by Rob Baddorf | Jan 4, 2019 | Mythic Monsters
Happy New Year! Did you know that in Chinese mythology that they have a New Years Monster? Watch out kids! You better have some firecrackers to keep it at bay! According to Chinese mythology, a Nian (simplified Chinese: 年兽; traditional Chinese: 年獸; pinyin: nián shòu)...
by Rob Baddorf | Dec 21, 2018 | Mythic Monsters
Merry Christmas! Hope you’re at least getting some new LL Bean boots before Christmas this year, otherwise look out! The Yule Cat (Icelandic: Jólakötturinn) is a monster from Icelandic folklore, a huge and vicious cat said to lurk about the snowy countryside...
by Rob Baddorf | Mar 16, 2017 | Mythic Monsters
An ancient tale of monsters and men! If you can push through text, it’s a wonderful story. I highly recommend the translation by Seamus Heaney. Grendel is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel’s mother and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem...
by Rob Baddorf | Mar 15, 2017 | Mythic Monsters
Ever see an ancient map with a dragon-like monster drawn way out at sea? “Here be dragons” means dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures on...
by Rob Baddorf | Mar 14, 2017 | Mythic Monsters
When the moon is full, I get all itchy. I thought it was my laundry detergent. Turns out to be something more… A werewolf (from Old English: wer, “man”), man-wolf, or lycanthrope (Greek: λυκάνθρωπος, lykánthropos: λύκος, lykos, “wolf”,...
