Creatures and beings of myth and fantasy

Of the ones mentioned so far, Gremlins seem to best illustrate the rapid evolution of imaginary creatures as these seem to have first encountered human beings after the development of aircraft as described at Gremlins: A Pilot's Worst Nightmare or https://www.warhistoryonline.com/in...ns-were-a-pilots-worst-enemy-during-wwii.html. They were particularly noted by the RAF's high flying photographic reconnaissance units:

When you're seven miles up in the heavens,
And that's a heck of a lonely spot,
And it's fifty degrees below zero,
Which isn't exactly hot,
When you're frozen blue like your Spitfire,
And you're scared a Mosquito pink,
When you're thousands of miles from nowhere,
And there's nothing below but the drink -
It's then you will see the gremlins,
Green and gamboge and gold,
Male and female and neuter,
Gremlins both young and old.
White ones'll wiggle your wingtips,
Male ones'll muddle your maps,
Green ones'll guzzle your glycol,
Females will flutter your flaps,
Pink ones will perch on your perspex,
And dance pirouettes on your prop,
There's one spherical middle-aged gremlin
Who spins on your stick like a top.
They'll freeze up your camera shutters,
They'll bite through your aileron wires,
They'll cause your whole tail to flutter,
They'll insert toasting forks in your tyres.
This is the song of the gremlins
As sung by the P R U,
Pretty Ruddy Unlikely to many,
But fact nonetheless to the few.

However, after WW2 they adapted to a host of new environments even staring in films.
 
A Klabautermann, in German maritime folklore, is a sea kobold that is good luck and helps clean the ship and saves drowning sailors. But, should you actually see him, you are doomed.
 
Since we haven't so far listed educational resources for the study of these creatures, I will note that several found around England are mentioned in Juliet E. McKenna's series starting with "The Green Man's Heir". These include the Green Man himself, dryads, a naiad, boggarts, a black shuck, a wodewose and a Lambton wyrm in just the first volume and several others appear later. By contrast, the American author C.J. Cherryh gives information on Eastern European creatures such as a Rusalka, a vodyanoi and several leshys (older information on Rusalkas can be found at
). Also note that Charles Stross gave some information on unicorns which is available at Equoid.
 
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I think that my favourite mythical creature (well, at least my favourite mythical story) is/was the Lambton Worm/Wyrm. Again this came from a book, with a memorable picture of a knight resplendent in his shiny armour covered in spikes, fighting a green eel like creature.


Well I've got my Usborne's 'The World of the Unknown: Monsters' and the picture I remember comes from here.

It's interesting that they've re-released these books, and the forwards in each (Monsters, UFOs and Ghosts) confirm that there were many other people of a similar age to myself whose formative years were (in some ways) shaped by these publications.

So glad Phyrebat mentioned this, as it's brought back many memories, and a bargain for just a fiver.
 
Jackalope. I thought this was about mythical creatures like the Chupacabra.

[Edit: Warning. The link below is horrifying]

Here is a collection of caught and taxidermy jackalope. What more proof does one need?

Some very disturbing pictures :eek:

The Jackalope a creature half Bunnys and half deer . Legend has it that a bunch of geneticists , drawing inspiration from the Jurassic Park. films , decided to create a new and very unique creature with the big game hunters in mind. So , after ears painstaking experimentation , they were successful , too successful at it tuned out. The resulting creature was half bunny and dear but, was also hulking muscular bipedal and it had very big sharp Teeth. And unbeknownst to the geneticists , it possesses a genius level I Q , was master battle tactics and worse , it had a Napoleon Complex. The hunters though they had superior weapons and numbers never stood a chance. Trophies were collected but by the Jackalope.;)
 
Some very disturbing pictures :eek:

The Jackalope a creature half Bunnys and half deer . Legend has it that a bunch of geneticists , drawing inspiration from the Jurassic Park. films , decided to create a new and very unique creature with the big game hunters in mind. So , after ears painstaking experimentation , they were successful , too successful at it tuned out. The resulting creature was half bunny and dear but, was also hulking muscular bipedal and it had very big sharp Teeth. And unbeknownst to the geneticists , it possesses a genius level I Q , was master battle tactics and worse , it had a Napoleon Complex. The hunters though they had superior weapons and numbers never stood a chance. Trophies were collected but by the Jackalope.;)
The jackalope came well before Jurassic Park filem (1993) or book (1990). I recall seeing jackalope skulls on a vacation the the western US in the early 1960s.
 
The jackalope came well before Jurassic Park filem (1993) or book (1990). I recall seeing jackalope skulls on a vacation the the western US in the early 1960s.

Hm, the only way oi explain this anomaly anomaly is some of them must have mastered time travel and in the process of travel , regressed to a more primitive diminutive docile form. :unsure: :(
 
Hm, the only way oi explain this anomaly anomaly is some of them must have mastered time travel and in the process of travel , regressed to a more primitive diminutive docile form. :unsure: :(
That explains it. Jackalopes traveled into the future to tell Michael Crichton their story before their species went extinct. Unfortunately, they brought the wrong mosquito embedded in amber.
 
Don't forget the wild Haggis. The only animal with asymmetrical leg proportions - aiding their travels around the Monroes and Marilyns of Scotland - giving rise to 'lefties' and 'righties' depending on which leg side is shorter.

 
Don't forget the wild Haggis. The only animal with asymmetrical leg proportions - aiding their travels around the Monroes and Marilyns of Scotland - giving rise to 'lefties' and 'righties' depending on which leg side is shorter.


The single most vicious predatory animal in all of Scotland . It has mean streak a mile wide. Its gaze can turn you to stone pudding. :unsure:
 
I accidentally shot the Easter Bunny today. I felt very sad until I realized I had procured a life time of Chocolate treats.
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Don't forget the wild Haggis. The only animal with asymmetrical leg proportions - aiding their travels around the Monroes and Marilyns of Scotland - giving rise to 'lefties' and 'righties' depending on which leg side is shorter.

The asymmetric outline also gives them an advantage wrt camouflage, making them incredibly effective ambush predators. However, the idea of lefties and righties misses an important point: Haggis also have a 'crab gait', which they perform with head cocked in the direction of travel, for ascending and descending hills. Hence the idea of lefties and righties being forced to tear each other to shreds if they meet on a hillside is bunkum, or at least more due to territorial conflict than mechanical necessity: Usually the dominant Haggis allows the subordinate one the crab walk down to a lower, less advantageous contour of the hill, and retreat. Hence the concept of 'the high road' in the culture of regions where Haggis hunting and trapping was a big part of the traditional economy. :D

I can do this all day folks - my wife has worked in Scottish tourism for fifteen years :D She has met tourists seriously convinced they're related to Greyfriar's Bobby, and if you don't know why that's an issue I'll let you look the Bobby up.
 
And then there all Gore's favorite mythical creature Man/bear/Pig as seen in South Park :D

And let's not forget the mighty Jackalope which half bunny half deer.:D
I just saw this article -- listened to the blog post about the history of the Jackalope. According to this, the first taxidermy jackalope was produced in 1932, but the lore of horned rabbits goes back at least centuries and across all continents.

 

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