The Alu was often described in Babylonian legends as a black dog.

Introduction

An alu is an interesting combination between Armenian lore and Christianity. It is described as being a half-human, half-animal hybrid. The al is also seen in Babylonian lore, as a spirit that causes diseases, and takes the shape of a black dog. It has one fierce eye, iron teeth, tusks like a wild boar, long hair resembling serpents, and brass fingernails. It is also said that it sometimes wears a pointed hat covered with bells, which can make the alu invisible. They like to dwell in dirty, sandy, damp places, so they are often seen in stables, along the road, and sometimes they arefound in abandoned houses.

Christian Origins

In Christian lore, it is said that after God created Adam from dust he created an the al from fire. The two did not get along, as a result, God created Eve for Adam to substitute the incompatibility. This spun the Alu into a horrible rage. From then on he hated women, especially those who are pregnant, as it symbolized man’s love of women over him. He would strangle the mothers-to-be and pull out their liver, along with the unborn child’s liver. It also can cause miscarriages. Also, besides the unborn, the alu can steal and kill newborns as old as seven months. It is believed that St. Peter came across the creature by the roadside, and asked it to identify itself. It then proceeded to tell him his name and told him what he did to women and babies, making itself known to Christians.

Protection

If you want to protect yourself against the al, it is best to keep a lot of iron around, as it is thought to hurt or repel it. Prayers and charms are said to work as well. It is best to put these objects around the bed of a pregnant woman and to keep an iron knife under the pillow just in case.

The Beast of Gevaudan reigned terror on France for 3 years in the 18th century until it was killed.

Introduction

The Beast of Gevaudan was a mysterious creature that struck terror into the heart of Gevaudan, France in the 18th century. There was an estimate of 210 attacks, which resulted in 113 deaths, 49 injuries July 1764 to June 1767. Up to 98 of the slain victims were partly eaten, while the rest of the slain were mutilated beyond recognization. Some people believed it to be two smaller wolves, while others believed it was a liger (tiger and lion offspring) or a hyena. But others claimed that the beast was a gigantic wolf. It was described as having reddish fur, as big as a donkey, having a massive jaw, and a furry tail.

The Attacks

The first attack occurred on June 1st 1764, when a woman saw the Beast come out of the forest. Just as fast as she spotted it, it began to charge at her. She narrowly escaped and she provided the first description of the creature. The first death caused by the creature occurred on June 30. A woman named Jeanne Boulet was found in a field. The scariest thing was the fact that the beast seemed to go after people more than the farm animals. For example, in many circumstances, a person would be found dead and partially eaten in a field full of livestock, all of which were untouched.

The beast was thought to be MUCH larger than the average wolf.

The continued attacks began to create fear in the hearts of many French people. No one in rural areas would go outside alone. Eventually, the widespread panic got the attention of King Louis XV. He sent out professional wolf hunters numbering over 20,000 to hunt down all the wolves in France. They tried many different methods, from metal trapping to poisoning and old fashioned hunting. Thousands upon thousands of wolves were slain, but it didn’t seem to stop the pandemic.

The Escalating Attacks

After the wolf massacre occurred, the attacks continued and eventually they became fiercer than ever. In one week alone the Beast killed and ate four people. A woman, and eight-year old child, a 15-year old girl, and another unidentified person were all found tore to shreds. The bodies of these people were so badly eaten that some of the pieces found were too small for burial. One victim almost went completely unidentified, but they managed to identify her by her eyes. Most of the victims were children. In the rare occasions that it was an adult, it was most likely a woman.

Conclusion

The peasants were beginning to think that the Beast was a werewolf sorcerer and would never be killed,until eventually, the killings ceased. Two possible suspects for the beast of Gevaudan were two large wolves. On September 21, 1766, a large male wolf was killed, and in June 1767, a very large female wolf was killed. The wolves had very unusual markings and coloration. Even though the wolf attacks stopped in Gevaudan after the slaying of the two large wolves, other wolf attacks have been reported in France up until 1954.

The beast of Bray Road kneeling by a creek.

The Beast of Bray Road was thought to be a werewolf seen in Wisconsin and Michigan from 1989-1992. It was named after its first sighting, which was on Bray Road, an isolated country road near Elkhorn, in southeastern Wisconsin. Occurring in a small town of 6,500 people, the sightings attracted a lot of media and the beast was a popular urban legend among teenagers.

Description of the Beast

Mostly everyone who has claimed to see the Beast described it as a massive wolf that walks on its hind legs. They estimate it to be 6 ft. tall, but perhaps it spanned as tall as 8 feet. It had human-like hands and body, but it was completely covered with fur and had the snout of a wolf. It stares at people with a smirk, has sharp eyes, and carries an awful odor. It caused no harm to date, but eyewitnesses claim it to be demonic. The beast is most often seen at night, but has been seen during the day as well. He chased a few people and was spotted by the side of the road eating animal carcasses. Some believe it to be a dogman-like creature that has survived prehistoric times and somehow it now wanders the countryside of Wisconsin.

The Beast of Bray Road, a wolf-like creature that walks on two feet.

One of the earliest accounts took place in 1936 by a night watchman at St. Colleta, a Catholic convent near Jefferson, Wisconsin. Mark Schackelman claims to have seen the beast two separate times, both around midnight. He spotted the Beast clawing on top a Native American Indian burial mound. He went after the “wolf” and the Beast fled.

During the second night of Schackelman’s watch, he approached the beast at the mound again, this time the Beast stood up on his hind legs and faced him. To his astonishment the creature was over 6 feet tall and was covered in dark hair, fangs, pointed ears, he described it as having awful smell, like rotting meat. The Beast growled, Schackelman,scared out of his mind, repeatedly prayed to God that he would be safe. After snarling at him, he said the creature walked away.

Another sighting happened in 1989 when Lorianne Endrizzi, a 24-year old, was driving down Bray Road at around 1:30 A.M. She thought she saw a person hunched over on the side of the road, so she slowed down to see if the “person” needed help. When she looked over at the figure, she saw that the person was actually a half man, half wolf abomination. It had a long snout, yellow eyes, fangs, and was covered in grayish-brown hair. The Beast was holding roadkill with its human-like hands with claws, and as she was watching, it continued to devour the animal. The beast continued to stare at her, eating the animal, until she drove away. The Beast of Bray Road has also been described as being bear-like or baboon-like. It has a resemblance to the Dogman of Michigan, Lobizon of South American, and Snarly Yow. Some say that it could also be related to Bigfoot.

The afanc, a welsh lake monster, often described as a hybrid between a crocodile and a beaver.
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Aliases: Addanc

Introduction

The Afanc is a lake monster from Welsh mythology. It is believed to exist in a few different lakes in the United Kingdom such as Llyn Llion, Llyn Barfog or in Llyn yr Afanc. It has various descriptions which include a combination of a beaver, crocodile, and a dwarf-like creature. It is also said that this monstrous beast will eat anything that falls into the lake. There several very old legends for the Afanc based on regional folklore, but primarily, it is considered to be a demon responsible for flooding.

The First Afanc Legend

The first afanc legend states that a young lady was taking care of the monster and let it cradle on her lap asleep. When the maiden’s village saw the beast they were angry and bound the beast in chains. The Afanc started thrashing about and ended up crushing the lady, apparently because it was still on her lap. It was dragged by the men to the depths of lake Cwm Ffynnon, which is located in Snowdonia, UK.

The Second Afanc Legend

In the second legend it is believed that King Arthur or Percival (one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table) slayed the Afanc. In the national park in Snowdonia, Wales, there stands a gigantic rock with an imprint on it that resembles a hoof-print. Some say this imprint was made by King Arthur’s horse, Llamrai, while they struggled to take the beast out of the lake with chains. The Afanc was so massive that it caused the horse’s hooves to press down and make an indentation on the rock. After a long struggle, King Arthur succeeded in slayed the beast. The rock with the hoof print can be seen today and is called “Carn March Arthur” or “Stone of Arthur’s Horse.”

The location where Arthur battled with the afanc. His horse left a hoofprint in the rock after struggling with it.

In the third legend a Welsh poet named Edward Williams, (aka Lolo Morganwg [job mor'yaung])described as a famous forger of myths and folklore, believed that the Afanc’s swimming rapidly and thrashing about caused immense flooding during the time. According to legend, the flooding led to the death of every inhabitant of Britain except for two people, Dwyfan and Dwfach. All of the Prydains are said to be descendants from those two individuals.

The Final Afanc Legend

Another of the Afanc legends occurred in Llyn Llion’s lake with Hu Gadarn (“Hu the Mighty”), a man in Welsh Mythology. He was credited with inventing a song to help improve memory and for teaching people how to plow. Much like the previous legends, this afanc was said to flood the land. One day, after a massivel flood, Hu the Mighty pulled the creature out of the lake with the aid of his oxen. Once out of the water, the Afanc was helpless and very easily killed. After the Afanc was dead, the flooding was said to have stopped.

The Amun temple in Egypt.

Amun, from Egyptian Mythology, started his life as wind in Thebes and was considered a fertility god. In 2000 B.C., the city of Thebes started shifting their religion towards Amun over their old favorite, Ra. And at around 2000 B.C. Egypt began to see a majority of their wealth being funneled to the worship of Amun. Eventually in Egyptian lore, the two gods came together as one. When they merged together, it is said they created the universe and they went by the combined name, Amun-Ra. They were the personal protector of the pharaoh, and were hailed as a national god. Although his physical appearance is unknown, he was also thought to be a god of war, and it was believed that he could turn into a snake and shed his skin to regenerate himself.

Anubis, measuring a heart of a recently deceased person. If their heart was heavy, it would be fed to Ammit.

Anubis shows up in Egyptian Mythology, and is often seen drawn numerous times in Egyptian tombs. He is described as having a human body with the head of a jackal. Anubis was given credit for creating people and for inventing embalming and the mummification process, which he used on the first ever mummy, Osiris. Anubis dwelt in the underworld where he would take the hearts of those that died and put them on a scale. If the hearts were heavy with sin they were fed to Ammit, guardian of the underworld.

Aliases: Ammut, Ammet, Anam, Amemet, Ahemait

Anubis and Ammit in the Egyptian underworld.

Ammit, from Egyptian mythology, is described as having a head of a crocodile, the front arms and front half of the body of a lion, and the bottom and legs of a hippo. The three animals that were feared most by Egyptians. She represented all of the wrong choices and sin one committed in life, so instead of being worshiped, she was feared. She stayed in the underworld, known as Duat. The Egyptians believed that when you die you go to the underworld, there you will encounter Anubis who will take your heart and weigh it on a scale, on the other scale is a feather from Ma’at’s headdress. If the person’s heart was heavy with sin and wrongdoings then it was thrown down the Hall of Ma’at where it would be devoured. If your heart was eaten you wouldn’t be allowed to enter Aaru, which Egyptians believed was the heavenly paradise.

A close-up of Aten holding ankhs, as depicted in Egyptian Mythology.

Aten is from Egyptian Mythology and is described as a red solar disk with rays coming down like the sun, which are suppose to represent his goodness. At the end of each ray were hands which held ankhs, an Egyptian symbol for everlasting life. He was believed to be the one universal god in 1400 BC, according to Pharaoh Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti. Akhenaton closed all of the temples of the other gods, such as Amun and Ra, so that everyone could just worship Aten. After the Pharoah and his wife passed things changed, people began to worship Ra and the other gods again.

In 1400 B.C., Aten was the one true god of ancient Egypt.

Aliases: Will-o-Wisp

Similar to: Phantasm, Ball of Light

Have you ever seen a ball of light fly by? Maybe you just out of the corner of the eye and you shrug it off, but many legends from around the world explain the flying globes in a multitude of different ways.

A green wisp, often appearing in the night as bright lights.

Will’o'wisps are often described as appearing over bogs or other bodies of water. Seen at night, they may appear as either bright or fading light in the distance. If you attempt to approach them they seem to flee, either subtly or at high speed. Old folklore describes the will’o'wisp as a mischievous spirit that attempts to lure travelers astray. Because many ancient people used the stars to navigate, this could be seen as a significant threat.

Definition: Coined by Charles Richet and popularized in the movie the Ghost Busters, ectoplasms are often described as gooey masses that may accumulate because of the presence of ghosts.

Aliases: Ghost matter

Slimer from Ghostbusters, said to be made from ectoplasm.

Most ghosts have been described as metaphysical, having no connection with the real world. They can make a breeze or other metaphysical activities, yet they have no real affect on the world. But other spirits can incarnate themselves into to the physical world, or leave waste from their presence. It is often very gooey, not unlike rubber cement. Its color can vary, but it is most often green or yellow. It has been found in several places mysteriously, from barns to houses and to wooded areas.