Results for "death"
60 entries found.
🇬🇧 United KingdomDeath knell
A church bell rung to announce a person's death and mark the funeral.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead Fading
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 morePersonifications of death
Figures from many cultures that embody the end of life and guide soulsFigure · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreFan death선풍기 사망설
A South Korean urban legend that running a fan in a sealed room causes fatal suffocationBelief Fading
🇲🇳 MongoliaMongolian death wormолгой-хорхой (olgoi-khorkhoi)
A legendary desert creature said to kill with venom or electricityBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreLa Llorona
A vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who mourns drowned children near water.Figure · Cursing and harm Living
🇵🇬 Papua New GuineaWitch-hunts in Papua New Guinea
Violent attacks on people accused of sorcery, mainly women and girlsBelief · Cursing and harm Living
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreWitch trials in the Holy Roman Empire
A wave of executions across Central Europe between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesSalem Witch Trials
A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇦🇷 Argentina and 2 moreSan La Muerte
A skeletal folk saint venerated in South America for protection and favorsTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇪🇬 EgyptCurse of the pharaohs
A belief that disturbing ancient Egyptian tombs brings illness or death to the living.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 moreWitch trials in Hungary
A centuries-long series of persecutions for sorcery that ended with imperial decree.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇳🇱 NetherlandsWitch trials in the Netherlands
A historical record of prosecutions and executions for sorcery in the Dutch Republic.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇸 South Sudan and 1 moreAzande witchcraft
A Zande belief that certain people harm others by an inherited power, judged by oraclesBelief · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAmritaअमृत (Sanskrit)
A Sanskrit concept of immortality and the nectar that grants it across Indian religionsBelief · Healing · Power and authority Living
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreCaul
A birth membrane kept as a talisman for luck and protection from drowningCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreBaba YagaБаба Яга
A Slavic witch who lives in a turning hut and flies in a mortarFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreTelling the bees
A Western European custom of informing bees about major household eventsRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomBlack Shuck
A ghostly black dog from East Anglia folklore, often seen as a death omen or a terrifying apparition.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇪 IrelandFetch
A spectral double of a living person, seen as an omen of death or long life.Being · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreTetraphobia
The avoidance of the number four due to its similarity to the word for death in East Asian languagesBelief · Luck and prosperity Living
🇦🇺 Australia and 5 moreSword swallowing
A dangerous stage skill where a performer guides a blade down the throat into the stomachIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇫🇷 France and 3 moreBardo Thodolབར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ (bar do thos grol)
A Tibetan Buddhist guide for navigating the intermediate state between death and rebirth.Text Living
🇬🇷 GreeceCassandraΚασσάνδρα
A Trojan priestess cursed to speak truth that no one acceptsFigure · Seeing and foretelling Legendary
🇿🇦 South AfricaMamlambo
A South African river spirit linked to wealth and reported cryptid sightingsBeing · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomAfanc
A lake monster from Welsh mythology that dwells in dark waters and preys on the unwary.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇵🇪 Peru and 1 moreSupay
An Andean spirit of the underworld who balances life and death forcesBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇮🇸 IcelandFylgja
A Nordic guardian spirit that shadows a person and their fateBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreSanta MuerteNuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte
A female skeletal folk saint in Mexico and the Americas, worshipped for protection, healing, and safe passage.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 IndiaMahakaleshwar JyotirlingaMahākāleśvara
A sacred Shiva shrine in Ujjain, India, known for its south-facing idol and ancient origins.Tradition · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomGiles Corey
An English-born farmer pressed to death for refusing to plead during the Salem witch trialsFigure Historical
🇷🇸 Serbia and 1 moreDrekavacДрекавац
A South Slavic night creature born from unbaptised souls or sinnersBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇰🇷 South KoreaJesa제사
A Korean ancestral memorial rite involving food offerings and ritual bowsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreQilin麒麟
A legendary chimerical creature from Chinese mythology that signals the arrival or death of a sage.Being · Power and authority Legendary
🇮🇪 IrelandBodach
A Gaelic trickster figure used to frighten children and warn of deathFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreChung Ling Soo程連蘇
An American stage magician who performed as a Chinese man and died during a bullet catch illusion.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomSt Mark's Eve
An English folk custom to witness omens of death and future marriage on the eve of a saint's feast dayRite · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 FranceNicolas Flamel
A medieval scribe turned legendary alchemist and immortal in fictionFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomMother Shipton
An English prophetess and herbalist from folklore, known for predictions printed long after her death.Figure · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical
🇫🇷 France and 4 moreWitch trials in the early modern period
A wave of prosecutions across Europe and British America from the 1400s to the late 1700s.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical
🇭🇹 HaitiBaron Samedi
A Haitian Vodou spirit of the dead who also controls healing and resurrection.Being · Healing · Cursing and harm Living
🇩🇪 GermanyWürzburg witch trials
A mass execution of hundreds in a German Catholic principality during the Thirty Years WarBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreAlonso de Salazar Frías
An inquisitor who used evidence to stop witch executions in SpainBelief Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 3 moreHellhound
A mythological canine that guards the underworld or serves demonic forces across global folkloreBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomCŵn Annwn
Spectral hounds of the Welsh otherworld that hunt souls and signal deathBeing · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
🇮🇪 IrelandBadb
An Irish war goddess who appears as a crow to sow fear and predict death in battle.Being · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomBlack dog
A spectral hound from English folklore that signals death or guards the living.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomBarghest
A mythical black dog from Northern England that foretells death and haunts the countryside.Being · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇰🇷 South KoreaJeoseung Saja저승사자
A Korean psychopomp who escorts the dead to the afterlife.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇪 IrelandBansheebean sí
A female spirit in Irish folklore who wails to herald the death of a family member.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇮🇱 Israel and 2 moreLag BaOmerלַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר
A Jewish holiday marking the end of a mourning period with bonfires and outdoor playTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇭🇹 HaitiGedeGuédé
A family of spirits in Haitian Vodou who guard the dead and grant fertility.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇳🇴 Norway and 2 moreValknut
A symbol of three interlocked triangles found on Germanic artifacts and used in modern Heathenry.Belief · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 IndiaKaliकाली
A fierce Hindu goddess of time and destruction, worshipped as a protective mother.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreŚrāddhaश्राद्ध
A Hindu rite of ancestor worship involving food offerings and fire ritualsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cleansing and purification Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 morePitru Pakshaपितृ पक्ष
A sixteen-day Hindu period for honoring ancestors through food offerings and death ritesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreShakta pithasशाक्त पीठ (Śākta Pīṭha)
Sacred shrines in Shaktism marking where parts of the goddess Sati fell to earth.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇮🇱 IsraelWitch of Endorאֵ֥שֶׁת בַּֽעֲלַת־אֹ֖וב בְּעֵ֥ין דֹּֽור
A biblical spirit-diviner summoned by King Saul to consult the prophet Samuel.Figure · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
🇦🇺 AustraliaKurdaitchakwertatye
A ritual executioner and feathered shoes of the Arrernte people in Central Australia.Tradition · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion
Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy
A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga: Ashverse, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- La Llorona: Melvin Callejas, Public domain, source
- Amniomancy: JC Brand, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Witch-hunts in Papua New Guinea: The original uploader was Dr. Blofeld at English Wikipedia ., Attribution, source
- Witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
- San La Muerte: Sergio Serrano, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Curse of the pharaohs: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Witch trials in the Netherlands: Mathje1963, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Azande witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Amrita: http://picasaweb.google.com/injamaven, CC BY 3.0, source
- Baba Yaga: Ivan Bilibin, Public domain, source
- Tetraphobia: Halowand, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sword swallowing: Jeff Kubina, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Cassandra: George Romney, Public domain, source
- Hellhound: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Badb: Commonists, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jeoseung Saja: National Folk Museum of Korea, CC BY 4.0, source
- Banshee: W.H. Brooke, Public domain, source
- Lag BaOmer: Yoninah, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gede: Calvin Hennick, for WBUR Boston, CC BY 3.0, source
- Valknut: Sacrificial_scene_on_Hammars_(I).JPG : Berig derivative work: The Man, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kali: Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, source
- Śrāddha: Billjones94, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pitru Paksha: Firoz Shakir, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shakta pithas: Abhishek Chandra, Public domain, source
- Witch of Endor: Adam Elsheimer / John Kay, CC BY 4.0, source
- Kurdaitcha: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Jesa: by Joseph Steinberg (Baltimoron in Korea) at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Qilin: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Death knell: Dougsim, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chung Ling Soo: AndyScott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nicolas Flamel: Balthasar Moncornet, Public domain, source
- Mother Shipton: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Witch trials in the early modern period: Johann Jakob Wick, Public domain, source
- Santa Muerte: Not home, Public domain, source
- Baron Samedi: markbenecke, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Würzburg witch trials: Sweet Chily, Public domain, source
- Alonso de Salazar Frías: Oscar Montañés, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Personifications of death: No machine-readable author provided. Kirtap assumed (based on copyrigh, CC BY 2.5, source
- Mongolian death worm: The original uploader was Pieter0024 at English Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 1.0, source