Mythology

Karakondzhul

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Tradition / Region: Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Albania, Kosovo
Alternative names: Karakondzhal, Karakoncolos
Category: Demon

The Myth

The Karakondzhul is a terrifying winter demon from Balkan and Anatolian folklore that appears during the darkest and coldest days of midwinter. These creatures emerge during the dangerous period between Christmas and Epiphany, especially during severe frosts and the “unbaptized days” of winter when the boundary between the human world and the spirit world was believed to weaken.

The demons rise from rivers, caves, frozen lakes, abandoned places, and other unclean locations after midnight. They wander through villages, fields, and riverbanks until the first rooster crows at dawn. During these nights people avoided traveling alone because the Karakondzhuls were believed to attack travelers, leap onto their backs, and force them to run wildly through the darkness until exhaustion or death.

In Serbian tradition, Karakondzhuls were associated with the spirits of children conceived or dead during the impure winter period. They were believed to especially target women and children, scratching faces, drinking blood, and devouring victims.

The appearance of the Karakondzhul changes constantly. Folklore describes them as shaggy black or red humanoids with horns and tails, naked thorn-covered creatures, horse-bodied beings with human heads and wings, monstrous little people that lure victims onto dangerous ice, or animals such as dogs, sheep, and calves. Some traditions considered them werewolf-like beings capable of changing shape freely.

In Turkish and Anatolian folklore, the related Karakoncolos appears as a small black hairy creature roughly the size of a monkey, child, or cat. It roams winter roads at night questioning travelers with strange riddles such as “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going?” The answer had to include the word kara, meaning “black.” If the traveler failed, the creature attacked them using a massive comb.

People believed iron, fire, bread, salt, ashes from the Christmas badnjak fire, and sharp metal objects could repel the demon. In some regions combs were hidden during winter so the Karakoncolos could not use them as weapons.

The Karakondzhul was feared not simply as a monster, but as a spirit of the dangerous winter season itself — a creature of darkness, frost, wilderness, and the chaotic nights when the world temporarily fell outside divine protection.

Sources

Bestiary.us. (n.d.). Karakonj. Retrieved May 16, 2026, from https://www.bestiary.us/karakonj

Almajonas

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Tradition / Region: Portuguese Mythology
Alternative names: Armajonas, Almazonas
Category: Giant

The Myth

The Almajonas are enormous supernatural women from Portuguese folklore believed to be wandering souls of the dead. They appear as gigantic human-like females who roam through remote places carrying children on their backs. According to popular belief, they are almas penadas — restless spirits unable to find peace.

The Almajonas are described as unnaturally tall and powerful, towering over ordinary people. Some traditions portray them almost like female giants wandering silently across hills, forests, and lonely roads. Their appearance was both frightening and strange because despite their monstrous height they still resembled ordinary women.

Folklore says they carried babies or children strapped to their backs while traveling. Some accounts describe them with extremely long breasts which they pulled over their shoulders in order to nurse the children they carried.

In older Portuguese traditions, the word “amazon” was sometimes used as another name for “wild woman,” and the Almajonas seem connected to that idea. Their husbands were sometimes called Alamões, who were also described as very tall supernatural beings.

The Almajonas were not always portrayed as openly violent creatures, but they were feared because they belonged to the world of wandering dead souls and appeared in isolated places far from villages and settlements.

Sources

The Narrator. (2020). Corrilários. In portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com, from https://portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/corrilarios/

Balborinho

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Tradition / Region: Portuguese Mythology
Alternative names: Borborinho, Barborinho, Belborinho
Category: Spirit

The Myth

The Balborinho is a supernatural whirlwind from Portuguese folklore that appears suddenly on roads, fields, and crossroads during hot open hours of the day. It looks like a spinning column of dust, straw, leaves, and wind moving violently across the land. People believed something alive moved inside it.

According to tradition, the Balborinho contains the tormented souls of peasants who committed crimes involving land, theft, or agriculture during life. These dead souls cannot enter heaven because they still owe a debt to the living. The whirlwind wanders endlessly, carrying straw and debris as it searches for rest.

In many regions of Portugal people believed witches, devils, or evil spirits hid inside the spinning wind. In Minho and Moncorvo, villagers threw knives or open razor blades into the center of the whirlwind to drive away the spirit inside it. Elsewhere people crossed themselves and shouted protective prayers or insults at the storm.

Some traditions claimed the straw carried by the Balborinho came from stolen fields and marked places where injustice or wrongdoing had happened. In Guimarães there was even a belief that every leaf spinning inside the whirlwind carried a tiny devil riding upon it.

The Balborinho was especially feared in isolated rural places where sudden whirlwinds could appear without warning. In Beira Alta it was described as a violent localized wind capable of lifting entire piles of straw into the air with loud cracking sounds. People connected these unnatural winds directly with demonic forces.

Although terrifying, the Balborinho was not always seen as purely evil. Some stories described it as a suffering spirit trapped between worlds, wandering because of sins committed in life and unable to find peace.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Balborinho. In Wikipédia. Retrieved May 16, 2026, from https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balborinho

Bicho do Cidrão

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Tradition / Region: Portuguese Mythology
Alternative names: None recorded
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The Bicho do Cidrão is a ghostly being from the mountains of Madeira said to wander the highlands with an invisible flock of sheep. People never clearly see the creature itself, but they hear strange cries echoing through the mountains — sounds identical to the bleating of lambs. These cries are believed to foretell rain, storms, or approaching bad weather.

According to legend, the creature was once a human shepherd who lived in Montado do Cidrão in the region of Curral das Freiras. One day his beloved sheepdog disappeared into the mountains. Desperate and overwhelmed with grief, the shepherd silently promised his soul to the devil if the dog would return.

Soon afterward, the missing dog came back.

After the shepherd eventually died, he did not rest peacefully. Instead, he became the Bicho do Cidrão, a strange supernatural being condemned to roam the mountains forever with his unseen flock. Travelers sometimes claimed to hear phantom sheep moving through foggy valleys or across rocky slopes even when no animals could be seen.

The creature’s mournful cries were feared because they announced storms and rain approaching the island. In older times people in Madeira said the sound could be heard clearly through the mountains during dark or misty weather, though many later claimed the cries had not been heard for many years.

Sources

Bestiary.us. (n.d.). Bishu du Sidran. Retrieved May 16, 2026, from https://www.bestiary.us/bishu-du-sidran/

Aluel

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Tradition / Region: Sudanese Mythology
Alternative names: Lioness-Girl Aluel
Category: Lion

The Myth

Aluel was a terrifying lioness-woman from Dinka mythology who lived between the human world and the wilderness. She appeared as a supernatural young woman but possessed the nature and strength of a monstrous lioness. Wild, powerful, and feared, she hunted human beings and moved through the bush with unnatural speed and ferocity. Some stories describe her almost like a spirit of the untamed land itself.

Aluel became obsessed with a girl named Atholong, whose beauty had spread across the cattle camps. Atholong had been raised from birth by a man named Chol, who loved her from the moment she was born and later intended to marry her. When Aluel heard of the girl’s beauty, she secretly came to the cattle-camp and hid nearby, waiting for a chance to seize her.

One night Atholong wandered near the edge of the camp, and Aluel attacked. The lioness seized her and carried her away deep into the wilderness. Aluel was so powerful and wild that she could fly through the air while carrying her victim. Yet after taking Atholong, she found herself unable to kill her. Each time she prepared to devour the girl, she became overwhelmed by her beauty and delayed the act again. Instead, she brought her meat, cared for her, and kept her hidden in the forest.

The two lived together for a long time in the bush. Atholong would sing mournful songs about her disappearance and about Chol, while Aluel answered her from the darkness of the forest. Eventually warriors from the cattle-camp tried to rescue the girl, but all fled in terror when they encountered the lioness. Even Atholong’s former suitor failed to face her. Only Chol continued onward alone, carrying many sharpened spears.

When Chol finally reached the place where Atholong was held, Aluel was preparing a special platform covered with grass so the girl’s skin would not touch dirt when she ate her. Before fighting, the lioness repeatedly transformed herself into a more savage and monstrous form. Her tongue changed color from red to green to nearly black as she became fully wild and supernatural. Only then did Chol attack her with his spear.

Mortally wounded, Aluel accepted death calmly. Before dying, she blessed Atholong’s future marriage and children. She ordered Chol and Atholong to dedicate a calf to her spirit once their first daughter married, promising fertility, health, and prosperity in return. Chol later fulfilled the command, and Atholong gave birth to many children, becoming the ancestor of a vast family.

Sources

Deng, F. M. (1974). Dinka folktales: African stories from the Sudan. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

Agany

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Tradition / Region: Sudanese Mythology
Alternative names: None recorded
Category: Hero, Human Creature

The Myth

Agany was a supernatural man from Dinka folklore whose true appearance was hidden beneath the skin of a monstrous reptile. Outwardly he appeared terrifying — tall, scaled, awkward, and almost inhuman — because he wore a full suit made from the stitched hides of giant monitor lizards. His body was covered in rough green-black scales, with clawed hands, stiff reptilian limbs, and an elongated lizard-like face. People feared him and treated him like a strange creature rather than a man.

Beneath the disguise, however, Agany possessed extraordinary beauty. When his lizard skin was removed, he appeared as an impossibly handsome young cattle-warrior with glowing skin marked by shifting patterns of black, bronze, pale gold, and deep red like living ritual paint. His body seemed almost radiant beside the fires of the cattle-camp. He was tall and lean yet strongly built, with calm amber-gold eyes, thick dark braided hair decorated with beads and feathers, and graceful movements that fascinated everyone who saw him.

Agany matured unnaturally quickly, growing from infancy into adulthood in a short time. As he grew older, he became famous for his dancing during the goor ceremonies held in the great Dinka cattle-camps beneath the open savannah sky. At dusk, while cattle moved through dust and smoke drifted from the fires, Agany danced among singers and spear-warriors with hypnotic elegance. His presence overwhelmed people despite his quiet voice and calm behavior.

The story describes Agany as a hidden supernatural being whose frightening outer form concealed an almost divine nature. Those who judged only the monstrous reptilian disguise failed to recognize the powerful and beautiful figure hidden beneath it.

Sources

Deng, F. M. (1974). Dinka folktales: African stories from the Sudan. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

Miyar

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Tradition / Region: Sudanese Mythology
Alternative names: Muyar
Category: Lion

The Myth

Miyar was a powerful lion-chief from Dinka folklore who ruled over a hidden settlement of lions living like human cattle-herders deep in the wilderness. He was the son of Yor, a lion warrior, and the nephew of a lioness who had once raised two human brothers named Deng.

After the lioness was killed by her own son for attacking his human foster-brother, Yor came seeking revenge but was himself slain. Before dying, Yor warned that his son Miyar would someday avenge him.

Miyar later became chief among the lion people. His cattle-camp was feared and well known, and both lions and strange hornless cattle lived under his rule. These hornless cattle were believed to belong to the lions and could themselves become lions and lionesses.

The two brothers eventually traveled into the land of the lions to confront Miyar before he could attack them first. Carrying only axes and a club, they searched through lion settlements while singing a song announcing themselves and the deaths of Miyar’s relatives.

When Miyar finally heard the song, he recognized Deng immediately and came out to meet him. Instead of attacking like a wild beast, Miyar chose to wrestle as though he were human. The two fought for a long time before Deng threw Miyar to the ground. Deng’s brother then struck Miyar in the head with an axe and killed him.

After Miyar’s death, panic spread through the lion camp. The lions fled into the wilderness, and the hornless cattle transformed into lions and disappeared with them into the forest. Only ordinary horned cattle remained behind for the brothers to take home.

Sources

Deng, F. M. (1974). Dinka folktales: African stories from the Sudan. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

Hornless Lion Cattle

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Tradition / Region: Sudanese Mythology
Alternative names: Lion Cattle, Hornless Cattle of the Lions
Category: Lion, Cow

The Myth

Among the Dinka, hornless cattle were believed to be dangerous and unnatural animals closely connected to lions and wilderness spirits. Unlike ordinary cattle with horns, hornless cattle were feared for their aggression and strange behavior. Folktales claimed they did not truly belong to human beings at all, but to lions.

One famous story tells of two brothers both named Deng. One was born to a human mother, while the other was the son of a lioness who had raised both boys together as brothers. Although the lioness cared for them for many years, she eventually turned against the human Deng and attacked him out of jealousy and beastly hunger. After many struggles, the lioness was killed by her own son to protect his brother.

Later, the lioness’s relatives sought revenge. The two brothers traveled into the land of the lions to confront Miyar, the lion-chief and cousin of Deng of the lioness. After reaching the lion settlement, Deng challenged Miyar and killed him in combat.

The death of the lion chief caused panic throughout the camp. The lions fled into the wilderness, and with them fled the strange hornless cattle that belonged to them. According to the tale, these hornless cows transformed into lions and lionesses and disappeared into the forest alongside their masters.

Only the ordinary horned cattle remained behind for the human brothers to take home.

The story explains an old Dinka belief that hornless cattle possessed something wild and dangerous within them. They were thought to follow lions naturally, behave more fiercely than ordinary cattle, and even share a spiritual connection with predatory beasts. In folklore, hornless cattle were not fully separated from the world of lions, but stood somewhere between domesticated animal and supernatural creature.

Sources

Deng, F. M. (1974). Dinka folktales: African stories from the Sudan. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

Kotoko and the Magical Hoe

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Tradition / Region: Ghana Mythology
Alternative names: Kotoko the Porcupine
Category: Object

The Myth

Kotoko, the Porcupine, was believed to possess a magical hoe unlike any ordinary farming tool. The enchanted hoe could clear enormous stretches of land by itself whenever the correct song was spoken.

One story tells that Kwaku Ananse the Spider lived together with his strange children — Tikononkono, Afudotwedotwe, and Nyiwankonfwea — alongside Kotoko the Porcupine. When Kotoko began clearing a new farm, Ananse begged him for a small piece of land to cultivate for himself, and Kotoko agreed.

While Ananse and his children struggled to dig the earth by hand, Kotoko returned home to eat. When he came back, he lifted his magical hoe and sang:

“Gyensaworowa, Kotoko saworowa…”

At once the hoe sprang to life and rapidly turned over huge stretches of land by itself. When the work was finished, Kotoko carefully hid the magical tool. But Ananse secretly watched where it had been hidden and decided to steal it the next morning.

Very early the next day, Ananse took the hoe and carried it to his own farm. He repeated the magical song exactly as Kotoko had done. The hoe immediately began clearing the land at tremendous speed.

But Ananse did not know how to stop it.

The magical hoe continued digging endlessly, racing farther and farther away. It crossed the lands of the Sea God and eventually reached the country of distant white men. There the foreigners discovered the strange tool, examined it, and began making many more hoes modeled after it.

According to the story, this is how hoes first spread among the Ashanti people. Before that time, only Kotoko the Porcupine possessed such a tool.

Sources

Rattray, R. S. (1930). Akan-Ashanti folk-tales. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Sango the Eagle

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Tradition / Region: Ghana Mythology
Alternative names: Sango, Sango the Bird
Category: Bird

The Myth

Sango was a powerful magical eagle known for supernatural abilities and terrifying vengeance. She could heal wounds, transform the land itself, restore forests, destroy entire villages, and command reality with spoken words.

One story tells of Sango meeting an old woman suffering from a terrible sore on her leg. The eagle healed the wound instantly with magic. She then transformed the empty land around the woman into farms, houses, and finally an enormous town. In return for all this, Sango asked only for a silk-cotton tree where she could build her nest.

The old woman agreed, and Sango settled there, laying two eggs in the great tree. After hatching her children, she left to search for food. While she was gone, the old woman’s grandchild demanded to eat the eagle’s young. The child cried and screamed until the old woman ordered the villagers to cut down the silk-cotton tree and seize the eaglets.

As the axes struck the tree, one of the young eagles climbed to the edge of the nest and cried out desperately for its mother:

“Sango, the bird!
Sango, come back!”

Sango heard the cries and rushed back through the sky. Using her magic word “Sanguri,” she restored the nearly-fallen tree and swallowed the attackers within it. After feeding her children, she warned them and left once more.

But the villagers returned again. This time Sango was too far away to hear the cries. The silk-cotton tree crashed down, and the villagers captured the eaglets. One escaped, but the other was roasted and eaten by the old woman’s grandchild.

When Sango returned and learned what had happened, she flew to the village in fury. She spoke her magic again:

“Sanguri.”

At once the people vanished. Again she spoke, and every house collapsed. Again the village became wilderness. Finally, the old woman’s terrible sore returned to her leg exactly as before.

Sango then declared that kindness must be repaid with kindness, not betrayal and cruelty.

Sources

Rattray, R. S. (1930). Akan-Ashanti folk-tales. Oxford: Clarendon Press.