As ambiguous as she is hideous, Baba Yaga is an anomaly. In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is both a maternal, mother nature figure and an evil villain who kidnaps and eats children. Numerous renditions...
Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Historic monuments throughout the globe are said to be home to ghostly goings-on. Travel to any city in the world and you’re likely to find haunted landmarks and...
Shambhala, which is a Sanskrit word meaning “place of peace” or “place of silence,” is a mythical paradise spoken of in ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient scriptures of...
A cryptid is a type of animal that some people believe to be real, despite the fact that its existence is disputed or “unproven”. Sometimes these are animals that science believes to be extinct, but...
“Then Zeus no longer held back his might; but straight his heart was filled with fury and he showed forth all his strength. From Heaven and from Olympus he came forthwith, hurling his lightning: the...
The myth of Oedipus contains moral lessons about the dangers of tempting fate. It warns that fate cannot be neither challenged nor escaped. In doing so, the story is full of intrigue and revelation...
There are many interesting creatures in the world of Greek mythology, but some of the most daunting are the harpies. Harpies are half-woman, half-bird creatures that are said to be the spirits of...
Many of the Greek gods and goddesses enjoyed inflicting in pain, suffering, and destruction, but few took as much joy in it as Eris. Eris was the Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord...
For over 1,000 years, Constantinople held out against a never-ending stream of failed attacks. Capital of the Byzantine Empire, a.k.a. the Eastern Roman Empire , it was famed for its heavily...
Believe it or not, but ideas of artificial intelligence and automata were alive and well over 2,000 years ago within Greek mythology. The myth of Talos (‘Τάλως’)—the first robot-like creature in...
The origins of a bizarre creature that resides in a Japanese temple are being studied. While the so-called mermaid is worshipped as such, a folklorist suspects this is another P. T. Barnum special...
What is the origin of the legend of the Christed Son who was born of a virgin on December 25th? I am sure you are familiar with his legend which states that he was born in a manger surrounded by...
The 12th century tale of the Green Children of Woolpit, in Suffolk, is a bizarre medieval folk story which has been remembered for generations. It isn’t often we hear of children appearing at the...
One of the fundamental magical-religious symbols of the Lituche-Araucanian cultural substrate of Chile is the Rehue or stepped totem carved in wood. The Rehue is a representation of the Axis Mundi ,...
Inhabiting the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, United States, is a creature known as the Jersey Devil. This legendary being has been described as a kangaroo-like creature with the head of a goat...
Scattered across an isolated, flat plain in Shaanxi Province, near the ancient capital of Xi’an, lie dozens of spectacular pyramid mounds that are little known outside of China. Mixed in with the...