Alltop.com

Every country has eerie tales of monsters from hundreds, or even thousands, of years ago. There are many such stories from Asia; here are a few of those monsters you might want to tell the kids about the next time you have a campfire on a dark and spooky night.

1. Penanggalan

The Penanggalan is a Malaysian vampire-type monster, who separates at the neck and flies with her entrails dragging behind her. During the day she appears as a regular woman, but her head flies off at night so she can flit around terrifying people, and supposedly eating newborn babies. Rituals for protection against the monster (or just luck) are used for pregnant women or when a new baby is born. The Penanggalan smells of vinegar, because she must clean her dangling entrails with it and stuff them back into her body through the neck by morning. How did she get that way? Legends vary, but she supposedly was a normal woman until someone startled her so badly that her head popped off. The monster is called by other names, such as Hantu Penanggal, Leyak, or Krasue, in other Southeast Asian countries. Image by Xavier Romero-Frias.

2. Mongolian Death Worm

The Mongolilan Death Worm (Allghoi khorkhoi) is two to five feet long and spits acid at anyone who crosses its path. At least that’s what the locals in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert tell outsiders who visit. The worm resembles a cow’s intestines but is red. If you touch it, or if it spits at you, instant death follows, which probably explains why there are no photographs. Although most consider it legendary, a couple of journalists went to Mongolia to find evidence of whatever it was that engendered the story of the Mongolian Death Worm. Image by Pieter Dirkx.

3. Namahage

The Namahage are Japanese ogres who, legend says, once terrorized the countryside if they weren’t placated with bribes of food and, once a year, a young woman. The legend survives in a ritual that takes place in Japan on New Year’s Eve, when people dressed in masks as Namahage go door-to-door, threatening the lazy, and scaring children into hard work and good behavior. Photograph by Flickr user ChrisSteph LewisBoegeman.

4. Kappa

The Kappa lives in the rivers and waterways of Japan. It is bigger than a turtle, but has a turtle shell, or maybe scaly skin like a fish, or sometimes fur. The Kappa is said to be able to walk upright like a human, and it always has a depression in its skull where it keeps water, which is the source of its power. The Kappa comes out of the water to enchant children and lure them into the river where it can eat them. This story is often told to children to scare them from getting too close to the water. According to this old print, a good fart will repel them.

See the rest at mental_floss.

All the top stories from mental_floss.