon, Portugal

1five1two

'Inferno Canto 34, Satan in the Frozen Lake'. Alberto Zardo. c. 1920.

clawmarks

Maud - Alfred Tennyson, Margaret Armstrong, ill. - 1905 - via Internet Archive

deathandmysticism

The Bab Ballads, 1898

toyastales

René Lalique Serpent Pectoral Pendant designed around 1899.

enchantedbook

Art by Shigeru Mizuki

ducissatenebrarum

In Greenlandic Inuit tradition, some objects were believed to carry forces far beyond their physical form.

Known as tupilaqs, these strange figures were associated with spirits, magic, and vengeance. Traditionally, they were said to be created from materials such as animal parts, bone, skin, and sometimes other remains, then brought to life through ritual power to harm an enemy.

The surviving tupilaqs seen today are usually later carvings made from materials like wood, ivory, or bone, especially from the late 1800s onward. These were often created as preserved artistic objects, but they still reflect an older spiritual world filled with fear, power, and unseen forces.

Their twisted shapes, hollow eyes, and unsettling forms were not meant to look beautiful in a simple way.

They were meant to look dangerous—like spirits caught between myth, magic, and memory.