Darklings!

Tomorrow is the last day we'll let the beasts run free - draws close and so is the new topic for the last week of ... and of course we will RT your spooky tagged tweets. Looking forward to see you again!

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Medieval thinkers saw dragons as scary beasts doing the “devil’s work.”Such myths spurred Victorian writers & illustrators in their depiction of dragons. Here are two 12th-cen manuscripts of fiery dragons, & Arthur Rackham’s fairy-tale, but fierce dragons. 🐉

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Serpents and chickens shouldn't mix eggs, unless you want basilisks and cockatrices. A serpent or frog's egg hatched by a cockerel becomes the King of Serpents, a Basilisk. A cockerel's egg hatched by a serpent or frog produces a Cockatrice.

🖼: 1-D. Scott

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A couple of beasts from the 18thc grimoire Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros (c.1775)
Author Unknown. Held in the Wellcome Library, London

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"I could see his staring eyes...He vanished behind the mound, and for a moment there was silence...then began a shrieking and a sustained and cheerful hooting from the Martians."
– 'War of the Worlds' (1898) 7/7

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Five Madagascan Monsters for

1. The Songomby
What do you know about this beaut of a man eating beast from Madagascar? It is said to be practically invincible but the hero Imbahitrila defeated one with two magical eggs from the angavola bird.

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Cerberus: in ancient Greek mythology, the hound of Hades. Often depicted with three heads, he is the guardian of the gates to the Underworld, preventing the dead from leaving.

🖼 Cerberus, by William Blake

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The Linworm slithers despite its limbs, using these instead for traction and for grabbing things. It haunts Scandinavia, Sweden in particular, and has spread as a heraldric motif from there, where it originated from runestones.

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Dragon's nature has been described as dual. Both medicine & poison, loyal & deceitful. This reflects, says Martin Shaw, human nature. Do we store personal treasures & gifts in our dark caves, or do we distribute them around the world? Are we a hoarder or a gifter?#FaustianFriday

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Draugen is a huge, seaweed covered monster in Norwegian folklore, that was thought to be the ghost of a drowned fisherman. Draugen often appeared during storms, trying to drag the fishermen under water and drown them.


“The Sea Monster”
Theodor Kittelsen (1881)

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I made a Faustian bargain at 1 AM.

In trade for this, The Skeld has been added to my group's TTT map rotation.

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"My love for you is a prayer, she thought. Love is the only prayer I know." 🖤 Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon



🎨 The Crystal Ball by John William Waterhouse.

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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.
🖼:

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Book ghosts haunting the library

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The waters around Hopeless Maine are cursed with monstrous sealife, angry tides and dramatic rocks, which tend to prove fatal.

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We visit 's extremely haunted attic for (I expect it's cursed as well, and a bit messy)

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"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last."—Goethe

The Erlkonig by Schubert



🎨Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Moritz von Schwind, Albert Sterner

https://t.co/4hUbyDoYlA via

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In Britain, the distinction between fairies and ghosts is ambiguous. When King Arthur stole a cauldron from Fairyland, he also confronted the ghosts of Welsh folk heroes. Likewise, sometimes a fairy king leads the Wild Hunt, but other times it's Arthur's ghost.

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Ghost said to priest:
'In life, love gnawed my skin
To this white bone;
What love did then, love does now:
Gnaws me through.'

-Sylvia Plath-

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