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Legend

A painting entitled ‘Capture of the Pirate, Blackbeard, 1718’.

Exposing the Real Treasure of the Infamous Pirate Blackbeard

Edward Teach / Tache / Thatch, better known as Blackbeard, is arguably one of the world’s most notorious pirates. Like most other pirate tales, the story of Blackbeard also involves a treasure that...
Deriv; Shui-nu Niang-niang Illustration (Public Domain) and China landscape

Shui-mu Niang-niang: The Old Mother of the Waters Who Submerged an Ancient City

In Chinese folklore, Shui-mu Niang-niang, or the Old Mother of the Waters, is a legendary spirit guardian of the waters surrounding the city of Sizhou (or Ssu-Chou, according to ETC Werner’s...
Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen by Johann Heinrich Füssli, c. 1788

Amoral Tricksters that Enhance World Mythology and Entertain Cultures

Mythologies around the world speak of beings which cannot be defined as good or evil. German folklore mentions a household elemental named kobold . Even though he can be helpful, as a trickster, he...
"Tartini's Dream" by Louis-Léopold Boilly

Stan Patitul and his Infernal Pact with the Devil

The legends of world mythology are full of tales about infernal pacts. In the case of such a pact, the individual gives up his or her own soul in exchange for service to the devil or demons. However...
Swordmaker, Instructed in Dreams, Recreates Infallible Sacred Swords of Legend

Swordmaker, Instructed in Dreams, Recreates Infallible Sacred Swords of Legend

By Matthew Robertson , Epoch Times Chinese legends tell of a kind of infallible sacred sword, forged from meteorite material, that gave its bearer an apparently supernatural advantage over his...
Ancient elves were diabolical fiends and dangerous beauties.

Revealing the True Nature of Elves: Dangerous Beauties and Diabolical Fiends

Present day movies show elves as beautiful beings who help people in their times of need. However, the original ancient form of these beings was quite hostile towards humans. Often enough, elves...
The marble sphinx was found in a Chinese grave dating back more than 1,000 years.

Discovery of sphinx in northern China tomb presents something of a riddle

The sphinx is a famous icon from ancient Egypt of 5,000 years ago, but a statue of one has been excavated in China dating back more than 1,000 years. The marble sphinx, which has western features, is...
An evil undead woman and a demon king spell the end of Khoma Brut in a Slavic tale

Beware the Evil Dead in Myth and Folklore: The Tale of Khoma Brut

A well-known medieval tale talks about the three living and the three dead. As the story goes, three young men meet three undead walking, talking corpses. The dead tell the living that they must mend...
Deriv; Revelers dressed as Krampusin Austria

Santa’s Horned Helper: The Fearsome Legend of Krampus, Christmas Punisher

In ancient times, a dark, hairy, horned beast was said to show up at the door to beat children, and carry them off in his sharp claws. The Krampus could be heard in the night by the sound of his...
Unusual celestial or weather phenomena heralded supernatural disappearances in the classical world. What became of the Roman leader Romulus?  Deriv; Solar Eclipse (Flickr/CC BY 2.0), and Roman Statue (Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

Ancient Vanishings: The mysterious and supernatural disappearance of Romulus

In 753 BC, two twins, Romulus and Remus, founded the city of Rome, and Romulus became the ruler of the city and reigned for 39 years. The identity of the two brothers has both historical and...
Glastonbury Abbey.

Researchers Claim Glastonbury Ancient Legends Made Up By Cash-Strapped Monks

The famous legends of King Arthur and his round table, among other ancient myths, were stories made up and peddled by enterprising monks at Glastonbury Abbey to make some cash, say researchers. What’...
Detail, An illustration of Loki with a fishnet, from an Icelandic 18th century manuscript.

Loki – The Trickster Redeemed?

For a long time, Loki, the Trickster of Norse mythology, has been demonized as a figure of evil. But is he really so? Many mythologies speak about beings that are neither good, nor evil, entities of...
The Hand of Glory at the Whitby Museum, England.

Mummified Hand from Yorkshire May Be Last Hand of Glory Still in Existence

The Bladen Journal reports that a mummified hand found in Castleton, North Yorkshire, England is the only known ‘Hand of Glory’, a grotesque artifact meant to aid thieves in their work during the...
Mid-Autumn Festival Decorations in Beijing, China.

The Mid-Autumn Festival: A Holiday of Mooncakes, Lanterns, Moon Worship, and Timeless Legends

The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated annually by Chinese and Vietnamese communities around the world. As the name of this festival suggests, the day of its celebration falls exactly in the middle of...
A human skull. Representational image only.

Giant 7 – 8 Foot Skeletons Uncovered in Ecuador sent for Scientific Testing

Strikingly tall skeletons uncovered in the Ecuador and Peru Amazon region are undergoing examination in Germany, according to a research team headed by British anthropologist Russell Dement. Will...
Viktor Vasnetsov's Sirin (left) and Alkonost (right) Birds of Joy and Sorrow, 1896

Alkonost and the Gamayun, the mythical beings of Slavic folklore

The Alkonost and the Gamayun are mythological creatures with the body of a bird and the head of a beautiful woman. They derive from Slavic and Old Russian folklore, and are described as mythical...
Deriv; Stone statue of Gilgamesh (CC BY 2.0), nebula NGC 1788 Orion constellation (CC BY 4.0), Zodiac of Dendera (CC BY 3.0)

The Ancient Epic of Gilgamesh and the Precession of the Equinox

Gilgamesh is the ancient Sumerian epic, written some 4,000 years ago on cuneiform clay tablets and rediscovered only in the nineteenth century. It is a story that has echoes of the biblical Old...
Leprechaun hat

Leprechauns: The Little People of Irish Folklore

The Leprechaun is a much-loved and sometimes feared magical creature of Irish folk legend. Short in stature and with a long-beard and pot of gold, leprechauns were once believed to pervade the Irish...
King Arthur

The Grail Cypher: A radical reassessment of Arthurian history

Walter Kayo sat at his desk in the scriptorium, the cold chill of winter half broken by a flickering fire in the hearth. The velum page before him was still not finished, yet already his eyes felt...
Ancient graffiti found at the Gutmana Ala cave, Sigulda, Latvia

The Gutmana Ala: The Legendary Cave of the Good Man and the Rose of Turaida

The Gutmana Ala, or Gutman’s (Good Man’s) cave in English, is today located in the Sigulda region of the Gauja National Park in Latvia. Apart from Sigulda, this national park extends over several...
Long Meg and Her Daughters, Eden Valley, Cumbria.

The Legend of the Stone Circle known as Long Meg and Her Daughters

By April Holloway | The Epoch Times Despite their pervasiveness throughout the world, with thousands scattered across Britain and Europe alone, stone circles never cease to arouse awe and intrigue in...
“Eternal Punishment in Greek Mythology”

Crime and Punishment: Eternal Damnations as handed down by the Ancient Greek Gods

Nothing sends a clearer message than an angry punishment handed down from the gods. In belief systems of cultures around the world deities have been disciplining their flocks since time immemorial,...
Paro Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan

Paro Taktsang: The Breathtaking Himalayan Cloud Monastery

Bhutan is a small country in South Asia and the home of many sacred sites and monasteries associated with Buddhism. One of these sacred monasteries is called Paro Taktsang or Taktsang Palphug...
The Kidnapping of Europa Mosaic, the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep, Turkey

Tracing the Origins of Europe, through Goddess Europa, Back to Jeroboam? Pt 2

Read Part 1 In the ancient legend surrounding the goddess Europa, the Greeks were essentially telling the story of how Phoenicians ended up getting scattered, founding and settling, in the various...

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