Miscellaneous Critters
Please note: from time to time you will see 4 digits in brackets (1095) and this refers to the year in which that word was first used with that particular meaning. The source is the big 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary (see below).

ANKOU: from the Celtic folk lore of Brittany (France?) it means "king of the dead" and it is a death omen that comes to collect the souls of the dead; the ankou is the last person to die in a parish in a given year -- sometimes portrayed as a skeleton with a rotating head (ie it can see in every direction); it drives a spectral cart, is accompanied by two ghosts on foot and stops at the house of one who is about to die (for that (next) year).


I am indebted to Martin Lee for the all of the following additional information about Ankou. His website ( The Other Side, is superlative and well worth checking out. He has done some fine research in this area.

Yes Brittany is in France, but Ankou doesnt mean "king of the dead", Ankou literaly means "Anxiety or Fear", but he is better known as the "worker of death" not the king. Although historians beleive his legend might be a remnant of an ancient celtic god/king of the dead.

He is portrayed as a skelletal figure, sometimes still with associated flesh, dressed in black or rags and a large felt hat! I dont know why he has a hat, but I have never heard of nor seen him depicted with a rotating head. Yes he drives a cart and has two helpers, I forget their names. But he comes for everyone, no-one escapes, nor is excused from the call of Ankou. ie he doesnt come for just the next Ankou. He comes for all the kings and even the holy virgin herself, for no money nor riches can persuade him to overlook a soul ready for his cart.

His cart roams the roads of Brittany to visit the houses of the souls that a ripe to be harvested from this life (which he cuts from their body with his scythe), he puts them on his cart and trundles off to look for more.

According to various traditions there is either: only one Ankou, or one Ankou per parish, who is either the very first or the very last person to die in that parish in a year, this soul then takes on the task of the parish Ankou for the next year. I guess this gets past the problems of Father Christmas ie how can he visit every home in the world on one evening, the same thing could be applied to poor Ankou, how can he roam the world collecting all the many dead. Answer he doesnt, one Ankou per parish, therefore he is not too overworked.

I searched for all the representations of Ankou I could find and discovered 6 on various church buildings, each one is of a skeleton carrying either a spear, spade, bones, scythe, sythe and spade. Two statues have mottos associated, "For I am the godfather of he who shall decease", and simply "I kill you all". In the Breton mystery plays cycle Ankou is portrayed as a skelleton with lance and says "My God, my creator... since you give me power on the life of everyone, at the appointed hour, it will not serve them to take high manners"

Nowhere is there a hint of a revolving neck, all the satues show a skelleton facing forwards, I cant find any story either recording a rotating neck, nor Ankou looking constantly around, although he must have good eyesight because if you even peek at him he knows and if you dont die there and then you die soon after (A LeBraz 2 stories).

So I cant disprove the rotating head idea, it depends how you translate "virer", yet it is difficult to see exactly what LeBraz wanted to say. However I cant find any evidence to support the rotating head nor any other reference, I havent performed an exhaustive search nor searched for any art form other than church sculpture (but then again Breton culture is primarily oral or ecclesiastical).

As for his job I translate part of the Ballade d'Ankou listed by LeBraz,

If I wanted to listen to the people
Accept from them a bribe....
I would be wealthy with riches
But I will not accept a pin
And I will do favours to no christian
For nor Jesus nor the Virgin
I did not spare....
St John, the friend of God
His father Jacob, who was as well
Moses pure and kingly,
All I touched them with my weapon
Not a pope nor cardinal
The kings, I've spared not one
Not a king or a queen...


Fairly clear that he comes for everyone.


A bit of dogerel for you:
Be careful on the your way home
On the roads tonight, dear Peter,
For to Ankou your life is but a loan,
He watches the seconds tick on your earthly parking meter,
Then for your soul he shall come.
(signed)
Martin
Thanks Martin, for the cheery thought!
And here's some more from Martin ...
Peter,

Right I spent last night looking up Ankou and arguing with my Mrs over the exact translation and meaning of various passages, and I think we've cracked the problem.

1) What does Ankou mean. Ankou is a masculin Breton word meaning (l'angoisse F)= fear E, the word is derived from Anken (le chagrin F)= sorrow E, a related word Ankoun means (l'oubli F)= oblivion / forgetting E. This root could be related to the modern and ancient greek word Ananki meaning (necessite F)= need/obligation E.

Ref. Le Guide de La Bretagne by Gwenc'han le Scouezic pub. 1989, Beltan, Brasparts (France)

It is interesting to note that both obligation and oblivion in English come from the same root, obligatio, latin for forget.

However it is a moot point if Ankou is "king of the dead", he roams around Brittany with his chariot collecting souls, its not clear what he does with them later, he does not seem to do much ruling, I think the "worker of death", "l'ouvriere du mort" is a better description. The "king of the dead" idea I think comes from an Irish tradition where they beleive that there is a king of the dead who calls those from the other side to join him, I cant find any parallel in Breton.

2) The rotating head. I found the reference where this comes from but what is means exactly is not clear, it comes from La Legende de la Mort by Anatole LeBraz pub. 1994, Terre de Brume, Rennes (France), 1st pub 1893. This is the definitive work on Breton death traditions, in it is contained this phrase describing Ankou (translated) "and so the head turns without stop on the top of the vetebral collumn such as a weather vane on its iron pivot, in order that he can cover in a single glance all the region that it is his mission to cover."

The point depends on the translation of "virer" which can mean turn or rotate, substitute turn for rotate and you have your quote, but did LeBraz really mean rotate or turn. The weather vane analogy is not too helpful, weather vanes can completely rotate but in the wind they turn but point in one direction. In his footnotes LeBraz says that this representation of Ankou is found in his home church of Plouillimau. (There were two statues of Ankou in the church named Ervoanik and Erwanig Plouillio (Yves and little Yves of Plouillimau) unfortunatly Big Yves is now lost and only little Yves is still on show (The statues were moved after a choir boy fainted in fright, the rector no doubt thinking them too terrible and pagan sold one and hid the other, but this has now been restored to the church) it is to the lost Big Yves that LeBraz refers) Le Braz says "I find alive in the back of my memory the feeling os strange terror that induced in me these people in wood, with their immobility, silence and the troubling staring of their eyes" Note the keyword "immobility" he says the Big Yves is representation of a "rotating" head type Ankou but he is "immobile".




APPARITION: to appear when summoned; "the supernatural; appearance of invisible beings -- ie the apparition of a ghost" (1525); a manifestation or something invisible being made visible to the eye" (1533); an immaterial appearance (1601 -- Shakespeare); encyclopedia of Ghosts also suggests that an apparition is more often that of a living person; they appear and disappear and reappear suddenly, they CAN cast shadows, and can walk through and can be reflected in mirrors walls

BANSHEE: from the Gaelic "bean si" (= "fairy women") -- a death omen -- loud wailing from a female demon just before someone dies -- limited to "ancient families of pure descent" .... very Celtic; they are particularly attached to irish families whose surnames begins with "Mac" or "O"; Banshees do not (according to misguided popular belief) "scream" -- they just cry; in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, the Banshee is also known as Bean-Nighe or Little-Washer-By-the-Ford (the latter case signals a person's imminent and violent death by washing that person's bloody clothes in a stream); this Bean-Nighe is unlike the Bean Si in a number of ways; the Bean Nighe is ugly and deformed (whereas the other is beautiful) and the Bean Nighe has 1 nostril, a large protruding front tooth, red webbed feet and long pendulous breasts; this Bean Nighe (aka Little Washer by the Ford) is said to be the ghost of a woman who has died prematurely in child birth and has to spend the rest of (what would have been her allotted time on earth) washing clothes by the river until it is the "natural" time for her to die

BEELZEBUB (also Baal-zebub): means "lord of the flies"

CHUREL: From India .. the evil ghost of a woman who dies in childbirth or ceremonial impurity; usually of a lower caste person whose corpse was buried face down to prevent their escape; they have reversed feet & no mouths and haunt squalid places; they can appear as beautiful (albeit slightly deformed( women who can capture and hold men prisoner until they (the men) are old

CORPSE CANDLES: death omens in Wales & elsewhere in the British Isles -- they are mysterious lights which bob over the ground and stop at houses where a death is imminent; they are also said to warn of those who see them or alternatively they appear halfway between the doomed's home and their grave-to-be or presage the death of an infant

CUCUBUTH: vampire & a werewolf together (consumes flesh and blood)

DEMON: an inferior divinity; a genius; and attendant spirit; the devil; the name means "replete with wisdom" and is derived from the Greek "daimon" which means "divine power" or "fate" or "god"

ELVES: Teutonic in origin; small, dwarfish, thought to act as incubi/succubi, steal children and substitute fake ones in their place, generally malicious beings until the 19th century; generally more malignant than a fairy

FAIRY: plural: "fays"; small, diminutive beings having great influence (good and bad) over the affairs of men (1393); delicate & finely woven; the word fairy comes from the Latin "fata" meaning "fate"; there are varying theories on their origins -- 1) Souls of the pagan dead not baptized and therefore caught between heaven and earth 2) the guardians of the dead 3) ghosts of venerated ancestors 4) fallen angels who were condemned with Lucifer but who were also condemned to remain with the elements of earth and not to be in Hell 5) nature spirits. In Irish mythology the Fairies are the "TUATHA DE" (sic) or people of the goddess -- they are thought to be strong in the craft of magic and (still in Irish myth) they are part mortal, part spirit and part god and they can intermarry with humans." They are thought (also in Irish legends) to steal human women away for wives, to steal unprotected children and leave their in their place ("changelings"). To stay in their good graces households left out food and drink for them (they are said to be nocturnal). In Celtic lore, Fairies dance circular dances under the moonlight, especially around ancient burial cites

FETCH: In Irish and Welsh folklore, the term for one's double, [to see yourself then, literally and symbolically] an apparition of a living person (sometimes called a "co-walker" in England). In general, seeing one is a sign of ill-boding although in Irish lore, to see a fetch in the morning means you will have long life but at night means death

GENIUS (GENII): protective spirits who guide human beings; in Etruscan & Roman art they were portrayed as naked winged (male) youths but since the 17th century they can be either male or female; Genius was also a Roman deity, a personification of the creative powers invested in man (the female equivalent is Juno); every man has his own "genius." My source for this information comes from Manfred Lurker's Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984, rpt. 1987, p. 130.

However, Marco Di Marcantonio has also pointed out the following:

(1)The Etruscans had spirits called "Lasa" ......they were winged youthful Females (never male).....they carried a perfumed vase in their left hand ... they were very common in Etruscan art works. There is another spirit of the Etruscan culture "Vanth"...... they are clothed, rainbow-winged, mature females, with scrolls in the left hand; the were escorts of the dead. The LASA & VANTH were believed to be souls in transition; they were called "The Ancient One".

(2)The Romans adopted the Etruscan spirit, renaming it "Laris." They were "House Spirits " that protected the Roman household. They are clothed (wingless) females with wreaths of rosemary adorning the heads. It was common to have shrines for them in Ancient households and daily offerings were made to them (eg. Rosemary was offered because of what it symbolized).They were welcome presents in the Roman dewelling.

Marco also recommends Charles G Leland's Etruscan Magic & Occult Remedies and Etruscan Art (1989).

GHOST: a disembodied spirit ... has root words possibly connected to "terrify" and "anger." The etymology is "to wound, tear, pull to pieces" (OED) also "anger" (Dict of Ety.). "The soul or spirit as the principle of life" (900 AD); "the immaterial part of man associated with feeling, thought and moral action" (1000 AD); "an corporeal being" (1297); a good being (900); and evil being (1000); the soul of a deceased person inhabiting the unseen world" (800); and "the soul of a deceased person appearing in visible form or otherwise making its presence known to humans" (1385 -- Chaucer)

GHOST DOGS/CATS: in Wales and Scotland and there are special GUARDIAN SPIRITS called BLACK DOGS; there is also the BARGHEST (aka BARGUEST) from Cornwall and Northern England -- it is a death omen and in Lancashire it is called a "SHRIKER" after the shrieks it makes when it is invisible

GHOSTESS: a female Ghost (1842)

GHOUL: a demon (usually female) feeding on flesh, dead or alive ... often associated with a house where tragedy has taken place but they also tend to live alone in desolate spots and/or graveyards. Strictly speaking, Lamia are ghouls (ie they hang out in cemeteries, disinter bodies and eat the flesh). Also, Arabic: an evil spirit who robs graves and preys on human corpses. The etymology is "to seize"; first occurrence is Beckford's Vathek (1786); comes from Arabic terms ghul (masculine) and ghula (feminine); in Islamic lore it is the female ghul who is to be most feared since she can (unlike the male) appear as a fully normal person

GIAOUR: a non-Moslem (Christian usually)

GLAMOUR: any bewitched illusion satanically inspired; a magic enchantment or spell; "a magical or fictitious beauty" (1840)

GOBLIN: mischievous, ugly spirit (1327) often (not always) conjured up by rogues ; the prefix "hob" (ie hob-goblin") usually differentiates the merely mischievous ones from the malicious ones; either way they are believed to live in grottos but are said to be attracted to homes that have beautiful children; when they move in to a home they can help with the children (giving them presents when they are good and punishing them when they are bad) and the goblins can also help with household chores (!!) if they have the whim to do so

GOLEM: an artificial human (a la Frankenstein) but created by (in this case) magical means. The term is used to describe Adam's body in its first hours of existence before it gets consciousness and a soul. To raise one, walk around it using the appropriate combination of letters & mystical names of God; to kill it walk the other way and say the words backwards!!!! See also German film Der Golem (1920)

GRATEFUL DEAD: no, not the band; this is a MOTIF in which ghosts of the deceased return to bestow rewards on living people

GRAY LADIES: the ghosts of women who have died violently for the sake of love OR pined away for the loss of love (say, Aeneas' Dido); they are said (often) to be dressed in gray but can also appear in white, black or brown

GREMLIN: a small, pesky spirit that appeared in British aircraft during WWI; they are generally friendly, have a great knowledge of aviation and navigation but can play mischievous pranks; many WWI pilots allege they saw them on their planes when they were flying missions but no one officially reported these sightings until 1922 (perhaps out of the belief that it is bad luck to acknowledge the spirits ... but WHO KNOWS???); by WWII pilots who allegedly saw them claimed (variously) that they were 6 inches high with black leather suction boots, others said they looked like a cross between a jack rabbit and a bull terrier others said they were humanoid and 1 foot tall; others that they had webbed feet with fins on the heels

INCUBI and SUCCUBI were thought to be interchangeable and were thought to ejaculate the sperm they collected as a succubus ... hence they are a sort of hermaphroditic critters; their main raison d'etre (1205) was to seek carnal intercourse with humans

HAUNT: comes from the same root as "home" JINN: The appellation for a class of demonic beings in Pre-Islamic times; originally nature spirits, later a sub-class of ghouls who(originally) were only female spirits

KNOCKER: In Cornwall -- a spirit that lives and works in the mines, especially in tin mines; they are friendly and helpful, they can be mischievous but they are NOT evil (the German KOBOLD is a malicious German equivalent); they are also (in Cornwall) known as GATHORNS, KNACKERS, NICKERS, NUGGIES, SPRIGGANS. They are thought to be the ghosts of Jews who worked in the mines (the Jews did not work in the Cornish mines until the 11th & 12th centuries). They cannot tolerate the sign of the cross so miners avoid marking anything with an X (remember these knockers are friendly). Knockers are industrious and often toil through the night; whistling offends them. Food and tallow must be left for them, otherwise there will be trouble. In America they are called TOMMYKNOCKERS; there are said especially to be in the Mamie R Mine on Raven Hill in Cripple Creek, Colorado where they were said to lure miners in to the mines and kill them (by jumping on beams to cause a collapse) and then laughing

LEMURES: In ancient Rome, the ghost of a person who died without any surviving issue; if you died before producing offspring you could become a lemure. Exorcism was accomplished by banging drums

LILITH: Called "the night hag" at Isaiah 34:14; meaning is "she of the night"; the plural is "lilin";

LEPRECHAUNS: a little old man with a wrinkled old face: they know the location of buried treasure which they will reveal in exchange for liberty BUT 1) take your eyes off him for a split second and he'll disappear 2) treasure disappears as soon as mortals find it

NARI: among the Slavs, demonic beings who seem to have been in origin the souls of dead children

PHANTOM (PHANTASMA): a mental delusion dream of deception; an illusion or dream; imaginary (=subjective ghost); an illusion (1300); a lie (1325); a ghost (1382); "a mental illusion in a dream" (1590 -- Spenser)

POLTERGEIST: From German ... "noisy ghost" or "rocketing ghost"; hence a spirit who makes its presence known by noises

PSYCHOPOMP: a supernatural being (human or animal, although in some cases it is thought to be dogs or even Dolphins) who conduct souls into the afterlife (Hermes in Greek, Toth and Anubis in Egyptian lore

PUCA (aka POOKA): in Irish lore, a spirit that is both helpful and mischievous; it is a shape-shifter and is often seen in the form of a black animal or a black half animal; if treated well they will clean up the house during the night and they can also bedevil grave robbers. In England the puca is also known as PUCK (see Misdsummer Night's Dream) -- a Medieval house spirit who was particualry malicious and who was closely connected with the devil

RADIANT BOYS: also known as KINDERMORDERINN ... boys murdered by their mothers

REVENANT: the dead who return from the grave

RUSALKA (plural is Rusalki): in Russian folklore, the spirit of a maiden who drowns by accident or by force or becomes a ghost and haunts the spot where she died; they secretly help poor fishermen

SIRENS: half women half birds with beautiful voices (Odyssey)

SORCERER: a magician (1526)

SPECTRE: an apparition or phantom or ghost that is TERRIFYING (1605); also -- "an unreal object of thought (a phantasm of the brain)" (1711); and by 1801 it's "an image or phantom produced by a reflection or other natural cause" (1801); a horrid spectacle or sight (1763)

SPUNKIE: In Scottish lore, a goblin or trickster ghost, commonly believed to be the devil's agent he tricks travellers who have lost their way; he presents a light that the traveller thinks is a ought from a window but when the traveller gets to where the light is it is actually a precipice and over s/he goes

WARLOCK: "an oath-breaker" (1023); " a wicked person, a scoundrel" (1000); "a savage or hostile creature hostile to me -- usually applied to a giant, cannibal, a mythic beast" (1000); "one in league with the devil, a sorcerer or wizard" (1550); "a conjurer" (1721)

WITCH: "a man who practises magic, sorcery, wizardry; " (890 AD); "a female magician or sorceress supposed to have dealings with the devil" (1000 AD); (from wica = "to bend")

WIZARD: "a philosopher or wise man" (1440); a man practised in the occult arts or a male witch (1550);

ZOMBIE: usually does not rise unless it has been summoned; a corpse reanimated by witchcraft or by a sorcerer called a BOKOR; the Zombie acts as a slave to the Bokor
Suggested Further Reading: Try Rosemary Ellen Guiley's The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits
Facts-on-File-Books, 1992.

Also try the BIG Oxford English Dictionary (20 Volumes) but be careful .. if you read it all at once you will most certainly hurt yourself.
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