The estrie had the faculty of changing her shape as she willed, and of returning to her original demonic state when she flew about at night. A certain women, who, it transpired, was an estrie, fell ill and was attended during the night by two women. When one of these fell asleep the patient suddenly arose from her bed, flung her hair wildly about her head, and made efforts to fly and to suck blood from the sleeping woman. The other attendant cried out in terror and aroused her companion; between the two of them they subdued the demon-witch and got her back into bed. “If she had succeeded in killing this woman she would have preserved her life, but since her effort was thwarted she died.” These creatures sustained themselves on a diet of human blood, which preserved their lives when they were desperately ill. If an estrie was wounded by a human being, or was seen by him (in her demonic state), she must die unless she could procure and consume some of his bread and salt. A man who was attacked by an estrie in the shape of a cat and beat her off, was approached by the witch the next day and asked for some of his bread and salt. When he was innocently about to grant her request an old man intervened and scolded him sharply for his generosity. “If you enable her to remain alive, she will only harm other men.” If the preceptor, during services, offers up a prayer for the health of a sick woman who is known to be a vampire, the congregation must not respond with “Amen!” When a broxa or an estrie is being buried, one should notice whether or not her mouth is open; if it is, this is a sure sign that she will continue her vampirish activities for another year. Her mouth must be stopped up with earth, and she will be rendered harmless.
Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion; The Powers of Evil: “Foreign” Demons
The Broxa is an entity from Jewish folklore most often described as a demonic bird. It is said to suck the milk from goats, and sometimes will drain blood from people during the night.
In Portugal, the Broxa is a type of witch who can change her shape into that of a bird.
I don't like math. So instead of doing my Differential Calculus homework, I read a bunch of bogleech's Halloween bestiary articles. Which made me want to unwind and draw for a bit. Each of these monsters is connected to one of the archetypes of Halloween beasties discussed here (the archive for all the articles is at the bottom). And, for more information, look under the cut for that sweet, sweet lore.
I don't wanna do a full myth stuff thing for each of these, so I'll just do the basics:
The wampyr is, rather obviously, a vampire. There's a bunch of vampire folklore out there, most of which is contradictory. So each vampire species has different traits. Wampyr, unlike upir and vrykolakas, they aren't possessed by an unruly soul, but the result of demons inhabiting a corpse polluted with negative emotions. Because of this, the body mutates with age and the vampire itself is not as good at mimicking its prey. They have small, weak bones and are covered in hair all across their body. Some wampyr, in an effort to better hide themselves, shave their faces to better appear human. Take the results as you will. But, no matter what, they can't seem to get the hair on their wrists.
Aamon, one of the Marquis of Hell and a very important devil. Unlike demons, fey, and giants, devils have a hierarchy not tethered to power or strength. This allows devils with little physical strength to thrive and rule. Case in point: Aamon. While he has little muscle about him, he is able to allow people to see into the past, and the future. He also helps maintain friendships, even in the face of controversy. Like a lot of devils, when on the physical plane his body is barely held together, the fire that is his spirit constantly issuing forth from any wound or orifice it can find. His powers might not seem all that impressive, but networking is one of the key pillars in the hellish hierarchy of Pandemonium.
Though often confused with human witches, hags like Jenny Greenteeth aren't human, and are often very bad at convincing people they are human. More akin to birds, hags lurk in dark or forested areas, attempting to snatch people (children most often, as they're small and less likely to put up a fight). Water hags like Jenny lurk underwater most of the time, but build large nests within thickets and bushes above the water.
Robin Goodfellow ain't no dollar-store goblin, no sir! Shrewd and cunning, this guy has his hands in just about every pocket there is in Fairyland. Every court, including those of Mab, Gwyn ap Nudd, and the Queen of Hearts have Rob on their payroll. Be warned though, he despises his nickname "Puck", as if he were some run of the mill pooka.
In an effort to distinguish my bugbears from Kory Bing's, these guys have slowly morphed into the fairy equivalent of a trash panda. They're basic bogles, feeding off of children's fear, mice, and cockroaches. Most never get the size of a dog. Back in the old days though, people spoke of terrifying "Pavement Bears", hulking beasts that gave even the sternest of governesses a run for their money.
While there might be more appropriate beasts to fill in for a caterwaul, I also wanted to knock out "Frankenstoids" with the trollnøste , even if they lack the mechanical parts. Trollnøste are created be trolls to suck the milk out of cows by some secret bout of witchcraft involving a cat's skin and a rib. Troll cats are more reliable and offer companionship, but with these fellows you don't have to put up with stuff like litter and suffering the same injuries the cat gets. They're just a bag of milk and some teeth.
And like them, there's an obvious choice for a strixoid: the strix, or stryges. But the broxa is a little less known. While often confused with shape shifting witches, broxa are just regular old thicknees. Regular old thicknees with a taste for blood of course.
