All entries

2,216 entries so far, best known first. 3,111 more are on the list to be written. Narrow by region, kind, purpose, practitioner, belief world, occasion or how alive it is.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇺🇸 United StatesSquonk A fictional creature from American folklore known for weeping and dissolving in its own tears.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreFur-bearing troutLoðsilungur A legendary fish with a coat of fur, found in North American and Icelandic tall tales.Figure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesHodag A fabricated American cryptid from Wisconsin folklore and tall talesFigure · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesGreenbrier Ghost A West Virginia murder case where a mother claimed her daughter's spirit revealed the truth.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇱 GreenlandAdlet A half-human, half-canine race from Inuit mythology of the ArcticBeing Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreWhite House Ghost A spirit said to walk the White House and former Illinois homes of the sixteenth president.Belief Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreFearsome critters Tall tale animals from North American logging camps used to jest and explain the wild.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesChessie A sea monster of American folklore said to inhabit the Chesapeake Bay.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesSnallygaster A bird-reptile chimera from Maryland folklore, once used to frighten children and later the subject of newspaper hoaxes.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreSpiritualist church A worship service led by a medium to communicate with the deceasedTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Living 🇲🇽 MexicoTlahuelpuchi A shape-shifting vampire witch from Tlaxcalan Nahua folklore that drains infants.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇨🇦 CanadaQallupilluitᖃᓪᓗᐱᓪᓗᐃᑦ (Qalupalik) An Inuit water spirit said to snatch children near Arctic iceBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia and 1 moreKélé An Afro-Saint Lucian faith rooted in Yoruba traditions and secret practiceTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇺🇸 United StatesLava bear A small bear from Oregon's lava beds once thought to be a unique speciesFigure Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesBall-tailed cat A North American fearsome critter with a heavy ball on its tail for striking preyBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesKushtakaKóoshdaa káa A shape-shifting creature from Tlingit mythology that can appear as an otter or human.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreLady in Red A female ghost in a scarlet dress, often linked to tragic or violent deaths.Being · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreHaltija A supernatural guardian of a specific place or animal species in Finnish and Baltic Finnic mythologyBeing · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreHaunted doll A doll claimed to be haunted or possessed, often linked to film and urban legend.Belief · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇺🇸 United StatesAlfred Bulltop Stormalong A giant sailor from New England tall tales and sea shantiesFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇲🇽 MexicoTlanchana A water spirit of the Matlatzinca people, born from an Otomi goddess.Being · Seeing and foretelling Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesWoman in Black A spectral figure from Appalachian folklore said to punish men for moral failingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesZelph A figure identified by Joseph Smith as a buried warrior in IllinoisFigure · Power and authority Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Rocky Colavito A baseball superstition linking a 1960 player trade to decades of team failureBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreFlying Africans A legend of enslaved people returning to Africa by magic flightFigure · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesPolka-dot paint A stage magic trick and a real paint product that creates dotted patternsSubstance · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇬🇱 GreenlandIdlirvirissong A sky spirit who tests the dead with a dance and punishes laughter by disembowelling them.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesMarmot Day An Alaskan holiday celebrating local marmots and frontier culture, replacing Groundhog Day.Tradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇺🇸 United StatesBell Witch A Tennessee legend of a shapeshifting spirit that tormented the Bell family in the early nineteenth century.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesPlastic shaman A label for imposters who sell fake Indigenous spiritual practices for profitBelief · Cursing and harm Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreRemote viewing A claimed psychic ability to perceive distant targets without using the sensesBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesKa-Bala A 1967 talking board game that claims to tell the future with a spinning marble and tarot cards.Illusion · Seeing and foretelling · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesStamping A childhood gesture believed to capture luck from specific animals or objectsBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical

🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreGod's eyeOjo de Dios A woven yarn cross believed to grant spiritual sight and protectionCharm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇺🇸 United StatesBeaman Monster A Missouri cryptid said to be a giant ape or wolf-like creature from the early 1900sBeing Legendary 🇨🇦 CanadaPinga An Inuit goddess of the hunt and medicine who oversees caribou herds and souls.Being · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇫🇮 FinlandAntero Vipunen A buried giant in Finnish mythology who holds the magic words needed to build a boatFigure · Power and authority Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreMagic A performance art using natural means to create the appearance of impossible featsIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreThe Teachings of Don Juan A 1968 book presenting an apprenticeship with a Mexican sorcerer as anthropological fieldwork.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical 🇨🇦 CanadaBalzac Billy A groundhog-costumed mascot that forecasts the weather on Groundhog Day in Alberta.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreHoop snake A legendary rolling serpent found in North American and Australian folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreZombie walk A public gathering where people dress as zombies to walk through city streets for entertainment or charityIllusion · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Living 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSuperman curse An urban legend linking misfortunes to actors and creators in Superman adaptationsBelief · Cursing and harm Living 🇺🇸 United StatesDreaming the Dark A 1982 book by Starhawk linking magic, sex, and politicsText · Power and authority Historical

🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ) A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBaskerville effect A theory that superstition about unlucky numbers causes heart attacks through stressBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Street magic: Hieronymus Bosch and workshop / Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch / After H, Public domain, source
Hodag: Gourami Watcher, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
Antero Vipunen: Schulllz, CC0, source
Flying Africans: Matthew T Rader, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Zelph: HotWheels53, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Squonk: Coert Du Bois and by William T. Cox;, Public domain, source
Lava bear: Guy M. Ingram, Public domain, source
Fur-bearing trout: Samantha Marx, CC BY 2.0, source
Fearsome critters: Coert Du Bois, Public domain, source
Zombie walk: tangi bertin, CC BY 2.0, source
Hoop snake: Fearsome Critters, Written by Henry H. Tryon • Illustrated by Margaret, CC0, source
Haunted doll: Cayobo, CC BY 1.0, source
Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Marmot Day: Colin Canterbury/USFWS, Public domain, source
Bell Witch: Unknown author, Public domain, source
God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Snallygaster: Tripodero, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
White House Ghost: Alexander Gardner, Public domain, source
Spiritualist church: Jim.henderson, CC0, source
Ball-tailed cat: Fearsome Critters, Written by Henry H. Tryon • Illustrated by Margaret, CC0, source

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Photo credits on this page

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