Monday, February 20, 2012

Alphabeast #19 Soucouyant


A kind of witch-vampire in Dominica, Trinidadian and Guadeloupean folklore, the soucouyant that lives by day as an old woman at the end of the village. By night, however, she strips off her wrinkled skin, puts it in a mortar, and flies in the shape of a fireball through the darkness, looking for a victim. Still in the shape of a fireball, the soucouyant enters the home of her victim through the keyhole or any crack or crevice.

Soucouyants suck the blood of people from their arms, legs and other soft parts while they sleep. If the soucouyant draws out too much blood from her victim, it is believed that the victim will die and become a soucouyant herself, or else perish entirely, leaving her killer to assume her skin.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Alphabeast #18 - Rusalka


In Slavic mythology, a rusalka was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway.

According to most traditions, they were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers. In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead them away to the river floor to their death.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Alphabeast #17 Queen of Hearts



My take on Lewis Caroll's classic character.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Alphabeast #16 Psychai



Psychai are the butterfly-winged goddesses/nymphs that are the progeny of Psyche. They are kin to the god Eros and his fellow Erotes.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Alphabeast #14 Nekomusume


The literal translation is "Cat daughter". It can be a cat with supernatural powers, or the ability to change itself into a human.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Alphabeast #13 Mara


In Croatian, "mora" refers to a "nightmare". Mora or Mara is one of the spirits from ancient Slav mythology. Mara was a dark spirit that takes a form of a beautiful woman and then visits men in their dreams, torturing them with desire, and dragging life out of them.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Alphabeast #12 Longana


The Longana appear in legends of the people living in Cadore, Italy. They are described as female with goat-like appendages. They are depicted as intelligent and beautiful women, and they regularly converse with spirits, which explains their extraordinary knowledge of natural events.