Creature from Around the World

[OliveOil_Med]

I'm working on a story were I'm writing a textbook style book used by some of the characters in my other stories. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has been a wonderful reference thus far, but I'm on the look out for more creature than those that appear in that book to write about. Here are some ones I have already researched and included:

Deer Women
Chupacabra
Menehune
Sasquatch

What I'm looking for now is for the good, wonderful people on the site to help me get a nice long list of creatures going. Maybe ones from around your home, ones you have heard of on vacations, or maybe (creature) bunnies for creating new creature. J.K. did it, so I don't see why I can't.

ThanX a bunch!


Edit: I found a great link, so I'm adding it for my own benefit.
Benefit

[MistressOfTime]

Although I don't really have any suggestions for new breeds, try looking at Greek/Roman mythology. Granted, Jo got a lot of her ideas from there, but there are some FASCINATING creatures in those stories!

Good luck!

--Joy.

[OliveOil_Med]

Yeah, I've looked through Greek and Roman creatures. I've found a few ideas, but JK has more or less milked it dry.

Besides, I was hoping this textbook would foucus more on creatures in the Western Hemisphere, so all you Americans and Canadians start thinking closer to home.

[Dark_Lady_Z]

There is this interesting site: http://www.americanmonsters.com/home.php

All kinds of monsters around the world...and universe.

I love the Greek Mythology like Minotaurs, Sirens, and Centaurs.

Add to your list:

Name: Kappa
Origin: Japan
Features: A amphibious monkey, that has webbed digits and a turtle-like shell.
They don't like the Winter months, so they hibernate. They like to grab humans and horses to their watery death. Japanese say they have mystical powers.

~ Credit to the site

~Z

[Kate Skeffington]

Hi OliveOil_Med!

Well from where I come from (that'd be Chile) there's LOTS of mythology and mythological beings, specially in the South of Chile (Chiloe, to be more exact); there's a vast amount of leyends and myths and sort of "folklorish" beliefs which I find very useful when looking for fantastical creatures.

A few examples are:
El Trauco (The Trauco) who is a sort of incubus.

El Trauco is described as little man, with no more of 80 cm. of height, with macho-like shapes, an ugly face, but a sweet, fascinating and sensuous glance; he doesn't have feet just only a pair of stumps. El Trauco wears a Quilineja dress and hat, and in his right hand he carries a stone axe, which replaces a twisted walking stick (The Pahueldún) when he's before a young woman.

Hanging to a branch of a big Tique, El Trauco awaits his victim : some young girls who are soltera (unmarried), this means that she already has female shapes(...)

El Te tué--A bird whose singing announces: death, disease, flooding and catastrophes in general. It is generally linked to a wizard, I guess to an evil wizard since the Te tué doesn't bring good news. Other people say that if you're walking and meet a Te Tué you can either:
-ignore it.
-Say: Keep going, friend (I think this is so you're on the brid's "good books" xD)
-Insult it...don't think the result of this is good :P
-Or invite him over to drink some tea, in which case, you'll receive a visit from the witch or wizard the following day to have some tea.
I couldn't find a lot of info on this one, though. And what I found didn't seem really consistent, but it could always give you ideas for new creatures

La Fiura (sadly I couldn't find a translation for the whole article, PM me if you need me to translate )-- A small woman with an ugly face, "generous breasts", a huge nose, a long mane of hair and long, scrawny legs and arms. She can be seen adopting convulsive postures and pulling faces, reaching out with her deform fingers, looking for a victim--a human man.-- She's the unfaithful wife of the Trauco.

Here's the site from which I took the info (added to some of my own, limitied knowledge of Chilean myths). Take a look around and see if there's anything there that interests you, it even has an English Version, but it's still under construction and some of the info is missing or still in Spanish, so if you want me to translate I'll be more than happy to do it

That's it for now, I'll try looking into other fantastical creatures from Chile later.

Good luck with your story! I hope this helped.

Edit: I found this site about Chiloe's mythology that delves a bit deeper into it...I thought it was worth reading, it also mentions some creatures and the role warlocks have in Chiloe...here it is

[OliveOil_Med]

Wow, Kate! The link was extremely helpful. It gave me a TON of ideas. I think of got a lot of good creatures from the United States, thanks to the lovely american monsters site provised by Dark_Lady_Z, but I would like to branch out some more still.

Maybe some creatures from Canada and Central and South America? Anyone?

[star_sailor]

Let's see... let's see...
I recently went on a similar hunt for animals.
I didn't read all of that nifty website (which is beyond excellent), but here's what I found on my own.



Bigfoot, of course!


Jersey Devil - That strange creature from the northeast that flies around ominously. But... frankly, seeing the picture on Wikipedia, I'm almost convinced that it looks like a Thestral!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil

Jackalope - Good ol' prank animal that's been all over Americana folklore! Put some antlers on a jackrabbit - rabbit + antelope = jackalope. I picture these as huge bunnies, like, the size of big dogs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope

The Nain Rogue - Michigan folk lore, specifically in Detroit. This little bugger is supposed to be a little gnomish thing, and is considered to be a harbinger of doom. "The Nain Rouge appears as a small child-like creature with red or black fur boots. It is also said to have 'blazing red eyes and rotten teeth.' (Skinner 1896)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nain_Rouge

Fur-bearing trout - A folk monster... or creature... or... thing, which is one of the silliest creatures I've ever heard of. Basically, a trout covered in fur. Some say it evolved the fur to maintain body heat - others, there was a lot of hair tonic that was spilled in a lake or river.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fur-bearing_trout

Blue Ox - From the tall tale/folk story of Paul Bunyan! Supposedly a gigantic blue ox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyon

Devil Bird (Ulama) - A creepy bird which forebodes death with a wild screech. This one's from Sri Lankan folklore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_Bird

Hoop Snake - A crazy snake that knows how to curl itself into the shape of a wheel, and roll around being a wheel-like-snake (whatever they do with their time). These are famous in the US and apparently Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoop_snake

Sabretooth Tiger - Sure, sure, so they apparently all went extinct. But one could argue that, given the whereabouts of the Dodo in the Potterverse! Fossils have been found all over the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabretooth_tiger

Phantom Kangaroo - This one's a weird one. Essentially, it's a kangaroo that appears and disapears as it pleases, in places where kangaroos definitely aren't normally. Best to just read this one. It confuses me as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_kangaroo

Squonk - A very ugly creature famous in Pennsylvania. Basically, it knows its ugly, and sits around weeping about it all day. If anyone tries to catch it, it dissolves into a puddle of its own tears to escape. I don't know about you, but I'm using this one! hahaha.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squonk

Vegetable Lamb - This one's good as a creature and for a herbology lesson, and is also one of the most silly ones. Essentially, there's a plant that's legendary in Asian, that presumably grows sheep... Just... don't ask me how, but it grows sheep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_lamb


Cockatrice - Not exactly new, since Rowling mentioned it very briefly, but certainly legendary!
http://www.hp-lexicon.info/bestiary/...tml#cockatrice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatrice

Wyvern - A dragon-like serprent-creature-thing with two legs and two wings, used a lot in medieval heraldry. I've also seen them with big scorpion like tails.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern

Splintercat - A nocturnal flying cat of Americana folklore. It flies around very fast, but sometimes slams into trees. This makes it quite angry, so if you see one wandering about, you're advised not to approach it. It'll probably attack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splintercat




And the moral of the story:
American folklore is REALLY weird.

[Hypatia]

It wouldn't really count as "new" since I suppose it qualifies as a Kelpie, but Lake Okanagan, BC has it's own Loch Ness-ish monster called Ogopogo. Sorry, it's the only Canadian monster that comes to mind.

[OliveOil_Med]

Wow, Chris! Somebody really did their homework. These are great creature to include and I've already started thinking of stories for a bunch of them. ThanX

And, Hypathia, Lake Okanagan is not the only place in North America that seems to boast their own Nessie. So far, I've counted half a dozen stories, and have already come up with an explanation. In the early days of the new world, wandsmiths, not wanting to pay high import costs for Kelpie hairs, decided to integrate the species to the Americas, where they obviously thrived.

I am keeping a list of lakes that boast very large Kelpies, and I don't think Lake Okanagan is on it let. I will definantly add it, though. Thank you!

[Kcharles]

Just saying, you HAVE to do the Jackalope. Or I might have to eat you.


On the subject on Kelpies, This is a list of reported lake monsters from all over the world. If you wanted to give them a muggle name, Naitaka is Aboriginal for sacred water monster.


The Wendigo is an Algonquin that can possess humans.


The Skin-Walker is a shape-shifter that can turn into any animal it wants.


Hope I helped a bit.