Air rods, also called “flying rods” and “sky fish,” are something like crop circles in that even the skeptics admit they exist. To believers in the cryptozoology-based theory of air rods, air rods are probably living creatures, and they are possibly related to older stories of atmospheric beasts. To skeptics, air rods are bits of flying debris, insects or birds filmed under unusual conditions, or blips on film that are due to errors in film processing.
Air rods do look as if they vibrate at a high rate, lending them a blurry character, but this phenomenon is like that of quickly rotating blades in a fan. As the blades speed up, they become a blur and then gradually become almost transparent, but you can still see them. It might be possible for air rods to be nearly invisible if they are made of a small number of thin, transparent surfaces that vibrate or beat the air very quickly. If this is what air rods are made of, they are probably insects of some kind. They would be a new species since nobody has ever reported invisible insects before. Source.
LaLaurie Mansion: Unveiling the Horrors and Hauntings of New Orleans' Most Infamous House
LaLaurie Mansion, a stately residence nestled in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, is more than just a historical landmark. It’s a place steeped in darkness, where the echoes of unspeakable cruelty and the whispers of restless spirits linger within its walls. Indeed, LaLaurie Mansion, once home to the infamous Madame Delphine LaLaurie, stands as a chilling reminder of the city’s dark past…
Mari lwyd of south wales, the hodening of south england, and the old horse of north england are three seperate instances of a character with a horse skull for a face and a hood appearing. All regional to europe and all appearing around the 18th century.
I've been waiting all month to share some of the creepier things that stalk Azil's mythos. It's a long post, but I hope you enjoy this delve into urban legends and horror icons!
Nohks
Many cultures have a habit of manifesting a fear of the dark and night as something less than human but just enough to still be unsettling. Night on Azil is always full of predators and animals that thrive in the dark, often the scavengers and things that eat what’s left unattended. The dangers of night are already many, but comfort is found in the safety of the home and city where those things aren’t supposed to tread. It suffices to say that if something did, it would be horrifying.
“Nohktals”, “Nohks” or “Nightkin” is a collective term for miscellaneous, uncategorized things that appear at night to cause mischief and mayhem similar to how “fae” is a broad term covering many unique things sharing certain features or origins. In this vein, nohks are those that bend the perceived rule that night creatures avoid light, the home and city borders, belonging to the dark and wild that humans try to avoid where even robots aren’t safe as certain things consume ether just as readily as they do meat. Generally these animals are documented, studied and provably real, and tend to avoid the light of cities thus buildings are safe from them. “Nohk” is an onomatopoeia name for the sound of knocking, which is a staple behavior of nohks in their mythology.
Nohks somewhat ignore this “rule” and appear in or pursue one beyond the understood bounds of light and dark. Appearing at night and believed to be the souls of those who died in the wild, left unburied or upset, they return to enact revenge, express envy, or even hunt, preying on fear and flesh alike. They are quite popular in horror media due to their variety, fulfilling roles similar to demons, supernatural slashers, vengeful spirits, poltergeists and overwhelming danger borderlining on cosmic horror. It’s believed they always appear at night and if the animals don’t get you, the nohks will, as they are unafraid of approaching a home and even entering one if the lights are out to steal and cause trouble. While still weak to light itself and driven off by certain things (prayer, ritual, light, etc), their willingness to breach the line of civilization, possibly due to having been human once, is a very real fear.
Most nohk remain outside, making themselves a nuisance and warning against leaving at night, however those bearing significant grudges or certain varieties from myth are able to take it a step further by entering the home or attaching to an individual. Rare as these are, they are popular in media and have lent to the widespread worship of light and the aurora in some regions whom believe it protects them from nohk influence not dissimilar to divine protection on earth. Nohk problems left unattended can escalate from mild nuisance to the “entering the home” variety over a matter of weeks, thus blessings and cleansings are common in some places. Nohk retreat or die when day returns if they have not possessed a house or person; if they have they will fall dormant until the next night wherein they will resume their activity. At this stage, full “exorcisms” are necessary.
Nohks are categorized as immoral/evil, dark, night dwelling, intangible beings that sleep during the day, are weak to light, and prey on human emotions. Some categorize veshura as a type of nohk because of these criteria, others debate that veshura are not evil or ill-intended enough to be a nohk, as nohks are almost exclusively considered “evil”. Scholars use it to simply categorize loosely related folklore creatures by shared traits regardless of moral perception.
The movie series “Nohk Nohk” is very popular franchise that explores the variations of nohk through horror, however the fan space has split opinions on the era-2 series that went the route of “simple, straightforward horror” rather than use the subtext and artful variation of the era-1 movies that made them popular. A change of director is blame for this quality drop, however the original writer and a new, third director are promising a return to form in era-3. There are currently 7 movies in the series, the original trilogy (era-1), the new quadrilogy (era-2), and the 8th being the start of the “reborn” series. Fans are hesitantly hopeful.
The Lightless
An unusual kind of creature that stems from Arribak and Outland mythology that borders on an urban legend, whispered through the Runner’s Guild as travelers share accounts of witnessing empty shells and mangled endos walking around in various states of disrepair. A number of varieties have been documented by folklorists that have one major overlapping trait: a lack of etherylle in a robot body that is still operating. Some of these “zombies” are fully functioning and coherent, if not a bit slow or janky, however they “don’t bleed” if attacked, while others are mindless shells moving about despite having no visible source of energy and thus no way to stop unless stopped. The less coherent the units are, the more “savage” they seem to behave, operating on their most basic codes devoid of personality; for simplistic units such as Dawns, this is not very concerning, but security units and military drones are exceptionally dangerous in this state, however this only accounts for initial hostility. Any Lightless shell can exhibit defensive, aggressive behaviors when interrupted, confronted or harmed; they cannot be reasoned with.
Research into these sightings has yielded no explanations beyond theories of some unknown anomaly or new mineral causing some sort of effect on discarded parts, or even a full-on hallucination from the human psyche. More metaphysical leaning groups ponder on the presence of “ghosts” or forgotten gods raising the dead in a way, but there is no evidence to suggest these beings even exist, let alone why or how.
Eng'avak
Where it is cold and dark, when firelight dies and starvation begins, there will be the fear of it never ending. This all-encompassing fear that preys on a primal need to survive coupled with the natural avoidance of the dark and that which lies within it inevitably appears in some way, somewhere. On earth, there are wendigo, yuki-onna, yeti, and others who thrive in the soulless winter snow and feed on the unlucky lost within them; on Azil, the only polar area is the dark swath of southern tundras belonging solely to the Hannunak, the only people brave (or insane) enough to eak out a living in the least habitable part of the shell. There, they warn and whisper about the dangers of snow storms and trying to leave during The Still, as the night predators hunt when all sound is absent; supplies must be tended to and maintained to prevent the need to leave, lest one’s body join the wastes as an Eng’avak, They of the Still Snow. Eng’avak are described as icy-skinned beings that vaguely resemble trees when resting, bodies twisted and gnarled into shape so they can hibernate through The Hum; when they rest, they are indistinguishable from trees at a distance, but up close are made of translucent ice. When The Still comes, the eng’avak stir with a terrible crack, stalking the forests for stragglers with the sound of breaking tree branches in their wake.
It’s believed the eng’avak are trees grown from the bodies of those who died of exposure while looking for food, becoming frozen down to their core as if turned to ice. A tree or shrub sprouted from these corpses will not be a normal plant, taking on the form of a humanoid in order to move through the forest in search of that which they died for: food. This is believed to be punishment for negligence by the ancestors, as no one should need to leave for food in The Still if they were responsible and doing their duty during The Hum.
Eng’avak have a variety of sizes and shapes and are surprisingly fast, able to move through the forest with acute knowledge of its layout and unbothered by drifts of snow. Their preferred method of hunting is to use their uncanny knowledge of the forest to drive prey into a corner, cutting off their retreat, and making themselves known with their cracking wood sounds to spook and scare, as the adrenaline keeps the body from growing cold. If the snapping starts, it’s too late and you are being hunted.
The only known method to avoid the eng’avak once they’ve taken interest in you is to leave offerings of fragrant food behind before leaving the area calmly. Looking at the creature invites it to follow you, running engages a chase, which they always prefer over pre-killed foods, however they are still scavengers as well as hunters, prioritizing food over all else due to how they come to be. It’s tradition to carry a spare ration when traveling, often pickled, marinated or rubbed with warming spices to entice the creature to eat that rather than hunt and provide a chance to escape. Keep your eyes on the ground, back to the sounds, and do not run.
Even if you hear a familiar voice.
Being made of ice, eng’avak will stay away from light and heat, thus campsites and villages are safe so long as the fires are burning. Rarely will an eng’avak follow one to a village unless they have a grudge, which can be determined by the howling and scratching outside. If an eng’avak has taken offense to you, the village may choose to throw you out to deal with your fate to protect themselves.
Remember to pray for their soul to rest, satiated, as you give them food in order to avoid disrespecting them.
Extra details and behavioral changes between clans give these creatures a wide variety of subtypes, ranging from going outside for ANY reason, not just food, to reflecting incomplete purposes, not just starvation. Rites to rest the soul of an eng’avak sometimes involve fulfilling their unfinished business. The Chakush-eng’avak is a special variety thought to come from the bodies of those who were murdered and left in the snow; this is thought to discourage villagers from using lethal force against each other.
Children are encouraged to do their chores with stories of eng’avak, parents often using them to push their children to behave as their parents don’t need to run errands in The Still and risk becoming a monster. It’s extremely effective.
Rosemary’s Baby and the Legacy of Pregnancy Horror
Beware of overly attentive neighbors. You can never be too careful.
Rounding out this year's Women in Horror month, my review of the Ira Levin classic "Rosemary's Baby" is out now!
Content Warning: Rosemary’s Baby contains sexual assault, body horror related to pregnancy, intense gaslighting, religious turmoil, mentions of suicide, a severely deranged cult, possible hint of anti-Semitism (?), brief instances of homophobia, and a total lack of bodily autonomy. Reader/viewer discretion is advised.
Note: As of publishing, I have not completed the 1968 film adaptation. I am…
At around 6:30pm on October 30, 1966 18 year old Riverside California student Cheri Jo Bates was abducted from the behind the wheel of her Volkswagen Beetle, before being viscously stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the alley behind the school library that she had just visited.
There was a broken man's Timex watch left at the scene
which has its time stopped at 12:24am as well as a man's B.F. Goodrich military shoe print in the dirt. Around that time is also when a witness reported a car that resembled a "rust colored" Studebaker fleeing the scene
Then. on November 29, someone claiming to be the killer mailed a disturbing letter to the Riverside Police and Press Enterprise newspaper taking credit for the murder and threatening more victims
Then on April 30, 1967, the Police, Newspaper and Bates' father receive another threatening note, two of which have a mysterious symbol at the bottom.
In late 1969, after the Zodiac Killer began to strike in Northern California, Police began to suspect he might have been responsible. The killer eventually took credit in a March 1971 letter to the Los Angeles times. To this day, the case has never been solved.
A few years ago, it was discovered and corroborated by more than one witness that Cheri and Zodiac victim Cecelia Shephard were friends and used to hang out at the same restaurant together.
Cryptids & Creatures of Folklore Drawtober Day 28 — Iliamna Lake Monster
Lake Iliamna is the largest lake in Alaska and spans across nearly 650,000 acres near the state's southern coast. The Tlingit and Aleutian people of the region have long told tales of giant aquatic monsters living in this lake.
In September of 1942, a local guide named Babe Aylesworth and fisherman Bill Hammersley were flying over the lake on their way to the village of Iliamna when they spotted several dozen large fish swimming in the lake. Circling back and flying lower for a closer look, they soon realized that these fish were longer than their plane's pontoon. The men described the fish as having wide, blunt heads, vertical tails, and said that they were the color of dull aluminum.
Hammersley and others would later attempt to catch one of these monster fish using a foot-long hook made from an iron rod baited with a hunk of moose flank. They used stainless-steel aircraft cable for line and a fifty-five gallon oil drum for a bobber. According to the men, the fish bit through the cable.
There were quite a few more sightings of these mysterious fish in the 1940s and 1950s. Witnesses said their sizes ranged from 10 to 30 feet and while the descriptions vary a bit, most agreed that they were black or greyish in color with a broad head. Sightings have tapered off in recent years.
Famous fisherman Jeremy Wade believes the fish are giant white sturgeon. Other theories suggest they might be a shark species similar to the Greenland or sleeper sharks. I went with a sort of combination of the two here.
Ghost stories reveal our collective anxieties amid times of change.
In today’s new Longreads essay, Elizabeth Friend examines the vanishing hitchhiker tale, and one spooky North Carolina story in particular: the tale of a young woman named Lydia.
There are countless variations on Lydia’s story. Sometimes her dress is a specific color. Sometimes a different family member opens the door. Sometimes the young man drapes his jacket over the girl’s shoulders, only to find it later on her grave.
Elizabeth explores how folklore passed down over generations reveals our anxieties during times of change. The ghost story of Lydia reflects the shifting expectations of American women in the first half of the 20th century.
Cryptids & Creatures of Folklore Drawtober Day 29 — Igopogo
Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada is said to be home to a lake monster that goes by many names. It is most commonly called Igopogo—likely inspired by Ogopogo from Lake Okanagon—but it is also known as Beaverton Bessie, Simcoe Kelly, and Kempenfelt Kelly which is in reference to Kempenfelt Bay where most of the sightings have occurred over the last century.
Igopogo not only has many names but it is also said to have wildly variable features. Some witnesses claim it is only around ten feet in length while other say it is closer to seventy feet long. Most reports describe it as looking similar to a seal or otter with a long neck and large eyes but some others say it is more serpent or dragon-like in appearance with horns and fins.
