# 31daysofhalloween yokaitober yokai illustration japanesefolklore ayokaiaday fairies faustianfriday caturday pirateloreweek amwriting

If you can get a ghost between the door and the doorpost, and then slam the door, it will be so tormented it will have to leave you...

6 32
2021-10-24



In Gloucestershire there's a superstition that horses can see ghosts.

1 3
2021-10-23

十六日目はヤドリまたはカッパ！
河童の中でもかなり特異な事例。
youkaitover only for kappa!
Please take a look if you like!
kappa-only youkaitober
Day 16:Yadori or Kappa


9 32
2021-10-23

In Irish lore, there is a belief that a house should not be built until a spade is stuck in the ground and left overnight. If the spade is still standing in the morn, it is safe to build without angering the fairies (aos sí) 🧚

🎨Alan Lee

5 41
2021-10-16

🌿🌗🌿Hawthorn trees are sacred to the Fae, and it was believed that anyone foolhardy enough to rest beneath one when the veil between the worlds was thin - at Beltane, the Solstices and Samhain - risked falling under their power and being stolen away.

31 144
2021-10-16

The prince thanking the Water sprite, from 'The Princess Nobody: A Tale of Fairyland' (1884) by Andrew Lang (illustration by Richard Doyle)

1 7
2021-10-16

The colours of the Welsh fairyland, Annwn, are white and gold. As a result, fairies generally have pale skin, blond hair, and pale yellow eyes. Someone born in Wales with such features was often mistrusted, suspected of being secretly a fairy changeling

20 77
2021-10-16

Trow are described as small, ugly, deformed creatures sometimes invisible to humans. At night the trow were thought to break into houses to warm themselves around the fire.

4 13
2021-10-16

A sprite, a supernatural entity in European mythology. Often depicted as fairy-like creatures or as an ethereal entity


🎨 Mark Potts

2 10
2021-10-16


In Ireland it is unlucky to cut down a lone hawthorn tree. The tree is considered sacred and thought to be a secret meeting place for the “wee folk” or fairies. Leaving a small offering there ensures good fortune from the fairies in return.
🎨Cicely Mary Barker

5 15
2021-10-16

The Ethiopian Crocotta/ Leucrotta is a hybridized were-animal that can mimic human voices to lure their prey. If the creature looks at you three times then it will root you to the spot.
🖼:

13 43
2021-10-09

In the Kenyan village of Kakamega, some locals believe the resident geese only honk at witches, as they have a sixth sense for identifying them. Families keep geese as security guards to alert them to the presence of witches.

2 14
2021-10-09

According to legend, Siamese cats were used to guard the King of Siam.They would perch on tall pillars placed around his throne; if anyone threatened the King, the cats would leap down on the attacker, slashing with their claws
🎨Eileen Mayo (1906-1994)

13 54
2021-10-03

Different regions have different rules, saying when a cat reaches 7, 8, or 13 years old, it gains magical powers. The bakeneko is a magic cat, a trickster able to shapeshift and create fire. Some even gain two tails, called Nekomata.

🖼: Cake-o

15 62
2021-10-02

The Scottish 'Cat Sìth' is said to be a thief of souls. The superstition that cats have nine lives comes from the idea that the Cat Sìth's were witches that could transform nine times, with the final transformation being permanent.
🖼️

27 64
2021-10-02

The Cù-Sìth is a spectral hound from the Scottish highlands that takes souls to the afterlife. A popular superstition states that hearing a dog howl is an omen of death and this comes from the idea that the Cù-Sìth's three howls can cause death.

18 60
2021-10-02

In the past, when horses got a new pair of horseshoes, their owners didn't throw the old pair away, because they believed in "cream witches:" witches that kept cream from becoming butter. The remedy was to drop a red-hot burning horseshoe into the butter churn.

2 15
2021-10-02

"... like another cursed Jonah..." ("Moby Dick")

A bringer o' bad luck on board a ship be called a Jonah 'n thrown into the sea, like the sailors o' Joppa did wit' the prophet on thar way t' Tarshish



🖼️ print after Rubens, 1755

3 17
2021-09-19

Although their real existence is not proven, it is said that, on stormy nights, the RAQUEIROS (from English wrecker) tied torches to the horns of cows and released them on the cliffs, in order to confuse the ships that sailed near the coast and cause their wreck.

9 35
2021-09-18

What became of St Dahalin's pirates? Well, I like to think that they became really friendly ‘saintly’ seafarers after that! Instead of pillaging people, they took to the high oceans, had fun looking for🧜‍♀️, & never ever made anyone walk the plank again!

1 5
2021-09-18