Mythic humanoids are legendary, folkloric, or mythological creatures that are part human, or that resemble humans through appearance or character. Each culture has different mythical creatures that come from many different origins, and many of these creatures are humanoids. They are often able to talk and in many stories they guide the hero on their journey.

This compilation encompasses a diverse array of mythic humanoid creatures from cultures worldwide. Ranging from the enchanting jengu of Africa to the shapeshifting werehyena, the list traverses mermaids, goblins, and spirits like the dokkaebi of Asia. The Americas contribute figures like the cryptic Bigfoot, Mothman, and shape-shifting skin-walkers, while Europe showcases legendary beings like the mischievous púca and fearsome gorgon. Oceania introduces the aquatic bunyip and the elusive yowie, while global entities such as ghosts and mummies transcend specific regions. These mythic humanoids, whether benevolent guides or malevolent spirits, collectively illuminate the rich tapestry of human imagination and storytelling.

Africa

  • Jengu – Beautiful, mermaid-like creatures.
  • Werehyena – A Hyaenidae therianthropic creature common in the folklore of North and East Africa, and West Asia.

Americas

  • Anung Ite- (Lakota) female spirit with two faces and spikes protruding from elbows. Variations from other tribes known as Sharp Legs and Sharp Elbows.
  • Asin - (Pacific Northwest) Often called the Basket Woman, this was an ogre-like monster who snuck up on and captured naughty children, throwing them into a basket on her back to take home and eat.
  • Bigfoot – A large, hairy, and bipedal ape-like creature taller than a human and said to inhabit forest in North America.
  • Adlet – Dog-like humanoids in Inuit folklore.
  • Ciguapa – Women who live in the mountains of the Dominican Republic.
  • El Cucuy - The boogeyman
  • Encantado – Amazon river dolphins said to occasionally take human form in South American folklore.
  • Faceless Spirit- (Iroquois) appears as female maiden with no face. Collects life force of dead things in her basket and returns it to the Creator to be recycled into new life.
  • Fiura – Evil creature in Chilean mythology, a small, nasty woman with large breasts.
  • Headless Corpse- (Southeast) headless body that runs around on all fours with gaping mouth where head should be.
  • Heyoka- (Lakota) brainwashed human servants of the thunderbirds. Patrol near their mountains. Appear insane and mimic movements and words of others back to them.
  • Inipi- (Southern California) Mostly known from the Kawaiisu people, this is the shapeshifting ghost of a human. It may take virtually any form, with given stories depicting it as looking normal, or as a skeleton with extremely long nails. Like modern western ghost lore, it may be aware of its surroundings, or just going through the motions obliviously. They say it starts walking once a person's death is assured, even before they actually die. To get rid of one, you blow across your open palm at it.
  • Kalku – A Chiloe and Mapuche mythological sorcerer who controls crows and contains dark magic and negative powers.
  • Kushtaka – A shape-shifting otter creature found in the folklore of the Tlingit and Tsimshian people.
  • Little People- various fairy/ elf like beings believed in across North America. Some are a couple inches tall and look like humans, some a couple feet and are hairy or look ugly, some take the form of human children. Different types can be mischievous, evil or beneficial.
  • Mesingw- (Algonquian) Lenape name for the spirit of the forests. Hairy dwarf who wears a wooden mask to hide deformed face and rides on the back of a white stag.
  • Mothman – A winged, legendary man with the features of a moth.
  • Paagak- (Anishinaabeg) skeletal monster. Ghost of human cursed for horrific acts in life.
  • Pombero – Mythical humanoid creature of small stature being from Guaraní mythology.
  • Qalupalik - (Inuit) female entities with green skin, webbed hands and claws that emit shrieks that paralyze men.
  • Sabuqwanilnu - (Algonquian) Migmaaq name for a mermaid like being believed in across Algonquian speaking peoples. Top half human, bottom half fish, able to control and predict the weather and travel between the human world and the underworld through water. Anishinaabeg myth refers to one trying to take a human husband, the act of bringing him to their world and going through with the marriage turning him into one of them.
  • Skin-walker – A type of witch who has the ability to turn into an animal, or to disguise themselves as an animal.
  • Squawkowtemus (Abenaki) female spirit that resides in swamps. It's cries lure people close. If it touches them, they die.
  • Stick Indians- (Pacific Northwest) monsters who materialize from out of the roots of trees and bushes and attack men.
  • Thunderbirds- (Eastern Woodlands) most tribes in Eastern Woodlands claim Thunderbirds often shapeshift into people. They live in secret villages atop mountains. Shawnee say they speak backwards.
  • Trauco – Dwarf or goblin-like creature that inhabits the woods of Chiloé.
  • Wanaģi/ Wanuŋchi - (Siouan) the spirits of the dead, which almost always take the form of shadow people. The word is also the word for soul and shadow. They were sometimes referred to as the Night Spirits. Commonly seen at night around burial grounds/ mounds. Pronounced wah-nah-khee/ wah-nuh-chee.
  • Water Babies - (American Southwest) evil spirit who resides near springs or ponds and takes the form of a crying baby, luring people to pick it up, after which, it becomes so heavy that it crushes them to death.
  • Wechuge – Cannibal said to be a person, monster, or a demonic presence who has been possessed or overwhelmed. In return, being too strong. Related to the regions of Canada.
  • Wendigo- human possessed by evil spirit to cannibalize humans & never be sated.
  • Werecoyote – A canine therianthropic creature.
  • Yacuruna – Hairy beings with deformed feet and their heads turned backwards.
  • Zombie – An undead human which preys on the living, originating in Haitian folklore.

Asia

  • Angel – Divine messengers in Abrahamic religions, often depicted in humanoid form.
  • Diwata – Philippine deities/spirits.
  • Aswang – Shapeshifting Philippine ghouls.
  • Bak – Assamese aqueous creature that can take human form after killing them.
  • Dokkaebi – A mythical being in Korean folklore or fairy tales. Although usually frightening, it could also represent a humorous, grotesque-looking ogre or goblin.
  • Ebu Gogo – Human-like creatures in Indonesian mythology.
  • Garuda – Vishnu's bird-like mount.
  • Ghoul – Monstrous flesh-eating spirits, jinn, or shayatin associated with graveyards.
  • Gwisin – General term for a Korean ghost.
  • Hibagon – The Japanese equivalent of Bigfoot.
  • Hitotsume-kozou – A Yōkai that takes on the appearance of a bald, one-eyed child.
  • Jiangshi – A being in Chinese legends and folklore similar to zombie or vampire.
  • Jinn – Genie-like beings.
  • Jorōgumo – A spider that can change its appearance into that of a seductive woman.
  • Kappa – A turtle-like yōkai which is about the size of a child.
  • Kitsune, huli jing, and kumiho – Fox spirits in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean folklore respectively.
  • Manananggal – A self-segmenting humanoid which preys on humans in Philippine folklore.
  • Mangkukulam – A person employing or using hexes (kulam).
  • Nāga – Humans with the lower halves of snakes.
  • Nukekubi – Rokurokubi whose heads come off and float about.
  • Nuno – Dwarf-like creature in Philippine mythology.
  • Oni – Yōkai which are similar to ogres or demons.
  • Pugot – A mythical fiend found in the Ilocos region.
  • Rokurokubi – Yōkai with long necks or removable heads.
  • Tengu – Legendary creatures with human and bird features in Japanese folklore.
  • Tennin – Spiritual beings found in Japanese Buddhism that are similar to western angels, nymphs or fairies.
  • Tikbalang – Tall, bony creatures with the features of a horse.
  • Tiyanak – A vampiric creature in Philippine mythology that imitates the form of a child.
  • Vanara – A man-ape species with human intelligence in Hindu scriptures.
  • Yama-uba – A monstrous crone with cannibalistic tendencies.
  • Yeren – A legendary creature said to be an as yet undiscovered hominid residing in the remote mountainous forested regions of western Hubei.
  • Yeti – An ape-like entity taller than an average human said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet.
  • Yuki-onna – A spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore associated with snow.

Europe

  • Abarimon – A savage race of people with backwards feet.
  • Ala – A female demon that brings bad weather to farms in Balkan folklore.
  • Arkan sonney – Fairy creature resembling a pig in Manx folklore.
  • Astomi – Legendary race of people who had no mouths and no need to eat or drink anything at all, surviving by smelling apples, flowers, and perfumes.
  • Bannik – Slavic bathhouse spirit.
  • Banshee – A female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member by screaming, shrieking, or keening.
  • Blafard – Albinos long surmised by Europeans to be the result of some kind of simian crossbreeding.
  • Blemmyes (or akephaloi) – Legendary race of people with no heads and facial features on their chests.
  • Boggart – Household spirits or genius loci.
  • Boogeyman – A featureless, androgynous creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior.
  • Brownie – Scottish household spirit.
  • Bugbear – A type of hobgoblin comparable to the bogeyman.
  • Centaur, kentaurides – Men and women with the lower bodies of horses.
  • Changeling – Fae child left in place of a human child stolen by the fae.
  • Clurichaun – Irish fairy resembling a leprechaun.
  • Cyclops – Grotesque, one-eyed humanoids.
  • Cynocephalus – Dog-headed humans.
  • Demon – Malevolent beings associated with the devil in Christianity, often depicted in humanoid form.
  • Dökkálfar – Dark elves in Nordic mythology.
  • Domovoi – Protective house spirit in Slavic folklore.
  • Doppelgänger – A look-alike or double of a living person.
  • Draugar – Undead creatures that guard their burial mounds.
  • Dryad – A tree nymph or tree spirit.
  • Dullahan – Irish fairy, the headless rider.
  • Dwarf – Human-shaped being often dwelling in mountains and in the earth.
  • Empusa (or empousa, pl. empousai) – A shape-shifting being with a copper leg in Greek mythology.
  • Elf – Supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore.
  • Erinyes – Greek Furies, female chthonic deities of vengeance.
  • Fairy – Mythical spirits or legendary creatures in European folklore, also known as fae or fair folk among many other names. Commonly depicted as having beautiful insectoid wings.
  • Faun – Humanoid beings with the horns and lower bodies of goats.
  • Gargoyle – Carved or formed grotesques said to scare away demons.
  • Giant, giantess – Large beings of human appearance but prodigious size and strength.
  • Gigantes – A race of great strength, aggression, and size in Greek and Roman mythology.
  • Gnome – Typically said to be a small humanoid that lives underground.
  • Goblin – Small, grotesque humanoids.
  • Gorgon – Female creatures commonly depicted with snake hair and other beastly features.
  • Gremlins – Grotesque humanoid creatures commonly depicted as mischievous and inclined to sabotage machinery.
  • Hag – A wizened elderly woman.
  • Haltija – A spirit, gnome, or elf-like creature in Finnish mythology that guards, helps, or protects something or somebody.
  • Harpy – Female creatures with bird wings.
  • Hecatonchires – Hundred-handed giants with fifty heads.
  • Hobgoblins – Mischievous household spirits.
  • Hulder – Seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore.
  • Imp – A mischievous mythological being of small size, similar to a fairy or goblin.
  • Jötunn (pl. jötnar) – A Norse mythological race that live in Jötunheimr.
  • Kabouter – A tiny human-like creatures in Dutch folklore similar to the German kobold or Irish leprachaun.
  • Kallikantzaroi – Malevolent goblin-like creatures in Southeast European folklore, believed to dwell underground but come to the surface during the twelve days of Christmas.
  • Karnabo – An elephant-trunked humanoid in Ardennes folklore.
  • Kikimora – Female house spirit in Slavic (especially Eastern) folklore.
  • Klabautermann (or Klabautermannikin, Kaboutermannikin) – A water kobold or nix in German folklore.
  • Knocker (or knacker, tommyknocker) – Mischievous subterranean, gnome-like spirits associates with mines in Celtic folklore.
  • Kobalos – An ancient Greek equivalent to a goblin.
  • Kobold – Shapeshifting German spirits.
  • Korrigan – Breton dwarves or fairies.
  • Lamia – A beautiful, child-eating demon.
  • Lares – Guardian deities of ancient Rome.
  • Leanan sídhe – A fairy-like being from Irish folklore.
  • Leprechaun – Little bearded men.
  • Lich – Undead magicians and kings who strove for eternal life.
  • Ljósálfar – Light elves in Nordic mythology.
  • Manticore – A creature with a man's head, a lion's body, bat wings, and a scorpion tail.
  • Mermaid, merman – Women and men with the lower bodies of fish.
  • Minotaur – A human with the head and sometimes legs of a bull.
  • Monaciello – Little men dressed as monks.
  • Monopod – One-legged mythical humanoids.
  • Naiad – A type of water nymph.
  • Nereid – Female water spirits of Greece.
  • Nix – Germanic shape-shifting water spirit.
  • Nymph – Female nature spirits.
  • Oceanid – Sea nymphs, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.
  • Ogre, ogress – Large, grotesque humanoids.
  • Orcs – Humanoids with grey or green skin and tusks.
  • Pixie – Benign fairy-like beings.
  • Poltergeist – Ghosts known for causing physical disturbances.
  • Púca (or pookha, puck) – Mischievous shape-changing creatures which can take human form.
  • Redcap – A malevolent, murderous dwarf, goblin, elf or fairy found in the folklore of the Anglo-Scottish border regions.
  • Rusalka – Slavic water spirits.
  • Sandman – A man who puts people to sleep and brings good dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto the eyes of sleeping humans.
  • Satyr, satyress – Humanoid beings or nature spirits with goat-like features.
  • Seelie – A Scottish term meaning "happy" or "blessed", used in several fairy names.
  • Selkie – A Scottish mythical creature that resembles a seal in the water but assumes human form on land.
  • Sidhe – An Irish race of fae that made their homes in mounds.
  • Siren – Beautiful yet dangerous creatures typically depicted as women-headed birds which lure sailors with their enchanting voices to shipwreck on rocky coasts.
  • Slavic fairies – Supernatural beings in Slavic folklore.
  • Sphinx – A creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human.
  • Spriggan – A grotesquely ugly mischievous fairy or forest spirit.
  • Sprite – Fairy, ghost, and/or elf-like creatures.
  • Succubus, incubus – Seductive demons.
  • Svartalfar – Norse for "black elves".
  • Sylph – A mythological air spirit.
  • Titans – Anthropomorphic pre-Olympian gods in ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
  • Tomte – A Scandinavian creature associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season.
  • Troll – Large, often grotesque humanoids.
  • Trow – Short, ugly spirits.
  • Undine – Water nymph.
  • Valkyrie – Female figure from Norse mythology who chooses who lives and who dies in battle.
  • Vampire – A being from Slavic folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence of the living, generally in the form of blood.
  • Vættir – Nature spirits in Scandinavian folklore.
  • Vila – Slavic version of nymphs, with the power of the wind.
  • Werebear – A Ursidae therianthropic creature.
  • Werecat – A feline therianthropic creature.
  • Weretiger – A feline therianthropic creature.
  • Werewolf – A canine therianthropic creature.
  • Xana – An extraordinarily beautiful female creature in Asturian mythology.

Oceania

  • Bunyip – Large, water-dwelling creatures.
  • Menehune – Small people who live in hidden Hawaiian valleys.
  • Yowie – A hominid reputed to live in the Australian wilderness.

Other

  • Black-eyed children - appear as human children with solid black eyes. Appear and beg entry into buildings or vehicles. If people relent, they begin to feel extremely ill.
  • Ghost – A lost soul or spirit that can be good or evil.
  • Hat Man - a living shadow, often depicted with glowing red eyes and wearing a distinctive type of hat- usually a tophat or bowler cap.
  • Mummy – A deceased human or animal whose skin and organs have been preserved.
  • Wraith – An evil spirit who is said to haunt people through negative emotions.

See also

Related lists

References

    Sources

    • Wilkinson, P. (2019). Myths & Legends: An illustrated guide to their origins and meanings. DK.
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