Will you tell it your name?…

(Leave comments on the video to affect the outcome of this limited 8-part series! Also Mods, since I’m not an official folklorist, if you have to reject this post I understand.)

https://youtu.be/8SVfmri7A_o

There was a misunderstanding last time, but I need help. I have been researching for a while Vampires concerning the origins of their fangs. Modern Western scholarship attests to fangs beginning with Dracula and the discovery of the vampire bat specifically. They may be right about the bat being the origin and therefore not traditionally folkloric. However this ignores the fact that Camilla had two fangs described like fish or owl teeth,and Varney the Vampire had descriptive animal fangs with more demonic imagery surrounding the art with fangs. Demons of the medieval period did have fangs and were precursor to the classic gargoyle creature image we know of today (don't tell Mom and Dad Disney's Gargoyles was Satanic) and this is where Historians and Folklorists don't get it. It is true rationalization occurs or coincides with Storytelling and Myth Creation. But realistically there need not be rationalism behind everything and some rationales are not the reasons modern man might presume nor give. Some aspects of the fantastical elements of the mythological also becomes removed when we negate them as irrational. So the real issue here...How far back and what completely fantastic elements of the Vampire's appearance do exist in actual folklore occuring during or before the recorded Vampire Epidemics in Europe, which gives much predating to Fictional Vampires and Vampire Bat influence on the physical appearance of the Vampire itself.

I have tried searching. And though secondary sources claim much, I am looking for solid evidence of fangs and any other physical details relating to Vampire appearance. So far I have run across some Romanian Myths regarding hoof footed Strigoi like the devil himself. If I can find my sources again I will gladly share. Many have alleged tails, hoofs, glowing wolf eyes, shape shifting, werewolf features, red faces, or lively colors, regarding Vampires, Upior, and Strigoi or Stryzga. Some assert fire breath related to demonic power which includes SHARP but not clearly made out pointed teeth most often. Fire breath pretty sure did exist. Teeth not sure still. I have spent 18 years fighting tooth and nail over varying points of fiction regarding History, Science, and Folklore, and in regards to this matter it is more of a point in terms of Originality and whether we are using Primary Materials for our and others Storytelling, as Tolkien would put it and as I would consider folklore and superstition as a form of Real Beliefs for the world we live in, or whether we are all foolishly copying Dracula's fangs, or more decidedly, Varney and the bat which is not original to Folklore. Finding the real Vampire with real fangs in the folklore so to speak. There is also a rumored Spanish witch with a single tooth for blood drinking but not much primary sources I have found regarding that folklore.

Any help or contributions towards understanding the variations of Vampire form in traditional folktales and beliefs is welcome. Anything interesting j find in Primary Sources whether a writer recounting possible or actual direct legends I will bring back here. Let me know if you all find anything please. Thank you for your time. If I don't understand this Reddit please be gentle good victim of my glamor.

It’s one of my core myths and I can’t recall the details.

It would’ve been in one of those scholastic book fair books most likely.

For my illustration class we have to draw a scene from a folk tale. I’m interested in something animal or animal adjacent e.g. kelpies, children of Lir; but also anything that is just visually interesting. Anyone have any ideas?

Hi, I'm an anthropology student looking for folklore or folklore-adjacent programs in England. Are there any besides Hertfordshire?

Hello All,

Can anyone recommend some folklore stories with Cats? Bonus if it is a Black Cat, a familiar, perhaps Halloween related, perhaps not. I love them and want some ideas/inspiration to do some art and a story in honor of one, and would love some inspiration and perhaps to do so through making the story like a "fractured fairy-tale" recounting of a Black Cat who is well known in the folktale world.

What about the Cat-sìth? Is this friend known as benevolent, mischievous, powerful?

Thanks for any input.

Hey, all!

I am wondering if anyone knows of any historical figures who have documented either their own run-ins with creatures from folklore or recounting stories from people they knew who did? For reference, I finished The Wilderness Hunter by Theodore Roosevelt where he recounts a story from a weathered frontiersmen named Bauman where it sounds like the man may have crossed paths with sasquatch or the wendigo. It's called "Goblin Story".

I find this space in history so fascinating and great stories to curl up with this October. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
B

Hey, all! First post on reddit.

One of my special interests is fables and folklores. I spend a lot of time researching the weird/creepy side of history and I have a BIG soft spot for local lore from all around the world. It was this morning when I suddenly realized I don't really know much folklore from the eastern side of the world. Places like Pakistan, Algeria, Iraq, and Morocco, I am interested to know what stories/folklore you heard growing up. I'd love to hear them!

Thanks!
B

so the folklore describes a spirit that targets men in particular(the spirit/monster?is female) the story on this spirit is said to seek out men. any male hearing the scream of this spirit is said to be a target. folklore also says any person targeted by this spirit is hunted relentlessly by the spirit who once she has targeted that particular male does not stop until she has ended their life.the folklore surrounding the spirit is from somewhere in or around southeast Asia I can't remember where however.

Basically I know there are things such as Changelings in various myths. When a child was not thriving they’d sometimes leave it out in the forest for the faeries to take back, hoping to get their own child in return. Or they’d keep the “changeling” and be comforted by the fact their real child was amongst the fae.

I also heard this story about pink Amazon River dolphins that they’d disguise themselves as irresistible men and impregnate women. When the child was born they’d eventually throw themselves in the river to rejoin their father. Obviously now it’s told as a joke but I wonder how it originated. I hope it’s to bring comfort to mothers whose children drowned and not like…an excuse women could use if they got impregnated outside of societal norms. That’s a dark thought.

I’m wondering if there are any other cryptids or mythological creatures that are used to explain sort of natural phenomena like that. People suddenly leaving or trying to cope with the loss of a young child. It seems as much as it happened back in the day it was never easy.

And yes, I'm aware I'm covering a really broad swath of the continent, but I'm un-learned enough about the different regions that I don't even know where to begin! So, I figured I might as well ask here, since the region's relatively un-covered in fantasy aside from a few creators like the late Charles Saunders or the TTRPG Spears of the Dawn or the D&D 3e suppliment Nyambe, and it'd be interesting to broaden that.

For clarity's sake, the factors that I'd define as making a good "player race":

-Sapient and reasonably able to communicate with humans/other sapients
-A body type where they can use most equipment/tools humans can and act in most player classes.
-Able to reasonably exist in/place nice with human society with both their physiological and psychological needs, IE they don't require anthrophagy or radium or human suffering or somesuch to live

So, in the broad swath of many different regions, which ones fit the bill best?

Would their children be a changeling also? Would they be entirely other, or would they be human? Would they be faerie and not changeling? What if a changeling had a child with a mortal? How much fairy blood constitutes a person as fey? In many stories regular people can become fae so how does that contribute? If someone who is a changeling has a child with a mortal, and then that halfling child has a child with a changeling is that child fully fae? What if instead of another changeling it was with one of the fae directly in the other world? What would that change? Do changelings become human if they forget where they came from?

I am very much interested in learning about myths, folklores and folktails, and has been looking into some books and curating my reading list. I am very attracted towards comparative folklore and mythologies.

When I was little, my mom use to buy books titled 366 bedtimes stories and I am always fascinated by the gigantic size of the book. being Blind and illiterate at that time, I need to ask sighted people to read the print books for me.

Mom use to read bedtime stories before sleep and I started to realise how much important imaginal and story cultures for humans.

In one rhelm, I am looking for books with complete collections of folktales and myths, or podcasts that tnarrates them. As I am interested to delve into various cultures, I am happily seeking for colections of tales and myths from all over the world.

this person narates many India mythological epics and folktales.https://sfipodcast.com/about-me/

I know of a hundred episodes podcast that retell the epic Mahabharata in English https://open.spotify.com/show/0A6kWKFEOFtp8fkrpnAJQB

I am deeply fascinated by the philosophy and wisdom behind folktales, fairytales and myths. Books like "the uses of enchantment" by Bruno Bettelheim and "The King and the Corpse: Tales of the Soul's Conquest of Evil" by Heinrich Zimmer are somefascinating tough reads that I am going through slowly.Also trying to get into the hero with a thousand faces by Campbell   and looking out for more of those kinds.

another book that I'm trying to read slowly, that isShadow and Evil in Farytale : Marie-Louise von Franz.

The Origins of the World's Mythologies, E.J. Michael Witzel is also great.

 I also recently stumbled upon this small little book "useful not true" by Derek Sivers, a great enlivening short read.

Along that line, useful delusion by shankar Vedantam is great.

One thing that always fascinates me is to read something that is novel, unfamiliar and curious.

I go into so much of that kind of work these days.

Do share your recommendations as well.

I’m curious to see what stories of La Llorona everyone’s heard of. I grew up with the story of her husband leaving her for a younger woman and out of grief and rage she went down to river and iykyk. Please lmk if yall have heard the story!

Anyone know of any Welsh folklore or similar tales being based or set in Cardiff or the surrounding areas? I’d be keen to check them out. Thanks.

What do you think is the best folklore theory to be used in researching about the variations of folklore in terms of storyteller, orality, geographical location, and extent of dissemination?

I adore folklore and mythology, and after playing REKA (a game where you play as Baba Jaga's apprentice), I went on a bit of a gaming binge to find games that offered more folklore tales and the ability to explore different cultures. Games like Tchia, which is inspired by New Caledonia, and lets you become different animals in your journey to rescue your father; or Taste of the Past, a game inspired by Chinese folklore and culture that is about passing into the afterlife and understanding grief.

I'd love to hear about other folklore-inspired games that you know of/enjoyed playing! If you have a moment, please check out my article that was published here: https://www.screenhype.co.uk/10-folklore-inspired-games-to-play-in-2024/

Not picky - any folklore related book recommendations are welcome