Therianthrope
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Versipellis
The Versipellis are an old form of werewolf or wolf man. The name comes from Latin meaning “skin changer” or “turn coat.” They aren’t seen as inherently evil, and their lycanthropy is simply considered to be a condition. They were judged solely on whether or not they prey on humans. Oftentimes they were described as werewolves who grow fur on the inside of their skin and flip it inside out when they transform. Citations: Ananikian, Mardiros Harootioon, and Werner, Alice. Armenian [mythology]. United States, Archaeological Institute of America : Marshall Jones Company, 1925. Bane, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore. United States, McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers,…
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Varcolac/Varacolaci(pl.)
The Varcolac is a form of wolf monster from Romanian myth. Some believe the Varcolac is a Christian reinvention of Fenrir. They sometimes take the form of demons who possess the corpses of unbaptized children. They can be created when someone commits suicide, or they can simply become a Varcolac from a hereditary curse. Some however believe God sends the Varcolaci to consume the moon to lead men to repent. When they rise from the grave they have pale, dry skin. They’re seen as enemies of light who seek to swallow the sun and the moon, causing eclipses when they near success. They are particularly active on St. Georges day,…
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Rougarou
The Rougarou is a creature that was thought to be a combination of the French Loup Garou and the Algonquin Wendigo. Various Louisiana Native American tribes believed the Attakapa to be a tribe of shapeshifting cannibals. Attakapa even means “man eater” in Choctaw. The story goes that after a difficult period of war, the starving Attakapas gained the ability to shapeshift from dark spirits who possessed them. After being possessed, they would hunt humans as their prey. During the summer they would take human form and live normal lives, only taking constant animal forms during the winter when food was more scarce. Particularly cruel Rougarou however would take animal form…
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Pau-Walu
Pau-Walu lived by the Wailua river in Maui, Hawaii. His name translates to “eight dead”. He warned people going fishing that a shark would kill eight of them, and then he turned into a shark and killed eight of them. People quickly figured out what’s going on, and he was confronted, captured, and bound by a hero known as Hau-Ola the Strong then thrown into a fire. Citations: Beckwith, Martha Warren. Hawaiian Mythology. United States, University of Hawaii Press, 1976.
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Mòkìlà/Mòkèlàkèlà
The Mòkìlà is a strange creature that comes from the Baka people of Cameroon. They are a sort of therianthropic creature being a person capable of turning into an elephant. When in their animal form, they are indistinguishable from normal elephants to the untrained eye. Their face and body odor however is often still distinctly human. They could also be recognized by the fact they have shallower footprints than regular elephants, and that they aren’t with other elephants. Killing a Mòkìlà elephant is considered murder since they are people. Some think when a Mòkìlà dies, it leaves behind a single human corpse. Some however believed that when a Mòkìlà dies…
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Mbojo
The Mbojo is a shapeshifter from the beliefs of the Turu people from Tanzania. They are thought to be witch doctors that could become lions, and are blamed for various unexplained deaths. Sometimes however these deaths are thought be done by normal lions controlled by a witch-doctor. Often it would be believed that Mbojo would be hired basically as assassins to kill one’s enemies. Some however believe it is simply people who learned to kill in a way that imitates a mauling from a lion, or were convinced they were lions through drugs and other such means. Sometimes the Mbojo is used as a bogeyman figure of sorts. Some real…
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Macan Gadungan
Macan Gadungans are creature from the folklore of Java, Indonesia. They are Therianthropes( humans that turn into animals) that can turn into a tiger. Their name means “false tiger” or “disguised tiger.” It is a crazed or rabid tiger with the soul of a sleeping human inside of it. People who lack a philtrum (the depression in skin between your nose and your upper lip) could activate this transformation with a ritual called Ngelu Gadungan. Citations: Bane, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore. United States, McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, 2016.
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Kawelo
Kawelo is from Hawaiin mythology. He lived in Kauai, Hawaii near the Wailua River. There are three rocks where Kawelo was known to stay. The one on the land near the river is called the “Shark Stone,” which was his home on the left side of the river. The rock in the stream was his river home, and the rock at the mouth of the river was his ocean home. He would listen for people on canoes that were heading to the ocean to go fishing and then he’d greet them as they approached wishing them luck. Their fishing, however, would go poorly. They would catch nothing and be attacked…
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Kamaikaahui
Kamaikaahui was a person in Hawaiian myth. He was born in Maui as a rat, then he became several bananas, and then eventually he transformed into a man with a shark mouth on his back. To hide the shark mouth on his back, he always wore a cloth covering it. He kept the form of a man on land and took the form of a shark on the sea. He lived and farmed by the main road and would warn people of sharks as they would walk by going to the ocean. He would then take a shortcut and eat them in the form of a shark. People eventually start…
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Irimu/Rimu/Izimu
The Irimu is from Wachaga myth. A man would become an Irimu by breaking some taboo. Descriptions of what it looks like varies. Sometimes it is a man who has brambles growing out of his body until he’s just a walking bush, and then he eats everyone. This form is cured by burning the bushes growing out of him. One story tells of one that got swept away in a river and got turned into a banana tree on the shore. A child took a banana and lost a finger in a type of sympathetic magic thing. Sometimes it is seen as an ogre-like creature. It is also sometimes in…
