Creepy Christmas characters (part 2)

 

Yule Cat

There is a legend in Iceland of a monstrous cat who lives in the forests and mountains. It's called the Yule Cat because it looks for people to eat over the Yuletide season. If people have not been given clothes as presents for Christmas, then the Yule Cat will find them and devour them. This giant cat knows who hasn't had new clothes by Yule. People make sure that they've got new warm clothes by Winter solstice to avoid being dinner for the Yule Cat. Children were always warned to do as they're told and to finish chores otherwise the Yule Cat will get them. 

Going by the description of Yule Cat in a poem by Johannes ur Kotlum, the Yule Cat is enormous in size with unknown dwellings. Its eyes are glowing bright, its teeth are very sharp, and the Yule Cat is so scary that even grown men shudder. It has very sharp whiskers and terrible claws. This monster cat prowls through the snowy landscape. Everyone stays indoors when the Yule Cat roams the streets. People feel so afraid that Yule Cat will growl or even snatch someone. Worst of all the Yule Cat peeps through the windows with lights on, spying on everyone inside and checking to make sure that people are wearing new garments. The Yule Cat's victims are usually poor people who don't have new clothes. The poem suggests that people with plenty should help those poor families without anything to keep the evil Yule Cat away. 

This certainly is scary. To read the full Yule Cat poem: Go here

More coming soon...

She Wolf Night team      

Creepy Christmas characters (part 1)

 The White Witch

Of all the creepiest characters of Christmas/Yule/Winter, the White Witch appears on top. She appears in the Chronicles of Narnia series, written by C. S. Lewis. And before anyone asks, no, she is not the Snow Queen of fairy tale legend by Hans Christian Andersen. The Snow Queen in the tale by Andersen is a neutral force of nature, almost a goddess, and not an antagonist or a protagonist. The White Witch is very different to the Snow Queen. The White Witch character is a tyrant of Narnia and an evil sorceress from an alien world. 

She put Narnia under a spell, so that it is always Winter. She hates Christmas and every type of enjoyment so she banned Santa from entering Narnia. Her most powerful weapon is a golden wand that she used to turn anyone she didn't like to stone. Everyone in Narnia felt terrified of her. The White Witch didn't come from Narnia, but she ended up there and took over the entire world. 

She has many nightmarish allies and servants who supported her and helped to oppress the Narnians. Among these White Witch loyalists was Maugrim, the captain of the secret police, Otmin the army general and Ginarrbrik. Also her friends include many creatures of horror, such as werewolves, ogres, ghouls, incubi, demons and other monsters as well as brainwashed sprites, dwarves, poisonous plants, evil apes, gigantic bats and vultures. Among her associates are witches, hags, giants and ghosts. The White Witch put Narnia under her complete control. Only Aslan the lion can stop her.

The background of the White Witch is that she's Queen Jadis from the planet Charn. She dabbled in very dark magic and learned the forbidden spell that was kept in guarded secret for centuries. Once she discovered it, she used it to destroy the whole world of Charn, so that she was the only one alive there! She remained alone and in a very long sleep, until she was woken by children who got there after they travelled through a dimensional portal. Jadis was led through a portal to Earth, where (luckily) her magic was useless. After she wanted to return to the ruins of her home world, Jadis entered a portal but unfortunately she ended up in Narnia instead. 

All of this is within the book series Chronicles of Narnia.

She Wolf Night team

Villains of fairy tales (part 6)

Baba Yaga

This is the sixth and last of my Villains of Fairy Tales topic. I often save the best until last although in this subject's series, I saved the most creepiest last!

Ever since I was a kid reading these stories, Baba Yaga was the most scariest. Who is it? She appears n Russian folk tales, and is an old crone witch that eats children. Baba Yaga has scared kids for centuries all over the East but her tales reached the West in the late 20th Century and she is nightmarish. She lives in a small house that stands on chicken legs. There are fiery lanterns made from skulls. This location is found in a swamp by the forest. 

Although she appears to some as a benign forest dweller who cares for wild animals, and helping those that are lost, it's also known that she has a dark side. She's also a type of predatory being. In some stories she's maternal but then deceitful. There is a level of malice about her.

She travels on a broomstick, and sometimes she uses a flying mortar and pestle to get around. She appears in many stories and Slavic folktales going back centuries. Inside her dwelling, she can be found stretched out from one end to the other. She may have her long nose attached to the ceiling because of her acute ability to sense. Her sharp teeth are made of iron. There could also be more than one Baba Yaga. Most gruesome of all, Baba Yaga eats humans.  

She Wolf Night team