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Something Told

Folklore, legends, living tradition, internet-native lore.

220 entries · page 5 of 5
Folklore
The pishtaco
The pishtaco is the fat thief of Andean tales, told in nearly every Quechua-speaking place. The rumour keeps returning in Peru, in a 2009 police claim the authorities disowned and in crowd violence against people accused of being pishtacos.
Before you read on. Pishtaco rumours put real people in danger. In Sicaya, near Huancayo, residents seized two people they accused of being pishtacos who traffic in organs; RPP Noticias reported that police rescued them before they could be lynched, and that a crowd of about 500 with stones and sticks then surrounded the police station.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The possessed Xuxa doll
A 1989 rumour in Sorocaba that a Xuxa doll, modelled on the children's television presenter, was possessed and had attacked someone. A crowd gathered at the cathedral, and the parish priest told the press it was a rumour.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The rumour that Kitchener survived
HMS Hampshire sank on 5 June 1916 with Lord Kitchener aboard. Rumours that he survived or had never sailed spread within weeks.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The rusalka
A water spirit of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian folk belief, held to be the soul of a girl who died before marrying or of a child who died unbaptised.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The soucouyant
The soucouyant is a figure of Caribbean folklore, an old woman who sheds her skin at night and flies as a ball of fire to drink a victim's blood. Belief in her survives to some degree from Trinidad to Guyana.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Documented
The trial of Bridget Bishop
On 2 June 1692 in Salem, Bridget Bishop's trial opened. It was the first case of the newly created Court of Oyer and Terminer and the start of the Salem witchcraft trials.
Something ToldObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
Tikbalang
The tikbalang is a Philippine forest being, most often pictured as a very tall figure with horse's hooves or a horse's head. Records run from a 1589 list of Tagalog phantoms to modern sculpture. None of these sources counts it among the aswang.
Something ToldObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
Tiyanak
The tiyanak is a Philippine creature that takes the form of a baby and cries in the forest to lure travellers. Its oldest recorded form, from 1589, was the lament of a woman who died in childbirth.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Tokoloshe
A small, harmful water spirit of Nguni belief, said in South African sources to be made or sent by witches to cause illness or death.
Before you read on. Belief in the tokoloshe has been tied to violence against young children in South Africa: IOL reported in 2001 that a man was convicted of murdering a baby he believed was a tokoloshe, and The Herald in 2005 linked an attack on a toddler to the killer's belief in omens and spirits. A 2015 study places the tokoloshe within a fear of witchcraft that affects social cohesion in South Africa.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Toyol (tuyul)
An undead infant of Malay and Indonesian belief, known as the toyol or tuyul, that shamans call up through black magic, often for financial gain. A 2009 scam used the belief to rob an elderly woman.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Disputed
Twain and Halley's Comet
Twain was born in 1835 and died on 21 April 1910, both years Halley's Comet passed. In 1909 he said he expected to leave with it.
Something ToldObscurity 6 of 7
Documented
UFO Cover-Up? Live!
A syndicated television special on 14 October 1988 featured shadowed informants who described aliens kept as official guests.
Something ToldObscurity 6 of 7
Folklore
Umm al-Duwais
Umm al-Duwais is a figure of Emirati and Gulf folklore: a beautiful woman with a cat's eyes who calls men to follow her, then turns into a frightening old woman and kills them. In Qatar she is called Umm Ghannan.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Religious tradition
Vetala
The vetala is a being known from a Sanskrit cycle of twenty-five tales, the Vetalapanchavimsati, later retold in Braj-bhasha and Hindi as the Baital Pachisi. Wikipedia reports a strong cult of the vetala in the Konkan, under the names Betal, Vetal and Vetoba.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Told
Disputed
W. T. Stead and the Titanic
W. T. Stead wrote of a liner sinking before the Titanic, and died aboard it on 15 April 1912. A medium's sitting after his death was reported by a vice-admiral.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Wakwak
Wakwak is a Philippine name for a bird-like night creature said to carry people off. Some use it as another word for the aswang; others treat it as a being of its own.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Religious tradition
Yakshi and Kalliyankattu Neeli
Yakshis are female spirits of nature in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. In Kerala the best known is Kalliyankattu Neeli, who in one telling found refuge in a temple.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Told
Folklore
Yuki-onna, the woman in white
Two men caught by a snowstorm shelter in a mountain hut. A woman in white breathes on old Mosaku until he freezes, then tells Minokichi she had meant to do the same to him.
Something ToldObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Zhalmauyz Kempir
Zhalmauyz Kempir is a man-eating old witch of Kazakh folk tales. Forms of her name turn up across many Turkic languages.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Āl (Al), the childbirth spirit
The āl is a figure of folk belief in Iran, Armenia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, feared as a danger to women in childbirth. In Persian belief she lives in springs and comes to a new mother left alone.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7