Italian Monsters

Italian Monsters

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching myths and legends in other cultures to find something that has a rich history surrounding it, but that is not considered modern. One of the countries that have some unique myths is Italy.
Ferocious Beast
The Ferocious Beast was a monster with wolf-like features that was the size of a large horse. It was used as a cautionary tale by parents to scare their children into being home before dark. It was after dark that the Ferocious Beast was known to hunt for its food and its food of choice was children, though if none were available, it was known to eat pets as well. It preferred to hunt in villages, towns, and cities and was rarely seen hunting in the forest, even though that was where its den was often located.
 Badalisc
The Badalisc, also known as the Badalisk, was the size of a large bear with the head of a goat, two small horns on its head, a large mouth with razor sharp teeth, and large glowing eyes. The Badalisc was known for being a transient creature that made its home in the forests of Italy. However, it was not an intelligent monster and it often entered the local communities in the area where it made its home to cause trouble, only to find itself driven off. The Badalisc was only ever driven off as it was considered bad luck to harm or kill the creature, especially because the trouble it caused was always mischief and never deadly or truly harmful.
Squass
 The Squass is a small elf that looks a bit like a squirrel without a tail with some human features and pointed ears. The Squass is known for being summoned to frighten unruly children. However, once summoned, the Squass has a mind of its own and often deviates from the summoner’s wishes once it has frightened the children it was summoned to frighten. Once its mission is complete, the Squass can often be found laughing behind the backs of drunks, playing jokes on random people, and its true joy comes from playing pranks on young girls that it considers pretty.
Marabbecca
The Marabbecca is an aquatic creature that is best known for living in wells. The Marabbecca prefers to make its home in only the most popular wells as its food of choice is children, and it will often be able to drag in unwary children who play by its well without being careful. The Marabbecca sometimes gets lucky and will get food without having to hunt when a careless child plays on or near the well and falls in.
La Bissabova
La Bissabova is a reptilian creature that has the ability to control storms and cause high winds. La Bissabova has been known to use its abilities to cause tornados and hurricanes to destroy entire villages when it has been offended by an inhabitant of a village. However, it has also been known to turn storms away from those who have paid it respect and provided it with gifts.

Written by Readers’ Favorite Reviewer Sefina Hawke                   

Monsters and Creatures of Canada

Monsters and Creatures of Canada

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching myths and legends in other cultures to find something that has a rich history surrounding it, but that is not considered modern. One of the countries that have some unique myths is the Canada.
Mussie
Mussie (also known as Hapyxelor or Hapaxelor) is a creature that is believed to have made its home in Muskrat Lake. Mussie is believed to be a mostly aquatic creature that has three eyes, three ears, one large fin located halfway up its back, or a razor sharp silver-green tooth, and the body of a walrus that is twenty-four feet long. Some believe that Mussy was frozen during the ice age and was released when the ice melted, while others believe that Mussie was dropped in Muskrat Lake by aliens in a UFO. It is also debated whether Mussie is a single entity of a species that has been breeding in Muskrat Lake.
Old Yellow Top
Old Yellow Top was first spotted in 1906 where it was believed to be a large blond bear. However, it was soon discovered that Old Yellow Top was not a bear, but in fact a blond Sasquatch that had made Ontario its home. Old Yellow Top has been known to mostly ignore humans, though in 1970 it was spotted walking across a road, carrying several miners to safety after a mine collapse.
Adlets
Adlets are creatures that have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a dog. It is believed that the Adlets were first created from a union between a human woman and a male dog. The human female gave birth to ten puppies and five of them ran away from their mother in order to embrace their human side; these five are believed to have become the very first Europeans. However, the other five that stayed with their mother ended up embracing their dog side and became monsters that spent their time either fighting each other or hunting for humans in human villages. Those humans that they managed to hunt they would devour, whether alive or dead.
The Thetis Lake Monster
The Thetis Lake Monster or the Canadian Lizard Man has the form of a man, but the features of a lizard and insect. The Canadian Lizard Man is believed to have silver blue scales, webbed claws, and a single barbed fin on his back. This creature generally leaves humans alone as long as they stay clear of its territory. However, those that trespass on its territory, no matter how unknowingly or unwillingly, find themselves mauled by the creature's webbed claws and bitten by its razor sharp teeth. It is rare that a human survives an encounter with the Canadian Lizard Man and those that do are never the same again.

Written by Readers’ Favorite Reviewer Sefina Hawke                   

Mythical Creatures of Switzerland

Mythical Creatures of Switzerland

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching myths and legends in other cultures to find something that has a rich history surrounding it, but that is not considered modern. One of the countries that have some unique myths is Switzerland.
Barbegazi
Barbegazi are similar to dwarves and gnomes in their stature and manner. Barbegazi have the appearance of a short human man with white fur, a long beard, and huge feet. The Barbegazi are best known for living in the mountains of Switzerland because they love using their large feet as skies for traveling down the mountains, and as snowshoes for climbing back up the mountains. The Barbegazi also enjoy making their own tunnels which connect to caves within the mountains that they call home. Barbegazi have been occasionally known to aid lost travelers in finding the path off the mountain, shepherds in rounding up their flocks, and rescuing humans that have been buried by avalanches.
White Women
White Women are spirits with an elfish appearance that may only be seen in direct sunlight. These White Women are beautiful creatures that are most often seen bathing in small bodies of water near a sandy shore. These White Women were once human women that were often killed ritualistically to force them to guard castles and/or treasures from robbers or those seeking treasure. While White Women are forced by their nature to kill those seeking to rob, they have been known to willingly allow humans to break their curse to allow them their final rest. Once the curse has been broken, the spirit will often give the one that freed it a clue to where the treasure is located in thanks for giving it the freedom to leave the living world.
Nix
Nix are intriguing water creatures whose natural form is that of a half human half fish. However, a Nix can also take the form of a beautiful woman, an invisible form, or that of an old woman at will in order to enjoy the human world. The Nix are well known for their love of music and dancing, as well as their ability to give accurate prophecies to those that they love or respect. Every Nix has their own unique personality and nature that make them different from other Nix. For instance, some Nix have been known to kidnap human children to use as bait to get humans close enough to the water to drown them. Other Nix have been known to fall in love with human men, marry them, and even have children with them. These children that are born from the union of a Nix and a human always take on a human appearance, but some have been known to inherit their mother's gift for shape changing or invisibility.

Written by Readers’ Favorite Reviewer Sefina Hawke                   

How to Find a Less Than Modern Monster

How to Find a Less Than Modern Monster

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching myths and legends in other cultures to find something that has a rich history surrounding it, but that is not considered modern. However, I did not explain the different resources that could be used to discover and research these less than modern monsters. The first step in researching and finding your monster is deciding what culture you want your monster to come from.
Books
If you are looking for a truly old and unknown monster then books are your best bet, especially older books that do not have digital versions. Once you know what culture you want to research, you need to seek out old books that contain mythology and legends from your chosen culture. These books can sometimes be located at libraries; however, more often than not they can be found at used books stores and sometime estate auctions. Since these books are going to be older, you should keep in my mind that they will be written in the languge(s) used by the culture you are researching. Make sure to choose your culture based on your own language knowledge or make sure to have a translator available to you.
People
One of the best ways to find out about the monsters from your chosen culture is to travel to the place and talk to people about their monster legends and myths. Tour guides can be an invaluable source as not only do they often live in the area, but they also know a lot about the area and its backgrounds in both legends and history. A tour guide could also recommend some locals that might have more knowledge of local mythology that was passed down through the generations. Just make sure that when you talk to people about the legends and myths from their culture to always remain polite and do not claim that the monster or creature does not exist if the local population believes it does.
Internet
The internet is the easiest option for exploring monster myths as Google and other search engines will allow you to research a multitude of monsters and cultures without leaving your home. However, not all legends and myths have been digitized and made available online so you may be missing out on some of the best monsters that mythology has to offer if you only confine yourself to the internet. Many of the older books on mythology have never been made into digital books or posted online.
Combining Methods
The best way to truly understand your monster, once you have chosen one, is to research it using all of these methods so that you can truly interpret all of the different legends surrounding the monster. Different sources will often offer a different view on the legend and they might also see the monster’s actions differently.

Written by Readers’ Favorite Reviewer Sefina Hawke