Vampires, Werewolves... anything else out there?

well we have all heard about vampires and werewolves but i am wondering to myself... is there anything else like them? allow me to explain.

those of us who are interested in mythical creatures have probably heard of such things as a unicorn, a pegasus etc. but i am interested in mythical beings which pass for human such as a vampire or a lycanthrope.

if anyone has any information on such beings please share!

there's an amazing world right in front of you ! there are amazing, incredible, fascinating creatures you can actually touch, see and smell ! if you prefer the bizarre or exotic, just look at deep sea fish or insects !

I hope you understand I 'm just trying to point out there are beautiful animals on this earth that deserve awe and attention. Does the fact that they exist make them boring ? If so, pretend an ATS member just discovered this !

www.seasky.org...

As for werewolves, there are a whole variety of were-creatures if you search google.

But most of them comes from diffrent Dungeons & Dragons related game-worlds.

Wereslugs forexample...

Well, maybe not skinwalkers per se, but there are many cultural occurances where humans transform into other things. (I'm doing some research on the topic for both a student film and for publication on this topic, by the way.)

Probably the closest concept would be the "spirit helpers" of the American Indian shamans. The shamans could, when needed, go into a trance and transform (in the "dreamtime") as their helper. There were all kinds of these animals; some were evil (the kushtaka -- "giant land otters" of Alaska) but most were neutral. They seemed to have specific roles (rattlesnake was a messenger to the underworld.)

I was particularly fascinated by those who had cougars as their spirit animal.

Now... I'm glossing over a LOT of cultural/ethnographic material here. Much of it is poorly understood because of the way Indians were treated (forced civilization, forced Christianization.) Much of what they did and knew has been lost. We don't have much material from one culture, but we do have quite a bit from many different cultures.

In the *real* shamanism from Siberia (which we do have good documentation on... and please don't go by what New Age books say!), there are somewhat similar associations with animals. We do have a decent amount of material on this, thankfully (Piers Vitebsky's "Shamanism" is a reasonable start, though not perhaps the best.)

(g) I'll avoid all the legend and legendary things (you could go on endlessly about that, and there are many stories such as that of the Mother Whose Daughter Became A Wolf (a story of how far a mother's love will go to rescue her child.))

So, yes, lots of things in certain areas. And then there's the "bear-sarkers" (berserkers)

[edit on 16-8-2004 by Byrd]

here is an explaination of what is thought to be the explaination for werewolfism:Scientific Explanation of Werewolf Phenomenon:
There is a family of circus performers that are suffering from a disease (sorry, I can't seem to find pics on them). They have been on television a number of times on shows like Ripley's Believe it or not

The werewolf myth is probably generated from a number of sources. The most obvious is the excessive hair growth disease/genetic disorder. Another interesting theory is that certain mentally ill individuals have an imbalance with their brain fluids and, because of the moon's effect on the tides, they act out when there is a full moon. I did a paper on lycanthrophy and mental disorders back in college, too bad I never saved it.

Agreed Jonna, I was looking for more sources of where werewolfism origionated. (really could use the photos of that mexican family)

if my memory serves me correctly, i can remember reading many tales of ancient druids who would drape themselves in wolf skins and take halucogenic mushrooms...they would actually think that they were wolves
and so would the rest of the tribes who employed there services.
the american indians had the same views i think.
maybe this is where the legends started.

sometimes when my hair grows i put chicago bulls vest on and that makes me feel like micheal j fox so i know it works....lol

The viking berserkers did a similar thing. The name 'Berserker' comes from the Norse words for 'Bear shirt'. Apparently they would become almost insane on rage and/or drink and it would make them feel virtually impervious in battle - they feared nothing.

Yes! Me in the morning before I brush my hair and have caffeine - I look like Cousin It and I'll rip your head off in one bite

Try Kitsune ...

She takes a number of different vulpine forms (sometimes with a number of tails [not tales]), and shifts 'twixt human and fox, mostly at will.

Her stories seem to go back a while, and appears to have had a bit of a difficult relationship with humans by and large (so she is true to the rest of the natural world, sadly). She seems more misunderstood than anything, which leads to bad situations, rather than being just malicious for the sake of it.

I wouldn't say she could be descried as a lycan tho' - ('lykos' = 'wolf') - but would fit with the definition of Theriomorphic

On a whole ethnographically different, but etymological similar track - what about the early run of Egyptian deities ?

There would appear to be plenty of scope there - although I *think* these were fixed forms, not shifting ones, but I'm a bit sketchy on Egypt ...

yeah theres something else out there, its alot like a werewolf though... its called a teenager.. you know... big, hairy, frenzy for food, gets angry super easily, smells really bad, etc. these creatures exist everywhere they live among us and steal our intelligence and our food waiting for the day that they can take over our world.

Things that look human..

Norse legends have many of these creatures..
Elfs, gnomes, trolls.. Shapeshifters of all types..

Heres two interesting ones..

Skogsrå
Näcken

reply to post by benjitheninja

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OMG NO WAY !!!
I think im one of those!

Damn, someone beat me to kitsune. Would like to point out that there are more than one kitsune(seemed like 0951 was saying there was one) and I've read of male ones. The majority of stories do seem to involve female kitsune though.

Illusions are a specialty of theirs. They are known for being tricksters. Many stories involve them disguising themselves as women and tricking or falling in love with men. They are also known for possessing people.

The number of tails a kitsune possesses is believed to be based on their age(new tail every 100 years). Generally nine tails is the max, but the first link I've provided mentions a kitsune with a thousand tails. Another distinctive trait of a kitsune is that they are said to carry around a ball. I don't remember reading a definitive answer about the balls purpose, but it's valuable to them(maybe their soul or the key to their powers).

Some consider kitsune to be servants of Inari. I usually think of kitsune as being more spiritual beings than physical beings. Some stories do depict them as being physical though

www.comnet.ca...
en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 16-8-2009 by kitfox]

there are also a whole heap of demons that take the form of a human

there is one that i have read something about that takes the form of a woman and at night the head floats around to eat souls

or a woman with a mouth on the back of her head and stuff like that you should check monstropedia there are definitively more on that site

reply to post by Daystar

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ha finally someone willing to hear the truth. there are many beings out there that desguise themselves as human. for instance, the caster, commonly known as a witch although that is insulting. also there are many types of hybrid creatures. for instance, i am a werewolf/vampire/caster. becasue you dont have to be one of these creatures from birth it is possible. also there are sirens, almost like mirmaids but they eat flesh....

umm sorry if someone put this down already but what about a bastet.... otherwise known as a version of a were-cat..... they can change from 0% cat 100% human, 30% cat 70% human, 50% cat 50% human, 70% cat 30% human, and 100% cat 0% human.... they originate from egypt and are named after the cat goddess bast.... heres a link for more info.....

Bastet/Were-Cat



if you want 2 try to find other creatures go to this site

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