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Ud Ata

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Tradition / Region: Turkic mythology (Oghuz, Kyrgyz, Buryat traditions)
Alternate Names: Boğa Ata
Category: God / bull

The Myth

Ud Ata is the bull god, a powerful divine being who protects bulls and embodies strength. He is associated with physical force, vitality, and the sacred power believed to dwell within horned animals. In the traditions of the Oghuz Turks, Ud Ata is remembered as the being who gave his name to Oğuz Kağan, linking the legendary ruler directly to the strength and authority of the bull.

The horns of heroes are said to be inspired by the bull. These horns are signs of power and are closely connected with the moon. A single horn, or two horns placed side by side, resemble the crescent shape of the moon. Because of this, horns are understood as symbols of both strength and celestial order.

Among the Kyrgyz, it was believed that the world itself rested upon the horns of an ox. This belief placed the bull at the foundation of existence, supporting the earth and maintaining balance through its strength.

Ud Ata is also said to take on a physical form. In some tales, he appears as a gray bull and wrestles with other bulls. In another tradition, Ud Ata, in the form of a bull, unites with a young woman, and a child is born from this union. The Buryat people are said to descend from this child. Because of this ancestral connection, it is known that the Buryats once offered gray bulls as sacrifices to Ud Ata.

Through these stories, Ud Ata appears as a divine bull who grants names, strength, lineage, and protection, moving between godhood and animal form while shaping the fate of peoples and the structure of the world itself.

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Jörmungandr

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Tradition / Region: Norse mythology (Scandinavia)
Alternate Names: Midgard Serpent, World Serpent (Miðgarðsormr)
Category: Snake / world-serpent

The Myth

Jörmungandr is the immense serpent who dwells in the world-sea that surrounds Midgard, the realm of humankind. He is so vast that his body encircles the entire world, and he lies beneath the waves biting his own tail. As long as he holds his tail, the world remains intact. When he releases it, the end of all things will begin.

He is the child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, and the brother of Fenrir and Hel. When the gods learned of these children, Odin seized them. Fenrir was bound, Hel was cast into the realm of the dead, and Jörmungandr was thrown into the great ocean. There, the serpent grew without limit until he encircled Midgard itself.

From that time onward, Jörmungandr and Thor were bound as enemies.

Thor first encounters the serpent at the hall of the giant king Útgarða-Loki. There, Thor is challenged to perform feats meant to humiliate him. One such trial is to lift a massive gray cat. Thor strains with all his strength, gripping the cat around the belly, and manages to raise one of its paws from the ground. The giants watching grow afraid. Later, Útgarða-Loki reveals that the cat was Jörmungandr in disguise, magically constrained. By lifting even part of it, Thor had nearly lifted the World Serpent and stretched the world itself.

Thor’s second great encounter with Jörmungandr occurs during a fishing expedition with the giant Hymir. When Hymir refuses to provide bait, Thor tears the head from Hymir’s strongest ox and uses it on a massive hook. They row far out into the sea, beyond where Hymir dares to go. Thor casts his line, and Jörmungandr rises from the depths, biting the hook.

Thor pulls the serpent from the water until they face one another. The sea churns, poison sprays from the serpent’s mouth, and Hymir trembles in terror. Thor braces his feet through the bottom of the boat and reaches for his hammer to strike. At that moment, Hymir cuts the line, and Jörmungandr sinks back into the sea. In some older poetic accounts, Thor succeeds in striking the serpent before it escapes, though the outcome differs across traditions.

Jörmungandr remains in the ocean, coiled around the world, waiting. His final rising is foretold in the prophecies of Ragnarök. When the end approaches, the serpent will release his tail, causing the seas to surge over the land. Earthquakes and floods will follow as Jörmungandr crawls onto the shore, filling the sky and waters with venom.

At the battlefield of Vigrid, Jörmungandr and Thor will meet for the last time. Thor will strike the World Serpent dead, but after taking nine steps away from the corpse, he will fall and die, overcome by the poison that fills the serpent’s body.

Thus Jörmungandr is fated to remain bound beneath the sea until the final battle — a serpent whose body holds the world together, and whose death will end it.

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Great-hand

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Tradition / Region: Scotland (Edinburgh, Old Town)
Alternate Names: —
Category: House dweller / subterranean horror

The Myth

Beneath the Old Town of Edinburgh lies a network of cellars, tunnels, and hidden passages. Among these underground spaces is a tunnel said to run beneath the Royal Mile, stretching from the Castle to the Palace of Holyrood. Long ago, soldiers used this passage to launch surprise attacks, but over time it fell into disuse. After that, the tunnel was said to become the lair of a being known as Great-hand, and no one who entered it ever returned alive.

Great-hand is never seen in full. The only part of it that has ever been described is a single hand—enormous, grisly, and inhuman. Its fingernails are said to be long and curved like the talons of an eagle. Whether this hand is attached to a body or exists alone is unknown, as no one has ever seen anything beyond it.

After the tunnel had been avoided for a long time, a piper once declared that he would pass through it to prove that it could be crossed safely. He said he would play his pipes the entire way so that those above ground could follow his progress by sound. Taking his dog with him, he entered the tunnel through a cave near the Castle. As he moved underground, the sound of the pipes could be heard descending the hill.

When the music reached the area of the Heart of Midlothian, it suddenly stopped. Alarmed, those listening rushed back to the tunnel entrance. From the darkness emerged only the dog, running in terror, its fur completely gone. The piper was never seen again.

After this event, the tunnel was sealed at both ends. Stories of Great-hand spread, and similar tales were told across Scotland of haunted caves, lost pipers, and dogs driven hairless by fear. Great-hand remained beneath the city, an unseen presence in the darkness, guarding the underground and claiming any who dared to enter.

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Ayashino

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Succubus

The Myth

Ayashino is a famed courtesan of the monster world, appearing in the tale Kwaidan Fudehajime. She belongs to Kusawara, a pleasure quarter of monsters, unlike the human Yoshiwara, where strange beings gather for entertainment, theater, and revelry.

The story is told during the travels of the warrior Sakata Kōhei, also known as Kinpei, who had earned a reputation for tormenting monsters. At one point, he even forced them to sign a written agreement promising never again to harm humans. Welcomed into the monster realm, Kōhei stayed at the residence of Mikoshi Nyūdō, where he moved freely and enjoyed their hospitality, hoping to collect stories to boast of upon his return.

Invited to a monster play—where the famous tale of Chūshingura was performed—Kōhei toured the dressing rooms of favored actors. Afterward, he was brought to Kusawara, the monster pleasure quarter. There, monster courtesans, known as shinjo, laughed upon seeing him, remarking that his strange face was pleasing, since monsters believed unusual features made one attractive.

Mikoshi Nyūdō offered to send Kōhei to Ayashino, a courtesan at the height of her beauty from the Barbara House. Ayashino, however, firmly refused. She openly mocked Kōhei, saying that despite his fame, he lacked wisdom, spoke tediously of peace and tranquility, and possessed neither wit nor spirit. She declared that she disliked him and would not go to his room, rejecting him without hesitation.

Humiliated and bored, Kōhei wandered the halls alone, listening to the conversations drifting from behind closed doors.

Later, driven by greed, Kōhei asked Mikoshi Nyūdō to give him two or three monsters so he could display them for profit. Though Mikoshi initially refused, he agonized over his role as leader and, after much sorrow, gave Kōhei his own children—one three-eyed and one-eyed—after tearfully persuading them. Kōhei placed them in a basket and returned home, quickly arranging a deal with an incense merchant.

When he opened the basket to claim his reward, the monsters vanished like a heat haze. Only then did Kōhei realize that his greed had brought about the loss, and that divine forces—moved by the sincerity of Mikoshi and his children—had returned them safely to the western sea. Ashamed, Kōhei abandoned his cruelty toward monsters and lived quietly thereafter.

Ayashino remains remembered as a proud and sharp-tongued courtesan of the monster world, unafraid to reject even a famed warrior, standing apart as a figure of dignity amid deception, revelry, and the dangers of desire.

Sources

TYZ Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). Ayashino. In TYZ Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655071.html

Rhox

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Tradition / Region: Ancient Mediterranean (Libya and wider Mediterranean)
Alternate Names: —
Category: Spider / Grape

The Myth

The Rhox is described in ancient sources as a deadly creature resembling a spider, known throughout parts of the Mediterranean world. Its name was said to indicate a likeness to a grape, and some associated it with a creature called the rhogalida, or “grape-spider,” spoken of on Crete. Others placed the Rhox in Libya, though it was also described as a spider commonly known around the Mediterranean.

According to descriptions attributed to Nicander, Philumenus, and Pliny, the Rhox was a kind of spider or phalangion. It was said to have a toothed mouth located in the middle of its body and short, thick legs that moved one after another in sequence. Its color was described as smoky or pitch-black.

The venom of the Rhox was believed to be instantly deadly. Those bitten were said to suffer strange and terrifying symptoms, including the appearance of web-like strands in their urine. Because of this, the Rhox was feared as one of the most lethal creeping creatures known.

Some later accounts noted that the Rhox’s form and deadly nature resembled other dangerous spiders known in the Mediterranean, though the exact identity of the creature remained uncertain. In all tellings, the Rhox endured as a small but terrifying being, whose bite brought swift and unnatural death.

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Grant

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Tradition / Region: England
Alternate Names: —
Category: Horse / demon

The Myth

There is said to be in England a kind of demon called the Grant. It appears in the form of a young horse or yearling foal, standing upright on its hind legs, with bright, sparkling eyes. Though not always seen, it most often shows itself in the streets during the heat of the day or around sunset.

When danger is about to strike—especially fire or disaster expected during the coming night or the following day—the Grant emerges and runs through the streets. As it moves, it provokes dogs to bark and chase it. By pretending to flee, it draws the dogs after it, though none can ever catch it.

Through this strange behavior, the Grant serves as a warning. Its sudden appearance and commotion alert the inhabitants that danger is near. Though terrifying to those who witness it, the demon’s actions are said to protect the people by putting them on guard before disaster can strike.

Thus the Grant is remembered as a fearful yet strangely helpful presence—an illusionary demon whose wild run through the streets signals that harm is approaching.

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Anhangá

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Tradition / Region: Brazilian Mythology
Alternate Names: Anhanga, Anhan, Agnan, Kaagere
Category: Deer

The Myth

Anhangá is a feared spirit known among many Indigenous peoples of Brazil. It is said to torment both the living and the dead, appearing in nature through sudden, violent sounds such as storms, tempests, and unexplained noises. The presence of Anhangá brings fear, confusion, illness, and suffering.

Most often, Anhangá appears in the form of a deer. Hunters describe seeing a white or red deer with burning, fiery eyes, sometimes with antlers covered in hair. This deer is not an ordinary animal but a spirit that guards wildlife. It watches over animals in open fields and forests and punishes hunters who hunt abusively, especially those who pursue females with young.

When Anhangá intervenes in a hunt, it brings fever, madness, and confusion. A hunter may lose his sense of direction, mistake one being for another, or act against his own family without realizing it. In one well-known story, a hunter chased a doe and her nursing fawn. He seized the fawn to draw the mother closer and fired his weapon. Only afterward did he discover that Anhangá had deceived him, and that he had killed his own mother, mistaking her for the animal.

Anhangá does not appear only as a deer. It is said to take many forms in order to deceive and afflict people. It may appear as birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or strange hybrid beings. These forms include an armadillo, a pirarucu fish, a turtle, oxen, birds such as the tinamou, and human-like figures. Because of this, hunters and travelers are taught never to trust appearances in the wilderness.

The spirit is also believed to torment the souls of the dead. During funerary rituals, people feared that Anhangá would seize the soul on its journey to the Land Without Evils, a blessed place where virtuous souls were meant to go. To protect the dead, food offerings were placed near the burial site so that Anhangá would consume the offerings instead of the soul. Fires were kept burning to warm and protect the deceased and to keep Anhangá at a distance. The living encouraged the dead to keep their fires from going out.

It was believed that only the most virtuous souls — those who had defended their people and killed many enemies — reached the high mountain of the Land Without Evils. Those who failed in this were said to fall under the power of Anhangá, becoming tormented spirits themselves.

Anhangá was also feared during travel, especially over water. Storms and violent sounds were sometimes believed to be caused by the spirits of the dead associated with Anhangá. Among some groups, Anhangá was said to follow or serve Jurupari, and together they were feared as dangerous spirits capable of possession, kidnapping, and death.

Because Anhangá could change form at will, it was impossible to know when it was near. Its presence was marked by fear, illness, illusion, and the sudden reversal of fortune. Hunters, mourners, and travelers all treated the wilderness with caution, knowing that Anhangá might be watching, waiting to punish disrespect, cruelty, or weakness.

Source

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Anhangá. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhang%C3%A1