lalainelim:

You can now buy this print via Society6

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A Manananggal is the Filipino counterpart of the vampire. 

From wikipedia:

The manananggal is “capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings to prey on unsuspecting, pregnant women in their homes; using an elongated proboscis-like tongue, it sucks the hearts of fetuses or the blood of an unsuspecting, sleeping victim. It is known to whip its hair in urban forests, causing hurricanes all over the globe. The severed lower torso is left standing, and it is said to be the more vulnerable of the two halves.” 

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“Akin na ang baby mo” = Your baby is mine! 

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More of my Filipino mythological creatures series:

Tiyanak / Nuno Sa Punso / Kapre / Shokoy / Manananggal

Seen here is one of the probably better known mythological creatures, the manticore.

Pausanias writes about them: The beast described by Ctesias in his Indian history, which he says is called martichoras by the Indians and “man-eater” by the Greeks, I am inclined to think is the tiger. But that it has three rows of teeth along each jaw and spikes at the tip of its tail with which it defends itself at close quarters, while it hurls them like an archer’s arrows at more distant enemies

(picture source: Liber de proprietatibus animalium, 16th century) 

On my quest to find the most bizarre creatures, I recently stumbled upon this peculiar  critter:

The Bonacon, first chronicled by Pliny the Elder, is a bison-like beast said to be able to emit a trail of napalm-like excrement, which it uses to discourage predators.

It literally shits on everything

In Inuit folklore, a tupilaq is a monster fabricated by a shaman by using various objects such as animal parts (bone, hair, etc…) and even parts taken from the corpses of children. The creature was given life by being allowed to suck the vital essence or life force from its creator’s sexual organs. It was then placed into the sea to seek and destroy a specific enemy.

Ananta (or Asheshen) is the first serpent bearing a thousand heads created by the Hindu god Vishnu. It is the tenth guardian of the world in Hindu religion.

(picture source: The complete Hindoo Pantheon by E.A. Rodrigues)

In ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit was a female demon with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile—the three largest “man-eating” animals known to ancient Egyptians. A funerary deity, her titles included “Devourer of the Dead”, “Eater of Hearts”, and “Great of Death”.

(picture source: Das alte Ägypten by Christian Heinrich)

In Tibetan mythology, the demon Rahula is a cut-off head of an asura (power seeking deity), that swallows the sun or the moon causing eclipses.

Gashadokuro are giant skeleton spirits, created by gathering bones of people who have died of starvation or thirst. Gashadokuro are very malevolent beings, they will attempt to bite off a human’s head and drink it’s blood as soon as they see it.  The only way a Gashadokuro can be detected before it appears is by hearing a ringing in one’s ears.

(picture by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1798 - 1861)

A harpy in Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum Historia, Bologna, 1642

Chronicled for generations in Inuit and Canadian Indian legends, these vicious, phantasmal half-breeds called wendigos are said to be the recipients of a cannibalistic curse.

collective-history:

The faun is a half human - half goat (from the head to the waist being the human half, but with the addition of goat’s horns) manifestation of forest and animal spirits which would help or hinder humans at whim. Romans believed fauns inspired fear in men traveling in lonely, remote or wild places. They were also capable of guiding humans in need, as in the fable of The Satyr and the Traveller, in the title of which Latin authors substituted the word Faunus. Fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures: whereas fauns are half-man and half-goat, satyrs originally were depicted as stocky, hairy, ugly dwarfs or woodwoses with the ears and tails of horses or asses.

(via collectivehistory)

In Bavarian folklore, a wolpertinger is an animal said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavariain Germany. It has a body comprised from various animal parts — generally wings, antlers, tails and fangs, all attached to the body of a small mammal. 

(picture by Albrecht Dürer)

The samurai Hanagami Danjo no jo Arakage in Izumo stabbing a giant salamander with his short sword.

(Source: thecemeteryparty)

The leucrota is a swift beast that lives in India. It is a composite animal, the result of a mating between a hyena and a lioness. It has an extremely wide mouth, that stretches from one ear to the other. It does not have individual teeth, but only a single bone where teeth should be.