In Mapuche accounts the chonchon is the result of sorcery: either a person (commonly described in some versions as a woman) who enters into a contract with a sorcerer or an initiated kalku who undergoes a voluntary transmutation. Sources describe a procedure in which anointment of the throat with a magical cream facilitates the removal of the head, which then flies away as the chonchon. The chonchon is linked to kalku networks and contracts with an evil spirit (wekufe) and may be created by or serve such practitioners.
Described as a human head that becomes animate and airborne: the head is said to be adorned with feathers and to have unusually large ears that serve as wings, enabling flight. It detaches from the body and flies at night; accounts emphasize a terrifying appearance but note ordinary people may not see it.
Sources state the chonchon flies at night (particularly moonless nights) to attend secret gatherings or covens at a supposed subterranean location called the reni. It is said to possess the magical powers of a kalku or to be used by kalku to carry out malevolent acts, including drinking the blood of the sick or sleeping. Its cry is an omen often interpreted as predicting the impending death of a loved one. Visibility is contested in accounts: some state only other sorcerers or those seeking such power can see it while ordinary people hear its cry.
Kappa
A water-dwelling imp of Japanese folklore with a bowl of water on its head. Mischievous but bound by strict codes of politeness; dangerous near rivers.
Banshee
A female spirit of Irish and Scottish folklore whose wail heralds an impending death in a family of Gaelic descent. Not a cause of death — a witness to it.
Manananggal
A terrifying Philippine vampire who severs its own upper body from its lower half at night, sprouting bat wings to fly out and feast on sleeping pregnant women's fetuses.
Penanggalan
A Malay vampire consisting of a detached human head with dangling organs that flies at night to feed on the blood of infants and new mothers, then soaks its organs in vinegar to reattach.
Rokurokubi
A Japanese yōkai-class apparition associated with humans (most often women) who display an uncanny bodily anomaly: either an extremely extendable neck or a head that detaches and moves independently (the latter often called nukekubi). Appears in classical kaidan collections and Edo-period encyclopedias and is variously framed in sources as a supernatural being, an illness, or the soul wandering during sleep.
Soucouyant
A Caribbean nocturnal spirit of the jumbie class traditionally depicted as a person who by day appears human (often an old woman) and by night sheds a skin and flies as a ball of fire to suck victims' blood; vulnerable to exposure by scattered grains and to destruction by salt placed with its shed skin.
*Perkʷūnos
*Perkʷūnos is the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European thunder‑god hypothesized by comparative linguistics and mythology. Scholarly reconstructions portray him as a storm or thunder figure associated with fructifying rain and as the combatant who fights a multi‑headed water‑serpent to release life‑giving waters; no direct attestations from the Proto‑Indo‑European period survive and the figure is inferred from later Indo‑European traditions.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
57 Mnemosyne
57 Mnemosyne is a large main-belt asteroid (S-type) discovered in 1859 and named after the Greek Titaness Mnemosyne. It is a non-sentient astronomical body studied for its orbital and rotational properties and has been used in dynamical measurements related to Jupiter.
Abaddon
In Hebrew scripture Abaddon is primarily a noun meaning 'destruction' or a section/condition of the underworld paired with Sheol; in the New Testament Book of Revelation Abaddon is personified as an angelic figure (Greek Apollyon) described as the king of an army of locusts released from the abyss during the apocalypse.
Aban Yasht
The Aban Yasht is a hymn from the Persian tradition that praises Anahita, a goddess associated with water, fertility, and wisdom. It consists of 132 stanzas and is part of the 21 Yashts collection. (Note: - Power tier should be "Primordial" or possibly "Cosmic", given that it's a hymn of great spiritual significance and associated with a goddess. - The article incorrectly states that Anahita is associa)
Abath
No corroborated folkloric entity named "Abath" is documented in the provided sources. The string appears in the supplied material only as a surname/personal name in Aruban/Dutch-Caribbean archival records and as an unrelated taxonomic or encyclopedic hit; no mythic attributes, origin stories, rituals, or apotropaic practices for an entity called Abath are present in the documents reviewed.
Abatur
Abatur is an uthra (celestial emanation) in Mandaeism described as the 'father of the Uthras' and called the Ancient (ʿattīqā). He resides on the boundary between the World of Light and lower regions, functions as a judge who weighs souls (Abatur Muzania), and supplies instructions and materials to the demiurgic uthra Ptahil in accounts from the Diwan (Scroll) of Abatur.
Abatwa (Twa / Batwa)
Abatwa (also recorded as Twa, Batwa, Mutwa; singular forms Barhwa or Murhwa in some transcriptions) are indigenous hunter‑gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, historically identified as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. The available sources treat them as human ethnic groups whose livelihoods, lands, and populations have been severely affected by conservation policies and modern violence.
Abellio
Abellio is a theonym attested in Roman‑period inscriptions from the Comminges area of the Pyrenees and reported as worshipped in the Garonne Valley of ancient Gallia Aquitania. Surviving evidence is limited to a small number of inscriptions; scholars have variously hypothesized solar or arboreal associations and compared the name to forms of Apollo or to Celtic Belenus, but the deity's precise role in local cosmology remains uncertain.
Abraham
Abraham (originally Abram) is the foundational patriarchal ancestor in the Hebrew Bible whose life establishes a covenantal relationship between his family/people and God. He functions as an exemplar of faith, the progenitor of promised descendants, and a narrative anchor for claims of land, blessing, and communal identity in later religious traditions.
Abraun
Abraun is an attested name in German-language plant-legend scholarship (Der abraun, ein beitrag zur pflanzensagenkunde, 1916) and a short database entry (Wikidata) labels it as a spirit from German mythology. Surviving accessible documentation is extremely limited: the principal academic treatment is a 1916 contribution to pflanzensagenkunde (plant-saga studies), but the excerpts available here contain only bibliographic metadata and do not record tales, descriptions, or rituals.
Abtin
Abtin (Persian: آبتین), attested also as Athwya, is a mythic ancestral figure in Iranian tradition described in Avestan and later epic literature as one of a small set of formative human-like figures involved in preparing the corporeal world and as the father of the epic hero-king Fereydun in the Shahnama.
Community Record
- [1]Chonchon. Wikipedia, 'Chonchon' (summary article citing Mapuche material; see Constantino Contreras 2000 as referenced therein)wiki
- [2]Chonchon (disambiguation). Wikipedia disambiguation page referenced in source set (provides alternate uses of the term but not ethnographic detail)wiki