Czarny Roman (Black Roman), a homeless guy from my town, who used to wander the streets in a dark suit and hat (in winter he switched to neon-coloured ski robes). The story goes he used to run a black-market currency exchange in the 80s and was terribly rich, but either a business partner fucked him over or he lost it all at a casino; he went nuts and ended up on the street. A different story says he ran a coffee shop with his ex-wife. Some claim he used to study at the University here or even the Fine Arts Academy. He had a family (they were interviewed at his funeral by the press) who reside in New York and probably only they know the real story. He was strongly against drugs, cigarettes and alcohol; aparently used to discourage kids from smoking. He wilfully gave up social housing and spent many years wandering about and talking to people about art, poetry, music, yoga and death. He claimed he was immortal and once left a note on a napkin which gave a glimpse of his early life. Apparently he was born in 1950 and his mother was murdered by his father. He claimed Warsaw will be hit a with a meteorite and claimed to know the dates of death of passerby’s. He never begged for help, even had his own food and was sometimes supported by people he talked to. I’ve never talked to him myself but he was on a “good morning” basis with lots of people here and seemed to be able to remember them well.
My area has a supposed undead creature called Stovepipe. He has a stovepipe stuck in his head and attacks people by train tracks. Apparently he died in a terrible accident and couldn’t move on because he was so mad about his death. High schoolers love going looking for him lol. I don’t believe he exists, but it’s an interesting thing.
I like the legend of the Black Horse, from the village of Trois-Pistoles in Quebec, where my mother was born. But there are many variants from other places in Quebec.
For those who drink the Trois-Pistoles beer, that’s the black horse you see on the image.
Here in Northern Italy near Bergamo, we have something called “Gratacornia”, an half human-half goat creature, which was used to scare kids. The Gratacornia waits for the kid on top of the stairs in darkness and scratches his hooves with his long horns (Gratacornia is formed merging “Grata”=to scratch and “Cornia”=horns).
Some Salish tribes told stories of the basket ogress which was a disheveled woman who would come and steal misbehaving children, throw them in a basket, and eat them. She was also venerated as bringing wealth.
There once was a man who lived all by himself way out in the woods. He lived in a small log cabin with just one room, and that room served as his kitchen, dining room, parlor, and his bedroom too. This man owned three great big hunting dogs. One was called You-Know, one was called Eye-Know, and the third was called Cumptico-Calico.
One winter night the man had run out of food and had to go to bed without supper. Just as he was starting to drift off to sleep, he snapped his eyes open at a noise. He looked around and there in the cabin with him was the curiousest creature that you ever did see. It has two little pointed ears, and two great big red eyes, and it had a great big long tail. The man snatched up his hatchet and swung at the creature, chopping off it’s tail. The creature shrieked and fled back out into the wilderness.
The man cooked and ete the tail for his supper and then went back to bed.
An hour or so later the man wakes with a start. Way out in the distance he hears something call out, “taily-po! Taily-po! All I want’s my taily-po!” The man called out to his dogs, and they came barrelling around the side of the cabin and chased the whatever-it-was far away from the cabin. Only two of the dogs came back.
Later that night, the man awoke again. Something called out, “taily-po! Taily-po! All I want’s my taily-po!”, only from nearer than before. The man called out to his dogs again, and the two dogs crashed across the meadow chasing the whatever-it-was even farther away than before. But this time only one dog came back.
In the deep, dark hours of morning, the man woke again. And from just outside his front door he heard the whatever-it-was demanding again: “Taily-Po! Taily-Po! All I want’s my taily-po!” The man called out to his last dog, who chased the whatever-it-was for miles and miles and never came back.
Just before daylight the man woke once again. He didn’t hear anything, but when he looked down at the foot of his bed he could see two little pointed ears. And after a moment two big, red, fiery eyes were looking at him. Slowly the whatever-it-was crept up the foot of his bed until it was right on top of him. And in a low voice it said, “taily-po. Taily-po. All I want’s my taily-po.”
The man found his voice and screamed, “I ain’t got your taily-po!”
But the whatever-it-was replied, “yes, you has!” And it jumped on the man and scratched him all to pieces!
Some say it got its taily-po back; some say it didn’t. But when the moon shines bright and the wind blows down the valley, you can sometimes hear a voice cry out, “taily-po!”
I’m from New Mexico, which is steeped in Native American culture. One of the cultures is the Navajo culture, which features the terrifying Skin Walker.
El Cadejos (the chain-hound): a black dog wrapped in chains, said to appear in the night to scare drunkards straight, and allegedly a former drunkard itself.
La Segua (or La Cegua): a woman that seduces men at night, then shows her true form as a human with the head of a horse, an event which is said to scare men to death.
La Llorona (the crying lady): a woman who lost her child, by drowning in a river in several sources, and cries loudly for that during the night.
It is, but the big reveal usually happens in the middle of a passionate kiss. Hence the deadly shock. Though I’d like to see the Cegua foiled by a dedicated furry
i grew up in East Anglia, which is the hump on the east-by-south-east side of England, UK, British Isles, Europe, Earth, etc
not only did we have the super cool Hereward the Wake, and Boudic(e)a and the Iceni tribe
but also
devils dyke — a seven mile ditch caused allegedly by the devil himself being turned from a wedding and stomping his tail, and you can summon him yourself by walking around the local church 7 times
fairy cow — a magic cow who gave milk to all in times of famine stamped her hoof in the sandstone and the.imprint is still seen today
devils hole - a place where such a horrific crime was committed that when it rains the ground never gets wet
tom hickathrift - a 1700s legend of a giant-killing giant whose catchphrase was “a turd in your teeth for your news” and whose weapon of choice was a wagon wheel
In Bengali folklore, we have this thing called Nishi. It’s a nocturnal spirit that wanders around, and calls people by name. She’ll knock on your door, and call you by name. If you answer, you’re placed under her control. And she’ll take you to some remote location, and kill you. It’s also said that if she calls you 3 times, and you hear all 3 calls, there’s no way you can resist answering her.
In my childhood, sometimes people would be found passed out in the forests, and it’d be attributed to the Nishi. I think that they were just drunk/high, and went along with it when the others said it was Nishi.
There’s a Hindi horror comedy movie named Stree on a similar folklore from another part of India. It’s pretty good, would recommend it.
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