Tradition / Region: Greek Mythology
Alternative names: Alcathoe, Leucippe (Leuconoe), Arsippe (Arsinoë, Aristippe)
Category: Bat

The Myth

The Minyades were the three daughters of King Minyas of Orchomenus. While the other women of Boeotia celebrated the rites of Dionysus, the sisters refused to honor the god. Instead, they remained at home, weaving and tending to their daily tasks, believing their work to be more important than the sacred festival.

Offended by their refusal, Dionysus appeared before them disguised as a young maiden and invited them to join his mysteries. When they ignored him, he revealed his divine power, transforming first into a bull, then a lion, and finally a leopard. At the same time, miraculous signs filled their home as milk and nectar flowed from their looms.

Driven mad by the god’s punishment, the sisters cast lots to determine who should make a sacrifice. The lot fell upon Leucippe, whose son Hippasus was torn to pieces by the three women as an offering to Dionysus. Consumed by divine frenzy, they abandoned their home and wandered through the mountains like Bacchantes.

At last, Hermes took pity on them and transformed the sisters into flying creatures. In the most common version of the myth, all three became bats, forever avoiding the light of the sun. Other traditions say that one became a bat, another an owl, and the third an eagle owl, but all remained creatures of the night as a lasting reminder of the punishment for rejecting Dionysus.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Minyades. In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minyades.

Tradition / Region: Greek Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Bat, Vampire

The Myth

On the Greek islands of Crete and Rhodes, people tell of a vampire known as the katakana. It is believed that certain dead do not remain at rest. In older times, Cretans feared that if a person were buried in loose, unconstrained earth, the dead might rise again as a katakana. Because of this danger, holy soil was brought from sacred places, including the Holy Sepulcher, and sprinkled over cemeteries to prevent the dead from returning.

The katakana was said to arise from the bodies of suicides, evil people, or those who had been excommunicated from the church. After death, such individuals could transform into vampires, retaining a distorted likeness of their former selves. The katakana was described as constantly smiling, its teeth always visible, giving it a chilling and unnatural expression.

Unlike some other undead beings, the katakana did not rely solely on biting to create others of its kind. Instead, it was said to spit a burning, bloody discharge at people. If this sticky substance struck its target, the victim would in time become a katakana as well, transformed into a vampire like the one that cursed them.

People believed the katakana could be driven away temporarily by gunshots, but destroying it required strict measures. To kill it permanently, the vampire had to be decapitated, or at least struck in the head with a sharp-edged weapon. Its severed head was then boiled in vinegar, and its nails were burned. Another method involved trapping the katakana in a container filled with salt water, which could immobilize it.

These actions had to be carried out within the first forty days after the vampire’s rise. If this time passed, the katakana was believed to become indestructible, immune to all attempts to destroy it. Because of this, vigilance and speed were considered essential when signs of a katakana appeared.

Beliefs about the katakana were understood as a local island form of broader Greek vampire traditions, yet its distinctive grin, burning spit, and specific methods of destruction set it apart as one of the most feared undead beings of the Aegean islands.