Freaky Folktale Figures

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Heres the bracket!! As y'all can see, theres some figures who wont be included until the second round- I wanted to use all the submissions I got, so this was the only way to have it work

If any names are mispelled or otherwise incorrect, please lmk!! I wrote all names as they appeared in the submission

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Fionn Mac Cumhaill vs Cú Chulainn

Fionn

Cú

Voting ended onOct 25, 2023

More info under the cut!

Fionn Mac Cumhaill (Irish)

see previous post

Cú Chulainn (Irish):

He was a part of the Fíanna, an elite group of warriors that could run as fast as the wind, swim like fish and hunt like nothing else. He ends up leading it in one tale, and there's a million different tales about him.

He stopped a pyromaniac faerie that used a song to send everyone in a palace asleep with a magic song and burn it to the ground by covering his ears and throwing a magic spear at it, killing the Fae. He killed a dog with a sliotar, and felt so bad about it he renamed himself to Cú Chulainn (the name of the dog was that) and fought for the owners of the dog

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Rusalka vs Lorelei

Rusalka

Lorelei

Voting ended onOct 25, 2023

More info under the cut!

Rusalka (Slavic)

They live in swamps and rivers and drown men in water! Unlike your sexy mermaid archetype, they're described as freaky and greenish creatures with big eyes and so much teeth. I love them.

Lorelei (Germany):

See previous post

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

The Dahu vs Bachué

Dahu

Bachué

Voting ended onOct 25, 2023

More info under the cut!

The Dahu (French):

They're mountain goats, with limbs that are shorter on one side: they evolved like this because they live in the mountains so they very rarely walked on flat ground:

they always have their shorter limbs up the cliff and the longer down the cliff for balance. There's 4 differents genus of Dahu:

Lévogyre (right limbs longer than the left) ; Dextrogyre (left limbs longer than the right) ; Ascentusfrontalis (back limbs longer than front) ; Descentus frontalis (front limbs longer than back).

It is said that only the Lévogyre genus hasn't gone extinct. People use to hunt it by calling it's name behind its back or by putting salt on its tail: when it turns around it falls and tumbls down the slope because its longer limbs are now on the wrong side of the slope.

Bachué (Muisca):

see previous post

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Itzaccíhuatl vs Pombero

Itzaccíhuatl

Pombero

Voting ended onOct 25, 2023

More info under the cut!

Itzaccíhuatl (Tlaxcalteca):

see previous post

Pombero (Guaraní):

He's just some little dude who goes around drinking and smoking, he likes to anoy nad scare people with his wistles and if you give him alcohol and tabaco, you become his friend, but if you stop, he leaves you on a mountain (relatable)

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The Jersey Devil vs The Heinzelmännchen

Jersey Devil

Heinzelmännchen

Voting ended onOct 25, 2023

More info under the cut!

Jersey Devil (USA - New Jersey):

He’s a little creep in the night! The thirteenth son of Mother Leeds, born in the middle of a storm and cursed to be a devil, flying up the chimney and into the Pine Barrens! He had goat feet, and terrifies travelers everywhere! What’s not to love!

Heinzelmännchen (Germany)

see previous post

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Hershel of Ostropol vs Umibozu

Hershel

Umibozu

Voting ended onOct 25, 2023

More info under the cut!

Hershel of Ostropol (Jewish):

See previous post

Umibozu (Japanese):

Giant black humanoid spirit that lives in the middle of the ocean and sinks ships

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

The Witch from Hansel and Gretel has automatically moved on to round three!! I didn't realize "Nøkken" and "Näken" were different named for the same creature and accidentally put them in twice ^.^

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Nøkken vs Maeve and the Browm Bull of Cooley

Nøkken

Maeve

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

Nøkken (Scandinavia):

Evil water spirit often taking the form of a horse that drowns people

Maeve and the Brown Bull of Cooley (Ireland):

Basically queen maeve and her husband were always arguing about who had more shit and they were pretty much equal yk? BUT THEN her husband got this cool new bull and maeve was really fucking jealous. SO maybe went down to Cooley and asked for the bull. The owner said no. So naturally maeve decided to get her army and steal the bull.

When she’d got the bull she brought him back and put him in the same pen as her husbands. The two bulls started fighting and BOOM they were both dead. Maeve and her husband realised that maybe they should go to couples therapy instead of incessant one upping. THE END

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Billy Beg vs барабашка (barabashka)

Billy Beg

барабашка (barabashka)

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

Billy Beg (Irish):

Billy runs away from home because his step mother wants to kill his bull. His bull then gets into several fights with other bulls, which it wins, until the final battle which it knows it will lose. It gives Billy instructions of what to do on it's death, which give him several magical items.

Billy doesn't go home, but instead finds work for a farmer whose livestock keeps getting eaten by giants. After defeating the three giant brothers, he lives peacefully for a time before he hears that the princess is to be sacrificed to a horrible dragon. He defeats the dragon and rides away, but the princess steals his boot.

This results in a kingdom wide "I'll only marry the man who's foot fits this boot." He marries the princess and lives happily ever after.

барабашка/barabashka (Slavic):

(Note: No site found)

barabai is a spirit that lives in your house and causes slight trouble. a bit like poltergeist i guess, but less dangerous. barabaika is the guy you think of when you are drinking tea in your kitchen late at night, hear some noise from another room, and wave it away thinking 'thats just barabaika being silly'. i don't even know if describing barabaika as a spirit would be accurate, they are a somewhat recent product of a highly superstitious and religious community forced to live in an atheist state

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

The Beast of Gévauden vs Johnny Appleseed

The Beast

Johnny Appleseed

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

The Beast of Gévauden (France):

They were a wolf like creature, ranging somewhere from the size of a calf to the size of a horse, that terrorised the Gévaudan (french Lozère nowadays) from 1764 to 1767. It is said to have killed and sometimes partially eaten 210 people and animals before being killed. The king of France himself intervened and it took his hunter several months to find the beast.

Johnny Appleseed (USA):

He planted a ton of apple trees and wore a tin cooking pot on his head. He has more than one grave

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

банник (bannik) vs The Witch of Rehmeyer's Hollow

банник (bannik)

The Witch

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

банник/bannik (Slavic):

bannik is a mischievous bathhouse spirit. he can appear as a naked bearded old man, or as some animals, and his favourite thing to do is to bathe after several people have already used the bathhouse, and to only use the dirty water for bathing. he does that closer to midnight, and he doesn't like to be disturbed, so people avoided going to the bathhouse at night.

he also doesn't like when people enter the bathhouse with dirty thoughts, without a prayer, or without respecting the rules of the bathhouse. as a mischievous spirit, he can deal quite a lot of damage: he can throw rocks at those who angered him, burn with boiling water, and even flay people alive.

there is a way to ensure he will remain friendly, though: you should always leave a small piece of soap and a small bath broom after you are done bathing. you can also leave some milk, or if you need him extra calm - you can grab and kill a black hen from your backyard and leave it in the bathhouse without plucking.

The Witch of Rehmeyer's Hollow (USA - Pennsylvania):

(Note: The linked article refers to the house itself. Theres no section specifically on the list, but go to "Murder of Nelson Reymeyer" for background)

The witch's real name is Nelson Rehmeyer and he was supposed to be a practitioner of a certain brand of Pennsylvania Dutch-influenced witchcraft. He was suspected of supposedly hexing a local resident, who confronted him to demand his spellbook and hair to reverse the hex and ended up beating Rehmeyer to death.

The man then attempted to burn his house down but it would not burn, which was taken as further evidence of his powers. It's considered to be extremely haunted even today and young people still fear to go there.

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

La Cegua va La Llorona

La Cegua

La Llorona

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

La Cegua (Central America):

There's many versions, but generally it's like this: A beautiful woman would appear to those men who where out of their house late at night and ask if she could acommpany them. If they'd let her and later turn back to look at her, they'd find her face is now the skull of a horse. Other versions tell she has a normal horse face or a decaying skull instead. She only appears to men who are abusive, cheaters, alcoholics etc.

La Llorona (Latin America):

A woman drowns her kids and tries to drown herself, but she is cursed and unable to die. Desperate, she wanders crying, drowning other people.

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Curupira vs Wulver

Curupira

Wulver

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

Curupira (Brazil):

Little guy with hair on fire and backwards feet, so hunters who follow his tracks get lost in the woods and die (something about protecting wildlife). He sometimes rides a boar.

Wulver (Celtic):

Body of a man with the head of a wolf, but not originally human like most instances of werewolfes are, covered in thick, brown hair, it often leaves fish at the windowsills of poorer families.

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Ningen vs Popocatépetl

Ningen

Popocatépetl

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

Ningen (Japanese):

A giant whale/humanoid creature that lives in the subantarctic oceans, created around 2002 onlind

Popocatépetl (Tlaxcalteca):

(Note - The linked article refers to the Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl mountains. Go to "Náhua legends" for the story)

I [the submitter] like to call him the Mexican Romeo. Basically, he was betrothed to a princess, went to war, she received false repots of his death, killed herself, and when he returned victorious to find her dead, he carried her to the top of a mountain kissed her, and with a torch in hand, he forever watches over his love, hence the name, meaning "smoking mountain"

This is the legend behind the two most notable volcanos near México city, colloquially called "Don Goyo," which recently has been attracting notoriety in the world, mostly because not everyone can say nahuatl words, us Mexicans are trained from birth to be capable of saying them, so no hard feelings

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

El Trauco vs Skogsrå

El Trauco

Skogsrå

Voting ended onOct 7, 2023

More info under the cut!

Warnings for mentions of sexual abuse and assault - Skip reading El Trauco if necessary

El Trauco (Chile - Chiloé):

El trauco (the trauco) is a deform man who used to be a wizard, it preys in the woods of chiloé and get young girls pregnant. Do not go to the wood at night, expecialy if you're a girl, the trauco might get you.

in reality this is just a story to cover up abuse in a family. It's painfully comon that an elder like a granpa or an uncle rapes a younger girl (10-15 yrs old) and then blame the trauco.

Skogsrå (Nordic):

The skogsrå is a forest spirit who looks like a beautiful human woman in the front, but her back is hollowed out like an old tree trunk. She lures wanderers and hunters into the woods to make them get lost and seduces men to steal their souls, but she will occasionally hand out blessings as well.

[freakyfolktalefigures-tournament]

Heres the bracket!! As y'all can see, theres some figures who wont be included until the second round- I wanted to use all the submissions I got, so this was the only way to have it work

If any names are mispelled or otherwise incorrect, please lmk!! I wrote all names as they appeared in the submission