Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday- Ryujin

Today's critter is a sea-dragon god, Ryujin, who resides at the bottom of the sea. He controlls the tides with his gaping maw that sucks in all of the oceans. He lets them go as he breathes in and out.

Able to transform into a human shape, Ryujin lived in his palace under the sea built out of red and white coral, from where he controlled the tides with magical Tide Jewels. He used sea turtles, fish and jellyfish as his messangers and servants.

There is a story of Empress Jingo of Japan who prayed to Ryujin for help in her struggles against Korea. She received the Tide Jewels and used them to beach the Korean fleet, then drown the crews.

Stufff Ya Didn't Know Friday-Lamashtu

Today’s guest at Stuff Ya Didn’t Know Fridays is actually a goddess from Babylonian myths-Lamashtu. She was the daughter of Anu and the most terrible and feared of all of the female demons.

Lamashtu preyed upon unborn babies and newborns, but would take the bood of a man when she could get it. She wasn’t nice to look at either with the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, and a very hairy body. Her hands were always bloodstained, and she had the nails and feet of the Imdugud bird.

Lamashtu perpetrated a variety of evil deeds: she disturbed sleep and brought nightmares; she killed foliage and infested rivers and streams; she bound the muscles of men, caused pregnant women to miscarry, and brought disease and sickness. Lamashtu was often portrayed on amulets as a lion- or bird-headed female figure kneeling on an ass; she held a double-headed serpent in each hand and suckled a dog at her right breast and a pig or another dog at her left breast.

Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday- Bunyips

Ok, cute name, not so cute critter.

Today's creature entry hails from the land down under and has been eating folks in the swamps of Australia for a very long time.

The bunyips make their home in the various waterways of Australia but there are wide variations on how they look. They are often described as having a crocodile's tail, but the body can be that of an emu, bandicoot, or man. They have manes made of weeds and their feet are turned backwards.

Their terrifying cry can be heard booming across the swamps and they prefer to devour women and children.

"Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday" is a weekly look at weirdness...creatures, places, people, myths, whatever I happen to come across that makes me say, "Hmmmmm?"

Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday- Jersey Devil

Today’s monster hails from the east coast.

The Jersey Devil- no not someone from Jersey Shores- the Jersey Devil’s been around much longer than that brood.

The Jersey Devil either came about from an unhappy mothers curse in 1735 or was born in 1850 from a gypsy curse on a young girl. Either way the monster was born in Pine Barrens New Jersey, then escaped into the woods and continues to live there.

The Jersey Devil has a head like a horse or possibly a ram with large bat-like wings, and a long serpentine body. Tales of the Jersey Devil have waxed and waned like the moon it fly’s under, but one of the largest “Jersey Devil sightings and tales” period was a week in January 1909. Makes one wonder what happened then- hmm- maybe a story idea? :)

During that week, eyewitness accounts were documented in the papers with most witnesses reporting eerie sounds from near the Delaware river and the appearance of a strange glowing creature in the sky. Hoof prints of a strange animal were found in unlikely locations such a roofs, and the tops of chicken coops. No one has caught one yet though.
Want more info? http://www.elktownship.com/myth.html

"Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday" is a weekly look at weirdness...creatures, places, people, myths, whatever I happen to come across that makes me say, "Hmmmmm?"

Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday-Alklha

Welcome to another new weekly feature- Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday!

Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday is a weekly look at weirdness...creatures, places, people, myths, whatever I happen to come across that makes me say, "Hmmmmm?" The idea is that maybe some of the weirdness will rub off in an idea for a story, snippet, character- whatever! Happy Week-end!

Our first one will be the Alklha (aka Alicha)

Alklha was the great dragon of the cosmos for the Buryat people of ancient Siberia. Its wings were black and said to be so huge they could cover the entire sky. If it was cloudy, you could bet that Alklha had opened its wings.

This dragon lived high above the earth as it made regular attacks upon both the sun and the moon. Even now it is said that the faint marks we see on the moon are said to be the work of the teeth and claws of Alklha. When one of the Buryat people saw the sun or moon obscured, such as in an eclipse, they were certain the Alklha was attacking. To fend it off they threw rocks at the sky to try to discourage it.

Legends say the gods finally found a solution by cutting the difficult creature in half- one half stayed on earth, the other in the heavens. This was so that when the Alklha tried to consume either the sun or the moon- the heavenly sphere would pass through and return to the sky unharmed.

Alas no photos could be found for this creature.