Samantha Grayson
Faerie and Fantasy Writer & Researcher
New Book Coming Soon - PYSTRIA - Its
Halloween night and a sacred glen is being auctioned off as a property developer
vies to get his hands on it a storm breaks causing people to scatter. As
the storm sweeps through the town people are faced with their darker aspects
of their personalities as the fairies seek to teach them the lessons long
forgotten in time
Fairy Animals
Adaro - Soloman Islands
These are a type of merman
They are thought to be created from the evil side of mankind
They are depicted as being like a man with a fin tail, a horn and having gills behind is ears
They travel in rainbows and waterspouts and live in the sun
They can kill humans with poisoned arrows
Afanc –Welsh
This is a water monster depicted as a giant beaver that drags people in the water and drowns them
If a maiden could tame it and make it fall asleep it could be killed
Aitvaras - Lithuanian
Other names are: Kaukas, Pukis, Damavykas, Sparyžius, Koklikas, Gausinelis, Žaltvikšas, and Spirukas
They are born from an egg of an 8 or 9 year old rooster and appear as a black or white rooster with a fiery tail when indoors but outdoors they become a dragon
When they die they become a spark
They bring good and bad luck to the homes they adopt stealing grain and gold for their adopted family
It is said the devil sells them for the price of a person's soul
Arkan Sonney - Isle of Man
These are a type of fairy pig
If a person capture then they bring people fortune
Aughisky - Irish
This is a water horse
The name is derived from the Gaelic uisce
As with many water horse it kills humans
Barghest (barguest)
This is a large ghostly dog found in Northern England and the West Country
Basilisk
Other Names: Cocokatrice
This is a snake with the wings of a cockerel and a dragon's tail.
It can kill by looking or breathing on people
Boobrie - Scottish
This is a large black bird with an eagle’s beak and webbed feet and curved claws that sounds like a bellowing bull
It lives in lochs and eats cattle and sheep
Bunyip - Australian
It is a hairy possible half human with a head of a bird,
a horse’s tail, flippers or tusks
It lives in water and eats humans especially women and children
Cait Sith - Scottish
A big black fairy cat with a white spot on his chest
It is thought to be a shape shifting witch, the devil or an old god
Centaurs
These have the upper body of humans and the bottom half of a horse, donkey or fish
Ceasg - Scottish
She is a type of mermaid
She is half salmon and half woman
She captures and kills men
However if a man catches her she will grant him three wishes
If you capture her soul then she can be defeated
Ceffyl Dwr - Welsh
This is a type of water horse
Although it has no wings it is capable of flying
He sometimes allows himself to be ridden but isn't well behaved.
Crodha Mara - Scottish
Crodha mara is a type of sea cattle
Cyclopes – Sicily
They are one eyed giants who live in caves by Mount Etna
Some of shepherds and peaceful but some eat humans
Dooinney Oie – Manx
The name means Night Man
They warn of storms by blowing on a horn
Dragons
Some people believe the dragon myth is simple an ancestral
memory of humans about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are believed to have died out
60 million years before proto-humans existed but it may be possible that whichever
creature existed in the days of dinosaurs that later evolved in human may
have passed on a memory in their DNA
Paintings are Stone Age men fighting dinosaurs have been
found but all of these have been declared as fakes
Dragons are depicted as having small wings, breathing fire
and their blood is poisonous
They are connected to serpents in myths often the word
serpent and dragon are interchangeable
They often guard treasures and lives in watery or misty
caves
In China it is believed dragons are the givers of laws,
fertility, swords, painting and magic. In art smoke not fire comes from they
mouths
It was thought Dragons caused solar eclipses as they ate the sun
Each Uisge - Scottish
A type of dangerous water horse
They can inhabit any form of water
It can shapeshift into a normal looking pony or human man
If someone attemptes to ride him they will run into deep water and drown the rider
It kills animals as well as humans
Fachan – Scottish
This is depicted as having one eye, one arm and one leg
and was found in Glen Etive, Argyllshire
Glashtin - Manx
Other Names: Cabbyl ushtey
A Glashtin is another water horse. It looks like a normal horse except its feet are on backwards
Griffin
The griffin has been around for at least 5000 years originating from Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt
It is depicted as half lion and half eagle –half beast and half bird.
It is fierce and will attack people and horses
Hydra – Lerna Greece
They are many headed snakes that live in swamps.
If one of their heads were cut off then two would replace it
It could kill by breathing on you
Ichthyocentaur
A centaur type creature the upper half a man, the bottom half a horse or lion and the tail of a dolphin
Kelpie – Scottish
This is a water horse although it can shapeshift into a shaggy haired man or a handsome man
It eats animals and seeing one is an omen of death
It tricks people into riding it so it can drown them
They are also known to hunt and eat humans
There was a kelpie at Loch Ness but it was killed
Kelpies may be memories of Pagan Gods that sacrifices were made to
Ki-Lin - China
These are like unicorns but more goat than horse and appear
when someone important is born
Kracken
Other Names: Kraxen, Krabben, Korven
These were sea monsters from the medieval times that would
sink ships.
It is depicted as a large cuttlefish or squid that caused a whirlpool when it dived
Loch Ness Monster
Sightings of Nessie date back to the Middle Ages
In the 6th century St Columba tried to exorcise
the loch with a bell, candle and bible, in recent times others have tried
to exorcise the area
A modern day theory is that Aleister Crowley created it in the 1900s when he lived at Bolskine House
Manticore
They are depicted as having a body of a lion, the face
of a human with three rows of teeth and a tail of poisoned spines
Mermaids
They are half fish, half woman although some believe they have human legs hidden under their scales
They sit on rocks combing their hair or looking into mirrors, or singing to humans
They cause storms and can sink boats
It is thought that they have no soul and must marry a man in order to gain one
Minotaur
They are depicted as half man and half bull which feeds on humans
They live in the labyrinth on Crete and seven maidens were
fed to it
Morgawr
This is a sea serpent that haunts the Cornish coastline.
In 1876 it was reported in the West Briton newspaper that
some fishermen had been attacked by a sea serpent when they hauled in their
lobster pots. They believed it may have been an eel and killed it
It was sighted in Bude in 1882
A Atlantic passenger liner sighted it in 1906 close to
Land’s End and later it was seen a few times between Padstow and Tintagel
A Falmouth fisherman caught a beaked face creature in the
1920s but it escaped
It was seen again in the 30s and 40s but then was not seen
until 1975 when it was spotted at Falmouth
After that it was seen more frequently again
Doc Shields and a coven of witches tried and failed to
conjure up the beast on the Falmouth beach
It is believed the Morgawr is still out there
The Night Mare
Depicted as a crone or hag who often appears in dreams
foretelling death and misfortune
They nest in yew trees, which are lined with white horse
hair, crow and raven feathers and the bleached bones of poets
Phantom Cats
Other Names: Phantom pumas, Alien black cats (ABCs)
They roam the British countryside and it is believed they
are big cats that have escaped from zoos or were released into the wild after
the 1970s Wild Animal Act
They have never been caught despite numerous attempts by
experts, hunters, common folk and the SAS
The most famous is the Beast of Bodmin Moor
Phantom Dogs
Other Names: Also known as Phantom hound, Black dog, Old
Shuck, Barguet, Trash, Padfoot, the Grim, Galley-trot, Dogs of Hell, Gabriel
hounds, Gabriel’s Rachets, Yeth hounds (Sussex), Wish hounds (Sussex), Whist
Hounds (Dartmoor), Black dog of Baal, Shrike
They are seen as omens of death or disaster or the devil
The Galley-trot and Padfoot are both white, the Galley
trot being described as the size of a bullock whilst the Padfoot is the size
of a sheep
Old Shuck is found in East Anglia.
It is depicted as being as big as a calf with a shaggy black coat and red blazing eyes they size of saucers.
It may guide people to safety but it is also a sign of death in the area
Sightings in Chelmsford have been reported in recent years
The Barquest is a black dog found is Yorkshire and Lancashire around churchyards.
It howls when someone has died.
It may appear as a black cat, a giant rabbit or a goblin
In the West Country there is the Church Grim, which is
a black dog or owl
In Somerset folklore the first person to be buried in a
churchyard would become the watcher and guardian of that area. To prevent
this large black dogs were buried in the churchyard –and these became the
Church Grim.
Black dogs are often seen at crossing points into the Otherworld
and spirit tracks
They may be the guardian spirit of a place after an animal was sacrifice
Phoenix
Other Names: Fire Bird, Bennu bird, Feng Hwang (China)
It is depicted as being like an eagle with gold or purple
feathers and red, gold and blue plumage.
In legend there was only one phoenix that lived in Arabia.
It lived for hundreds of years then it built a pyre of the finest aromatic
shrubs and spices and sang a beautiful song as it burnt to death.
A worm emerged from the ashes and became a new pheonix
It was associated with the cycle of life.
In Egypt it was seen as a falcon, crane or heron and was an aspect of the god Ra
In Christianity it represents the resurrection
In China it is one of the four creatures who rule the earth
and is a heavenly messenger
Pookas
Irish and English ghost horse who drowns people
Seal People - Scottish
Other Names: Selkies
They are believed to be fallen angels or humans who were
banished to the sea
It is also thought they may be the spirits of those who
have drowned.
During the night they come back onto the land and may mate
with humans
They are still believed to exist
Sea Serpents
Over 500 sea serpents have been reported in the last 300 years
They vary in description
Seven Whistlers
Seen in parts of England but often only heard. They are
geese or curlews.
Said to foretell death –anyone who hears them will die in seven days.
Sphinx - Egypt, Greece and Assyrian
They have a head of a human but the body of a lion
The Great Sphinx is situated by the pyramid of the Pharaoh
Khufu at Giza
It dates back 4500 years and its face is 4m wide
It wears a striped cloth around its head – something that only a pharaoh was allowed to do
It is believed the face may be that of the pharaoh Kephren who ruled from 2520 to 2494 BC.
Spunkie – Scottish
This is another water horse who drown people
Tarroo-ushtay – Manx
This is a water bull that grazes with other cattle but goes back to the water
Unicorns
They are feral and fierce animals that can use their horns like a sword
In some myths a maiden can capture one by convincing it
to lie on her lap or suckle her breasts
The earliest reference to unicorns comes from Sumerian
and Babylonian sources.
Unicorns are believed to have been native to Egypt, North America, Saudi Arabia and Asia; although early British travellers claim to have seen unicorns in Florida, New England and Canada.
Ctesias (a Greek) in the 5th century described
unicorns as having a white body, red mane, blue eyes and a single horn a cubit
and a half long. The base of the horn was white, middle part black and top
red.
A Persian writer who claimed to have seen unicorns in India
gave the same sort of description.
Pliny (a Roman) described unicorns as having a horse body, a stag’s head with a single horn, the feet of an elephant and the tail of a boar.
Aelian (another Roman) who claimed to have seen a unicorn in India gave a similar description adding that its coat was tawny and its horn black and twisted. It had a loud harsh sound and whilst it lived peacefully with other animals fought its own kind fiercely - sometimes the male killing the female.
They were all solitary animals that only got together to breed.
Pliny also claimed that nobles managed to hunt unicorns and keep them as pets, fixing gold rings around their horns to prove ownership.
In 1503 A European traveller claimed to see a captive unicorn
at the palace of the sultan in Mecca.
In the 14th century an Englishman Sir John Mandevillle
wrote in his journal “In that countrie be manye white olifantes, with outen
number, and of Unycornes, and of Lyons of many manares.”
Other people have described them as having a black and
shaggy mane, short strong legs and tail of a lion.
The Chinese called it “the four not like” saying it had
the body of a horse but not like a horse, the feet of an antelope but not
like an antelope, the head of a deer but not like a deer and the tail of a
boar but not like a boar.
One theory is the animal described is an extinct animal
such as a deer or antelope or a misidentified rhino. Most of the unicorn horns
displayed in the Middle Ages were rhino horns.
Unicorn horns were highly prized for their supernatural
powers. This is said to be the reason unicorns were hunted to extinction.
Dipping a unicorn cup into poison rendered the poison harmless
The ashes of a unicorn horn could heal any snake or insect bite.
They were also said to cure epilepsy and were part of the
Elixir of life.
Unicorns can represent Christ and fallen angel Lucifer.