Creepiest Mythical Creatures & Cryptids That’ll Confuse You – 45 Facts

Betobeto-San is Japanese folklore monster that is said to follow people at night making the sound of wooden sandals. Though it can be quite disconcerting, it is said to not be dangerous and can be escaped simply by standing to the side and saying “After you, Betobeto-san.”

2. Tibetan mythology has zombie-like creatures called Ro-Lang that are usually created by sorcerer. They cannot bend at any joints and that’s why they walk with a stiff-armed lurch. People inhabiting Tibet construct low doorways to keep the ro-langs out.

3. Ittan-Momen is a "roll of cotton" that, in Japanese folklore, becomes alive and self-aware once reaching 100 years old. It "flies through the air at night" and "attacks humans, often by wrapping around their faces to smother them."

4. A Rusalka is an undead creature from Slavic folklore that would supposedly lure men towards the water and then tickle them to death.

5. In Japanese Folklore, Konaki-Jiji is creature that has the body of a baby with the head of an old man. It is said that it lies on the side of the road crying, waiting for a kind-hearted traveler to pick it up. Once the Konaki-Jiji is picked up, it turns into a heavy stone that crushes the victim to death.

A Baku is a creature from Chinese folklore that can be summoned to devour nightmares. However if he remains hungry after eating one’s nightmares, he may also devour their hopes and desires.

7. The actual Yeti may just be the extremely rare Tibetan blue bear. It is one of the rarest subspecies of bear in the world, it is only known to exist through a small number of fur and bone samples.

8. Nordic folklore has a Christmas character called "Perchta the Disemboweller", who would either give you coins for being good or would slit your belly open and fill it with oats and straw if you had been bad.

9. Tanuki is a Japanese folklore creature that is also referred to as the Raccoon Dog. Its most distinguishing characteristic is its large, magical pair of testicles that is used as a hat, umbrella, boat or drum. They are known as tricksters or bringers of good luck.

10. "Kappa" in kappamaki (cucumber sushi rolls) refers to child-sized, humanoid, reptilian monsters in Japanese folklore. As troublemakers, their pranks range from looking up women's kimonos (traditional Japanese garment) to drowning people, but they are willing to befriend humans in exchange for gifts, especially cucumbers.

According to Japanese urban legends, there is a woman called Kuchisake-onna who asks you if she's pretty twice. If you say no one of those times, you are killed. If you say yes both times she slits your mouth so you look like her.

12. The Befana is a witch-like hag who, in Italian folklore, brings coal or candy and "sweeps away" the problems of last year with her flying broom, on the night of Jan 5th.

13. Fairies in traditional folklore are considered malevolent creatures to be avoided and warded off, rather than the benevolent creatures modern culture suggests.

14. Squonk is a mythological creature from Pennsylvania that is so ugly that it cries constantly from loneliness and shame, dissolving in a puddle of its own tears when cornered.

15. Pegasus, the immortal winged horse had parents. His father was Poseidon, God of the Sea, and his mother was Medusa, the woman who had living venomous snakes in place of her hair.

Kodama is a spirit from Japanese folklore, which is believed to live in certain trees and that cutting down a tree that houses a Kodama is thought to bring misfortune, and as such these trees are often marked with shimenawa rope.

17. According to Chinese folklore, Pixiu is a creature that was banished from the heavens for being unruly. It was spanked by the Jade Emperor so hard that its butthole was sealed, leaving it cursed to a diet of gold, silver, and jewels but unable to expel any of it.

18. The ‘mare’ in nightmare actually refers to an evil spirit in European folklore, which people believed sat on their chests while they slept, causing unpleasant dreams.

19. In Slavic folklore, a peeping-Tom spirit named Domovoi will torment you in your house if you don't do your chores.

20. In Japanese mythology, the Unicorn is a fierce creature who is able to root out criminals and instantly punish them by piercing them through the heart with its horn.

According to a European folklore, children born between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6) have a chance each Christmas season to become a kallikantzaros, a kind of impish black vampire. One remedy was for parents to singe (burn) their infants' toenails.

22. In Colombian folklore, the legendary Alligatorman (Hombre Caiman) is said to be a fisherman converted by the spirit of the Magdalena River into an alligator, that returns every year on St. Sebastian's Day to hunt human victims.

23. In Japanese folklore, there is a 'futon (sleeping mat) spirit' named Boroboroton. If it feels neglected, the futon will rise up and roam the house at night, looking for people to strangle.

24. As leprechauns are descended from evil sprints, they originally wore red. It is uncertain how they came to wear green.

25. In Filipino mythology, the Manananggal is a Vampire-like creature whose torso severs from its lower body, flies around with a pair of bat wings, and then uses a proboscis-like tongue to enter sleeping pregnant women and eat the hearts of fetuses.