Tag archives for Monstrous Mondays

GURUVILU. Monstrous animal of some lakes in the kingdom. The Mapuche say it swallows men. They do not agree upon its shape. Some make it long like a serpent; others nearly circular like an extended cow hide. – Father Felipe Gomez de Viduarre, Historia geografica, natural y civil del Reino de Chil

Alternative names: El Cuero, Hueke Hueke, The Leather, Mata-Mata, Gla’akini.

 (Unique Entity)

I know what I saw. No threat to stay silent from the alphabet agencies can change that. We found the crew of the Ever Grace after they’d been in the water for about three days. We’d radioed our location and were about to start lifting them into the helicopter. Then the water turned green under them. Then pink. Then blue. Faster and faster. Brighter and brighter. And they started going under. They didn’t even have time to scream. Just there, then gone. Then something came out of the water. A tentacle but not like an octopus or squid. No suckers or anything like that. Smooth, oily, the changing colors following across its surface. It swiped at the helicopter again and again. Our pilot is a bad ass. He’d been in Iraq during the worst days to be in Iraq. We were lucky to get out of there. 

I saw it just beneath the surface. An anglerfish, big as an orca. Larger. The dead white eyes, set just above the mouth lined with sabre-like teeth, seemed to regard me. Then I saw them, men, a dozen of them, writhing against the monster. No, not against it. Part of it. They gaped and reached and struggled against this thing that was part of them. Each face distorted pain, jaws dislocated from screaming, eyes threatening to escape their sockets. I reeled back. But then…they were gone. Then there she was. Dead five years but as full of life as during our happy years. Before the cancer. Arms and legs open, begging for me to join her in the water.  

Alternative names: Sirens

The beams from our flashlights fell on Courtney, sprawled on the rocky shore. A fish, or something like a fish, big as a car, was at her head. Blood and something yellow trickled from its lips as it sucked on her head. Her eyes and tongue bulged as her body twitched. I screamed. The fish seemed to notice us then. The long whiskers that held Courtney untangled from her, and shot into the air, lashing at us. Then the fish slid water, dragging her with it. 

Alternative names: Dobhar-chu, Mamlambo, Nommo, Sirians

The Tables of Maxctli was defaced centuries ago. From context clues, we can see there was once instructions to summon the so-called Serpents That Walk but someone chiseled them from the stone. Their true name was removed as well. It is unknown if the epitaph carved in the wound, Messenger of Yig, was an attempt at humor on the part of the vandal or an attempt to placate them. 

Alternative names: The Serpents That Walk, Zsthu

The Tables of Maxctli gives us a sort of family tree of the Court of Yig. This may be the most suppressed part of the text. You’ll find few translations. The implications are not fit for polite society. Especially in regards to the Aygghya, a title given to twins that are both children and grandchildren of the Snake God. 

Other Names:  Mother-of-All-Serpents, Aygghya

The Tables of Maxctli give us the best picture of the Apocalypse Serpent, which the Ophidian Folk call Yqphuactl. A snake leagues upon leagues in length. A head crowned in feathers, much like Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs. A mouth so wide it could, and will, eat the sun. Of course, this is probably all metaphor, Yqphuactl is too large to be seen whole by the human eye. 

Other Names:  The Great Dragon, Yqphuactl, Jörmungandr

Arif opened the small wooden box. Inside, resting on a bed of excelsior wool and its own long hair was a tiny mummy. Something like the remains of a man that was withering away, in danger of shrinking down to nothing. Was it human, though? It was the rough shape of a man or something close, certainly. A monkey? Thin arms terminating in long claws crossed its chest. Tusks protruded from the top and bottom of the mouth. As we examined the tiny creature, it seemed to shift in its bed. We jumped back from the shock. Not a mummy but a living thing! “Welcome to the Church of Kailour. He is pleased to accept your worship,” said Arif. 

Alternative names: psychic mummies

We turned out flashlights to the laughter and saw her. Floating between the trees. Beautiful. Glowing. A white gown clung around her round belly, so full it looked like she was bound to give birth at any time. Wind whipped her long hair. And claws reaching from her fingertips to her ankles. We were too terrified, too mesmerized, to move. “Oh God,” Daniel said in a harsh whisper. “She knows what I’ve done.” Before we could ask him what he meant, in a blink she was on us. A veiny brown proboscis lashed from her mouth, striking Daniel in the face. He clutched his eye, rivets of blood leaking through fingers. He fell backward and as he did, those claws ripped him open. Insides piled on the ground. She, it, fell to her knees, drinking up the offal through the proboscis. “Ke-ke-ke-ke,” she laughed. 

Alternative names: Pontianak, Sundel Bolong, Langsuir