Creatures of Myths & Legends

I am a lover of myths and legends especially all the weird creatures that pop up. Im a believer that all myths, legends and fables originated from true encounters at some point, perhaps those encounters were just animals we know off today or extinct ones, or maybe there is something more to it, who knows. I hope you enjoy the thread, and please as always if you have more you want to share please do, and remember below is only a select few of the stories out there.

Strangely enough most mythical creatures can be divided into 2 basic groups:
Group 1: Creatures that everyone agrees must have exsisted at one point or still do today. Its worth noting however that creatures int his group are reliant on written works and word of mouth, the tales passed down become legends and therefor the legend becomes history.
Group 2: Creatures that are thought to just be off the imagination and not everyone agrees that they ever existed, like your magical creatures - this type we see bombarded onto our screen with photo’s, articles and movies

Dragons



There are not many in the world who would have not have heard about the legends of the dragons, very large fire breathers, with powers & who can fly. For thousands of years these creatures have been apart of our history and folklore and various countries have their own versions of stories surrounds them. Dragons were thought to by many be able to suvive any type of terrain – from the dephs of the oceans to the most unhaspitable places on the planet, there are even stories about sky dragons. Most of the stories surrounding these beasts center around them being evil and destructive, they were the guardians protecting secret treasures and secrets. Even though they are heavily decribed in legends and tales it is belived that these stories could have origionated from real life creatures i:e dinosaurs and other such reptiles that roamed the earth before mankind.


According to cryptozoologists they belive that Archosaurs (lineage includes crocodiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and many other diapsids) are related to the dragon, although it has ot be said there is no physical evidence to support this. Giant lizards are also said to be related to the dragon cryptozoologists call then Megalania (great roamers). These were thought to have become extinct some 400,000 years ago however they belive that they could still be alive today due to various accounts they have recived of sightings.

The TommyKnockers



And no not the Stephen king type , not sure if you can truly say these are creatures, but I wanted to include them here. According to the stories, these creatures were 2ft tall dwarfs, and they were said to have lived in the mines or underground. They are said to have dressed like miners, have long beards, large heads, arms that reached the ground and very age worn wrinkly skin. Other names these have been known by are Knockers, Kobolds, Wichtlein, Berggeister, they are also very much similar to the legends of the Leprachauns of irlnad folklore and the brownies of England.
The tommyknockers could have been seen as both good and bad, it was apparently dependant on wether or not they liked you, the miners reported that if they were favored the tonnyknockers would warn of impending doom in the mines by knockin on the walls, they would be directed ot precious metals and such – in turn the miners would leave food as a gift. If however these creatures disliked you they were said to torment you and cause mischieve i.e taking tools and food and being able to cause mine shafts to collapse.

Zombies



Something most of us will know about thanks to movies and such like. Not technically a *creature* But are they possible, or real? Unlike most stories of mythical creatures – whose unnatural roots tend to stem from the catholic church, the zombie stories originated in Haiti, the stories steeped in Voodoo magic.
From what I can remember from reading various reports on the Haiti Zombies Voodoo Priests (hougans) use a certain type of drug on people – this makes the person fall into a very deep trancelike, unconscious state. When examined the person is deemed to be dead and is buried. After a time the voodoo priest will dig up the body and removes the person, the person is put to use as a slave for the priest. What is said to have happened is that family members have come across what they thought were their dead loved ones (thinkin they are undead), or the said zombie has sometimes come out of its trance like state and made its way home. They can awaken either by missing their drug-take, or by purposely or accidently being given a quantity of salt. Salt somehow acts as a counter-effect to the houngans zombie drug.
Needless to say, when the person comes out of his trance after months or even years, there comes a story of revenge. Sometimes the houngan is killed or jailed and other times the now-woken zombie is the one silenced. There is a lot more to the legends of these so its well worth a look see.

Basilisk



This was also known as the Cockatrice, a creature said to have been born from a yokless egg that was laid during the days of Sirius (the dog star) by a rooster and was hatched by a toad. A very strange looking creature, it is thought that perhaps the stories orgionated in india and was mistaken for the horned adder or the hooded cobra, Pliny describing it as a snake with a golden crown. By the time the middle ages rolled around the stories became that this creature had the body of a snake and the head of a cockral or even a human, in art work this creature is symbolized as the antichrist – to the prodosants of the time it symbolized the papacy.
According to the legends there are 2 different types of this creature, one burns everything it approaches and the other can kill just by looking at you. The only way to kill a basilisk is by holding a mirror in front of its eyes, while avoiding to look directly at it. The moment the creature sees its own reflection, it will die of fright. A natural enemy of the basilisk is said to be the weasel as it is immune to its glance, and if the weasel is bitten it eats a plant called Rue. Another enemy is said to be the crow – if this creature were to hear a crow it would die instantly.

Mongolian Death Worm



This creature has been in many a story in the gobi desert, it is said to be a giant worm that is poisionous and is said to table to squirt lethal venom and discharge electric shocks over several feet. It is told to be 5 ft in lenth and resembles a cows intestine, it also has spikes podruding from both ends.

Bladenboro Beast



The stories started in the 1950’s, Bladenboro is a small town over in Bladen County about 80 miles southeast of
Rockingham, just beyond Lumberton, it is said ti resemble a cross between a wolf and a bear. Locals who reported it at the time describe it as having a “round face, shiny eyes and large teeth.”, even today the creature is said to still be spotted.

Continued below

The Legend of the Phenoix



The phenoix is known as a fire bird, from ancient Egypt. it is told that when the bird dies in fire It is reborn from the ashes. Described as being the size of a large eagle with gold & red feathers. The life span is said to be between 500-1461 years and its tears are said to heal any wounds. According to legends the phoenix builds its own funeral pyre, and throws itself upon the flames to be burnt up. Then, after a number of days, the phoenix emerges from the ashes (or flames, depending on the source of the legend).

AHUIZOTL



Described as a strange looking creature like a mix between a dog and a seal with ah uman hand places at the end of the tail. It was feared by the Aztecs because it had a love of human flesh, nails, eyes and teeth were said to be delicacies ot the creature. It is said to have lived in the waters and would use its hand to snatch people who strayed to close to the edge, it is said that the creature would let out cries and sobs and when someone came to see what was wrong they would be snatched and dragged to the bottom and eaten.

questing beast



The Questing Beast has a serpents head, leopards body and lions hindquarters. In various sources it is said to have a hare's paws, or a deer's hooves. When cited as having deer's hooves, it is said to be a beast with great speed. In any case, it is continually running seeking water to slake its unquenchable thirst. As it runs, its belly omits the sound of a pack of forty hounds. It is a symbol of incest and anarchy, begotten by the Devil on a princess who accused her brother of rape after he rejected her advances. It appears several times in Mallory’s Le Mort D’Arthur.

As you can see these are only a select few, there are literally hundreds and hundreds that could be added, please share your own interesting stories and legends of mythical creatures.

Got one for you:

Ouroboros: Wiki this is generally thought of as a snake eating it's tail. The thing is that most the early pictures of the Ouroboros had feet:




Which means that we're not looking for a snake that grabs it's tail, we're looking for this creature:



It is an Armadillo Lizard.

reply to post by CynicalDrivel


wow that is cool, and kinda freaky looking thanks for the share

reply to post by ronishia


I am wondering about the possibility that 'some' of the Dragon's sighted could actually be UFO's somehow disguised if only in the witness's perception? I told WOS and put myself outthere by telling on his older forum about my 3 boys swearing they saw a Dragon once.

Well my youngest yesterday came in and told me that he saw it again. I wont go all into detail right now but am perplexed by his honest thought on what he thinks he saw. I think it was about 4-5 years ago that the kids first saw it.

Edit to say what a beautifully written thread.

reply to post by CynicalDrivel




That is an amazing picture!

reply to post by ronishia


Mythical creatures from other dimensions.

Originally posted by ronishia
The Legend of the Phenoix

The phenoix is known as a fire bird, from ancient Egypt. it is told that when the bird dies in fire It is reborn from the ashes. Described as being the size of a large eagle with gold & red feathers. The life span is said to be between 500-1461 years and its tears are said to heal any wounds. According to legends the phoenix builds its own funeral pyre, and throws itself upon the flames to be burnt up. Then, after a number of days, the phoenix emerges from the ashes (or flames, depending on the source of the legend).

edit on 8/10/11 by ronishia because: (no reason given)

The phoenix, like quite a few other creatures, has already been identified by paleontology. The original phoenix was Egyptian, and called Benu. The Benu is actually represented in many Egyptian murals and tombs:

media.kunst-fuer-alle.de...

Like you can see, it looks nothing like an eagle, but rather like an obvious heron. The interesting thing is that a giant heron DID exist in the region of Northern Africa and Arabia until relatively recently; it is known scientifically as Ardea bennuides, and was probably about two meters tall... meaning that the scale in the Egyptian murals is actually accurate!
It is easy to imagine that such a large, rare bird would capture the imagination of the Egyptians, especially if, as the myth says, they returned to nest in the temple of Ra. Although Ardea bennuides went extinct, its memory survived, eventually becoming adorned by both Egyptians and Greek until it became what we know today as a phoenix.

PS- How do you post pictures? I'm new, you see