Welcome to the Fae Zoo

Come one, come all, to observe some creatures from folklore and mythology. We try our best to host a variety of stories and beings.

[spacenoirdetective]

Russian fairy tale art by Nicholas Kochergin

[turquoisemagpie]

The Black Dog.

Otherwise knows as Black/Old Shuck, Church Grim, or Barghest, the Black Dog is an omen of English Folklore. The sight of a black ominous hound was a sign of troubles to come - rotten food, dead crops, floods or storms, or just an incoming death.

Safe to say heat map of Europe for this current heatwave - the hottest June on record (so far…)- where the highest temperatures go so red they turn black reminded me of the Black Dog. Hopefully some others will also see the signs of danger to come if nothing is done…

[forgedfromlove]

The Haunting of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway

In (belated) honour of Halloween, here’s a spooky urban myth from Claxton Bay. Photo by Hayden Roach.

From Life in Trinidad and Tobago:

”This story dates back to the 1900s, where a young woman becomes the victim of circumstance in this tragic romance.

The lore says, in 1909 the daughter of a Spanish overseer on the Forres Park Sugar Estate, named Maria, fell in love with an Indian labourer who worked there. Maria’s parents, especially her father, did little to hide their disdain toward her relationship. One night, the overseer saw his daughter and her lover in what is described as a “compromising affair”, and became furious. So he waited, and when the young man left his daughter’s company, he made it clear to her that she wasn’t to see him again. But, Maria was in love, and had no intention of ending her relationship with the young man, and retorted that she’d rather die.

When his daughter refused to comply, he took an alternative approach calling upon his most loyal workers to execute the labourer. As the overseer of the estate, it was not difficult for him to persuade them to get the job done. However, word got back to Maria of her father’s plan, and was advised to warn her lover of his inevitable fate if he didn’t leave. Angry and terrified she left her home on a mission, determined to save her love. Unfortunately, Maria never makes it, on her way to him she is bitten by a snake but still she continued on, weakened by the venom, she falls to her death from the hill. Whether, the labourer is murdered by her father’s men, or they find Maria’s body before they could, is not known.

Grief stricken by the loss of his daughter, her father constructs a statue of the Virgin Mary in her memory, on the estate’s tallest hill where he pleaded for her forgiveness. Over the last century, since her death, people claimed to have seen Maria’s ghost trying to cross the Solomon Hochoy highway, where the statue still stands today, although decapitated.”

From Angelo Bissessarsingh’s Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago:

“Many motorists travelling this stretch of roadway in the dead of night have been brought to a screeching halt or worse by swerving to avoid the apparition of a young girl seen darting across the double carriageway. Some have actually stopped to explore the nearby bushes on the verge of the roadway for evidence of her flight but to no avail.

This manifestation is said to be the phantom of the dead child of Forres Park who is searching through time and space for her head, for long ago, the statue atop the hill was decapitated and the head was lost along with much of the torso.”

[shifgrethors]

just remembered that time when i asked tumblr for recommendations of books on jewish folklore and someone unironically was like “you should read the gemara!”

a. i spent 16 years in orthodox day school, i guarantee i’ve learned a fuck ton of gemara.

b. you need to SPECIFY. the gemara is over 5,000 pages long and has 37 masechtot. over 2 million words!!!!! do you want me to read about sheydim or dybbuks or do you want me to read about legal disputes of tree ownership? because there’s a ton of the latter.

[yehuditexcalibur]

If you still want recs:

“Ascending Jacob's Ladder: Jewish Views of Angels, Demons, and Evil Spirits” by Rabbi Ronald Isaacs

“A Treasury of Jewish Folklore” by Nathan Ausubel

“Divination, Magic, and Healing: The Book of Jewish Folklore” by Rabbi Ronald Isaacs

“Elijah’s Violin & Other Jewish Fairy Tales” by Howard Schwartz

“Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales” by Howard Schwartz

“Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid” by Moshe Idel

“Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion” by Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg

“Magic, Mysticism, and Hasidism: The Supernatural in Jewish Thought” by Gedalyah Nigal

“Mimekor Yisrael: Selected Jewish Classical Folktales” by Micha Berdyczewski

“Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World” by Howard Schwartz

“Next Year in Jerusalem: 3000 Years of Jewish Stories” by Howard Schwartz

“Ritual Medical Lore of Sephardic Women: Sweetening the Spirits, Healing the Sick” by Isaac Lévy and Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt

“The Bride Who Argued With G-d: Tales From the Trea­sury of Jew­ish Folklore” by Hava Ben-Zvi

“The Diamond Tree: Jewish Tales from Around the World” by Howard Schwartz

“The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic & Mysticism” by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis

“Yiddish Folktales” by Beatrice Weinreich

[hiddenlizard]

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26399643M/Hatupatu_and_the_birdwoman

Hatupatu and the Birdwoman (1982). Adaptation of a Maori Legend by Joy Cowley, Illustrations by Robyn Kahukiwa.

[adarkrainbow]

Is the Tooth Fairy from American folklore or European folklore?

From what I get, "unclear". I am not a big expert on this so my sources will be bilingual Wikipedia... On the English Wikipedia you have mention that the first actual record of a belief in a Tooth Fairy comes from a 1908 article in the Chicago Daily Tribune - so this would make it American - but the belief in such an entity would take root in English superstitions going back to the Middle-Ages, such as children being told their baby teeth had to be burned else they would be looking for them in the afterlife.

As for the French Wikipedia... Well they don't speak about her/it because in France we have the Tooth Mouse. They just mention how it is the tooth-collecting figure in both Anglophone and Germanic cultures (Tooth fairy for England, Zahnfee for Germany, Tannfe in Norway), with also her often dominating in other countries where both the Fairy and the Mouse co-exist (like in Italy).

I will need to check one more thing...

... There we go. I checked Jacqueline Simpson's "The Folklore of Discworld" book - which is a VERY interesting book and I knew there would be something on the Tooth Fairy, given its importance in the Discworld (well, for "Hogfather" anyway).

Jacqueline Simpson says that "The Tooth Fairy" as an identified, singular entity comes from "America somewhere around 1960" (so Simpson wasn't apparently aware of the American article of 1908 shared by Wikipedia), but that it is since "about a hundred years" that in Britain people believe that "fairies" in general collect children's milk teeth from under pillows, leaving money in exchange. Simpson mentions however how before there is zero mention of "tooth fairies" in Victorian folklore - though she does note that Victorian folklorists were only interested in "exciting unusual customs and beliefs", so that if the tooth fairies were part of "everyday stuff in their own homes" they likely would not have been interested in it. Simpson then goes on to say the British current belief in a singular "Tooth Fairy" is due to American influence.

Simpson then proposes to see, as the earliest "trace" of the "tooth fairies", a specific poem from 17th century England, which is the "only" piece of evidence according to which "elves and fairies collect pretty little items from the human world" to decorate their dwellings in fairyland: the poem "Oberon's Palace", by Robert Herrick, 444th poem of his 1648's book "Hesperides". The poem describes the little grotto where Oberon the Fairy King makes love to Queen Mab - and we remain in the Romeo and Juliet's "Mab speech" logic of VERY little, very tiny fairies, as the cave walls are decorated with peacock feathers, fish scales, blue snake skins, dewdrops, etc... But the floor is a "mosaic of plum-tree gum, dice, brown toadstones, human fingernails, warts, and the teeth of squirrels and children "lately shed". Herrick goes on to say all these brings were "brought hither by the Elves". So we have here an idea that sets us on the path of what would later become the "tooth fairies".

Simpson also adds that while the 17th century didn't seem to have "tooth fairies", only maybe "teeth elves", there was however an actual recorded, recognized habit of getting rid of shed teeth - children would have to rub the tooth with salt and throw it in the fire. It was an habit that lasted all the way up to 1950s Britain, especially in the north of England, where this verse was preserved: "Fire, fire, burn a bone / God send me a tooth again / A straight one, a strong one / A white shiny bright one".

That was for the book.

So, comparing all this, it seems that the modern Tooth Fairy as we know it is actually an American invention, BUT born out of the habits, rituals and folklore/superstitions of Britain - where it was just fairies and elves in general. But the singular figure is American. A bit like how yes, the Americans did invent Santa Claus, but only by simplifying, uniting, synthetizing various pre-existing "Father Christmas" and "Saint Nicolas" figures together - so they didn't invent him while still "inventing" him. Same thing with the Tooth Fairy.

[thefaezoo]

X

[mecthology]

Sasabonsam: The Vampire of the West African Forest 🧛🦇

Descriptions of the Sasabonsam vary across regions and traditions. Some accounts portray it as a humanoid creature with iron teeth, bloodshot eyes, long hair, and powerful legs. Others describe it with bat like wings, hooked feet, and an enormous wingspan. In many legends, it hangs from trees and captures victims before feeding on their blood.

Beyond its terrifying appearance, the Sasabonsam served an important role in traditional storytelling. Folklore scholars note that tales of the creature helped teach respect for the forest and its natural boundaries. In some Akan traditions, the Sasabonsam was seen as a guardian of sacred woodland areas, enforcing rules that protected the land from overuse and destruction.

As the legend evolved over centuries, the Sasabonsam became associated with witches, dark magic, and supernatural dangers. Christian missionaries later emphasized its demonic qualities, transforming it into a symbol of evil in some communities.

SOURCE: wikipedia.org, cryptidarchives, atlasobscura, fernflowerpress

[gothredy]

[twunkish-cleric]

The fact that there are gods with disabilities make me so emotional. Hephaestus, Tyr, Hodr, Odin and other disabled deities just prove that being disabled is a vital part of the human experience, not a deviation from it, and that concept alone is so moving. Just like there are deities for specific human experiences like fertility or war, there are also deities with disabilities, which just proves that we have just as much of a place on this earth as mothers and warriors do. The idea of that has genuinely pulled me through some hard times.

[nightmaresyrup]

Reworking spatter brushes. Trying out on a tree, added a Hidebehind to scare myself like a moron.

[urdtarah]

The Water Sprite by Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen, 1857–1914

Nøkken by Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen, 1904

[ominous-signs]

Official ominous sign

[olivepixeldesigns]

300 year old strangler fig Monte Verde Costa Rica 3024 x 4032 [oc]

📷: okbacon

[girlfromtheantilles]

The Strangler Fig is called the Banyan tree in Jamaica. In their folklore, it’s similar to the Silk Cotton tree. It’s said that various spirits live in the roots of these trees.

[bestiarium]

The Corc-chluasask: calves of the fey bulls [Scottish/Irish folklore]

The word 'fairie' is usually associated with tiny humans living in secluded forests, but fey creatures come in all shapes and sizes. One of them is the Tairbh-Uisge, a magical aquatic bull from Scottish and Irish folktales. It resembles a normal animal, though it is smaller and has a velvety, smooth skin. I discussed them some years ago in an earlier post.

However, sometimes a Tairbh-Uisge would mate with regular cows, and the result was a Corc-chluasask. These creatures were the offspring of a fairie parent and a normal, mortal cow, and inherited supernatural characteristics from their father. They could be identified by their ears, as one half of both ears appeared to be missing. This detail tends to vary: sometimes, they are said to have no ears at all, or unnaturally small ears, or weirdly round ears. But the ears are always the characteristic that give them away. It's in the name, 'Corc-chluasask' which means something like 'split ears'.

While I found no accounts of these monsters attacking people or animals, they were apparently malicious nonetheless, and would bring misfortune to the cows around them. As such, farmers on the Isle of Skye would traditionally kill newborn calves with noticeable deformities on their ears, lest they grew up to bring bad luck to the farm.

Interestingly, these creatures appear to be bovine counterparts of a sort to the Each-Uisge, or Kelpie, a rather famous Scottish folk monster with a common recurring motif: a fey creature disguises itself as a beautiful horse, usually with some bizarre characteristics to betray its supernatural nature, and entices people to ride it. When a victim does so, the horse reveals itself to be a monster and jumps into deep water to drown its rider.

They were also said to procreate with normal horses, creating foals that were almost indistinguishable from regular horses but could be identified by their strange drooping ears.

This is actually a recurring motif in Celtic folktales, where fairie animals would mate with regular animals, often producing supernatural offspring.

Source:

Meurger, M., 1988, Lake Monster Traditions: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, Fortean Tomes, 320 pp., p. 127.

(Image source: Bamart, this is actually an illustration of the Taroo Ushtey, the Manx variant of the same monster)

[connectparanormal]

Madam Koi Koi

In West African folklore, Madam Koi Koi is a well-known person, especially in urban legends from Nigeria. People have passed down Madam Koi Koi's exciting ghost story over the years and frequently share it with schools. Madam Koi Koi's story revolves around a spectral woman who is believed to haunt boarding schools. Her high-heeled shoes, which give her name, distinguish her. Depending on who narrates it, the story changes slightly, but the essential plot always stays the same. Once upon a time, Madam Koi Koi was a stunning educator who was highly regarded for her grace and flair—particularly her famous red shoes. She was renowned, meanwhile, for her severe punishments and inhumane treatment of her students. The story goes that she got into a fight with a pupil and lost her job as a teacher, which put an end to her reign of terror. Feeling humiliated and furious, she swore to get even. She mysteriously passed away shortly after, and her ghost reportedly returned to haunt the school's grounds.

Students say that Madam Koi Koi makes the unsettling "koi koi" sound with her heels, alerting people to her presence as she wanders the corridors at night. Given that she is rumored to target misbehaving kids or those who stay out late in the halls after curfew, this sound is both a warning and a threat. Madam Koi Koi's narrative power instills fear in many students, keeping them in line. In addition to being a ghost story, the Madam Koi Koi folklore reflects social mores and cultural values. It emphasizes concepts of discipline, authority, and the results of one's deeds. By highlighting the consequences of cruelty and the potential for retaliation, the story facilitates a discussion about the relationship between students and authority figures. Additionally, Madam Koi Koi unites students through shared experiences and group storytelling, acting as a cultural touchstone. Often spoken during late-night events or power shortages, the narrative fosters a sense of companionship and shared anticipation. For many students, it is a story that unites them through both terror and curiosity and serves as a rite of passage.

The legend of Madam Koi Koi serves as both a warning story and a window into how society views women in leadership roles. Her persona, which symbolizes the nuanced relationships between gender and authority in educational contexts, combines terror and admiration. This tale prompts discussions about authority, respect, and the repercussions of abusing power. Ultimately, Madam Koi Koi's mythology endures because it satisfies universal curiosity and concerns. This tale appeals to everyone who has ever experienced the suspense of a ghost story or the anxiety of a powerful authority figure, regardless of their cultural background. The terrifying story of Madam Koi Koi demonstrates the timeless power of storytelling, captivating listeners and imparting lifelong knowledge.

[oldpaintings]

Sleeping Beauty, 1864 by Bertha Froriep (German, 1833–1920)