SKINWALKERS!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Many people would probably identify this creature as a werewolf. they are pretty close! this is know in Navajo legend as a skinwalker. A skinwalker was a supernatural being that could change into any animal they wanted. bear, lion, wolf, persian cat, goat, bunny rabbit..... anything, as long as they were wearing the pelt of the animal. These creatures were not just known in Navajo belief, but also in other cultures, where they are known as shapeshifters. however, They are best known in the Navajo legends.  In these legends, the skinwalkers were called yee naaldlooshii, which translates to " With it, he goes on all fours".
A  yee naaldlooshii is one of the many Navajo varieties of witch. in a few versions of the legends, men or women ( mostly men) who have reached the highest level of priesthood can become a skinwalker by killing a member of their family, earning the evil powers that go hand in hand with skinwalkers.  Whoa, that's like something out of a movie. Quite awesome, I think. Well, not the kill-a-family member part, but the being able to turn into an animal.
 the skinwalkers horrible and cool transforming abilities are not limited to animals. Legend says that if you lock eyes with a skinwalker they can absorb themselves into your body. Ooooooooooooh, that send chills down my back. Just imagine what would happen if one of them had a audience with the president!
As you might be able to tell from the picture I posted above, skinwalkers were described as naked, except for the animal skin (ick). Their eyes glow like an animal when in human form, yet when in animal form their eyes do not glow like an animals. They try to avoid the light. Ooooooooooooooooooh, spooky.
These terrifying witches are fast, agile, and impossible to catch. If you want to shoot one, you have to dip the bullets in white ash first otherwise shooting is useless. Track 'em down? Not a good plan, seeing as they will lead you to the house of someone you know. That would lead to some false accusations, arguments, fights and  who knows what else. One way to stop them in Navajo legend is this: should you know the person who is behind all this gruesome skin-walking business, then you must pronounce the horribly mean jerk's full name, and then about three days later they will become sick or die as punishment for the crimes they have committed. Skinwalkers, skinwalkers, when will you learn? You cannot hide from the law forever. the law of nature, that is.
Another interesting thing about skinwalkers is that they can read minds. They know exactly what you are thinking word for word. Talk about the perfect psychiatrist!

Skinwalkers were also said to be able to imitate voices and animal noises so that they could lure unsuspecting victims out of their homes. Who wouldn't rush out of the house at the sound of a crying baby outside your door?

There is doubt about it that skinwalkers sound like bad news. And now for the one question I always bring up when I blog about mythological beasts. Are they real? I don't think so. It is not logical for a man to be able transfrom in to another animal by wearing its skin, nor could it be impervious to bullets that were not dipped in white ash. While I have often said to myself " *Avigail, anything is possible", this does not seem the case with skinwalkers, when thinking scientifically and logically. So, dear readers, rest easy tonight and relax. you have nothing to fear. Now, I have to go turn on all the lights in my house, dig out my old stuffed teddy bear from my attic, make sure all the doors, windows, closets, cabinets, refrigerator and anything else that can be opened is locked and enter 911 into my speed dial. Not that writing this blog has scared me or anything. I just feel like, you know, shaking things up a bit.
Your totally-not-freaked-out blog writer,
Avigail

HELLHOUNDS!

           
Now THATS what I call a guard dog! HellHounds in folklore were guardians of the underworld, what most would call Hell. And they were perfect for the job! legend has it that if you stare straight into a hellhounds eyes 3 times or more you will definitely die. Hellhounds didn't just guard hell. Theywere supposedly found guarding any entrance to the world of the dead. this includes graveyards and burial sites. Whoa. That makes graveyards seem even more frightening! these supernatural dog is found in legends and myths around the world. Hellhound were often described with a horrible shade of dark black fur, glowing red or yellow eyes, incredible strength and/or speed, ghostly characteristics, a disgusting and foul odor, and occasionally evn the ability to speak.  Puts a frightening picture in your mind, doesn't it? 
One of the most famous hellhounds was Cerberus, the three headed guard of the underworld, or Hades. He was in Greek mythology.  
Hellhounds are most famous in Northern European mythology. In Southern Mexico and Central America, the hellhound is known as Cadejo, and was said to haunt those who traveled late at night on rural roads.
Black Shuck, or Old Shuck was supposedly a ghostly black dog that roamed the Norfolk, Essex and Suffolk coastlines. He was also called " the doom dog" . I wonder why! There are many more legends of these hounds, and through every story the beasts seem to have common traits. They all have phantom-like qualities, and have black fur. They are often said to be omens of death.... But worst of all.......THEY ALL HAD SUPER SCARY NAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ha, just kidding. But seriously, they shared common traits in legends.


There are many horrifying stories about these gruesome, unholy, phantom-like,frightening, omens-of-death guardians of HELL. I will list some if you want to look them up ( halloween is in about a month in a half, so, you know, you might want some good old fashioned ghost stories, maybe some costume ideas...).
The question that is probably lingering in your mind is this: Do hellhounds exist? honestly, I am not sure. 
Scientifically, it does not seem likely. A dog that kills you just by looking at it? But then again, Some things simply cannot be explained, like ghosts ( which i believe in ). And we just can't shrug off the fact that these legends come from several separate cultures. There must have been SOMETHING that horrified all these people. And the similarities between the legends are remarkable. 
Will we ever unlock the secret of hellhounds? Perhaps we will never know. All I know is that i will no longer look at black dogs in graveyards twice. I just can't work death into my schedule!
Thank you for reading. hope i didn't scare you too much! ( I probably didn't, but I'm gonna go ahead and pretend I did ) :).  
Your buddy and blog writer,
Avigail                                                                                                           


   
P.S: ( here is a list of  some hellhound stories!)    
1.Black Shuck
2.Cw^n  Annwn
3.The hound of Baskervilles
4.The Hounds of Tindalos
5.Hellboy film ( A hellhound named Sammael is one of the main antagonists)
6. Several hellhound appearances in The wheel of time
7.Church Grims                                                                                                       

MUTANTS!

    
OH MY GOD! GROSS! THAT IS SO SICK! WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?  That, Dear reader, is a two headed snake and a two headed goat. I am sure you are probably wondering " whoa. what happened to those things?!". I will gladly explain. you see, that is not one snake with two heads. It is actually two snakes with one body. Two different brains. Two different personalities. One single body. Man, that would get annoying pretty fast. Imagine being attached to your sibling! How did this happen? simple:
1. first, you have a cute, tiny little baby snake egg. awwwwwwww
2. cute, tiny little baby snake egg starts to split into to TWO cute, tiny little baby snake eggs. awwwwwwww!
3. Uh oh. Somethings wrong. the baby snake egg stopped splitting. oh,dear. now we have a two headed baby snake egg. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
And that, my friend, is how a two headed snake, or other two headed animal, comes to be. You know, it might be more correct to say one bodied snakes/one bodied animals. This isn't always the case with two headed animals. sometimes it is actually one animal with 2 faces. this happens because of a mutation when the DNA is being copied. This condition is called Diprosopus. There is one cat, known as FrankenLouie, who is a prime example of this mutation. Here's some pictures:                                            
                                    
 Oh, my. ick. but he looks very sweet, and I am sure he has a good heart. Don't judge a book by its cover.
Look on the inside. Trust your heart. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  And all that other junk. Anyhow, Frankenlouie is actually quite lucky. Most two faced creatures don't make it long. Usually they die soon after birth. :(. awww.      
poor little kitty.  this is just some of the many rare mutations that don't usually end well. Not all mutations are bad, though. Some mutations help species evolve and adapt. For example, a panda's thumb is actually part of the wrist bone. This mutation has helped the species to thrive, as it has made it easy to break of bamboo, the panda's food source. Some say that without mutations, no species could get very far.
Sometimes people get a little confused and believe something may be a mutation even when it is not. Here is an example:                                                      
 Do you think that is a mutated green puppy? it sure does look like it! In reality, it is actually not. Sometimes when a puppy is being born, the amniotic fluid mixes with the placenta, which dyes the coat of the puppy. It doesn't last that long, either. after only a few weeks, the coat will turn to a normal color. Actually, the process of the puppy turning green is kind of gross now that i think about it. Yuck!
You are probably wondering, what about humans? Usually, the biggest mutation that you will see in a person is an extra finger or toe. However, though it is not exactly a mutation, ( at least, I don't think so), I cannot leave out Siamese twins. You probably know of the most famous ones, Cheng and Eng Bunker. 
The Bunker brothers lived to old age, and both got married. Cheng had 10 kids, and Eng had 11 kids. Wow, I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to pull all that off, considering they were attached to each other. I think I would lose my mind if I were attached to my sibling....... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Geez, just imagining that gave me an urge to scream. loudly. Those two guys just earned my admiration!

 I hope my post was interesting and informative, even if it is a little short. Thanks for reading, and read my next post, which is a surprise! ( meaning, I haven't quite figured it out yet) But it will be awesome, i can promise you that! Thanks again for reading,
the author of this blog,
Avigail

VAMPIRES!

Hello, Dear readers! As I promised yesterday, today's post is about vampires!   And boy, do i have a lot to talk about! Now, most of you know the basics: vampires supposedly slept in coffins, drank people's life essence, AKA blood. vampires were known in many cultures. In fact, vampire legends may even go back to prehistoric times! A vampire novelist, Brian Frost once said : " The belief in vampires and blood sucking demons is as old as man himself!". He is probably right! Honestly, who doesn't love a good
vampire story? I'll tell you who: the people who lived in the early 18th century.                                                
It wasn't until then that the term vampire was used. it was that time in Western Europe that that people started to get really freaked out by vampire myths. Where did this influx come from? the Balkans and Eastern Europe, where they had vampire superstitions coming out of their ears.With more vampire superstitions going around, mass hysteria was inevitable! And following mass hysteria, things got weird. People were actually being accused of being vampires! Even corpses were under suspicion. corpses suspected of being vampires were staked, mutilated, dismembered, and even had stones placed on the disembodies arms and legs to prevent the "vampires" from rising out of the grave and wreaking havoc with their heinous and evil deeds.  It makes one wonder: how did people tell whether or not a corpse was a vampire?  People who searched these grave said they heard a strange, smacking sound from the grave. Was this, true, or a figment of their imagination? Actually, this was true. These noises really did come from the grave! How? Often corpses will often have these noises as decomposition fluids are forced from the mouth and nose, and as gas bubbles in the digestive track and lungs rise, creating that disgusting, blubbery, smacking noise. Yuk!   People believed that Vampires were revenants of  evil beings, suicide victims, or witch's. There are a few ways to become a vampire, according to folklore:
1. be a corpse possessed by a mean spirit
2.  Get bitten by a vampire                                              
There were, occasionally, public executions held for the "vampires".  Man oh man do i feel sorry for those guys who were accused of vampirism! They probably didn't even look like the traditional vampire! It was thought that vampires were bloated, ruddy and purpilish/dark in color. when seen in the coffin  they had blood seeping from their mouth and nose, and kept the left eye open. Hmm. thats not how I remember Edward Cullen.  The fair people of Europe were not powerless, though! they had many ways of protecting themselves:
1. The ever so traditional garlic
2. A branch of a wild rose ( I guess the thorns act as weapons.)
3.Hawthorn ( what is that, anyway?)
4.Crucifix ( hmm. i guess the vampires were not church goers.)
5.Rosary ( They must not like jewelry)
6. Holy water ( I bet water makes them melt, like the witch from the Wizard of Oz)
            Sprinkling Mustard seeds on the roof was also believed to have acted as a repellent. I can see why. I hate mustard!
Oh my, I almost forgot to write about the most famous vampire of all: COUNT DRACULA!!!!!!!!!!!  who could forget him?  The  real life Dracula's actual name was Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. He was the inspiration for the novel, " Dracula" by Bram Stoker in 1897.              
  I don't think he drank blood, but he was pretty gruesome! Dracula was also known as Dracula the Impaler. why was he called that? Because he impaled people! His opponents, to be exact. To impale, by the way, means to stick some one on a long, high stake. It was pretty painful, considering the stake went right through your body. yecccchhhhh!!! he had other methods of torture and execution, but that was his favorite. He was very strict when it came to justice. he had a special punishment just for thieves. If you stole something, no matter who you were or how old, he would skin you feet, put salt on them and let goats lick the salt off. What can I say? he was a regular do-gooder. Dracula's fame for cruelty spread through Europe in Pamphlets, though greatly exaggerated. Hard to believe all that horrible stuff he did could be exaggerated. But, you must admit, he only did it to criminals and his opponents. Dracula also had a sense of humor. One time, he was eating and his servant kept holding his nose. Dracula asked, " what are you doing that for?" the Servant stupidly replied " to keep away the stench". So, dracula had him put on a very high stake and said to him: "see if you can smell the stench from up there!". that would be funny if it wasn't all gruesome. Gosh, the must have been one STUPID servant.

               In short, this is the history of vampires. some people may ask, are vampires real? the answer is: NO, stupid! The only guy you will ever see who even looks like a vampire is an overweight guy who just got attacked by a bear ( getting hit repeatedly by bear claws can make you pretty purple-ish and bloody).
 and the only bloodsucking creatures in the world are the teeny tiny vampire bats, and they prefer goats and chickens. i hope you found my post interesting and informative. look at my next blog on Mutated and two-headed creatures!
                                      thanks for reading!
                                                          Avigail

Hello, Dear readers!I cannot begin to express the excitement and anticipation in writing my new blog. I am sure you are wondering, despite the title, what exactly my blog is about. My blog is about oddities, such as mutations in animals, the historical and scientific aspects of legendary creatures, and the supernatural. I will put in quotes,logic and eye witness accounts to support my theories, opinions and ideas. If you have a request on a certain topic you are curious about, or you have a question, feel free to ask! After all, what's a blog without reader interaction? I will try to write every day, or at least every other day. If I do not write, there has either been an emergency or I am on vacation! Be sure to look at my next post, which will discuss the history of VAMPIRES, and why people heard such strange noises coming from the graves. Thanks for reading, 
            
                                          Avigail