The donuts, apparently, were really good. Where to find one: In The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan’s second Percy Jackson book, our heroes battle a hydra whose life-force is connected to a mysterious donut shop. This was the challenge that faced Heracles when he was commanded to slay the Hydra of Lerna, a many-headed beast, during the second of his labors. Now that we've ticked off some humanoid mythological creatures, let's head into the menagerie for some inspired by the animal kingdom.Ĭut off one head, and two more will take its place. Perhaps the oral history version presented in Max Brooks’ World War Z or the unlikely romantic take of Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies. Where to find one: Take your pick, really. Divorced from all semblance of their former selves and highly infectious, these shambling corpses have only one desire: to consume human flesh. In particular, we’re talking about the creatures in I am Legend by Richard Matheson and the classic films of George Romero ( Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead). While its name derives from Haitian folklore, the zombies we’re most accustomed to originate from the mid-20th century. Where to find one: Sharlene Teo’s Singapore-set Ponti revolves around three women connected by a cult 70s film featuring the Pontianak legend. Be warned, if you smell their signature scent of frangipani, run away!
Noted for their pale skin, long, lank hair and white dress (think the girl from The Ring), they’ve been known to lure and kill unsuspecting men. Perhaps the best known of the evil spirits in Indonesia and Malaysia, Pontianak is said to be the souls of women who died whilst pregnant. Where to find one: Patricia Lysaght’s non-fiction The Banshee: The Irish Death Messenger is an in-depth look at the roots behind this under-appreciated myth. Banshees are a part of Irish mythology best known for their ubiquity in modern metaphor (“screams like a banshee”) and their tendency to support Siouxsie Sioux in concert. Where to find one: Richard Zimler’s The Warsaw Anagrams is a murder mystery of sorts, narrated by a dybbuk who recounts and recalls the horrors that took place within the Warsaw Ghetto in the early 40s.Ī female spirit whose haunting howls herald a coming death. Though one was featured in the opening scene of The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man, Dybbuks have recently re-entered popular imagination as the unlikely antagonist of rapper Post Malone. Perhaps none more than the dybbuk, the dislocated soul of someone deceased who has taken over a host body to complete unfinished business. Jewish folklore has more than its fair share of creatures that will send chills down your spine. Or for something that’s less likely to keep you up at night, why not try Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy for YA readers. Where to find one: For an oldie but a goodie, why not start with Bram Stoker’s Dracula? For something more contemporary, give Justin Cronin’s The Passage a go. Often a metaphor for the dangers of sexual desire, vampires have remained firmly in the cultural consciousness for over a hundred and fifty years. Though their portrayals will vary across culture - from brooding sexy ones in Twilight and Anne Rice novels to terrifying monstrous Count Orlok in Nosferatu - there are a few things that remain the same: vampires feed on the living to remain immortal, they avoid sunlight, and their hearts are vulnerable to sharp objects - you know, just like you and me. He’s been teaching children to distrust clowns and to run straight home from school since 1986. Where to find one: Pennywise from Stephen King’s It is our generation’s bogeyman of choice. A bogeyman might be an actual human (in one of the tales of Struwwelpeter, a tailor cuts off a boy's thumbs because he sucks them too much), but in most cases, it’s a supernatural force of some type. The bogeyman can take many forms, but their purpose remains constant: to scare the living daylights out of children and coerce them into good behavior.
Which mythical creature would be your animal sidekick?
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