Author: Kevin Andrew Murphy

The hulking green figure steps out from the smoke, their red eyes searching not for the one that seeks their service, but for the offerings laid before them. Satisfied with what they see, Buto Ijo growls, “And who is my new master?” Horrifying Giant Almost as tall as a coconut tree, as strong as a giant, and as terrifying as any other denizen of Hell, Buto Ijo’s big round red eyes, pro...

A multicolored rooster with a fabulous tail suddenly grows in size, becoming the height of a man, then just as suddenly changes form, becoming a handsome prince, resplendently garbed, with a glorious cape and a fantastical crown. Monster Folklore: Sarimanok, the Rooster Prince, appears either as a handsome man in splendid raiment — always accessorized with an especially ostentatious hat, headdress...

A pretty green-haired wood nymph swings in the bower of a strangler fig tree, rocking the suspended remains of dead infants while singing a lullaby and nursing a living babe. Fruit bats dangle around her upside-down, happily munching her tree’s luscious figs. The sering, the dryad of the nunut strangler fig, is a loving mother who cannot abide the sound of a crying infant, living or dead. She...

High atop a desolate hilltop, on a night not fit for man or beast, a baby wails. The cry pierces the heart — alone, bereft, unwanted, and abandoned. The child cries, inconsolable. At first, the babe appears normal, except perhaps a cruel wound where its smallest finger has been cut away, but then it changes, swelling large as a boulder, becoming cold as the grave, hot as the desert, or wet as the ...

A beautiful red-headed maiden, garbed in white, gaily waving a red scarf in one hand, an ashen-faced matron, with a grey hooded cloak, a red apron, a book, and a rake, or black-gowned crone wearing a red kerchief, bearing a broom. Rats frolic in her wake. Maiden, Mother, Crone. Pestas appear in one of three aspects: maiden, mother, or crone.  They transform from one to the other on the b...

The sad-faced old woman, her eyes red from tears, takes off her skin, placing it in a calabash, and then the bloody flayed horror shrinks into a floating ball of fire.  Anger, Bargaining, Depression Sometimes an old woman who has outlived everyone she ever loved — her husband, her children, her friends and relatives, wishes to bargain with Death. Sometimes Death accepts the bargain and s...

A crocodile wearing a strawberry blonde wig and a hooded cloak reaches into her handbasket and pulls out a frightened child far too large to reasonably fit inside. “Naughty child soup!” she cries in delight, placing him in her cauldron. “Or soap? Which should I make? I can never decide!” Cloaked Dragoness A cuca’s cloak is magical, allowing her to hide or appear as any humanoid, fro...