The Headless Nun of the Miramichi: a Canadian ghost who has been searching for her skull for 270 years, and the Acadian Expulsion that created her
I've been researching real folklore from around the world and turning it into D&D 5e adventures.
Koschei the Deathless: the Russian villain who hid his mortality inside the structure of creation, and why compassion is the most dangerous thing in folklore
I've been researching real folklore from around the world and turning it into D&D 5e adventures.
The Pontianak: the Malay ghost whose 'cure' is as monstrous as the haunting
I've been researching real folklore from around the world and turning it into D&D 5e adventures.
The Bida: the Soninke seven-headed serpent that fed an empire on sacrifice, and the warrior who killed it at the cost of the rain
In the Soninke oral tradition, the empire of Wagadu (the Ghana Empire) was sustained by a pact with a colossal seven-headed serpent beneath the city's...
The Kishi: Angola's two-faced demon that passes every courtship test better than any human
In the oral tradition of the Ambundu people of Angola, the Kishi has two permanent faces on the same skull. The front face is a handsome young man.
El Silbón: the Venezuelan ghost whose whistle lies about distance, and why the protections hurt him
In the cattle-ranching plains of Venezuela and Colombia, a ghost has been walking since the 1850s.
Black Shuck: the phantom dog of East Anglia, and the 1577 church attacks that left scorch marks you can still touch today
On 4 August 1577, during a violent thunderstorm, a black dog burst into St. Mary's Church in Bungay, Suffolk, and killed two parishioners on their knees...
The Adze: the firefly vampire of the Ewe people, and why witchcraft accusation is scarier than any monster
The Adze is a legend where the real horror is not the creature.
The Gashadokuro: what happens when hundreds starve and nobody buries them
In Japanese folklore, when too many people die without proper burial rites, the bones accumulate.
El Caleuche: the ghost ship of Chiloé, and why the sorcerers who crewed it were put on trial in 1880
In the Chiloé Archipelago off southern Chile, a ghost ship surfaces on certain nights, blazing with music and light.
The old stories were warnings.