Variations of them appear in ancient near East religions, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and other faiths. They’re most often depicted as humanoid creatures, and in Western culture, they frequently have horns. In ancient Greek mythology, they were helpful spirit guides, similar to guardian angels.ĭemons – obviously, no list of supernatural creatures would be complete without these guys.

(See also: Dando’s Dogs.)ĭæmons – (also spelled daimons.) These not the same thing as demons. They’re white with red ears, and gather up souls and drag them to hell. They use fairy money, which looks legit but soon turns into toadstools.Ĭwn Annwn – Welsh hellhounds. They bring bad luck to people who pass by them unless they are appeased.Ĭoraniaid – the Coraniaid are Welsh dwarves with very sharp hearing who are immune to weapons. In Pueblo Native American traditions, these are supernatural beings from the underworld who bring rainfall.Ĭo-hon – in Vietnam, these are the spirits of people who died a violent death and weren’t buried with ceremony. These myths have some similarities with the abiku, above.Ĭloud People– also known as the Shiwanna. (By the way, the term chimera also refers to something you’re hoping for, but is impossible to achieve.)Ĭhangeling – many European countries have stories about the fairies or trolls stealing human babies and leaving sickly or malignant magical babies in their place. Fans of Harry Potter and the wizarding world, take note: a dobbie or dobie is a kind of brownie, and an angry brownie can turn into a boggart.ītsan – the btsan are fierce sky spirits in Tibet that look like red hunters riding red horses.Ĭerberus – this is one of the most dangerous or evil Greek mythological creatures: a three-headed dog that guards the door of the Underworld in Greek mythology.Ĭhimera – in Greek mythology, the chimera has the body and head of a lion, a goat’s head sticking out of its back, a set of goat-udders just for fun, and a serpentine tail. Sometimes people call them cockatrices.īrownies – in England and Scotland, these are little people who are loyal to human households and will sometimes help out with the chores. Some creatures like this are simply referred to as Black Dogs.īasilisks – these reptiles can kill a person with a single glance. One of these fantasy creatures shows up when you’re about to die. The Slavic božalość are pretty much the same thing.īarghests – giant demonic dogs with huge teeth and claws who live in northern England. They’re Irish female spirits, and if you’re about to die, one will show up to wail at you. They will do your dirty work for you if you enter into a pact with them - which is a terrible idea.īanshee– you’ve probably heard the expression “screaming like a banshee,” but you may not have known exactly what these supernatural creatures are. To millions of people around the world, these aren’t mythical creatures at all, of course, but very real divine beings.īakru – these little gnome-like people in Suriname are half flesh and half wood.

I could be wrong, but I think the ogbanje are basically the same thing.Īngels– they show up in Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, and other traditions of belief. Although I am labeling them as mythical, the line between “mythology” and “religion” is slippery, and I never mean any disrespect.įor most of these, you can click on the name of the creature and it’ll take you to a link with more information! And if you’re a fantasy novel writer, a role game player, or both, you might also like my list of 50 Fantasy Plot Ideas.Ībiku – among the Yoruba and Dahomey people in West Africa, these are evil tree spirits that are born as children and die several times, often within the same family. Some of these supernatural species are very popular, and some are more obscure to most of us.įor each creature, I’ve made sure I could find at least two sources saying the same thing, but in some cases I may not have landed on the most popular or the most accurate version. I’ve included many types of magical creatures, including humanoid creatures and magical animals, from Norse mythology, ancient Greek and Roman mythology, Asian folklore, Native American folklore, and other traditions. I first created this mythical creatures list for writers, but as it turned out, lots of people were interested in fantasy creatures, mythical beasts, supernatural beings, and more.

Female mythical creatures