Humanoids

Witkəś

Mammoth thanks to Schnellegeister Hexenwolf for sharing Mansi Mythology with me and making this entry possible!

Variations: Witkəś-ōkja (male), Witkəś-ēkwa (female); Witkul’, Witkul’-ōkja (male), Witkul’-ēkwa (female)

The Witkəś is a creature from the mythology of the Mansi people of Russia. It is one of the few mythical creatures unquestionably derived from paleontological evidence – in this case, from the remains of woolly mammoths. Witkul’ is a synonym, apparently related to locality – witkul’ are found in lakes, and witkəś in rivers.

The name of the witkəś or witkul’ is derived from wit, “water”. A witkəś lives in the depths of the water, as evidenced by the location of mammoth tusks and bones on riverbanks. The tusks were believed to be antlers, shed by the witkəś much like reindeer and elk do. Since there are witkəś bones in evidence, the witkəś themselves are believed to be mortal creatures that avoid contact with humans. Their shapes are undefined, with some traditions anthropomorphizing them, dividing them into male witkəś-ōkja and female witkəś-ēkwa. They have been known to invite guests underwater to drink tea.

Along the Sos’va River it was believed that old bears and elks would gorge themselves on earth, then sink into the water to become water spirits. In lakes they would become witkul’, while in rivers they became witkəś.

The witkəś and witkul’ are tireless diggers, excavating holes and river channels to direct the course of the water. A witkul’-ēkwa was believed to have dug out the Lyapin River, and a witkul’-ōkja made the big lakes of the Sos’va River. On the other hand, the witkəś on the Tavda River would pull horses into the water, and its appearance was an omen of impending death.

Nobody fishes in lakes where witkul’ live. Even birds fly around them. Any living creature that comes near may be pulled in. A witkəś can be found in every whirlpool in a river, and they enjoy drowning anyone who enters their domain. One way to scare off or kill a witkəś is to fill a boat with salt, pitch, and gunpowder, and set up a scarecrow decoy for good measure before setting the boat on fire and pushing it out to the whirlpool to be swallowed. The witkəś will be fatally maimed by the explosive boat, and when its dying groans are heard, that is when it is safe to return to the water.

Around Berezovo it was traditional to sacrifice a reindeer to the witkəś at the time the ice began to drift, tossing the skin, bones, and blood of the animal into the whirlpool. Elsewhere items such as copper cauldrons would be tossed into whirlpools as offerings to the witkəś. Once an old man stole a silk handkerchief with silver coins that was meant for the witkəś. His boat was immobilized, and a witkəś over ten meters long appeared, accusing the man of theft. The kerchief was thrown into the water, and the boat began moving again immediately.

References

Napolskikh, V., Hoppál, M., and Siikala, A. (2008) Mansi Mythology. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest.

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Zankallala

The Zankallala is a terrifyingly mighty creature from the folklore of the Hausa people. He is only the size of two clenched fists, but he wields a snake as a walking-stick, a pair of scorpions as spurs, and a swarm of bees as a hat. His mount is a jerboa. Wherever he goes, he is followed by birds that sing his praises and attack his enemies. He is also implied to have supernatural powers.

Even the dodo, the fearsome monster, the Swallower-of-Men, is powerless before the Zankallala. Once a boy was being chased by a dodo along a riverbank, and he came upon the Zankallala.

“Where are you going?” asked the Zankallala. “I’m running away from Dodo”, said the boy. “Stay”, said the creature. “The Dodo will not harm you”. And immediately a silk-cotton tree grew over the Zankallala, and the birds in it sang in praise.

“The Lion is afraid of the Zankallala,

The Hyena is afraid of the Zankallala,

Dodo is afraid of the Zankallala”.

When the dodo caught up with his quarry, he was nonplussed. “Where is my property?” he demanded. But the Zankallala responded impudently, saying “What property have you given me?” This infuriated the dodo. “If you will not give me my prey, then you will be my meal!”

With that the dodo gobbled up the tiny creature, only for the Zankallala to emerge from his stomach, accompanied by the joyous chorus of the birds. Then the dodo ate him again, but the Zankallala came out of his back, telling the birds to continue singing his praises. The third time the dodo swallowed him, the Zankallala emerged from the monster’s head, killing it.

“You may leave in safety”, the Zankallala told the boy, “you have seen that one is stronger than another, you escaped because you met me”.

This tale of a small trickster creature outwitting the dodo is sometimes told with a centipede or hedgehog replacing the Zankallala.

References

Tremearne, A. J. N. (1913) Hausa Superstitions and Customs. J. Bale and Sons and Danielsson, Ltd., London.

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Karnabo

Variations: Carnabot

The Karnabo is found on the Rocroi plateau, near Regniowez in France. It is an Ardennes bogey, comparable to the Mahwot but with a more restricted distribution. Belief in it may trace back to some forgotten historical event. It lives in an abandoned, sealed-off slate quarry.

In appearance the Karnabo is hideous to behold. It is almost human in shape, but it has basilisk eyes and a long, trunk-like nose. It is believed to have come from Rièzes, and to be the offspring of an itinerant sorcerer and a 67-year-old female ghoul. Its evil deeds are numberless.

The horrible nasal whistling of the Karnabo is enough to paralyze or asphyxiate anyone foolish enough to wander within range of the quarry. Livestock are killed outright. While the Karnabo may have inherited its father’s diabolical powers, it also learned from him how to cure paronychia by chanting magical phrases. It works its curative powers on Good Fridays.

Once a young girl dared to play in the vicinity of the slate quarry. As soon as she came near the entrance of the tunnel, the Karnabo pounced on her and dragged her underground. Since then neither her nor the Karnabo have been seen, and the entrance has been sealed off. On stormy nights the sobbing of the girl and the nasal roars of the Karnabo can still be heard.

References

Lambot, J. (1987) L’Ardenne. Pierre Mardaga, Brussels.

Meyrac, A. (1890) Traditions, coutumes, légendes et contes des Ardennes. Petit Ardennais, Charleville.

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Garkain

Garkain is a spirit found living alone in the tropical forests of Arnhem Land near the Liverpool River’s mouth. Human in appearance, he possesses great flaps of skin on his arms and legs, like wings or fins, that allow him to fly.

During the day Garkain sleeps under a pile of leaves. By night he attacks any intruders into his domain by flying up and falling onto them, enveloping them in a flurry of arms and legs, the folds of his skin suffocating them. They are eaten red raw – Garkain never learned how to make fire, use tools, and cook food.

References

Allan, T.; Fleming, F.; and Kerrigan, M. (1999) Journeys through Dreamtime. Time-Life Books BV, Amsterdam.

Butor, M.; Spencer, M. trans. (1981) Letters from the Antipodes. Ohio University Press.

Roberts, A. R. and Mountford, C. P. (1971) The First Sunrise. Rigby Limited, Adelaide.

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Origorúso

Variations: Oriogorúho, Orio-goruhu; Suguma; Poópoó

Origoruso

The Origorúso (Kiwai) or Oriogorúho (Mawata) is a man-beast, an ogre from the folklore of the Kiwai islanders of Papua New Guinea. Its name is derived from the fact that it eats (orúso) its food raw (orío).

An origorúso has very short legs, and supports itself on its hands while walking. It has huge eyes and enormous ears; its cavernous mouth has protruding tusks like those of a pig. The tusks are superfluous, as an origorúso swallows its prey whole and raw.Its fingers are armed with long claws. Male origorúso have two penises. An origorúso can make a sound like a loud grunt or roar, but it can also speak normally with people.

At night an origorúso lies on one of its oversized ears, and uses the other as a blanket. By day the ears are usually rolled up.

Origorúsos live underground or inside large trees. They raid villages to carry off and eat people. Sometimes an origorúso will enter a village and devour everyone in one house before leaving. An origorúso used to carry off a child in a village every day, until a cripple guarding a little boy tied a string around the child’s leg. When the cripple went to sleep, the origorúso pulled on the child, and by doing so pulled the string and alerted the man. Everyone in the village wisely fled, with the exception of a man, a woman and their child. They managed to appease the origorúso by throwing pigs at it until it fed and went to sleep. Then they left behind a coconut shell full of lice collected from their child; the lice answered the origorúso’s calls and detained it while they made good their escape.

Sometimes humans can become origorúsos under the right condition. A Kiwai woman in childbirth, upon being insulted by her husband, transformed into an origorúso who pursued the husband relentlessly. A man who lived a while with a friendly origorúso slept in the creature’s ears and ate raw meat; it was all fine until the man’s ears started to grow as big as the origorúso’s. “You got bed, I got bed; you got mat, I got mat”, the origorúso said cheerfully. But the man, terrified, ran back home and hid among his people. It was all in vain. The origorúso, angered, lay siege to the village, and with him came other origorúsos, the horrific útumos that are the ghosts of decapitated men, and other vile spirits. They did not leave until the escapee was given to them, torn apart, and consumed.

Fragments of origorúso bone make potent fighting medicine and are given to dogs.

The origorúso is only one of a number of creatures with enormous ears used to sleep in. The Bina people refer to their oriogorúho as female and nocturnal. The Suguma seems to be synonymous with the origorúso. The Poópoó also has huge ears, and has skin covered with po (knobs); it either has huge tusks or normal-sized teeth, and it otherwise looks like a normal man.

References

Beaver, W. N. (1920) Unexplored New Guinea. Seeley, Service & Co. Limited, London.

Kirtley, B. F. (1963) The Ear-Sleepers: Some Permutatios of a Traveler’s Tale. The Journal of American Folklore, 76(300), pp. 119-130.

Landtman, G. (1917) The Folk-tales of the Kiwai Papuans. Acta Societatis Scientiarium Fennicae, t. XLVII, Helsingfors.

Landtman, G. (1927) The Kiwai Papuans of British New Guinea. MacMillan and Co. Limited, London.

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Celestial Stag

Variations: Celestial Roe

Celestial Stag

Celestial Stags or Celestial Roes are neither roe stags nor are they celestial. They are Chinese spirits that haunt deep areas, corpse-demons native to the ore mines of Yunnan province. As with numerous other creatures, their name is probably phonetically derived.

Celestial stags are born from the souls of miners unfortunate enough to be trapped deep underground by cave-ins. There the trapped miners are kept alive by the breath of the earth and of the rare metals around them. Their material substance dies and rots away, but their essences cling to life and become celestial stags.

Perhaps because of this traumatic genesis, the primary goal of a celestial stag is to reach the surface. The stag will do anything it can to reach this goal. When a celestial stag meets a miner it is overjoyed and asks for tobacco. Then it begs the miner to take it to the surface. Stags will try to bribe miners by promising them the choicest veins of gold and silver. If this fails they become violent and torture miners to death.

But worse yet is the outcome if their wishes are granted. A celestial stag that reaches the open air dissolves – flesh, bones, clothes, and all – into a pestilential liquid that spreads disease and death.

The only way to escape these creatures is to kill them before they can do harm. If celestial stags are discovered, miners will wall them up in abandoned galleries. Another way out is to promise to haul the stags to the surface in a bamboo lift. Halfway up the rope is cut and the stags plummet to their death – a merciful end to their grim lives.

Borges attributes his account of the celestial stag to G. Willoughby Meade’s Chinese Ghouls and Goblins.

References

Borges, J. L.; trans. di Giovanni, N. T. (2002) The Book of Imaginary Beings. Vintage Classics, Random House, London.

De Groot, J. J. M. (1907) The Religious System of China, Volume V, Book II – On the Soul and Ancestral Worship. E. J. Brill, Leiden.

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Wulver

Wulver

The Wulver lives alone in a cave halfway up a steep knowe on the Isle of Unst in Shetland. He stands upright like a man, but has a wolf’s head and a body covered in short brown hair.

A peaceful loner, the Wulver never harms people as long as he isn’t harmed. He likes to fish, and for hours will sit upon a rock, the “Wulver’s Stane”, and catch yearling coalfish. Frequently he will leave a gift of a few fish on the windowsill of the poor and old of Shetland.

References

Angus, J. S. (1914) A Glossary of the Shetland Dialect. Alexander Gardner, Paisley.

Fleming, M. (2002) Not of this World: Creatures of the Supernatural in Scotland. Mercat Press, Edinburgh.

Saxby, J. M. E. (1932) Shetland Traditional Lore. Grant and Murray Limited, Edinburgh.

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Nartôq

nartoq

The helping spirit Nartôq is “the pregnant one” or “the big-bellied one”. Iglulik Inuit shaman Anarqâq first encountered this spirit while out hunting caribou. Nartôq is a horrifying sight – its nose is on its forehead, and its lower jaw runs down into its breast.

When they first met, Nartôq charged Anarqâq threateningly, disappearing just before it reached him. Later on Nartôq reappeared and introduced itself to Anarqâq. “I was hot-headed earlier because you yourself are too quick to anger”, it told the shaman. “You need never fear me as long as you abandon your short temper”. Since then Nartôq become one of the shaman’s best helping spirits.

References

Rasmussen, K. (1929) Intellectual Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos. Glydendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen.

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Nuppeppō

Variations: Nuppefuhofu (Mizuki); Nikubito (probably); Hō (probably); Nopperabō (probably)

The word Nuppeppō is derived from nupperi or nopperi, meaning “flat-faced” and referring to a flat, dazed expression. This yokai first appears in texts from the Edo period, and resembles nothing more than a blob of flesh with arms and legs. Its folds of skin and fat give it the appearance of a face on its body. While repulsive, nuppeppōs are frequently comical and inoffensive.

Sekien’s rendition of the nuppeppō has a culinary theme, placing it under a bronze bell that calls monks to their meals. The nuppeppō itself may be edible; according to Maki Bokusen, a nuppeppō-like creature appeared in the gardens of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. This nikubito (“meat-man”) was taken away to the mountains away from the shogun’s sight. Alas, he discovered too late that it may have been the legendary Hō described in the book of the Hakutaku. One bite of the Hō’s flesh would reinvigorate a person’s constitution.

Shigeru Mizuki added further embellishments to the nuppeppō based on Sekien’s image. His “nuppefuhofu” is a “spirit of flesh” found in deserted temples. Monks that choose to sleep in those temple are unpleasantly awakened by the fleshy sound of its aimless staggering.

The Nopperabō is a later yokai probably derived from the nuppeppō. It is human in appearance except for its face – completely featureless and smooth as an egg. Unlike its older counterpart, the nopperabō is only ever a thing of terror.

References

Foster, M. D. (2015) The Book of Yokai. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Sekien, T.; Alt, M. and Yoda, H. eds. (2017) Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien. Dover Publications, New York.

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Bès Jě’la Kòy

Variations: Hantu Kepala Berduri (Malay), Spiky-head Spirit

The Bès Jě’la Kòy, “spiky-head spirit”, is one of many bès or spirits from the folklore of the Jah Hut people of Malaysia. It lives on top of termite hills and knows how long every person will live. If it judges that a person’s lifespan is too short, it will take them into the termite hill to be friends with it forever.

A spiky-head spirit takes one person a year into its termite hill.

References

Werner, R. (1975) Jah-hět of Malaysia, Art and Culture. Penerbit Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

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