Unknown Mysteries

There is a famous story about a pumpkin-headed demon that for many captures the spirit of Halloween, the Washington Irving Headless Horseman. But actually I think there is a much more terrifying headless monster with the potential to keep you up at night all year round, one that started in my ancestors' folklore: Irishman Dullahan. Before we really get into the legend of Dullahan, let's talk about the pumpkin in the room: Sleepy Hollow's Headless Horseman. Washington Irving wrote the tale "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in 1820. In it, Ichabod Crane and his rival Brom Bones, both fall in love with Katrina Van Tassel because of her great beauty ... and her great heritage. One night, after a rejection by Katrina, a drunken Ichabod is chased by a figure dressed in black on horseback, and then mysteriously disappears, leaving only her hat and the broken pieces of a pumpkin. With Ichabod out of the picture, Katrina marries Brom and the townspeople believe that Ichabod wa...

Godzilla and Mothra. Why did these two arise in Japan when they did, and what was their global appeal? Films made kaijū world famous. We can't even start talking about them without looking at the movie that started the genre 'daikaiju eiga' or 'giant monster movie' - the 1954 black and white Gojira classic. The film directed by Ishirō Honda shows the modern discovery of a 50 meter tall dinosaur with atomic respiration that lives its best life in the depths of the ocean. At least until an atomic bomb test destroys its natural habitat, and the monster rises to terrorize Japan. Many people took Godzilla as an obvious metaphor for the continuing horrors of the nuclear attacks used against Japan by the United States during World War II. Honda saw firsthand the destruction of war as a soldier in China. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 arose in the minds of the Japanese. The film itself is a social commentary. So much so that a main character in the fi...

He’s tall, thin, faceless, and wears a dark suit. Once he’s in your life—you’re doomed. If you try to learn more about him or even think about him, it only makes it easier for him to find you. He’s the notorious Internet monster—Slender Man. This 21st-century monster gained popularity as more and more content was created and shared about him, enough so that he jumped the digital border and began to infiltrate other media. Video games, comic books, and movies show him stalking humans. People also dress up like him and hunt for him in the woods. Then...there’s the tragic attempted murder of a 12-year-old girl in 2014 that made him a household name. Unlike so many other monsters we know exactly when this one was created and by whom, a rarity made possible by the Internet. His obscurity is what makes him scary, but the real impact of this monster is how he changed folklore forever. On June 8, 2009 the online forum Something Awful posted a photoshop challenge: ...

  The world began with several primordial beings. First came Chaos. Then Gaia, earth. And finally Eros, love. From Gaia they came Uranus, heaven, who both created the Titans. Uranus disliked his children and locked them deep within the earth. Gaia, sick of having her children imprisoned made a great sickle that she gave to her son Cronus. Cronus hid until Uranus came to lie with his mother then leapt out and sliced off his father's genitals, which fell into the sea. Cronus proceeded to release his fellow Titans from prison, and so, the age of the Titans began. Cronus married the Titan Rhea, who gave birth to most of the major gods. Cronus, scared by a prophecy that his children would take his power, imprisoned them as soon as they were born, swallowing them whole. Rhea pleaded to Gaia for help, who taking pity hid Zeus after he was born on Mount Ida in Crete. When Cronus came to eat his son, Rhea fed him a stone instead, tricking the Titan. Gaia raised Zeu...