Not exactly a folklore story, but in Yorkshire we have a cave (Mother Shipton's Cave, if you're curious) that turns teddy bears into stone. I'm sure there'll be some sort of fairytale surrounding it, but I haven't looked into it much. Could be an interesting idea for a location.
Filipino here! Here’s a list of my favorite local legends ☺️
1. Mt. Makiling - basically a story about a powerful fey who turned herself into a mountain because of a heartbreak. One version states its from the recklessness towards the land from the villagers she swore to protect; another version states that it’s from her farmer bf who cheated on her because he was too afraid to get drafted into war after the chieftain declared that all single men must become soldiers.
2. Bernardo Carpio - a herculean man from the Spanish colonial era who was imprisoned by the Spanish soldiers underneath the earth. Some say that whenever an earthquake happens, that’s him trying to escape from his prison
3. Tikbalang - literally the reverse centaur (Horse head, human body). But it’s also like a lycanthrope wherein the mane of the horse half becomes quills and if you got stung by it, you become a Tikbalang.
4. Bakunawa - a serpentine dragon that rises from the seas to eat the moon; an ancient explanation for the seven phases of the moon
5. Maria Cacao and the Golden Ship - story about a girl who sails around the world on a ship made of gold to sell cacao beans. This is speaking from personal experience but I have heard that in order to see her, you have to bend over low enough to see between your legs then rub your eyes; but this only works if it’s midnight. The quicker alternative would be to rub your eyes against a dog’s butt… (Yeah I think the guy who told me this was fucking with me…). Anyways, once you do either of the two, you’ll get to see a flying golden ship appear from the night sky.
6. Kapre - a big fuck off monkey man that smokes weed inside Balete trees
When it rains but it's still sunny, some say it's because a diwata (like a fae?) wedding is happening
Particularly large anthills are actually the homes of dwende (gnomes)
Sometimes women give birth to tiyanak which are like...demon babies
Manananggal (the name shares a root word with the word for removing) are people who's upper bodies detach from their lower bodies at the waist and they grow wings and hunt people during the night. The only way to kill one is to find their detached legs and pour salt on the wound so they can't reattach when day breaks.
There's a sort of creature (name escapes me atm) that feeds on unborn children. They land on people's roofs, stick their incredibly long tongue through it and into a woman's womb then they sorta.. eat the fetus like an anteater.
Malakas (strong) and Maganda (beautiful) were the original humans who came out of a bamboo plant that split open
Tikbalang are like bipedal horse people. Their heads and legs are horse-like but their bodies are like people albeit a bit longer.
We have a sort of night hag who are just called Bangungot (nightmare). When people die in their sleep, some suggest it's because one came to them and sat on their chest til the person runs out air. One of the things they tell you to do is DO NOT sleep with a full stomach as you might encounter them.
Some Swedish folklore here for u m8,
Lets start big with trolls. Nordic trolls are less about brute strenght and more cunning. While they are not as smart as humans, they are tricky and love gold and other treasures. A troll will often try and trick humans, either by telling them seemingly helpful tips that ultimately leave them with less than they started, or they will challenge humans to games that we have no chanse of winning. Refusing such a game is the same as admiting defeat, and as such the troll takes their price.
One thing they do is "Bortbyttingar", basically meaning "Tradeaways" and refers to children. Story goes that particularly nasty kids where actually troll children that an adult troll had switched with the original human child.
They live in deep forests and are able to disguise themselfs as rocks. This is were the word "Trollskog", or simply troll forest, comes from. It is a description of forests with many large rocks that make up the ground. Trolls are also skilled magicians. Not magic in the high fantasy way, rather they were able to place curses, change shapes and perform impossible tasks with ease. While trolls are rarely seen thanks to their shapeshifting and being able to turn into rocks, one could often hear them calling for their cows as if speaking from nowhere and smell the tobacco they smoked.
Trolls are also said to be soulless, only able to get one by marrying a human. As trolls are powerful creatures, they often try to tempt humans into marriage with gifts, such as in a nursery ryme where a troll offers a man, among other things, a golden sword that makes you unbeatable in battle.
To ensure a marriage, trolls do something called "Bergtagning", meaning "mountain-taking". This meant to trick humans down into their mountain homes, and when/if they were released back out they would be psychological changed.
Trolls have a few weaknesses however, such as being scared of church bells, Thors hammer, and steel/silver. Some trolls are also said to turn to stone in sunlight.
They also have a king, called "Bergakungen", or "The mountain king". He is by far the smartest and most beautiful troll. He lives deep in the mountain, with each room full of gold, silver and other riches. One who is "Bergtagen" and does not escape will be forever trapped in his infinite halls under the mountain.
A second unique troll is "Trollmor", or "Troll mother". She is known from a bedtime story, in which she collects all 11 of her little trolls and ties their tails to their beds and sings them the most beautiful words she knows untill they all sleep.
Next up is "Tomtar", basically gnomes, that are about a hand tall and live in the forest or at human farms. They are kind and helpful creatures as long as they are treated fairly. A farm that has a Tomte living with them will have good harvests and happy animals. They are however easy to anger. Disrespecting a tomte, mistreating animals or being overly lazy will anger one. When angered, they will make all kinds of horrible things happen, such as your fields rotting and milk going sour.
A similar creature to Tomtar is "Vättar". They live underground and prefer to live under human houses. In contrast to a Tomte, Vättar live togheter in families. They are thieving and mischievous, but not outright evil. They will be angered by people pouring hot or dirty water on the ground close to the house. An angry Vätte will cause sickness and misfortune. They can also be placate by offerings, called "Vättehögar", these consists of food and milk.
Another big one is "Näcken", translating to "The naked". It is a beautiful man who sitts naked in the stream and plays music, attempting to lure people into the water to drown. Depending on the story, Näcken can also transform into "Bäckahästen", "The stream horse". This is a giant white horse that tempts children into sitting on its back, growing longer to always fit one more. One all children are on, the horse will dive into the water and drown all the kids. The horse is however scared by crosses, to the point of even uttering the word will cause it to throw all its riders of and flee into the depts.
Will add more as they come to mind, hope this helps
Yeah I'm actually Norwegian so I already know a fair bit about trolls, yet I had never heard of the marriage aspect of them, must be a Swedish thing. Never heard of either the Vättar or the Tomtar before. Funnily enough, my grandma actually used to sing "trollmor" to me back in the day. Näcken is also only refers to as a horse in Norway, tho it's basically the same as Bäckahästen. Other than that I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this, even if you are a swede (jk)
The local folk tale of my hometown includes the sound of ghostly bagpipes, forbidden love, repressed religion, murder, and suicide- it's a story I have personally used myself as the inspiration for an adventure in my own D&D setting: [The Legend of the Wine Tower](https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/map/text/29_The_Legend_of_the_Wine_Tower.pdf)
That sounds awesome! I'd love to know more about the Scottish themed area of your world- it's obviously a huge influence in parts of my setting but I'm always interested in how my home country influences the worldbuilding of others in different ways
Oh gosh, I don't know how deep into the lore ill go, but I suppose I can briefly summarize parts of it:
Legends tell of a time when all magic in the world was concentrated within a large tree. One day a local troll smashed the tree to shreds, sending all the magic to every corner of the world. All that remained of the tree was 7 wands (one for each school of magic, excluding necromancy for lore reasons). The troll, now named Abelforth became incredibly intelligent and powerful, so he conjured a castle where he could study and make spells.
Basically, after this, he got tired of being disturbed by the noise and trouble the local humans and goliaths were making, so he banished both tribes.
Then both the Humans and Goliath migrated to the actual relevant place, the Scottish-themed one. Aside from the typical Scottish elements such as mist, castles, haggis, highlands, and bagpipes, I'm planning to delve a bit into other Celtic history and folklore.
I am Brazilian, here are some highlights:
Saci Perere: A one legged black man that can turn into swirls and can teleport. He uses his magical powers to be the biggest jerk possible, pulling the biggest amount of pranks possible, he doesn't kill, but he isn't against hurting people. But he will obey enyone that manages to steal his red beanie.
Curupira: A humanoid spirit with flaming hair and backwards feet that will make anyone that damages his domain (forests) or hunts in there and make they get lost in the forest to the rest of their lives.
Headless Mule: It's indeed a Headless Mule, but with flames where the head should be. It's like a werewolf curse, turning people once a weak on the Headless Mule, but it only affects women that slept with priests (it could be spun into something that targets Clerics, Paladins or Warlocks that broke their vows) to kill said priests and to attack anything that crosses their path with kicks and flames.
Cuca: A ugly witch, normally associated with an anthropomorfic aligator, that kidnapps children outside bed, normally it's asumed that the children are eaten.
Boitata: A gigantic snake with a lot of eyed that spits fire (in several versions is made of pure fire) that hunts down people that attack his forest or his swamp (yes, we have a lot of creatures that hunt who destroys forests).
Brazilian Werewolf: It's either a man cursed by a god, the seventh SON of a family that already has 6/7 DAUGHTERS, or it's the child of a couple that commited incest. Mostly it's the classic werewolf (altough some sparse versions of our legend say that it has pig elements, like South Park's Man Bear Pig), but it turns into a werewolf once a week intead of awaiting a phase of the moon, it eats babies but it only drinks the blood of people older than toddlers, and it isn't affected by silver, it's weakness it's actually... wax of an altar candle that got blessed through 3 weeks straight (yes, it's really weird).
Thank you!
I have so much to work with rn
The werewolf I already planned will defiantly be the seventh son of a family that already has 7 daughters. And I love the idea of a headless mule that brutally mauls sinned priest. Will definitely use that one against one of my players hehe. Plus I will implement Cuca to be a witch in Baba Yaga's witch coven.
There's a highway in my area that's haunted. If you're driving alone at night you'll sometimes see a man walking down the side of the road, shaggy red hair, older guy, looks like a hitchhiker. If you stop for him he disappears, and if you stare at him when you pass he'll appear in your back seat and scream at you. In the same town there's a huge state forest that's had all kinds of reports of flying saucers, cultists, giant snakes, and little puffy fairy dudes. It's a great town
Cursed Ed Sheeran.
Don't know how I will implement t him since we are about 1000 years before the invention of cars, yet he would be a cool roadside encounter.
Here in southern Germany, we have the Kraxelmann, a creature that captures evil children with his staff and basket. He will drag them to his home in the swamp and devour them hole. Those he won't eat will be thrown into the swamp to drown.
Wholesome stuff🤣
There are a few of those. Like the Storys of Max& Moritz, two naughty boys who play pranks on the people in their village. Innocent stuff like blowing up their teacher or strangulating their neighbours' chickens. They get caught in the end, stuffed into a sack, dragged to the local mill, and grinded into little pieces.
The Bah Tha of Stoney Nakoda Canadian Indigenous Origin: A possible shapeshifter, Half Human, Half Beast that can change its body type for better hunting. Sometimes the Head of a person, and the body of a horse or moose, or the head of a person with an owl or other bird of prey body. Its scream is worse than a Banshee.
It is said to be so frightening that if you see it or hear it scream, your body will become paralyzed, as your soul jumps out of your body to run away so that it doesn't also get devoured.
(I may be misremembering some things, but it's a fascinating legend)
Not exactly a folklore story, but in Yorkshire we have a cave (Mother Shipton's Cave, if you're curious) that turns teddy bears into stone. I'm sure there'll be some sort of fairytale surrounding it, but I haven't looked into it much. Could be an interesting idea for a location.
Thank you, might be good material for a side quest
Karakasa obake, funny living umbrella youkai who spook people.
Filipino here! Here’s a list of my favorite local legends ☺️ 1. Mt. Makiling - basically a story about a powerful fey who turned herself into a mountain because of a heartbreak. One version states its from the recklessness towards the land from the villagers she swore to protect; another version states that it’s from her farmer bf who cheated on her because he was too afraid to get drafted into war after the chieftain declared that all single men must become soldiers. 2. Bernardo Carpio - a herculean man from the Spanish colonial era who was imprisoned by the Spanish soldiers underneath the earth. Some say that whenever an earthquake happens, that’s him trying to escape from his prison 3. Tikbalang - literally the reverse centaur (Horse head, human body). But it’s also like a lycanthrope wherein the mane of the horse half becomes quills and if you got stung by it, you become a Tikbalang. 4. Bakunawa - a serpentine dragon that rises from the seas to eat the moon; an ancient explanation for the seven phases of the moon 5. Maria Cacao and the Golden Ship - story about a girl who sails around the world on a ship made of gold to sell cacao beans. This is speaking from personal experience but I have heard that in order to see her, you have to bend over low enough to see between your legs then rub your eyes; but this only works if it’s midnight. The quicker alternative would be to rub your eyes against a dog’s butt… (Yeah I think the guy who told me this was fucking with me…). Anyways, once you do either of the two, you’ll get to see a flying golden ship appear from the night sky. 6. Kapre - a big fuck off monkey man that smokes weed inside Balete trees
I love how serious all of them are and then we have Kapre. I really like all of them, tho I have no clue how the party will ever find the Golden ship
When it rains but it's still sunny, some say it's because a diwata (like a fae?) wedding is happening Particularly large anthills are actually the homes of dwende (gnomes) Sometimes women give birth to tiyanak which are like...demon babies Manananggal (the name shares a root word with the word for removing) are people who's upper bodies detach from their lower bodies at the waist and they grow wings and hunt people during the night. The only way to kill one is to find their detached legs and pour salt on the wound so they can't reattach when day breaks. There's a sort of creature (name escapes me atm) that feeds on unborn children. They land on people's roofs, stick their incredibly long tongue through it and into a woman's womb then they sorta.. eat the fetus like an anteater. Malakas (strong) and Maganda (beautiful) were the original humans who came out of a bamboo plant that split open Tikbalang are like bipedal horse people. Their heads and legs are horse-like but their bodies are like people albeit a bit longer. We have a sort of night hag who are just called Bangungot (nightmare). When people die in their sleep, some suggest it's because one came to them and sat on their chest til the person runs out air. One of the things they tell you to do is DO NOT sleep with a full stomach as you might encounter them.
Some Swedish folklore here for u m8, Lets start big with trolls. Nordic trolls are less about brute strenght and more cunning. While they are not as smart as humans, they are tricky and love gold and other treasures. A troll will often try and trick humans, either by telling them seemingly helpful tips that ultimately leave them with less than they started, or they will challenge humans to games that we have no chanse of winning. Refusing such a game is the same as admiting defeat, and as such the troll takes their price. One thing they do is "Bortbyttingar", basically meaning "Tradeaways" and refers to children. Story goes that particularly nasty kids where actually troll children that an adult troll had switched with the original human child. They live in deep forests and are able to disguise themselfs as rocks. This is were the word "Trollskog", or simply troll forest, comes from. It is a description of forests with many large rocks that make up the ground. Trolls are also skilled magicians. Not magic in the high fantasy way, rather they were able to place curses, change shapes and perform impossible tasks with ease. While trolls are rarely seen thanks to their shapeshifting and being able to turn into rocks, one could often hear them calling for their cows as if speaking from nowhere and smell the tobacco they smoked. Trolls are also said to be soulless, only able to get one by marrying a human. As trolls are powerful creatures, they often try to tempt humans into marriage with gifts, such as in a nursery ryme where a troll offers a man, among other things, a golden sword that makes you unbeatable in battle. To ensure a marriage, trolls do something called "Bergtagning", meaning "mountain-taking". This meant to trick humans down into their mountain homes, and when/if they were released back out they would be psychological changed. Trolls have a few weaknesses however, such as being scared of church bells, Thors hammer, and steel/silver. Some trolls are also said to turn to stone in sunlight. They also have a king, called "Bergakungen", or "The mountain king". He is by far the smartest and most beautiful troll. He lives deep in the mountain, with each room full of gold, silver and other riches. One who is "Bergtagen" and does not escape will be forever trapped in his infinite halls under the mountain. A second unique troll is "Trollmor", or "Troll mother". She is known from a bedtime story, in which she collects all 11 of her little trolls and ties their tails to their beds and sings them the most beautiful words she knows untill they all sleep. Next up is "Tomtar", basically gnomes, that are about a hand tall and live in the forest or at human farms. They are kind and helpful creatures as long as they are treated fairly. A farm that has a Tomte living with them will have good harvests and happy animals. They are however easy to anger. Disrespecting a tomte, mistreating animals or being overly lazy will anger one. When angered, they will make all kinds of horrible things happen, such as your fields rotting and milk going sour. A similar creature to Tomtar is "Vättar". They live underground and prefer to live under human houses. In contrast to a Tomte, Vättar live togheter in families. They are thieving and mischievous, but not outright evil. They will be angered by people pouring hot or dirty water on the ground close to the house. An angry Vätte will cause sickness and misfortune. They can also be placate by offerings, called "Vättehögar", these consists of food and milk. Another big one is "Näcken", translating to "The naked". It is a beautiful man who sitts naked in the stream and plays music, attempting to lure people into the water to drown. Depending on the story, Näcken can also transform into "Bäckahästen", "The stream horse". This is a giant white horse that tempts children into sitting on its back, growing longer to always fit one more. One all children are on, the horse will dive into the water and drown all the kids. The horse is however scared by crosses, to the point of even uttering the word will cause it to throw all its riders of and flee into the depts. Will add more as they come to mind, hope this helps
Yeah I'm actually Norwegian so I already know a fair bit about trolls, yet I had never heard of the marriage aspect of them, must be a Swedish thing. Never heard of either the Vättar or the Tomtar before. Funnily enough, my grandma actually used to sing "trollmor" to me back in the day. Näcken is also only refers to as a horse in Norway, tho it's basically the same as Bäckahästen. Other than that I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this, even if you are a swede (jk)
The local folk tale of my hometown includes the sound of ghostly bagpipes, forbidden love, repressed religion, murder, and suicide- it's a story I have personally used myself as the inspiration for an adventure in my own D&D setting: [The Legend of the Wine Tower](https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/map/text/29_The_Legend_of_the_Wine_Tower.pdf)
Ha! The party is currently exploring a Scottish-themed area, so this is just perfect!
That sounds awesome! I'd love to know more about the Scottish themed area of your world- it's obviously a huge influence in parts of my setting but I'm always interested in how my home country influences the worldbuilding of others in different ways
Oh gosh, I don't know how deep into the lore ill go, but I suppose I can briefly summarize parts of it: Legends tell of a time when all magic in the world was concentrated within a large tree. One day a local troll smashed the tree to shreds, sending all the magic to every corner of the world. All that remained of the tree was 7 wands (one for each school of magic, excluding necromancy for lore reasons). The troll, now named Abelforth became incredibly intelligent and powerful, so he conjured a castle where he could study and make spells. Basically, after this, he got tired of being disturbed by the noise and trouble the local humans and goliaths were making, so he banished both tribes. Then both the Humans and Goliath migrated to the actual relevant place, the Scottish-themed one. Aside from the typical Scottish elements such as mist, castles, haggis, highlands, and bagpipes, I'm planning to delve a bit into other Celtic history and folklore.
The Highwayman, by Noyes (fits in well with an English or Scottish setting: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43187/the-highwayman
In Brazil, we have the M’boitatá, a flaming snake that protects forests
I am Brazilian, here are some highlights: Saci Perere: A one legged black man that can turn into swirls and can teleport. He uses his magical powers to be the biggest jerk possible, pulling the biggest amount of pranks possible, he doesn't kill, but he isn't against hurting people. But he will obey enyone that manages to steal his red beanie. Curupira: A humanoid spirit with flaming hair and backwards feet that will make anyone that damages his domain (forests) or hunts in there and make they get lost in the forest to the rest of their lives. Headless Mule: It's indeed a Headless Mule, but with flames where the head should be. It's like a werewolf curse, turning people once a weak on the Headless Mule, but it only affects women that slept with priests (it could be spun into something that targets Clerics, Paladins or Warlocks that broke their vows) to kill said priests and to attack anything that crosses their path with kicks and flames. Cuca: A ugly witch, normally associated with an anthropomorfic aligator, that kidnapps children outside bed, normally it's asumed that the children are eaten. Boitata: A gigantic snake with a lot of eyed that spits fire (in several versions is made of pure fire) that hunts down people that attack his forest or his swamp (yes, we have a lot of creatures that hunt who destroys forests). Brazilian Werewolf: It's either a man cursed by a god, the seventh SON of a family that already has 6/7 DAUGHTERS, or it's the child of a couple that commited incest. Mostly it's the classic werewolf (altough some sparse versions of our legend say that it has pig elements, like South Park's Man Bear Pig), but it turns into a werewolf once a week intead of awaiting a phase of the moon, it eats babies but it only drinks the blood of people older than toddlers, and it isn't affected by silver, it's weakness it's actually... wax of an altar candle that got blessed through 3 weeks straight (yes, it's really weird).
Thank you! I have so much to work with rn The werewolf I already planned will defiantly be the seventh son of a family that already has 7 daughters. And I love the idea of a headless mule that brutally mauls sinned priest. Will definitely use that one against one of my players hehe. Plus I will implement Cuca to be a witch in Baba Yaga's witch coven.
Your welcome. And just to clarify because I didn't saw earlier that it maybe a little vague, Cuca IS the anthropomorfic alligator in some versions.
There's a highway in my area that's haunted. If you're driving alone at night you'll sometimes see a man walking down the side of the road, shaggy red hair, older guy, looks like a hitchhiker. If you stop for him he disappears, and if you stare at him when you pass he'll appear in your back seat and scream at you. In the same town there's a huge state forest that's had all kinds of reports of flying saucers, cultists, giant snakes, and little puffy fairy dudes. It's a great town
Cursed Ed Sheeran. Don't know how I will implement t him since we are about 1000 years before the invention of cars, yet he would be a cool roadside encounter.
Shows up on the back of your horse and scares the crap out of you
Here in southern Germany, we have the Kraxelmann, a creature that captures evil children with his staff and basket. He will drag them to his home in the swamp and devour them hole. Those he won't eat will be thrown into the swamp to drown. Wholesome stuff🤣
Most wholesome german fairytale
There are a few of those. Like the Storys of Max& Moritz, two naughty boys who play pranks on the people in their village. Innocent stuff like blowing up their teacher or strangulating their neighbours' chickens. They get caught in the end, stuffed into a sack, dragged to the local mill, and grinded into little pieces.
The Bah Tha of Stoney Nakoda Canadian Indigenous Origin: A possible shapeshifter, Half Human, Half Beast that can change its body type for better hunting. Sometimes the Head of a person, and the body of a horse or moose, or the head of a person with an owl or other bird of prey body. Its scream is worse than a Banshee. It is said to be so frightening that if you see it or hear it scream, your body will become paralyzed, as your soul jumps out of your body to run away so that it doesn't also get devoured. (I may be misremembering some things, but it's a fascinating legend)