Now you’ll know what to do if you ever come upon La Llorona, the weeping Woman in White, a cannibalistic wendigo or a vengeful ghost.
I've been mad for monsters for as far back as I can remember. From my early love of Greek myths to my hours spent playing D&D, I've always had a fascination for folklore, and in particular the various monsters and legendary creatures around the globe and through the centuries.
So perhaps it's a bit odd that I never got into Supernatural until recently. As I've been watching the show on Netflix, I decided to start a series of blog posts that delves into the assorted boogeymen Dean and Sam encounter.
“Parents warn that the woman in white looks for children who are out after dark and drags them into the water. ”
The woman in white, known in Mexico as La Llorona, comes back from the dead to mourn the children she has killed
S1E1: "Pilot"
Monster: Woman in white (or La Llorona, the Weeping Woman)
Where it's from: Mexico
Description: A woman named Maria drowned her kids to exact revenge upon her husband, who left her for a younger woman (much like Medea in The Odyssey). When she realized what she had done, she committed suicide by drowning herself in the river as well. Other tales say she stopped eating and went mad, looking for her lost sons.
What it does: Tall, slender, dark-haired and beautiful, La Llorona wails along riverbanks — ¡Ay, mis hijos! ("Oh, my children!") — causing misfortune to those who hear her. Parents warn that she looks for children who are out after dark and drags them into the water.
How to defeat it: Unknown
The wendigo is what becomes of those depraved enough to resort to cannibalism
S1E2: "Wendigo"
Monster: Wendigo (Its name translates to "the evil spirit that devours mankind.")
Where it's from: North America, especially in the colder regions along the East Coast and Great Lakes
Description: These emaciated humanoid giants can reach 15 feet tall. They've got glowing eyes, yellow fangs and long tongues. Their skin is sallow and decaying, with patches of matted fur. Some depictions show the creature with antlers atop its head.
What it does: Wendigos have an insatiable hunger for human flesh. In fact, when a person resorts to cannibalism, he or she becomes possessed by an evil spirit and transforms into a wendigo.
How to defeat it: The original human is frozen inside the wendigo, where its heart would be. In most cases, when you kill the wendigo, the person trapped inside also perishes.
This yurei, a vengeful ghost from Japan, seeks revenge for a wrongful death
S1E3: "Dead in the Water"
Monster: Vengeful spirit, or vengeful ghost
Where it's from: All over the world
Description: These undead spirits return from the dead to exact revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death — or because they weren't given a proper burial. There seem to be more female vengeful spirits than male.
What it does: It wanders the Earth, with the ability to kill, until it has appeased its appetite for revenge.
How to defeat it: Find the corpse and the instrument of death, if possible. Pour salt over them, then set them on fire. If the person wasn't given a proper burial, doing so might do the trick. –Wally
