Black cats were commonly thought to be familiars of witches.
©BloodyLexicon.com

Familiars are animal spirits that come from the devil and are given to witches or sorcerers as a gift. Familiars are universally known, described in several different cultures around the world. It helps the witch by assisting with the casting spells, performing magical quests, or causing a human sickness and death. It only obeys the one witch or sorcerer and will not listen to anybody else. The witch will feed the familiars with blood through her fingers, thumb, or breast. The markings on the body made by the sucking familiars were known as “witches marks.” These animals were commonly cats, dogs, mice, birds, or toads.

The Bouda, a were-hyena from African lore.
©BloodyLexicon.com

Also Known As: buda, bultungin

The Bouda are from Moroccan Berbers, and were known as were-hyenas. They are sometimes referred to as bultungin which in Nigeria it means, “I change myself into a hyena.” They would take the form of a human being in the morning then would shape-shift into hyenas after midnight with the help of magical herb potions. The bouda are known to rob graves. While hyenas, they could mimick human voices and would lure enemies to their death. It was believed that one or even two villages contained nothing but bouda.

The Bouda Legends

In Ethiopia it was thought that every blacksmith was really a wizard and possessed the power to shapeshift into a hyena and turn back into a human at daybreak. Since many blacksmiths were Jews, many of the Ethiopian Christians would also think that all of the Ethiopian Jews were bouda. They thought the Jews were digging up Christian corpses and eating them.

People of the Kore cult in Mali believed they could transform into the hyena when they would act like the hyena and put masks on to cause fear in others.

Some of the Sudanic people also believed that blacksmiths were bouda, along with woodcutters. Also, men who had a lot of hair all over, red-eyed or “talked with a nasal voice” were often thought to be Bouda. They were believed to be powerful healers but sometimes they would attack people. It is also said that they favored lovers.

The dogmen; a human, dog hybrid.

Introduction

Dogmen are reported all over the world. They are creatures with wolf heads and seem to have unusual human characteristics as well, such as hands and can usually walk upright. Some believe they are a hybrid or a type of human being. In the past they were known as Cynocephali or Dog-heads and were feared among humans. They were considered cannibalistic and could even breathe fire. They were also feared for their huge teeth.

Historic Perspective

Unlike werewolves, they couldn’t shape-shift. They are known to break into houses and attack people and animals. They cause massive destruction, they claw, bite, and even leave their teeth marks on doors. One of the oldest descriptions of Dogmen was written by a philosopher, writer, and historian, Artaxerxes from Persia in 400BC. He described a race of dog-headed men in India that would eat raw meat. He described them as having no language, instead they barked at each other. They understand the Indian language but cannot respond, they can make signs with their hands. The Indians referred to them as Calystrains, which means dog-headed in Indian. They were said to be black and very hairy, they had massive teeth and claws bigger than those of real dogs. Their estimated population at the time was around 129,000. They also appear in Egyptian lore, when Queen Hepshepsut sent out sailors to modern day Somalia, they reported seeing Dogmen who they described as being “fierce fighters.”

In Christianity, The Theodore Psalter shows a picture of Jesus preaching to men with dog heads. Some claim it’s symbolic for him preaching to heathens, others disagree. A giant Dogman named Abominable appears in “Contendings of the Apostles.” Sightings of Dogmen continue until this day. Many sightings have been reported in northern Michigan beginning in the late 19th century, they were described by lumberjacks as large black dogs that walked on their hind legs.

A common African wildcat, thought to be the appearance of the Andanara.

The legend of the Andanara come from the African tribe of the Azande. In Azande lore, the Andanara are known as wild male cats that sleep with human women. The women then go on to give birth to human children, as well as cats. The women are known to suckle on the cats. The Andanaras are known as bad luck if looked upon. They also have an evil eye, which if stared at can cause death. It is also considered unlucky if you hear their cries at night in the woods.

An engraving of a werewolf, from the 18th century.

The Aurvegne Werewolf case took place in 1558. It was first recorded by Henri Boguet, a demonologist, in his book titled “Discours des Sorciers” in 1602.

The story starts out like this. A hunter goes up to a man who owns several acres, for permission to hunt on his land. The man agrees, provided that the hunter brings back some of the catch to the landowner. The hunter goes on his way and after several hours of seeing nothing at all, he was attacked by a giant wolf. He tried to shoot it repeatedly, but the wolf wasn’t phased at all or even wounded. The hunter was down to fighting it with just his hands when he managed to grab his knife from his belt. He wasn’t able to kill it, but he did manage to cut off one of the wolf’s enormous paws.

Keeping with the original deal, the hunter returned to the landowner with the wolf’s paw. To the gentleman’s disbelief the paw changed into a woman’s hand with a ring on the finger. He ran into the kitchen where his wife was cooking and found his wife hiding one of her arms in her apron. He grabbed her arm and saw that her hand was missing. The woman later confessed that she transformed herself into a wolf so that she could attend a sabbat. In Ryon, she was then burned alive at the stake.

The Cressi Sorcerers were said to have the ability to shapeshift into wolves.

The Cressi Werewolf case took place in France, in the village of Cressi. Five sorcerers were put on trial in 1604 where the five admitted to witchcraft, sorcery, and shape-shifting into wolves to attend Sabbats. They kidnapped a boy, took him to one of the rituals, drank his blood, and killed him. They confessed to offering the boy to the devil, cut up his body, cooked him, and ate him. They said that they saved his fat for some potions and ointment. The five were burned to death.

The Alhpyn, a heraldic creature.

Alphyn comes from the Germanic word meaning “chaser” or “wolf”. It is described as a sort of lion figure, much like a heraldic tiger, and has eagle claws in the front and patches of hair all over the body. Sometimes the front claws are depicted as hooves from a goat instead or are all claws of a lion. It is commonly seen with longer erect ears, a thick mane and a long slender tongue. In many artworks depicting the creature, the tongue is commonly seen sticking out in front of him. It has a very long curved and knotted tail which is a popular design element in Celtic lore. It may be related to a griffin. Alphyn’s were usually used as a heraldic badge in battles. This rare symbol also appears on the Milleflour Tapestry, as a symbol on a flag held by a knight.

A picture of a what has been described as a dead chupacabra.

Introduction

The Chupacabra is a vampiric dog entity that has been seen primarily in Mexico, but has made appearances in other countries such as Puerto Rico, U.S, Mexico Central America, and South America. Its name, when directly translated, literally means “goatsucker” in Spanish. There have been many reported sightings of the chupacabra, and many of the descriptions vary widely. It has been described as an alien, a reptile, or even a demon. Most often though, it’s described as a dog-like creature that walks around on his hind legs, lacking fur. He has glowing red eyes and some people describe the chupacabra as having wings. He is said to have a spiney back that can change colors. The chupacabra can also run and jump unnaturally fast, and can fly or glide. It also has a peircing scream.

A Chupacabra's victim most common victim, the goat.

The name of the chupacabra comes from victims it takes. There have been reports of the chupacabra sucking the blood out of many farm animals, most predominantly goats and cattle. The victims most often have punture wounds on their bodies, usually on their neck, forehead, legs, and genital area. Sometimes the wounds are described as looking like surgical cuts, not like teeth marks, although in many Mexican cases there are two holes in the skin, which do in fact look like bite marks. Sometimes the brain or liver is missing from the body, and in unusual cases, slime is found around the dead bodies. Most of the victims are animals but several human attacks have been reported. There was an attack in Mexico reported in 1996, a woman was clawed on the back. The weird thing is that the craw marks resembled burn marks. There was another report by from a woman in Costa Rica who claims the creature grabbed her and tried to fly off with her, but she put up a fight and escaped.

Attacks in the U.S.

Near Miami Florida there were reports of domestic animals, goats, chickens, and ducks that were attacked and blamed on the chupacabra. A paw print was found at the scene of one of the attacks. Casts were made of itand examined. They found the print looked like from a large dog but had human nails rather than claws.Some people believe this beast has been around since the dinosaurs.

The adlet, a half man, half wolf creature from Inuit lore.
© BloodyLexicon.com

Adlets, from Inuit lore, were created a long time ago when an Inuit woman mated with a large red dog. The woman became pregnant, and her offspring were very unusual. Her children consisted of five normal dogs and five were-dogs. She was ashamed and humiliated at her beast-like non-human babies, that so she decided to get rid of them right away. Instead of killing them, she put all of the wolf-like creatures on a raft and took them out to sea where they drifted for months.

After quite some time on the raft, the dogs somehow made it to the shores of England, unharmed but very hungry. The were-dogs went into the northern lands were they feasted on everything in their path, including people. The Adlet are known for drinking the blood of humans, and they will tear a person to shreds, feasting on just the blood. According to legend the other five dogs intermarried with the Europeans, creating more weredogs. Offspring of the Adlet are known as the Erqigdlit.

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.