A TO Z CHALLENGE 2016 -- QANDISA

You smirk as you watch the fool stumble away. He cannot put two words together after what you did to him.

He was too easy to lure like all the others.  They want nothing but a beautiful face and body.  His lust will be his doom.

He will crave you until his is mad with it.

You melt back into the water as you wait for your next victim.

The Qandisa is a Jinn (or djinn, heh heh heh).  One story had her as a woman shaman who broke laws and was turned into a Jinn.  She is also associated with the goddess of love, Astarte, in which she maybe an updated or older version.

She is a demon of lust of Morocco.  She lures young men to seduce them and steals their sanity.  She can be found in rivers and springs.

Also called Aisa Qandisa or Quadias.  Her appearance is of a beautiful woman, but in one version I found, she may have mare or mule feet.

One region was said to sacrifice to her to prevent her from attacking.  It took place on the summer solstice.

gh

My second choice of the day isn't a monster.  I was having trouble finding a blood and guts killer like the rest of my posts. So I was going to settle with something less creepy.

 Q'wati is the Quileute creation being.  Well, he didn't just create them.  The story I found had him creating other tribes like the Hoh.  You can go HERE to read a version of the story.

What is truly fascinating is that when Q'wati came upon two wolves he turned them into humans.  He named them the Quileute.  Although they are not the werewolves of the Stephenie Meyers' books.

A TO Z CHALLENGE 2016 -- OSHIROIBABA

You see the old woman and sneer at her shabbiness.  Her ragged kimono and tattered, overlarge sugegasa overwhelm the hunched woman.

Distaste curls in your mind as you see the tokkuri of sake.

Light shines in her eyes when she sees you.  Leaning on her bamboo cane, she tells you she is a peddler of face powder guaranteed to make you even more beautiful.

 Inwardly preening as your ego is stroked, you know your beauty is talked about by the neighbors, but you scoff.

She offers it for half price as she tells you to think of the young man and your competition.

Your heart skips a beat as you think of Satori winning Akane's heart.

You buy the powder and rush home.  You apply it to your face and wonder what is so special about it.

Then pain.  Agony makes you scream. In the mirror, your face begins to melt away.



Oshiroibaba comes on the twelfth month on moonlit nights.  She is sometimes referred to as a servant of the Goddess of Crimson Cosmetics, but there is only one reference to this.

Her name translates to 白粉 (oshiroi; white face powder) + 婆 (baba; old woman, hag).  The face powder reference is mostly toward the specific one used by geisha and maiko.

In the Konjaku hyakki Shūi, Toriyama Sekien presents her in this third
book of the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, which was published in around 1781.

She is supposed to have face powder slathered on her face willy-nilly and in a few stories has an invisible mirror that is dragged behind her.

Her powder is said to melt off the faces of those who use it.  Maybe it was punishment for the vain?

A TO Z CHALLENGE 2016 -- EKEK (WARNING THIS ONE IS REALLY GROSS)

"Ek. Ek. Ek."

This strange sound wakes you.  Blinking, you turn to check on your wife.

"Ek. Ek. Ek."

A horrified cry lodges in your throat.  You're paralyzed by the gruesome sight.

The humanoid creature has invaded your wife's body.

"Ek. Ek. Ek."

It has taken the most precious from you as she sleeps.  It has killed your unborn child.

This dark, vampiric creature comes from the Philippines.  It has it's origins from the Visayan culture, which is located on the southern end of the archipelago.  The Ekek is similar to the Wak Wak and the Manananggal.  They all crave flesh and blood especially from pregnant women.

The Ekek is described as being a bird like human. They have wings and a long proboscis into the woman and to the womb to drain the blood from the fetus. (think something like elephant nose or butterfly's nectar sucker!  le ick!)

They are shape shifters and have the ability to transform into bat or bird at night to prowl for prey.

Their name comes from the sound they make as they suck the blood.  Ek Ek Ek.

Wak Waks are said not to have a beak like Ekeks,  and manananggals are said to have the ability to split themselves.

In any case, they are all vampiric ghoulish creatures that have similarities to European vampires, which could come from when the Phillipines was colonized.

A TO Z CHALLENGE 2016 -- CÓISTE BODHAR

The night is still.  An inhuman wail echoes over the land, sending a chill through your body.  A second wail freezes your muscles as if plunged into ice.

A low vibration sounds. It's almost as if hearing the rattling of bones. What is it?

You recognize the sound.  Wheels.  Not wheels from a car.  No.  This sound is too hollow and higher pitched.  Coach wheels. Their rumble grows louder, more menacing.  The wailing intensifies.  Your name echoes across the land.

And then you see your demise.

The Cóiste Bodhar (Koe-shta bower) also called Coach-Abower, Silent (Deaf) Coach is an Irish folk legend. The black coach is said to be draw by six black horses (sometimes headless).  The name that is called is the name of the soul the coach has come to collect.

It is believed that when the coach appears and drives across the land it cannot leave again until it has a soul.

There are links to other creatures of Irish lore associated with the coach.  One is the bean sidhe (banshee).  Banshees wail out warnings to the families they are attached as they fly alongside the coach.

The other will make its appearance tommorrow.  Heh, heh heh.

gh

These were my other choices for today.  The Churel and the Chindi.

The Churel is a vengeful ghost from India. This spirit is created by the death of pregnant or during childbirth.  She wants revenge for her unborn child's death. Her feet, flipped 180 degrees, allows her to walk backward.  Her eyes mesmerize.  and she will drain a victim of their blood.

The Chindi (chʼį́įdii) from Navajo legend.  It's a spirit that is made from all the bad from a person.  They can be called down by a family with a curse. They are associated with dust devils.  And have the ability to cause illness, which is called 'ghost sickness'.  They can be connected to objects owned by them.