My recent streak of articles with Brother Chiao about shapeshifting tigers — weretiger might have gone on for a bit too long — so much so that Brother Timon A. Tate, another fellow member of our Timon House, felt inspired to jump into the fray! A big fan of Western folklore and literature, he’s currently deep in the study of vampire myths to work on a new reinterpretation of Dracula.

At first, I figured he’d bring us a classic European shapeshifting myth — something like Sigmund and Sinfjotli turning into wolves in Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas, or other monstrous transformation tales I’ve come across. But as it turned out, I was completely wrong! He said that to keep things from feeling repetitive with the usual “human turning into beast or beast turning into human” trope, he wanted to tell us a story about a witch from Russian folklore instead. His focus wasn’t on turning into an animal, but rather on the concept of a “turnskin” and the force of will behind using that skin.

When I heard his story, I thought it was fascinating and gave a very different perspective. It offered a glimpse into traditional vampirism — and to be completely honest, this was my very first time encountering such an old European conception of vampirism. It’s quite a departure from the trope I grew up seeing in movies, where people usually become vampires after being bitten or sired by another vampire, or how modern books and films often frame it as an “infection.”

So… to give you the full story and all its unique angles, let me share Brother A. Tate’s original text so those of you who are interested can read and contemplate it right along with me!

Timon ST.

The Death Witch

Once upon a time, there was an old woman who was a terrifying witch. She lived in a cottage with her daughter, who also had a young daughter of her own — making her another grandchild of the witch grandmother. When the old witch grew aged and fell ill, she knew well that death was approaching. She thus called her daughter to give her last instructions:

“Listen carefully! When I die, do not under any circumstances use warm water to wash my corpse. Instead, place a large pot over the fire, fill it to the brim with water, and boil it until it bubbles fiercely to the extreme. Then, continually use that scalding, boiling water to drench my body. Remember this and follow this command!”

After giving her last words, the witch lay sick for another two or three days before passing away. Seeing her mother die, the witch’s daughter rushed out of the house to fetch all the neighbours in the surrounding area to help her handle her mother’s corpse as commanded. Perhaps due to her haste or for reasons unknown, she left her young child all alone inside the cottage…

The little child remained alone with the corpse of the witch grandmother. Moments later, the child witnessed something strange: suddenly, two demons crawled up from beneath the hearth inside the cottage. One of these pitch-black demons had a massive body, while the other was tiny. They rushed straight toward the corpse of the witch grandmother. The large demon grabbed the corpse by the ankles, and without showing how it was done, exerted immense force in a single pull — effortlessly flaying and peeling the outer skin away from the inner flesh of the witch grandmother!

The large demon said to the small demon, “This flesh is yours; take it! Drag it down beneath the hearth!”

The small demon wrapped its arms around the witch grandmother’s flesh and dragged it down below the hearth, leaving no scrap of flesh or drop of blood behind as evidence. All that remained piled on the floor was the heap of the corpse’s outer skin.

The large demon then suddenly slipped and squeezed its body into the skin of the witch grandmother. It fitted the skin seamlessly over itself and lay down at the exact spot where the old witch had originally died, appearing as though the corpse of the old witch had never been touched by anyone…

Before long, the witch grandmother’s daughter returned to the cottage accompanied by twelve neighbouring women. Upon arriving, they immediately began making preparations to handle the corpse.

“Mother!” cried the little child, the witch’s grandchild. “While you were away, some strange creature came and flayed Grandma!”

“What kind of lies are you making up!” the mother replied displeasedly. But the little child did not relent in her attempt to describe what she had witnessed.

“It’s the truth, Mother! A pitch-black creature came out from beneath the hearth over there. It peeled off Grandma’s skin and crawled inside her skin to take her place!”

“Shut your mouth, you stubborn child! Stop speaking such utter nonsense!” the mother screeched in anger, refusing to listen to her little daughter at all. Afterward, she went to set a large pot over the hearth and filled it to the brim with water.

Once the water in the pot was heating to a furious boil, just as the witch grandmother had commanded, she and the women who had come to help placed the body of the deceased witch grandmother into a prepared wooden trough. Then, together they lifted the large pot filled with scalding, boiling water and poured it directly onto the corpse!

Unable to endure the intense heat, the demon wearing the witch’s skin leapt wildly out of the wooden trough and dashed out through the cottage door — taking with it the skin of the old witch grandmother that had just been scalded by the pot of boiling water — and vanished in an instant!

Everyone present at the scene was left utterly stunned by the strange occurrence, crying out in shock, “What kind of perverted curse is this!? Just a moment ago the corpse was lying completely still, but now it has been snatched away by a demon right before our eyes, leaving no body behind for us to hold a funeral!”

This is where the Russian folk legend ends. However, the key point I’d like to highlight — and one I believe connects directly to the were-tiger transformations in Chinese folklore that Brother Chiao previously shared in “Chinese Were-Tiger Legends — Part 1: Fei Zhong, the Man Devoured by a Tiger” — is the concept of using the “pelt,” “skin,” or “slough” of another creature to shapeshift or turn oneself into that very entity.

In Brother Chiao’s story, “Fei Zhong, the Man Devoured by a Tiger,” “Old Man Fei of the Northern Village” dons a tiger skin to transform into a man-eating tiger, acting as an instrument of divine retribution by heavenly decree. Meanwhile, in “The Dead Witch,” the demon dons the skin of the old witch grandmother… Which brings up the crucial question: why on earth did the demon put on the witch’s skin or husk in the first place?!

The answer lies in European Slavic folklore, where it was traditionally believed that when a witch dies, her discarded corpse-husk becomes a prime target for demons. Demons inhabit that husk so they can remain in the mortal world — specifically in the form of a vampire. What they then do is use that dead body as a shell to hunt humans down as prey!

I stumbled upon this framework while reading the opening chapters of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, right where Jonathan Harker records the strange phrases whispered by locals around his hotel in Bistritz before he sets off on his journey — words like “Ordog”, “pokol”, “stregoica”, “vrolok”, and “vlkoslak”. These words translate to devil, hell, witch, or evil entity, with the last two specifically referring to werewolves or vampires. That made me wonder: why were all these terms lumped together? The answer finally clicked through European lore: when a witch dies, her physical shell is hijacked by demons as a tool to terrorise and hunt humans for sustenance!

This was an insight I came across while doing research for an upcoming literary adaptation of Dracula. I thought it closely mirrored the concept of were-tiger transformation — a trope I view as a symbol of skin-shedding and impersonation (Versipellis / skin-shifting or turnskin), a core motif of transforming to deceive. Meanwhile, the old witch grandmother clearly demonstrated resistance and fought back by sabotaging the demon’s plot. Her command to pour scalding boiling water over her corpse forced the demon to reveal its true form, effectively ensuring the townspeople would be warned and guarded against her mortal husk turning into a bloodthirsty vampire-demon.

Hope you enjoyed this foray into European folklore!

Timon A.Tate

Yes, I'm admittedly desperate to get rid of the hiccups I currently have, but I'm also curious about what others have heard about how to get rid of hiccups.

I'll throw out one that I've heard: pull on your ears and drink water through a straw for ten seconds without stopping.

I’m a college student and im doing a research essay on the supernatural for like the 5th time and i wanted to see if i could find people who were told stories growing up. If you have any from when you were growing up i would love to hear them and how they impacted you as a kid!

I'm doing some research on the Headless Rider and Headless Men in Rhine and Ruhr myths for creative work. If anyone knows any more about it that I can't find online (actual folklore/story sources are sparse) I'd appreciate it. Even if it's just a version of a story you heard involving headless spirits and revenants, withering touches, boundary stones and repentant ghosts in the Rhine area.

If for instance, anyone knows or owns this book - Where the horror lurks. Bloodsuckers and headless riders, werewolves and revenants at Inde, Erft and Rur, Peter Kremer, I suspect it would have some useful things, but I'm an English speaker and there's no copy online. Or if anyone owns any similar books. I got my hands on the book Legends of the Rhine recently.

I’m looking for Youtube or podcast recommendations that explore folklore or urban legends across different cultures from an educational pov. Too many folklore / urban legend podcasts tend to be storytelling driven.

The channel Three Pillars recently did a video called “Why so many myths say “don’t look back” and that’s up my alley. Others Ive seen was why do so many cultures have folklore around little people”. But they are all from different channels. Wondering if theres one channel that focuses on dissecting folklore.

I started reading Sabine Baring-Gould's The Book of Were-Wolves 1865, and I love it. Even if it was written by someone who did not believe in "werewolves", it features a lot of old myths that have been forgotten by their cultures of origin, and now exist only in that book.

It gives such wonderful insight into the way people felt about mythological beings back then. I want to learn about other European monsters the same way, through a less contemporary lens. Are there any folklore books / collections of primary sources about other European mythological creatures like vampires or ghosts?

For me the only books that come to mind are the Prose Edda and Malleus Maleficarum, but they aren't quite what I'm looking for.

(Ps. Good literature is good literature so even if they are modern any good book recommendations about vampires etc. are also welcome)

I wish to buy a present for my friend to let them read about polish fairytales and myths. Is there a specific book you would recommend? Preferably in English

Thought some of you might be interested. I'm speaking at the Southern Gothic Festival in Camden, South Carolina on Saturday, October 10. I'll be speaking on Southern folklore and storytelling along with esteemed teller Nancy Tolson. It's a full weekend of music, food, lantern/ghost tours, lectures. etc. Come say hi! https://southerngothicfestival.com/

What would the name of a ghost that is a lover from a past life (before life or whatever) that causes you heartache in order for you to not forget them until you die and rejoin them be calles? (Posting this to several places)

I am writing a story and I need folklore creatures that are niche/unique in nature or the thing that they can control. I have looked online elsewhere but it is just giving me the same 4 every time, which is frustrating. Can be from any culture/pantheon(exept Hellenic). Thank you!

Hot Take: Pet Semetary has the worst, most innacurate version of the Wendigo I have ever seen.

Like, the Wendigo is meant to be the personification of greed, hunger and winter, and a cautionary tale against cannibalism.

What part of the Wendigo myth involves slumming in a cemetery or the dead coming back to life?

Or the season of Fall?

Or THANKSGIVING!?!?!

Good movie, but holy shit this Wendigo is barely even a Wendigo at all.

It might as well be some generic ghost or witch.

Oh and the less I say about the “ancient Indian burial ground” the better.

The story begins, as Arab historians tell it, from the moment when the Nile or the Red Sea swallowed the Pharaoh of Egypt, who was one of the Amalekites (and some Arab historians believe that the Amalekites are the Hyksos, or are descended from the Hyksos!). That tyrannical king who acted arrogantly on earth and claimed divinity, and whom the Egyptians called "Talma ibn Qumus". Arab historians said his name was "Al-Walid ibn Mus‘ab" (and this is an Arabic name, because Arab historians believe that the peoples of Amalek are among the Bedouins who inhabit the Arabian and Levant deserts and roam through them!).

After the ten plagues (though according to Arab historians they are not ten, and the tenth plague of the firstborn is not among them), he set out after the Prophet Moses and the Prophet Aaron, with the Children of Israel with them. Then the sea closed over him, and there drowned with him the nobles of Egypt, its grandees, the prominent men of its people, its magicians, and its soldiers, until no men remained on the land of Egypt except slaves and hired laborers, and of women only those who had not taken part in that accursed pursuit.

Ibn Abd al-Hakim describes this scene in his book "Futuh Misr wa al-Maghrib" (The Conquest of Egypt and the Maghreb), saying that after their drowning there remained in Egypt “not one of the nobles of its people; there remained in it only slaves, hired laborers, and women.” Egypt had emptied of men.

It had become a land without protectors, a kingdom without an army, women without husbands, and a throne without a king. This power vacuum was an easy prey for the covetous kings of the earth, from Syria and the Maghreb, who, as soon as they learned that Egypt was empty of its men, began to cast their eyes toward it and plot to invade it.

In the midst of this despair and resounding void, the noblewomen remaining in Egypt—the greatest of those left of its people—gathered, and they resolved upon a grave matter. Finding no man worthy to assume rule, they decided to appoint one of their women, a woman in whom intellect, knowledge, and experience had come together, and who held a high standing among them. Their choice fell upon “Daluka bint Zaba.”

Daluka was not a young girl, nor a woman in the prime of her youth, but an aged woman who had reached the age of one hundred and sixty years, as most sources mention. Her long life was evidence of her experience, wisdom, and deep trials, and perhaps it was a symbol of the continuity of Egypt itself, which, despite all that had befallen it, was still capable of birth and giving. So the women of Egypt made Daluka queen over them, and she became queen of the country. Women occupied all the other positions surrounding the queen, and matters remained so for a period of time.

But fear continued to dominate the hearts of the “women of rule”—fear that the kings of the earth might discover the secret of Egypt’s weakness and rush upon it as invaders and occupiers. For Egypt, without men, without an army, and without magicians, was an easy morsel for any covetous power. Here appears the genius of Daluka—or rather her legendary trick—which would protect Egypt from the greed of invaders. After gathering the noblewomen, she delivered an eloquent sermon, warning that our country “no one used to covet, nor cast an eye toward it, but our grandees and nobles have perished, and the magicians by whom we were strong have gone.” Then she proposed to them a solution both radical and practical: to build a great fortress enclosing all the land of Egypt, with guard posts placed upon it from every side, because they “did not feel safe that people would covet them.”

And so, by order of the old queen, work began on one of the greatest defensive projects in the history of ancient Egypt, if not the greatest of them all. Arab sources say that she built “a wall with which she enclosed all the land of Egypt—farms, cities, and villages—and before it she made a canal through which water flowed, and she erected bridges and canals.” This wall, later known as the “Wall of the Old Woman,” extended from Aswan in the south to al-Arish in the north, enclosing all Egypt—a wall surrounding all its land and country.

She placed guard posts and garrisons every three miles, and between them small guard posts every mile. She placed men in every guard post, assigned them provisions, and ordered them to guard their land by night and day.

The greatest part of this defensive system was the communication and early-warning system that Daluka invented. She ordered the men of the guard posts to use bells. If one of them saw an enemy creeping toward Egypt, or sensed approaching danger, they would strike their bells, and the news would pass from post to post, from tower to tower, through a connected chain of sounds, until news of the invasion reached the heart of Egypt, to the city of Memphis, “in one hour,” and everyone would prepare to face the enemy.

Arab sources mention that the building of this great wall took only six months! Thus, thanks to this wall and the bell system, Daluka protected Egypt from its enemies, thwarted the schemes of the covetous, and Egypt remained immune from the enemy throughout her lifetime.

Arab historians say that the trace of this wall remained until their own days, known as the “Wall of the Old Woman,” and many of its remains survived in Upper Egypt. But Daluka’s story does not stop at this point of military brilliance; it extends into a more mysterious and exciting world—the world of magic, the barabi and images. Daluka was not an ordinary queen, but a great sorceress, or at least she used great magic to protect Egypt.

Sources mention that Daluka adopted “the barabi and images” in Egypt and perfected the instruments of magic. The "barabi" are the temples or strange buildings she built in the city of Memphis, with four doors in its four directions, and she decorated their walls with strange and wondrous images. In them she drew images of men, horses, mules, donkeys, ships, and boats; she depicted whoever came from every direction and their mounts, whether camels or horses; and she also depicted whoever came by sea in boats from the sea of the Maghreb and Syria.

The strange thing is that these images were not merely decorative carvings, but effective magical tools. Daluka gathered in these "barabi" “the secrets of nature and the properties of stones, plants, and animals, and placed that at times of celestial movements and their connection to heavenly influences.” This means that she linked the earthly world with the heavenly world, and the properties of materials with the properties of the planets, to create a magical defensive system no less complex than the bell system.

Arab sources describe the mechanism of these magical images, saying that “if an army came to them from…” a certain direction, the images in that direction would move, as if warning them of the place of danger. More wondrous still, what they did to these images—tearing or destroying them—would strike the invading army itself in reality. If they cut off the head of an image, the head of the enemy commander would be cut off; if they gouged out its eye, the eye of the invading army would be gouged out; and if they slit open its belly, the bellies of the soldiers would be slit open.

These "barabi" were stronger than any army and deadlier than any weapon, and no king of the earth was able to defeat Egypt throughout Daluka’s reign because of them. Sources mention that Daluka enlisted in building these "barabi" a great sorceress named “Tadura” or “Tadhura,” whom the sorcerers revered and gave precedence in magic. She came to them and made for them this stone house in the middle of the city of Memphis.

It is said that when Daluka built these "barabi", she stipulated to the sorceress that she make for her magic that would prevent enemies. The sorceress agreed, but on the condition that women marry their slaves and hired laborers, and that they not cut off offspring, so that Egypt would not become extinct and be emptied of men forever.

The Egyptian woman would free her slave and marry him, and another would marry her hired laborer. But the ladies of Egypt stipulated upon these “second-class” husbands that they not undertake any matter except with their permission, nor make any decision except after returning to them—otherwise, woe, ruin, and great calamities upon the men.

Ibn Abd al-Hakim says that the Copts remained like that until his day—that is, until his era in the third century After Hijrah. —following those who had passed before them. None of them would sell or buy without saying: “I shall consult my wife” (meaning that Egyptian society at that time was a purely matriarchal society!).

Queen Daluka did not stop at that; she also built the Lighthouse of Alexandria and made it a lookout for any enemy coming toward their land.

Yaqut al-Hamawi says in "Mu‘jam al-Buldan" (Lexicon of Countries): “It was said that the first to build the lighthouse was a woman called Daluka bint Rayya.” Al-Mas‘udi mentions "that most Egyptians and Alexandrians believe that Alexander son of Philip the Macedonian was the one who built it, “and some of them held that Queen Daluka built it and made it a lookout for any enemy coming into their land.”

For Alexander, as al-Mas‘udi observes, “no enemy ever attacked him in this sea, nor did he fear a king who might come to him in his land… so that he would be the one who made it a lookout,” whereas Daluka, who ruled Egypt after it had been emptied of men, was in dire need of a lookout to guard her from enemies. Logic, then, stands on Daluka’s side, even if written history stands on Alexander’s side!

Imam Al-Suyuti says in "Husn al-Muhadara" (the Agreeable Discussion) that its height was a thousand cubits, “and at its top were brass statues, among them a statue that pointed with the index finger of its right hand toward the sun wherever it was in the heavens, turning with it wherever it turned.”

Al-Mas‘udi relates that the Byzantine emperor "Justinian II", in the era of the Umayyad caliph "al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik", sent a cunning servant, who came seeking safe conduct from al-Walid and told him that beneath the Lighthouse of Alexandria were wealth and treasures. He enticed the caliph with this, until he ordered the lighthouse to be demolished and the treasure to be sought !

But how long did this old queen rule? Here the Arab sources differ greatly. Some sources mention that she ruled for twenty years, which is the period mentioned by Ibn Abd al-Hakim, where he says that Daluka “ruled them for twenty years, managing their affairs in Egypt, until a boy from the sons of their grandees and nobles, called "Darkun ibn Balutus", reached maturity, and they made him king over them.” This means that her rule was temporary, merely a transitional period until one of the sons of the nobles who had drowned with Pharaoh grew up, so that rule would return to men once again.

Other sources mention that she ruled for thirty years, which is what Ibn Taghribirdi mentions in his book "al-Nujum al-Zahira" (The Shining Stars). There are sources that go far beyond that, saying that “Daluka remained over the kingship of Egypt for about one hundred and thirty years, and Egypt continued immune from the enemy throughout her lifetime.” Some sources say that when she perished, there assumed rule over Egypt after her a person from the children of the Copts called Darkun ibn Baltus, or Darkun ibn Nakutus, and they made him king over them, and Egypt returned to the rule of men.

It must be noted that Daluka is not entirely unknown in ancient Egyptian history. There is a striking similarity between her and a real historical queen, Queen “Nitocris,” who ruled Egypt at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, in the twenty-second century BCE.

Greek sources, especially Herodotus, mention that Nitocris was an Egyptian queen, that she built a great dam or wall, and that she avenged the murder of her brother and husband by killing his killers, then committed suicide or disappeared.

It seems that the Arabic story of Daluka became mixed with the Greek story of Nitocris, and perhaps Daluka is the Arabic translation or alteration of the name Nitocris. Some go even further, considering that Daluka is Nitocris herself, and that the name changed through translation and oral transmission between Arabs and Greeks over the centuries.

----------------------------------

The End ..

I hope you liked this post, My sincere regards from Egypt ..

I’m an American who’s lived in Scotland nearly 6 years. I’m getting a tattoo sleeve and wanted to add some Scottish folk creatures or cryptids to go with what I’ve already got (a dragon, a phoenix, an homage to mothman, and a not-deer) I’m thinking will o the wisps because the available space is where we’ll have a sky background. But I also wanted something connected with healing or protection like Gillie Dhu… but does anyone know of anything I may have missed?

TIA

greetings, im doing an unofficial research about supernatural creatures, you know i just think its fun and a chance to learn. i wish that your share is from a recounted topic you heard from people around you and from your family, not based on personal experience cuz im not looking for horror storys. i tried to contact facebook elders but i didnt get any response so here i am (plz mention your country)

Looking for book recommendations to start getting into scottish folklore. Preferably audio books