Mountain Dweller

Kidoku

by

Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Oni-doku
Category: Mountain dweller, Demon

The Myth

On the thirteenth day of the eighth month in the second year of Kan’en (1749), a strange and terrifying event took place in Soma County of Hitachi Province.

Atop Mount Masakado stood an ancient pine tree. It was said to have grown there since the days of Taira no Masakado, its roots gripping the mountain for generations. But that year, long and relentless rains soaked the land. The mountain soil eroded, and floodwaters rushed down its slopes, exposing the roots of the old pine. Then a fierce wind arose and toppled the great tree from its base.

When the pine fell, something was revealed beneath its roots.

Buried in the earth lay a monstrous being—what people called a “Kidoku,” a Demon Slayer, though no one knew its true nature. As the rain beat down upon it, the creature awoke and began to scream.

Its cries echoed across the castle town below. The sound was so dreadful that men, women, and children alike were seized with terror. Some collapsed where they stood. Others fled indoors, covering their ears. The wailing did not cease.

The castle’s commander gathered a rifle squad and marched to the mountain. The creature, fully exposed now, writhed and shrieked beneath the fallen pine. It was immense—said to be the size of eight tatami mats laid side by side.

Those who saw it described a form like a monstrous ogre mixed with a crab. Its eyes were round and bowl-like, shining with an eerie light. The top of its head was sunken inward. Crimson hair, stiff and sharp like palm leaves, bristled from its scalp, and beneath its chin grew spiky strands like thorns. Its teeth were bared in rage.

The riflemen fired again and again. After several shots, the monster finally fell silent.

Thus the Kidoku was slain, and the mountain returned to stillness. But people long remembered the day when the ancient pine fell, and a screaming demon rose from the earth beneath its roots.

Gallery

Sources

tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Kidoku. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741605.html

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Grand mononoke

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Gurannumono no Kai
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

In the mountains of Tohoku there is said to dwell a vast and terrible being known as the Grand Mononoke.

Long ago, in a remote region whose name was later said to echo that of a foreign missionary who once passed through during the Azuchi–Momoyama period, strange rumors began to spread. Shepherds whispered of livestock vanishing without a trace. Hunters spoke of something immense moving through the forest with unnatural speed. Yet no ordinary beast could have done such things.

The creature was described as a fusion of many spirits, as if the mountain itself had gathered its most fearsome yokai and bound them into one body. It stretched ten meters in length. Its form seemed to combine the long coils of a giant serpent, the cunning face of a shapeshifting cat, the features of a tengu, and the watery hints of a kappa. It was neither one thing nor another, but a union of spirits.

Despite its enormous size, the Grand Mononoke moved swiftly. When hunger stirred it, it descended from its hidden lair to seize cattle or horses, carrying them off into the forest to be devoured. These attacks were rare but unforgettable.

Most of the time, however, it remained secluded deep in the mountains. It did not wander openly, nor did it terrorize villages without reason. Because of its reclusive nature and overwhelming presence, the people came to regard it not only with fear but with reverence. Some believed it was no mere monster but a mountain god in a terrible form. Offerings were made in quiet places. Prayers were whispered to appease it.

Thus the Grand Mononoke became a hidden sovereign of the high peaks—an emperor of demons who ruled unseen, dwelling in shadow, appearing only when the balance between humans and the wild was disturbed.

Gallery

Sources

tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Grand Mononoke. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1073956690.html

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Badalisc

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Tradition / Region: Italian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

High in the southern Alps, around the village of Andrista, there is said to live a strange creature called the Badalisc. It dwells in the dark forests above the settlement, hidden among rocks, snow, and twisted trees. It has a great head wrapped in goat skin, small horns, a vast gaping mouth, and glowing eyes that shine in the night.

The Badalisc does not live quietly. Throughout the year it troubles the people of the village. It lurks in the woods, watching, listening, knowing their secrets. Though rarely seen, its presence is felt—mischief, unease, whispers of wrongdoing. The villagers know it must be dealt with.

So every year, on the eve of Epiphany, when winter lies deep upon the mountains, the men of the village go out to capture the creature.

They enter the forest masked and disguised. Among them are hunters, sweepers who clear the way, an old man and old woman, a hunchback who strikes the ground with his stick, and a young maiden who serves as bait, for the Badalisc is said to be stirred by desire. After searching the woods, they bind the creature with a rope and drag it down from the mountains into the village.

It is led into the square before the gathered community.

The Badalisc itself does not speak. It is wild and dumb. But through an interpreter its words are given voice. A long speech is read aloud—its “confession.” In this speech the creature reveals the hidden faults, scandals, petty sins, and foolish schemes of the villagers. Nothing escapes it. It mocks, exposes, and ridicules the community. As the words are spoken, the hunchback beats his stick rhythmically, marking the weight of each accusation.

The villagers listen. They laugh, they wince, they recognize themselves in the creature’s gossip.

When the speech is finished, the mood shifts. Singing begins. Dancing follows. Food is shared, especially the great dish of polenta prepared for the occasion. The Badalisc sits in a place of honor during the feast, no longer a menace but part of the celebration.

On the following day, its time among humans ends. The rope is removed. The Badalisc is released and allowed to return to the forest, back to its mountain home.

There it waits through another year—watching, listening, gathering secrets—until once again winter comes, and the villagers climb into the woods to bring it down.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Badalisc. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badalisc

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Pichal peri

by

Tradition / Region: Indian Mythology, Pakistani Mythology
Alternate Names: Pichhal pairī
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

In the mountains and forests of northwestern South Asia there wanders a being called the Pichal peri—the reverse-footed woman. By day she is unseen, but at night, when mist coils between trees and lonely paths wind through the hills, she appears.

At first she seems beautiful. A young woman stands alone beneath the trees, her long black hair flowing over her face. She may be weeping softly, or calling gently for help. Travelers who see her often feel compelled to approach, thinking her lost or in need of protection.

But there is one sign that betrays her true nature.

Her feet are turned backward.

Those who notice too late say that she walks smoothly despite this unnatural form, gliding over the earth without sound. When a man draws near, she lifts her face from behind the curtain of her hair. Her beauty may seem perfect—until the moment she reveals her true shape.

In some tales, her form stretches and twists into something tall and monstrous. Her limbs grow long, her face contorts, and her voice becomes inhuman. In others, she remains outwardly fair, luring her victim deeper into the forest before striking. She preys especially on lone men who wander at night, separating them from the safety of village and firelight.

Most stories are told by those who claim to have escaped. A traveler may notice her reversed footprints in the dust, or glimpse her transformation just in time to flee. Some say she cannot cross certain boundaries, or that calling upon divine names will break her hold. Others insist that once she fixes her gaze upon a man, his fate is sealed.

In the villages of the Punjab and the mountainous regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Himalayas, elders warn the young not to roam alone after dark. For somewhere in the night woods, a woman with backward feet may be waiting—her hair hiding her face, her steps leaving tracks that lead the wrong way.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Pichal Peri. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pichal_Peri

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Karnabo

by

Tradition / Region: French Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

On the Rocroi plateau near the village of Regniowez lies an abandoned slate quarry, its entrance sealed and avoided. The people of the Ardennes say that within that dark place lives the Karnabo.

The Karnabo is a creature dreadful to behold. Its shape is almost human, yet twisted and unnatural. Its eyes gleam like those of a basilisk, cold and deadly. From its face hangs a long, trunk-like nose, and when it breathes, it produces a terrible whistling through its nostrils.

It is said that the Karnabo came long ago from the region of Rièzes. Some whisper that it was born of an itinerant sorcerer and an aged ghoul, conceived in secrecy and raised in shadow. From its father it inherited dark powers; from its mother, a hunger for harm. Its crimes are too many to count.

The whistling of the Karnabo is feared above all. When it echoes across the plateau, anyone foolish enough to wander near the quarry feels their limbs grow stiff, their breath catch in their throat. Some fall paralyzed. Others suffocate where they stand. Livestock that stray too close are found lifeless, as if struck down by the sound alone.

Yet the creature is not only a bringer of harm. On Good Fridays, it is said to chant strange formulas learned from its sorcerer father. With these whispered spells, it can cure certain afflictions of the flesh. Those brave—or desperate—enough to approach the sealed quarry on that holy day might find relief from illness, though they risk never returning.

Once, a young girl wandered near the quarry, daring to play where she had been warned never to go. As she neared the tunnel’s entrance, the Karnabo sprang from the darkness and dragged her underground. She was never seen again.

After that, the entrance to the quarry was sealed.

On stormy nights, when wind sweeps across the Rocroi plateau, villagers say they still hear it: the nasal roaring of the Karnabo rising from beneath the earth—and the faint, sorrowful sobbing of the girl echoing in the dark.

Gallery

Sources

abookofcreatures.com contributors. (n.d.). Karnabo. In abookofcreatures.com, from https://abookofcreatures.com/2021/03/19/karnabo/

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Nadubi

by

Tradition / Region: Australian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

On the rocky plateaus of Arnhem Land there move, in the cold hours of night, the nadubi—evil spirit people who haunt the bush.

They look almost human at first glance, but their bodies betray them. From their elbows and knees sprout sharp barbed spines. Some are said to bear spines on other parts of their bodies as well. In ancient rock shelters, figures painted on stone show these strange beings: a woman marked with spines, and creatures with jagged tails and protrusions like weapons grown from flesh.

The nadubi do not wander in daylight. They wait for darkness, when the air turns chill and travelers grow weary. They watch for those who move alone through the bush, far from the safety of campfires and companions.

When a lone traveler passes through their territory, a nadubi creeps silently behind. Without warning, it thrusts one of its barbed spines into the victim’s body. The spine lodges deep within the flesh. At first the wound may seem small, but sickness soon follows. Fever rises, strength fades, and death creeps closer with each passing hour.

Only a medicine man can see the nadubi and understand what has happened. Only he can draw out the hidden spine before the poison spreads too far. But often the help comes too late. The wounded traveler weakens, and by morning another life has been taken by the spirits of the night.

Because of the nadubi, people warn one another never to walk alone in the bush after dark. And though medicine men keep watch and drive the spirits away from encampments, sometimes their vigilance fails. Then, in the silence of the plateau, a sudden scream pierces the night—proof that the nadubi still roam.

Gallery

Sources

abookofcreatures.com contributors. (n.d.). Nadubi. In abookofcreatures.com, from https://abookofcreatures.com/2019/05/03/nadubi/

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Adasbub

by

Tradition / Region: Austrian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

About sixty years ago, in the valley of the Ötz near Lengenfeld, there lived a man of enormous height and terrifying strength known as the Adasbub. He was a monster in spirit as much as in body—a thief, a drunkard, a fighter, and a blasphemer. He had served as a soldier in many wars and returned more savage than when he had left. From foreign lands he brought home great sums of money, stolen and extorted, and with this wealth he bought himself a farm.

Yet he lived not like a Christian farmer, but like a pagan. He never went to church. Instead, he sat in the village inn boasting of his velvet jacket adorned with buttons hammered from old silver coins. The young men of the village, dazzled by his swagger and riches, grew ashamed of their simple clothing and sought to imitate him.

The Adasbub’s strength was legendary. It was said he had once defeated fifty men who attacked him at the same time. Those who offended him feared more than his fists. People whispered that he could divert mountain torrents onto a rival’s fields or send huge snowballs—packed with hidden stones—crashing down upon a roof. Whether by cunning or brute force, he was a man to be feared.

His pleasure lay in drink, oaths, and cruelty. He gathered around him a band of like-minded ruffians. Together they committed outrageous acts. They tore doors from their neighbors’ houses and dragged them into the forests. They lifted carts onto rooftops. They broke into sacristies to steal and drink the priests’ wine. They shut goats into roadside chapels and uprooted cemetery crosses, thrusting them upside down into graves, laughing that they had made Christendom stand upon its head.

At last, the Adasbub planned a new villainy involving the daughter of a farmer whose home stood on the Burgstein above Lengenfeld. But word of the plot reached the farmer. Rather than flee, he sharpened his axe and waited.

When the Adasbub entered the house, the farmer struck with all his strength. The axe split the giant’s skull, and the terror of the valley fell dead at his feet. Seeing their leader slain, his companions fled in panic.

The alarm spread quickly. People climbed up to the Burgstein from every direction and thanked the farmer for freeing them from their tormentor. They cut off the Adasbub’s head and dragged his body to the edge of a precipice, casting it down onto the road below near the sulphur baths of Rumunschlung.

The head was thrown into the charnel-house of the cemetery at Lengenfeld. There it is said to remain.

The skull, nearly cleft in two, does not always lie quiet. On certain midnights it is said to glow red-hot, terrible to behold. Some claim that when it burns, it rolls from the charnel-house into the chapel, whirling in circles before leaping back to its place. By morning it has cooled, appearing once more like any other skull.

Thus the Adasbub endures—not as a man, but as a warning.

Gallery

Sources

Günther, A. von. (1874). Tales and legends of the Tyrol. London: Chapman and Hall.

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Barmanou

by

Tradition / Region: Pakistani Mythology
Alternate Names: Barmanu; Baddmanus
Category: Mountain dweller

The Myth

High in the mountains between the Pamirs and the Himalayas, in the lonely valleys of Chitral and the Karakoram, shepherds tell of a being called the Barmanou. It walks upright like a man, yet it is covered in hair like a beast. It moves silently among cliffs and forests where few dare to wander.

The Barmanou is said to dwell far from villages, appearing mostly at dusk or in the deep hours of night. Those who claim to have seen it describe a large, powerful figure with both human and apelike features. Some say it wears animal skins draped across its shoulders and head, as though imitating mankind. Others insist it is entirely wild, a creature of the mountains with no need for tools or clothing.

It is known in local lore as a dangerous being. Stories tell that it sometimes descends from the heights to approach isolated camps or grazing grounds. It has a fearsome reputation for abducting women and attempting to carry them back into the mountains. In some versions of the tale, it behaves like a beast; in others, it is more like a primitive man, capable of cunning and intent.

Shepherds speak of hearing strange guttural cries echoing through valleys at night—deep, throaty sounds unlike those of any known animal. These cries are said to roll across the mountainsides, warning intruders that the Barmanou is near.

In the folklore of northern Pakistan, the Barmanou stands between worlds—neither fully animal nor fully human. Some call it an ape. Others call it a wild man. But all agree that in the high, wind-swept ranges where glaciers cut the earth and the air grows thin, something ancient still roams beyond the reach of ordinary sight.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Barmanou. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 13, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmanou

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Patupaiarehe

by

Tradition / Region: Māori mythology (Aotearoa / New Zealand)
Alternate Names: Pakehakeha; Tūrehu (in some traditions)
Category: Forest dweller, Mountain dweller

The Myth

In the deep forests and mist-covered mountains of Aotearoa dwell the patupaiarehe, a hidden people of pale skin and fair or reddish hair. They are of human stature, yet unlike humans they bear no moko upon their skin. They live in great communities in the hills and ranges, in places wrapped in fog and shadow. Their houses and villages cannot be seen by human eyes.

The patupaiarehe are creatures of the mist. They draw it about themselves like a cloak, and they walk most freely in darkness or on foggy days. The full light of the sun is deadly to them, and so they retreat before dawn. They eat raw food and shun steam and fire; when ovens are opened and clouds of steam rise, they hide themselves away.

At times their presence is revealed by music drifting through the forest—the sweet notes of kōauau and pūtōrino flutes, and their haunting waiata carried on the mist. Their music is said to be more beautiful than any played by mortals. Though they can be hostile to those who trespass upon their sacred mountains, it is also told that they may speak with humans, and sometimes even fall in love with them.

On Mount Moehau and in the Coromandel ranges they once dwelled in strength. Some say they were there before the ancestors of the Māori arrived, and that they were driven from their most sacred peaks. In anger they punished those who offended them. Hunters who stole from their lands found their game turned to skin and bone. Men who intruded upon their treasures were dragged away into the night.

Yet there are gentler tales. Kahukura once came upon them at night as they hauled in their fishing nets. He joined them in their labor, and though they fled at dawn when they discovered he was mortal, he had learned their methods and brought that knowledge back to his people.

There is also the story of Hinerehia, a patupaiarehe woman of Moehau, who fell in love with a mortal man while gathering shellfish in the mist. She lived with him and bore children, weaving beautiful garments—but only at night. When the villagers tricked her into weaving past dawn so they could learn her craft, the first light revealed their deception. Heartbroken, she rose within a cloud and returned to the mountains, leaving her husband and children behind.

In the mountains of Ngongotahā they were said to number in the thousands, their skin pale or ruddy, their hair glinting red or gold. They fetched water in gourds from sacred burial cliffs, avoiding the steam of cooking fires. Some among them desired human husbands or wives, yet unions between the two worlds rarely endured.

In the south, on the misty peaks of Tākitimu, a hunter once encountered Kaiheraki, a woman of the mountain. She shone with coppery hair and fair skin, claiming no people but the mountain itself as her mother. The hunter, knowing her nature, tried to bind her to the human world through fire. But when flame touched her skin and blood flowed, she fled back into the high places, vanishing forever among the ridges and cloud.

Thus the patupaiarehe remain—guardians of misty summits and shadowed forests, beautiful and perilous, glimpsed only in song, in fog, or in the edge of human memory.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Patupaiarehe. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 13, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patupaiarehe

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Puigmal

by

Tradition / Region: Catalan mythology, Spanish Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Giant, Mountain dweller

The Myth

In the high mountains above the valley of Ribes there once lived a giant named Puigmal.

He towered above the forests and peaks, a mighty being who watched over the trees and the wild animals. No hunter could loose an arrow without feeling his presence. No woodcutter could strike a trunk without sensing the mountain’s silent warning. Puigmal guarded nature fiercely, defending it from careless human hands.

One day, as he wandered the slopes, he milked a wild doe and made cheese from her milk. He brought this cheese to a human and offered it as a gift. “As long as you do not eat it all,” he said, “it will grow again and again. You will never hunger, and you will not need to hunt the creatures of these mountains.”

The gift was a covenant: live with restraint, and the mountain would provide endlessly.

But the balance between humans and nature is fragile. In time, the giant was turned to stone, his immense body becoming the very mountain that now bears his name—Puigmal. His stony form rises above the valley still, silent and watchful.

They say he remains there as guardian still, the mountain itself standing as his petrified body, overlooking the forests and animals he once defended.

Gallery

Sources

creatures-of-myth.fandom.com contributors. (n.d.). Puigmal. In creatures-of-myth.fandom.com, from https://creatures-of-myth.fandom.com/wiki/Puigmal

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