# swampsunday folklorethursday mermaid roman sea myths werewolf proteus thetis hercules

Artist Michael Zulli—from a never-published issue of DC Comics' Swamp Thing (1990-1991)

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2021-07-25

THE MIDGARD SERPENT or Jörmungandr. Offspring of the giantess Angrboða & Loki, so huge that its coils stretch right around the world. When Thor baits it with an ox head Jörmungandr vomits poison & blood before sinking back into the sea
Images Fuseli to Marvel

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2019-04-26

GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRIE Old Orkney Ballad. A girl romances a seal man; after 7 years the selkie returns & gives their son a gold chain. She marries a human who 1 day shoots 2 seals, round the neck of the youngest dying seal is a gold chain

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2019-04-25

Carta Marina, completed in 1539 by Olaus Magnus (1490–1557), was drawn from various cartographic sources and included monsters of the seas allegedly based on the observations of sailors who believed seeing or catching such creatures brought bad luck.

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2019-04-23

Bean Nighe (Scotland): An omen of death, the Bean Nighe can be seen washing the shrouds of those about to die in rivers and streams. She has one nostril and one long tooth. She can be tricked into granting wishes if you can convince her you're her foster child.

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2019-04-22

A MERMAID'S TAIL prevented her from consummating relationships with humans; artists suggestively erased her tail. Waterhouse’s siren has scales from her calves down; in 1896 Munch’s fishy tail starts at her knees & Magritte’s extends only to mid thigh

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2019-04-18

Bunyip (Australia): An aboriginal legendary creature - a lake dweller; they are carnivorous, enjoying the flesh of women and children. Descriptions vary, sometimes it is described as having a duck's bill, one eye, resembling a crocodile, or being hirsute.

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2019-04-18

Based on a poem by Russian author Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov & featuring 3 buckets of water: 'The Humpbacked Horse / Конёк-Горбуно́к / The Magic Pony' (1947) dir. Ivan Ivanov-Vano.

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2019-04-18

Neptune is the god of the He is typically portrayed as a bearded older man, but in this 19th-century painting, he appears as a youthful spirit, accompanied by sea creatures and other sea folk.

Neptune, Charles Napier Kennedy (1852–1898)

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2019-04-18

THE MERMAID'S MIRROR. Often seen as a sign of sin, or as representing the planet Venus; it also represents the mermaid's ability to see through the veil that separates the visible and spirit worlds, according to the folklore of mirrors ills C14-15th Bestiaries

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2019-04-17

THE MERMAN KING. Had six mermaid princesses as grandchildren. His mother wore 12 oysters on her tail, a sign of nobility. Living flowers grew out of the walls of his palace & fish swam in through open windows and ate out of his hands. The Mermaid, ill Dulac, 1911

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2019-04-13

BEAST OF BARMSTON DRAIN. A watery also known as 'Old Stinker'; walks upright, human face, haunts Yorkshire’s weird wolds & a macabre drain on the edge of two graveyards near the River Humber, the site of accidental drownings, murders and suicides

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2019-04-11

Nereus or the "Old Man of the Sea" in Homer. A Greek sea god known for shape-shifting and prophecy (see also & He helped find the apples of the Hesperides after a wrestling match. Hold on tight to these slippery types!

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2019-04-05

Jenny Greenteeth lurks at the bottom of rivers and ponds. Her cold, sinewy arms reach up to grab the ankles of those who get too close to the water and drag them down to her underwater lair.

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2019-04-04

Kelpie is the Scots name given to a shape-shifting water spirit, described as appearing as a horse, but is able to adopt human form. The Kelpie retains its hooves when appearing as a human, leading to its association with the Christian idea of Satan.

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2019-04-03