Supernatural has always attracted the attention of many people of all nationalities on all continents. This inexhaustible, permanent interest invariably influenced myths, religious beliefs, folklore, and even the ordinary everyday life of every nation. You can study and discuss all this heritage indefinitely. In this article, we touch on this phenomenon only on one side - from the inhabitants of that other world, which we usually call "supernatural beings." The list and description of all such creatures in full would constitute a whole library, so we will confine ourselves to the most famous and popular creatures in modern culture.
Gnomes
The word "gnome" in translation from Latin means an underground resident. These creatures are known in almost all regions of the earth where there is a mountainous area or desert. The traditional, familiar image of a gnome comes from German-Scandinavian folklore, but is also known among the Slavs (for example, the Polish dwarf people are relatives of the dwarves). Its dwarf people, living in mountain dungeons, are found in the Urals, where they call it either a miracle, or a little thing. According to popular legends, these supernatural beings are engaged in jewelry, mining all kinds of treasures and, among other things, have significant knowledge in medicine.
The nature of the gnomes
According to one version, the word "gnome" itself began to be used in the 16th century by Paracelsus, a famous European doctor and occultist. He used it to refer to the spirits of the earth - the elementals. The latter are supernatural beings that set the world in motion by acting on one of the four primary elements - earth, air, fire or water. So, the spirits, called Paracelsus dwarves, just lived in the elements of the earth. Later, this term began to denote the entire list of supernatural beings living, according to legend, underground and united by common features - appearance, craft, and so on.
Goblins
Goblins are another category of supernatural human neighbors. In general, they can be considered as distant relatives of the gnomes. They also live underground in mountain gorges dotted with caves. Like the gnomes in many legends, goblins do not tolerate the light of the sun. But if the gnomes are representatives of all the same Scandinavian and German folklore, then the goblin is a character from Romanesque culture. These supernatural beings got their name from the Old French language.
The appearance of goblins is described in legends very differently. But the invariable feature of all of them is incredible ugliness. Goblins are like humans; they can be anywhere from thirty centimeters to two meters tall. When necessary, they can turn into beautiful people. But they always give out long ears, claws on their hands and ominous animal eyes. The only exception to the rule is the English hobgoblins, who play the role of cute brownies in British folklore, which we will talk about later.
Brownies
Creatures that are known in Russia under the name brownies are perhaps the most common character in world folklore. Of course, they are described in different ways and interact in different ways with them, but everywhere these creatures top the list of supernatural beings. In the Slavic tribes they were also called kutnye gods. The brownie lives with his family in their home and monitors the economy, safety and a favorable atmosphere. However, if the owners are negligent, then he can also appear as a formidable, frightening creature. There was no consensus on where this custodian of home comfort came from. Someone believed that this was a manifestation of the first ancestor, the ancestor of the clan. Others insisted that he was a deceased family member. With the Christianization of Russia, faith in brownies did not disappear, but the prevailing opinion among the people was that it was either a spirit sent by God, or, on the contrary, a small demon who was obsessed with the devil in order to harm residents as much as possible. However, it was also believed that unrepentant sinners became the housekeepers, whom God sent as punishment to serve people as guardian spirits.
Russian brownies
One way or another, the brownie was the one on whom the well-being of the family depended. Therefore, they always tried to build good relations with him. It was decided to feed the brownie, leaving for him in a special place a plate with food. The grateful spirit protected the home from thieves, from fire, averted troubles and adversities. The brownie especially about livestock, and mainly about horses. It was believed that at night he was busy in the stable, taking care that the horse did not remain hungry or unkempt. Like other supernatural beings, in Russia it was believed that a brownie could predict the future. For example, if at night you hear a roar, howling, crying and the like ominous signs, then you have to wait for trouble. If at night there is a quiet laugh, joyful exclamations and the like, then a pleasant surprise awaits the family.
In some legends, female brownies also appear. In some cases, we are even talking about whole families of brownies. However, this is much less common in folklore.
Dragons
Very popular supernatural beings, which list hundreds of species worldwide, are dragons. Currently, their popularity is growing, thanks to the massive enthusiasm for the genre of fantasy in art. Legends of supernatural creatures that look like huge lizards, cutting through the air and breathing fire, are known literally on all continents of all tribes and peoples. The storyline in them can be very different, respectively, and the cultural codes and characters that they carry. In Asia, for example, dragons are the wisest creatures that descended from heaven and gave people knowledge, culture, medicine, taught them magic, agriculture and morality. In the West, on the contrary, they were chthonic monsters, bringing with them only death and destruction. In Christian times, the dragon was often associated with the devil, but at the same time, he was a favorite heraldic symbol. The battle with him for the sake of saving a woman or acquiring wealth is a characteristic plot for European as well as Slavic folklore.
Unicorns
Our list of supernatural creatures continues with such an interesting character as a unicorn. They depict it, as a rule, in the form of a horse with a beautiful straight horn growing from the forehead.
The earliest images of this animal come from India, and their age is four thousand years old. Gradually from Asia, this character penetrated into ancient Greece and Rome. However, there he was considered a very real animal. Such beliefs spread among the Greeks thanks to a doctor named Ctesias, who spent many years in Persia, and upon returning to his homeland in Hellas, described in his works massive Indian donkeys with a horn growing on his forehead. All this took place in the V century BC, and was later popularized by Aristotle. The unicorn’s horse appearance, traditional today, was not taken for granted from the start. He was represented with the body of a goat and a bull, and according to some descriptions, this creature looked more like a rhino.
Unicorns in later legends
In later West European myths, the unicorn appeared as a fierce creature, the meeting with which promised death. But, being the personification of morality and holiness, this creature could be tamed only by a virgin and kept in submission only by a golden rein. It is not surprising that with the spread of Catholicism this animal became one of the emblems of the Virgin Mary. His enemies were elephants and lions. Belief in them was so strong in Europe and Russia that as early as the 19th century naturalistic studies were conducted to find out whether supernatural beings called unicorns really exist or not. Some European monarchs, including Russian tsars, were proud that their wands - attributes of royal power - were made from the horns of this animal. There was even a European market for the sale of these horns, in which Russian merchants (mainly from Pomors) played an important role. Today it is established that in reality these horns belonged to the narwhals.
Werewolves
Werewolves are another supernatural creature whose list of varieties exceeds all conceivable limits. But they all have one thing in common - they have the ability to transform from people into animals, and vice versa. Most often these are wolves, but in fact, legends are known in which the characters turned into birds, and fish, and other animals. The difference between the transformations of werewolves from other magical transformations is that they produce it either of their own free will, or in certain conditions, but in any case turn into people back. In Russian mythology, even one of the heroes named Volga Svyatoslavich possessed this ability . Werewolf was, according to folk traditions, and Prince Vseslav Polotsky. Extremely popular similar stories in Native American, Scandinavian and Celtic mythologies. In addition, the ability to such reincarnations was assigned almost everywhere to sorcerers and witches. During the Inquisition, the charge of such an act was the reason for initiating an investigation into relations with the devil.
Sometimes werewolves were distinguished from birth and those who became such for some reason. The werewolf could be born by the person whose mother during pregnancy ate the meat of the animal killed by the wolf, or bore the curse of werewolf herself. And to acquire the ability to contact animals could either be a magical way, or become an apostate. It was believed that in the latter case, a person becomes a werewolf, however, after death. The latter are also joined by children who died not baptized. Accordingly, some werewolves experience this ability as a curse, others use it as a magical gift and know how to manage this ability.
Ghosts and ghosts
Ghosts are perhaps the only supernatural beings whose list and photos can be viewed from strictly scientific positions. This phenomenon is so unprecedented that it goes beyond the boundaries of myths and legends and is part of everyday life. And today there are a lot of people, even those who grew up in the conditions of advanced civilization, but, moreover, confident in the existence of ghosts. Moreover, a huge number of eyewitnesses claim to have had or are in contact with them. This is not only about mediums and parapsychologists, but also about specialists who are in the framework of a strict academic science. However, the number of the latter is small. But the number of witness testimonies, mysterious photographs and video footage of ghosts is enormous.
According to the most common beliefs, ghosts are the souls of dead people. Why they appear in this world and what their nature is - there is no unity of opinion. But practically no one doubts that dead people appear in the form of translucent silhouettes.
Mermaids
End our list of supernatural mermaid creatures. In modern culture, this is a very ambivalent character. It must be said right away that beautiful virgins with fish tails are not mermaids, they are sea virgins. Mermaids are girls of a completely human form, originating from Slavic legends. In pre-Christian times, they were considered the spirits of rivers, and after Christianization, it was widely believed that drowned women who committed suicide became mermaids. They are not mistaken for suicide in the afterlife, and therefore they are forced to serve their sentences on earth, living at the bottom of the river. The only night mermaids come ashore is the night of the summer solstice.
Conclusion
As already mentioned, the above characters are far from all supernatural beings. The list of them can be continued up to tens and hundreds of thousands of items, if you delve into the beliefs of each people in detail. Curious people, no doubt, will be able to do this and find a lot of new unknown material.