Uncanny Atlas
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Everything in the atlas

Every published entry, A to Z. Each one says what kind of claim it is.

574 entries · page 12 of 12
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
Documented
Tom Piccott and the giant squid
In October 1873 a boy named Tom Piccott hacked at the tentacles of a giant squid off Portugal Cove, Newfoundland. Sources disagree on the day.
Something SeenObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Tomino's Hell
A poem by Yaso Saijō, published in his 1919 collection Sakin, which an urban legend says will curse and kill anyone who reads it aloud.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 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
Claimed sighting
Tsuchinoko
The tsuchinoko is a short, thick snake with a big head reported from across Japan. Towns and villages have offered rewards for one caught alive, and the largest, 200 million yen, went unclaimed.
Something SeenObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
Tupilaq
In Greenlandic tradition, a tupilaq was a figure its owner made in secret to cause harm. No real one has ever been found in Greenland; the carved tupilaq figures made in large numbers since 1905 are representations.
Provenance · Living tradition
Something Left BehindObscurity 7 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
Official release
US government UAP file releases (PURSUE)
A rolling programme in which the Department of War publishes government records about unidentified anomalous phenomena in batches called tranches. The programme's own page dates the first tranche to 8 May 2026 and says new tranches are posted every few weeks.
Something Left BehindObscurity 1 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
Wadi al-Jinn
Wadi al-Baida, known as Wadi al-Jinn, is a valley in al-Baida Park about 30 km northwest of Medina, Saudi Arabia, where cars left out of gear seem to roll uphill. Many people credit jinn, Arab News reported; Wikipedia calls it an optical illusion.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 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
Claimed sighting
Waverly Hills Sanatorium
A former tuberculosis hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, now run as a tour site that offers history tours alongside paranormal tours and ghost investigations.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
Winchester Mystery House
Sarah Winchester's house, the subject of lasting stories that she believed in Spiritualism and consulted mediums. Her biographer found no record of a seance, and a later researcher found no evidence she had consulted a medium.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 2 of 7
Claimed sighting
Woodward's 1818 sea serpent off Cape Ann
In May 1818 the master of a Hingham schooner swore a statement that he and his crew watched a huge sea creature for hours.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 7 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
Religious tradition
Zār
Zār is a healing rite of drumming and dance, led and attended mostly by women, practised in Egypt, East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula; on Iran's southern coast, zar is one of the winds people believe in. The leader of Egypt's Mazaher ensemble says the rite has gone public through its music.
Provenance · Living tradition
Someone Who Was There
Folklore
Ötzi the Iceman
The body of a man found in the ice on the Austria-Italy border by two German hikers in September 1991. German and Italian media later wrote of a curse on people linked to the find.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 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