Folkloric Gods & Monsters of the Night (Who Aren’t Dracula)

We all know vampires, and don’t get me wrong: I respect them, I do, but I feel like we kind of forget about so many other cool creatures that go bump in the night. 

Folklore is chock-full of monsters you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley, and when I was doing research for my novel, I was kind of disappointed in how few of them I’d ever heard of. So, here are three I wound up using that I think could do with a little PR. 

Of course, if you’d rather watch me talk about this, you can see it here. 

Camazotz

With a name that means “Death Bat” in the Mayan Ki’che language, the Camazotz isn’t exactly hiding what you get if you run into one. 

Camazotz are bat spirits known for serving the greater lords of the underworld. Their jobs is to bring darkness and death to whoever they’re tasked with taking, in as gruesome and efficient a way as possible. 

In one story in Guatemalan Ki’che mythology, twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque encounter a bunch of Camazotz while fighting trials in the underworld. They hide themselves in their blowguns for protection, but in a moment of curiosity, Hunahpu pokes his head out to check to see if sunrise has arrived yet, only for one of the bat spirits to pluck off his head and carry it to a ballcourt so that the greater lords can play ball with it. Y’know…like you do. 

In some folklore, Camazotz aren’t servants, but gods. In fact, it seems that Camazotz actually began as a singular god in the form of an anthropomorphized half-man, half-bat who was often depicted with a sacrificial knife in one hand and a human heart in the other. It wasn’t until later that he was merged with Ki’che mythology. There, he was turned into bat spirit servants, except for one instance wherein a bat-guy thought to be Camazotz brokers a deal between Man and the god, Tohil, which swapped human armpits and waists for fire. It’s often accepted as the reason why human sacrifice came to be so common in Mayan society. So…thanks, bat guy. I guess. 

In my case, since no one could actually agree on whether or not a Camazotz was a god or a servant, I kind of made mine both. I also made mine female because I’m in charge so I win. Seriously, though, this was a fun monster to write, and to research. Highly recommend.

Obayifo

Okay, so I couldn’t totally keep away from vampires, I guess. But, this is a vampire-witch, so I feel like this earns me points. 

Anyway. 

The Obayifo is a West African creature, born from Ashanti myth. They have constantly-roving eyes, an obsession with food, and – and I want to emphasize that I am not messing with you when I say this part – a phosphorescent light that emits from the armpits and anus. 

Don’t look at me like that. I don’t know why this is. I couldn’t find anything explaining why a living thing would need light to shine from those two particular places. I’m not sure what situation could ever make me think “If only my ass emitted LIGHT!” but here we are. It’s a thing. 

Here’s where legend likes to go in different directions, depending on who you ask. To some, Obayifo are pretty similar to the usual vampires we all know and love, preferring to feed from children by sucking their blood remotely, though they’ll also settle for your crops, specifically cacao. 

In some other cases, they’re more like actual witches. They’re not undead; rather, they’re an evil spirit inhabiting someone’s body. 

Like a lot of folklore, sadly, the Obayifo doesn’t so much live in fables as he did in the terrified hearts of people who didn’t know how to explain famine, malaria, and death. It wasn’t unheard of to be accused of being an Obayifo just because someone didn’t like your face and bad shit happened to their village. The most common thing to come from the legend of the Obayifo is a warning to children not to follow strange lights anywhere, especially into forests or dark places. 

And you didn’t want people to believe the rumors. I couldn’t find one “right” way to defeat an Obayifo, so I’m guessing that it was dealer’s choice. At best, you were only exiled from your village; at worst, you were beaten, crushed, or drowned. Whichever way it ended for you, it wasn’t positive. 

I do have an Obayifo in my book, but I’m not telling you anything about it besides the fact that “glowstick ass” is a phrase that is bandied about. 

Ciguapa

We’re jumping to the Dominican Republic with this one. Say “hi” to the Ciguapa…just do it from far away. 

Like the yacaruna, the Ciguapa has backwards feet. Unlike the yacaruna, that’s the only thing about her that appears as anything other than human. Otherwise, homegirl looks like any other woman: generally pretty with long hair, alluring…exactly what a man would want to take to the woods and spend a few fun hours with, until she makes like a praying mantis and kills him directly afterwards.

The Ciguapa seems to be the DR’s answer to European sirens and mermaids: a woman who hangs out in bodies of water, luring men to their doom. 

Interestingly enough, when I went looking for stories about Ciguapas, instead of finding well-known fables or folk stories, I mainly found anecdotes from people who swear that their uncle’s cousin’s maid’s brother’s frenemy’s neighbor’s swimming instructor’s movie buddy saw one on a hike in the mountains once. It seems that the Ciguapa is such a force in her homeland that she’s transcended folklore and become a daily fixture. How wild. 

The Ciguapa in my novel is named Liosha and she’s more terrifying than alluring. Which, ironically, is how I’ve been described on more than one occasion. 

So this was a blast. I love talking about folklore, and I love reading about different creatures around the world. Got anything to add? Want me to look into something in particular? Hit me with it and I’ll probably look into it!