Bundle
Bundle is a North American/European myth dealing with a boogeyman-type entity. Bundle is a sort of monster with generic traits that are generally inconsistent. Bundle Stories are tales or stories written about Bundle. The
SCP Foundation claims that Bundle is a real “shadowy humanoid” that propagates through people’s awareness of it, like a Tulpa. Simply writing about it, through a Bundle Story, makes it appear in that situation.
Windigo
The Windigo is a Algonquian North American legend about thin, skeletal, cannibalistic spirit that are linked to famine and decay. Acting in cannibalism would condemn a person to becoming a Windigo. Some interpretations of the Windigo describe it as a tall, thin creature with sharp, elongated arms and legs, sharp teeth, and no eyes. Others describe it as a tall monster who ate people, who got taller with each meal.
Swamp Legends
In North America, some legends claim that there are “giant spiders” in the swamps that grab victims with their legs and drag them into the depths of the water.
Ghost Stories of the American South
The book "Ghost Stories of the American South" by W.K. McNeil details the story of a tall, skinny, tree-like man who abducts a child from a family in the American South. The story was collected from a 72-year-old man in Berea, Kentucky, in 1963, meaning that the story could date back to the early 20
th century.
Taíno
The Taíno culture, a civilization of pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Carribean, legends often speak of the
hupia, or
op'a, a nocturnal humanoid without a face that stalks, paralyzes its victims, and drives them insane. The hupia was considered the spirit of the dead in the Taíno religion.
Eastern Europe
The Tall Man
The Tall Man is a Romanian fairy tale with limited popularity during its time. The fairy tale centers on a girl, Sorina, and her mother, who kills her family under control of the Tall Man. The Tall Man is described as being dressed as a nobleman, in all black, with multiple arms like snakes and sharp like swords.
Russia
In Russia, folklore existing at least since the early 20
th century seems to place a “tall, slender man” in the role of a “corrector”, who would hunt those who existed through strange means- for instance, those who were born without a father.
Japan
In Japan, the
noppera-bō, also known as
zumbera-bō, or nopperabou, is a faceless ghost, or
yōkai, whose legendary appearance is described as "deeply terrifying," and which takes delight in terrifying humans. As John Waters notes in
Was It For This?:
The
Noppera-bō, or faceless ghost, is a legendary creature of Japanese folklore, a kind of hobgoblin known primarily for frightening humans. The
Noppera-bō appears at first as an ordinary human being, sometimes impersonating someone familiar to the victim of the scare, before causing his features to disappear, leaving a blank, smooth sheet of skin where the face ought to be. The archetype of the faceless man relates at once to hope and terror.
A similar Japanese
yōkai is the
ashinaga-tenaga, a spirit with extremely long arms and legs. Another, more obscure,
yōkai, known as the
Mikoshi-nyudo, also bears a striking resemblance to Slenderman, having a tall and maleable body and killing humans in wooded areas.
China
Chinese legend involves a deity known as the
hundun, a faceless creature without human senses. Hundun was sometimes described as a wicked humanoid with multiple limbs, the "personification of chaos."
Ancient Civilization
Babylonian
Babylonians, such as the Akkadians and Sumerians, believed in a specific demon called the
alû, a "half-man, half-devil" creature without a face. The alû creeps into its victim's bedrooms and terrifies them as they sleep. The
alû demon was said to cause loss of consciousness, fixation of the eyes in a stare, and loss of speech.
Biblical
Antioch, an ancient, magnificient Roman city, was a chief center of early Christianity, as reported in Acts 11:26. South of the city, a citadel at the foot of Mount Silpius displayed a huge carving of a faceless head, which pagans held was Charon, a deity who damned souls to the Underworld.
Brazilian Cave Paintings
The earliest argued reference to the legend is within the cave paintings found in the Serr da Capivara National Park in the Northeast of Brazil, which are believed to date from as far back as 9000 BC. These paintings show a strangely elongated character leading a child by the hand, but make no reference to the extra appendages.
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Some Egyptian hieroglyphs seem to portray what could be multi-armed men among other, more usual hieroglyphs.
Aztec Priests
Some Aztec art appears to depict priests removing hearts of sacrifices with three or more arms. Some Mayan art also depicted Mayan priests as such.
Ceiba Trees
In Mayan mythology, Ceiba trees (huge with long branches) are considered sacred. Legends often link the Ceibas with scary tales and the devil. One tale concerns the story of an evil spirit, disguised as a Ceiba, who would lure drunk men to it. The ya’axche’ wíinik (the Ceiba Man) was a Mayan god who lived in the Ceiba tress who would receive sacrifices by ancient Mayans.
Pleasant dreams!
Check out my two short stories, now published on Amazon Kindle:
TRAILER PARK FROM HELL
LIFE'S A BITCH. A WEREBITCH.
