SI'LAH

SI’LAH

"The si‘lah is a variant of the ghul. This djinn is often referred to in the feminine. She resides in jungles and thickets and lays in ambush for her victims. She is described as a wicked and sadistic djinn who tortures her prey, plays games with him, and makes him dance before consuming him."

"The si’luwa is a variant of the s’ilah from Iraq. She is a water demon or water spirit that inhabits the rivers, streams, and canals of Mesopotamia. She has the shape of a woman and is covered in long hair, has pendulous breasts that hang down to her knees, and in some accounts, she is described as having a fishtail instead of legs. She both sets traps for and hunts humans to eat and also seeks human lovers. Local beliefs state that the si’luwa is the product of the intermingling of humans with river demons."
Adam Ali, Demons, Djinns, and Devils of the Medieval Islamic World

ROC

ROC 

"This is the name of an enormous bird, also known as the Rukh, in the legends of Arabia and Middle Eastern countries around the Persian Gulf. The Roc is described as a vast bird that resembled an enormous eagle or vulture, although some accounts say that it is part lion. It was said to have horns on its head and to have such a  huge wingspan and talons that it could grasp an elephant easily and transport it back as food for its young."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

DĪV

DĪV

“Dīv in Iranian folktales may act as villains, sorcerers, ogres, fools, or helpers of the protagonist. They may be summoned for help when a bit of their hair, which has been left with the hero for this purpose, is put into the fire. Demons of the folktales may be many headed and come in different colors: white, yellow, and black. They have a tendency to alternate long periods of wakefulness and sleep, each lasting several days, and to become sleepy in sunlight. Typically this unfortunate habit proves to be their undoing. They are capable of magic and transformation.”  Mahmoud Omidsalar, Encyclopaedia Iranica

MANTICORE

MANTICORE

"The martichora was allegedly a blue-eyed, human-faced wild beast, the size of the largest lion, with cinnabar-red fur. It has three rows of teeth, feet and claws like lions. It also had a scorpion-like tail with a (main) terminal sting that measured over 1 cubit, plus two rows of auxiliary stings, each a Greek foot long. The sting was instantly fatal. The stings could be fired sideways, forward, or backward, by orienting the tail accordingly, up to a 1 plethron distance range, and these stings regenerated afterwards. Only the elephant was immune to the poison. And it overcomes every beast except the lion."

Photius, Myriobiblon

GHADDAR

GHADDAR

"Al-Qazwini mentions this djinn briefly and states that its kind inhabits Yemen and the coastal regions of Egypt. It lures its victims to itself and then assaults them. The outcome of this assault could be mild or severe. Lebling states that this demon either tortures its victims viciously or just terrifies them. Al-Qazwini is more explicit, he says that this djinn is either satisfied by terrifying its victim into a state of shock."

"A more extreme outcome of an encounter with the ghaddar, according to al-Qazwini, is that this monster sexually assaults its victims and that there is seldom any hope for survivors of such an assault because the ghaddar has a phallus like a bull’s horn that can kill a human. This djinn must have a terrifying appearance, unfortunately as-Qazwini does not describe any of its physical characteristics other than its phallus."

Adam Ali, Demons, Djinns, and Devils of the Medieval Islamic World

COLOURED GAS BEING

COLOURED GAS BEING

"He had learned much of the Other Gods in distant parts of space, especially in that region where form does not exist, and coloured gases study the innermost secrets. The violet gas S’ngac had told him terrible things of the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep, and had warned him never to approach the central void where the daemon-sultan Azathoth

gnaws hungrily in the dark."

H.P. Lovecraft, Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath

DWELLER

DWELLER

"It had been old when Babylon was new;

None knows how long it slept beneath that mound,

Where in the end our questing shovels found

Its granite blocks and brought it back to view.

There were vast pavements and foundation-walls,

And crumbling slabs and statues, carved to shew

Fantastic beings of some long ago

Past anything the world of man recalls.

And then we saw those stone steps leading down

Through a choked gate of graven dolomite

To some black haven of eternal night

Where elder signs and primal secrets frown.

We cleared a path—but raced in mad retreat

When from below we heard those clumping feet."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Fungi From Yuggoth

INVISIBLE THING

INVISIBLE THING

"55-Man followed by invisible thing."

H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book

PRIMORDIAL THING

PRIMORDIAL THING

"169-What hatches from primordial egg." 

H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book

VALUSIAN SERPENT PERSON

VALUSIAN SERPENT PERSON

"There was a mind from the planet we know as Venus, which would live incalculable epochs to come, and one from an outer moon of Jupiter six million years in the past. Of earthly minds there were some from the winged, star-headed, half-vegetable race of palaeogean Antarctica; one from the reptile people of fabled Valusia; three from the furry pre-human Hyperborean worshippers of Tsathoggua; one from the wholly abominable Tcho-Tchos; two from the arachnid denizens of earth’s last age; five from the hardy coleopterous species immediately following mankind, to which the Great Race was some day to transfer its keenest minds en masse in the face of horrible peril; and several from different branches of humanity."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out Of Time

"It was treasured and placed in its curious box by the crinoid things of Antarctica, salvaged from their ruins by the serpent-men of Valusia, and peered at aeons later in Lemuria by the first human beings."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Haunter Of the Dark

"I can compare the sound to nothing more aptly than to the roar of some dread monster of the vanished saurian age, when primal horrors roamed the earth, and Valusia’s serpent-men laid the foundation-stones of evil magic."

H.P. Lovecraft & William Lumley, The Diary Of Alonzo Typer

"For as he watched, Tu's face became strangely dim and unreal; the features mingled and merged in a seemingly impossible manner, Then, like a fading mask of fog, the face suddenly vanished and in its stead gaped and leered a monstrous serpent's head!"

Robert E. Howard, The Shadow Kingdom