Other Things That Go Bump In the Night

Banshee: Long ago in Ireland, during a funeral rite a woman known as a caoinadh, or keeners, would sing a lament for the deceased. It was believed that before a death, the singing could be heard, giving rise to the belief in a banshee, or bean sídhe, meaning "fairy woman," or "supernatural woman." It is believed to be a spirit who wails horribly before the death of a family member.

Black Aggie: When the Irish and Scottish people immigrated into southern America they brought with them a wealth of folklore. The Scottish people believed in a being known as Black Annis, a blue-skinned woman who lived in the Scottish Highlands and would eat people. This being is known as Black Aggie in the southern United States today, and is believed to be the spirit of a witch who haunts graveyards and eats wayward visitors. The Russians also had a version of this archetype called Baba Yaga. This legend probably traveled to a town close to Baltimore, where a black angel statue stood on Druid Hill Cemetery. At night, the statue was said to cause horrible noises and have lights hovering over it. It was later bought by the Smithsonian.

Boggart: The original name for what is now known as the Boogeyman. In English it is known as a bugge, meaning "frightening specter." In Welsh and German folklore it is equated with goblins, and in Scotland it appears as a bogle, meaning "ghost."

Fairy: In Ireland they are known as Sídhe and are probably representations of the culture that one lived in Ireland, known as the Tuatha De Danann. They are inevitably connected with the dead. Long ago people were buried in mounds of dirt all across Europe, and the abode of the fairy is considered mounds. In Scandinavia, ancestor spirits are known as elves.

In Slavic, Russian culture, the elf is known as a domovoy. It is a spirit that lives in a house underneath the stove. In Polish culture, one would be attracted by putting a piece of bread down before the stove was put in, and if the family moved, an old boot had to be provided as a hiding place for the spirit to get to the new house. If the spirit tortured the livestock or was unhappy for some reason and the family woke to a messy house (linking it to a poltergeist), salted white bread wrapped in white linen would often appease the spirit. It is believed that the spirit would howl when a family member was going to die, linking him to the banshee.

The Native North American Cherokee Indians also had their own version:+

Anisgaya Tsunsdi: Considered to be the sons of the first man on earth, they are great wonderworkers. They are also called “thunder boys,” and have an affinity for the Honey Locust tree, that lightning is believed never to strike.

Atsil-dihye Gi: Little people who are called “fire carriers,” who appear as will-o-the-wisp, or glowing balls of light over moist ground or bogs (swamp gas); considered very unfriendly.

Dunwi Tsunsdi: Little people that are no bigger than a couple of feet, they often glow and are powerful guides.

Nunnehi: Meaning, “immortals;” little people who assist in battle.

Tsagasi: Mischievous little people.

Tsawasi: A little person often called on for assistance in a hunt.

Tsundigewi: Little people who are often eaten by birds.

Yunwi Amayine Hi: Little people who live in water and assist fishermen and help those who are seasick.

Yunwi Tsunsdi: Also called the Yunwi Tsusdi; they look just like the Cherokee, but are the size of children, can become invisible, honor the moon and can be helpful and friendly, unless they are hunted or insulted; this tale is very similar to the Irish fairy.

Foxfire: A ball of light and/or fire that roams the forest, looking to attack people; also called will-o-the-wisp; the Cherokee called it Atsil-dihye Gi.

Ghoul: In The Realm of Ghosts (1964), Eric Maple tells that this is an Arabic ghost that steals corpses, much like the French goblin. This create, however, enjoys carrying off the bodies of small children. An article on ghouls on Wikipedia translates the word to mean, “demon,” that can assume any shape, but especially enjoys parading around as a hyena.

Gremlin: In The Ghost Book (1955), Scottish folklorist Alasdair Alpin MacGregor describes these creatures as being used to explain a rash of equipment failure onboard Britain's Royal Air Force planes during World War II. In A Dictionary of Ghosts, Peter Haining goes on to explain that perhaps these creatures are somehow formed by the electromagnetic fields that are generated by machinery. In an article on gremlins by Wikipedia explains how Roald Dahl transferred from the Royal Air Force to America when he wrote the fictional book The Gremlins that eventually became a poplar movie.

Gwrach-y-rhibyn: A Welsh creature that looks like a frail, old woman with a large nose, dark hair and dark, sunken eyes, wearing black that conceals her leathery bat wings. In the eighteenth century, this hag was believed to inhabit Caerphilly Castle and bath in the Caerffili swamp. In the nineteenth century, she was said to frequent the twelfth century Pennard Castle and bewitch anyone who slept there. Her name literally means, “Hag of the Tattered Vestments,” describing her disheveled appearance.

The creature originated from tales of the Scottish Cailleach, sometimes called Cailleach Bheur, a Gaelic word that simply means, “veiled one.” She was seen as the seasonal counterpart to the goddess Bride (also, Brigit or Brighit, meaning, “exalted one”) and reined over the colder months. The Lowland Scottish word for "hag" is carline, which has evolved to mean, “witch.” She is sometimes thought to have blue skin, like a corpse, and is associated with the creature Black Annis and the Banshees of Irish mythology.

Sasquatch: From the Native North American Indian words “sokqueatl” and “soss-q'tal,” it was termed in the 1920s by J.W. Burns, a schoolteacher at a British Columbia, Chehalis reservation who collected account of giant ape-like creatures from Native North American Indians; to the Cherokee, he is synonymous with Tsul Kalu, the “sloping giant,” he is the "Great Lord of the Hunt,” and is often invoked for hunting. Some believe that Big Foot is a memory of the Gigantopithecus, a giant species of ape that existed until around 100 years ago in remote locations of China, India, and Vietnam. This creature exists in other cultures as:

Almas, or Almasty, is a similar creature that reportedly lives in the Caucasus Mountains in the Kazakhstan Republic in central Asia.

Am Fear Liath Mòr, also known as the he "Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui," is a creature that stalks the mountainous region of MacDhui in Scotland.

Hibagon is the name given to the creature in the mountainous regions of Japanese islands such as Hiroshima.

Jobran is similarly described in the Middle East; the name means “the beast” in the Urdu language.

Maricoxi is the name given to this creature in certain South American regions.

Woodwose, also called Wudewas, from the Anglo-Saxon wuduwasa, meaning “wood men,” were men with hair all over their bodies who often carried clubs and were reported all over Western Europe. In China, these wildmen were called Yeren and Xueren, and in Vietnam they are called Nguoi Rung.

Yeti is the name given to the creature in the Himalayas. In Tibetan the name translates to “little man-like animal,” in Old English, “troll,” in Sanskrit it means, “demon,” and in the Sherpa language spoken in parts of Nepal, it means, “creature of the glacier.” In 1921, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury (1881 – 1963) was on an expedition to the Everest region and discovered giant footprints 20,000 feet above sea level. He related the events to Henry Newman who was a reporter for The Statesman, in Calcutta who mistranslated the Sherpa word for the creature into abominable, hence the term Abominable Snowman.

Yowie is the name used by Aborigines of Australia to describe a similar creature. 17th Century European settlers mistook the native’s name for the beast and took to calling it Yahoo.

Slant-eyed People: In James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, coauthors James Mooney and George Ellison retell the Native North American Cherokee Indian legend of Tsunil Kalu, or “slant-eyed people.” They are giants from the west and in some tales they would live in caves in heavily wooded mountaintops. When children would go missing, these giants were to blame. In the legends, the Cherokee prayed to the Great Spirit to deliver them, so the Great Spirit sent lightning to set fire to the mountaintops, killing the giants in the caves and leaving the mountaintops bald permanently.

Spearfinger: In James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, coauthors James Mooney and George Ellison retell the Native North American Cherokee Indian legend of Utlunta, or “spear finger.” She disguised herself as an old lady in a shawl. The shawl, however, covered up her razor-sharp rock teeth and her awl finger on her right hand, with which she could pierce a child’s body to retrieve the liver without even leaving a mark. She was most active in autumn when fallen leaves were being burned and children were collecting chestnuts, and had a special fondness of little girls. She is similar to the creature Lilith of ancient Jewish mythology. She was allegedly Adam’s first wife but because she was unwilling to take an inferior position to him, she left the Garden of Eden and became a vampire-like demon that was blamed for what we call today crib death.Spearfinger: In James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, coauthors James Mooney and George Ellison retell the Native North American Cherokee Indian legend of Utlunta, or “spear finger.” She disguised herself as an old lady in a shawl. The shawl, however, covered up her razor-sharp rock teeth and her awl finger on her right hand, with which she could pierce a child’s body to retrieve the liver without even leaving a mark. She was most active in autumn when fallen leaves were being burned and children were collecting chestnuts, and had a special fondness of little girls. She is similar to the creature Lilith of ancient Jewish mythology. She was allegedly Adam’s first wife but because she was unwilling to take an inferior position to him, she left the Garden of Eden and became a vampire-like demon that was blamed for what we call today crib death.

Spook: In A Dictionary of Ghosts, Peter Haining recounts the Native North American Indian tale that this benevolent type of spirit can attach to people without them knowing it, and suddenly take over their personality to help them achieve greatness. However, today it is used as another name for a ghost.

Stone Man: In James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, coauthors James Mooney and George Ellison retell the Native North American Cherokee Indian legend of Nunyunuwi, or “stone man.” He was the husband of Spear Finger who walked with a cane. However, the cane was made of rock and he also enjoyed eating children’s livers.

Sticky Dog: Many old wives tales about monsters were created for a very good reason: to protect children from harm. So might be the case when it comes to the Kelpie in Scottish mythology. The Kelpie was a shape-shifting water horse that would coax children to ride on them, on to plunge into a deep bog and drown the child. English settlers, however, brought over a tale about Sticky Dog. Any dog could be Sticky Dog, even the most friendly-looking one. But when a child would try to pet the dog, he would get his hand caught and the dog would instantly jump into a river or lake to drown the child. Perhaps this story was created to protect children from rabies, which was very common in earlier times.

Syghosphous: This creature lives in wooded areas. This small (it is about 2 ½ - 3 feet tall) and ugly creature is hairless, has a tail and walks upright like a man on chicken-like legs. This tale bears striking resemblance to the Chupacabra, or Mexican goat eater, though it is often associated with Puerto Rico and the word actually translates to mean, “goat sucker” because the creature is often blamed for sucking the blood from livestock. An interesting side bar: In rural parts of Northeast Tennessee, a “psypookis,” which is a similar sounding word, is used to describe a storm with gale-force winds and rain.

Uktena: In James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, coauthors James Mooney and George Ellison retell this Native North American Cherokee Indian legend. This word means, “strong-looker,” and describes a huge serpent that favor water (the places they live in the water is called waginsi) that has a rainbow-colored neck and a diamond in the center of its brow. This stone is called ulstitlu, meaning, “it is on its head,” but shamans call it ulunsuti, meaning, “transparent.” This is actually rutile quartz with a copper vein running through it that is kept as a talisman for success in hunting, love, rainmaking and especially fortune telling. The stone was very sacred and had to be hidden and fed blood before it was needed. This creature is in close relation to Sint Holo, a mystical, invisible horned serpent who appears to men with great wisdom.

Ulagu: In Native North American Cherokee Indian mythology, “The Great Yellow Jacket” who lives in caves and snatches children.

Ustutli: In Native North American Cherokee Indian mythology, a giant snake with three feet.

Utburd: A Norse word that literally means, “child carried outside.” When a family was too large and food was scarce or a child was born deformed, the mother might set it outside of the home to die of exposure. Sometimes, this infant becomes a spirit that torments the family. In Hindu mythology, these spirits are called Masan, are just as destructive, though they will kill children if it got the chance.

Wampas Cat: The Wampas Cat is a bright-eyed, unusually large cat that walks on its hind legs and has been reported all over northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia.

The book Demon in the Woods: Tall Tales and True from East Tennessee (1992) by Charles Edwin Price recounts the legend of the Native North American Cherokee Indian monster, the Wampas Cat (sometimes spelled wampus). Price believes the Cherokee once called the creature Ewah, meaning, “ugly demon.” It apparently had the ability to drive people insane. When her husband became a victim, Running Deer put on a mountain lion’s skin and went into the woods where her appearance scared the dreaded creature away. It is believed that she still roams the woods fending the monster away.

In another story told in Spooky South: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore (2004) by S. E. Schlosser and Paul G. Hoffma, this cat-like creature was said to have been the result of Cherokee “medicine.” A woman who did not trust her husband followed him to a council meeting in the disguise of a mountain lion. When she was discovered, the two authors say, the council transfigured her into the Wampas Cat.

On a forum on the Internet site WordWizard, one user, Leif, explains that this creatures name could have originated from the Native North American Cherokee Indian word, catawampus, another name for the catamount, or mountain lion.