Mythical Monsters

For years, Zulu people living near Howick Falls in South Africa have reported encounters with the Inkanyamba—a giant water-dwelling serpent with a horse-like head. 

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It’s a legendary creature said to live in the Richtersveld, a desert region of South Africa. Was the Grootslang an abomination from the dawn of the Earth, or a mythological warning against the dangers of man’s greed?

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The Kongamato is a legendary winged creature first described by the Kaonde tribe of modern Zambia, formerly Northern Rhodesia. Sightings of the Kongamato have continued well into the 21st century, leading some cryptozoologists to believe that it might actually exist.

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In Hindu Mythology, Narasimha was the fourth avatar of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu took the form of the half-lion, half-man to face the evil Asura Hiranyakashipu—adopting Narasimha’s fierce lion appearance to fight evil, injustice, and to protect the earth.

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A walking corpse with inhuman strength and the power to change its shape and size, the Draugr was a true outcast. In death, it preyed upon the society it had scorned in life.

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Long before the Vikings, before the first man, and even before the Gods, there was Ymir—a primordial giant who figures prominently in the Norse creation myth. As the first being to exist in Norse cosmology, Ymir gets to the very heart of their culture and belief system.

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Vampires have sucked on our attention for centuries, thriving on our fears. But they reached a new height in 1897, when Irish author Bram Stoker published his novel, Dracula.

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It had the head and body of a lion, as well as a goat’s head protruding from its back, and a long tail that ended in the head of a serpent. Chimaera is one of the most fearsome legendary beasts in the Greek pantheon.

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Also known as the Yeti, the Abominable Snowman has purportedly stalked the mountainous areas of Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan for hundreds of years. Often reported, but never caught, the Yeti is the spirit of the harsh conditions of the Himalayas, where death is a constant companion.

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According to Japanese legend, when a golden orb-weaver spider turns 400-years-old, it grows horrifically large and becomes capable of transforming into a beautiful woman known as the Jorōgumo. Their shape-shifting abilities enable them to lure young, virile men into their webs to devour.

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