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Entity Classification
Humans, spirits or supernatural creatures able to alter form, imitate others or transform into animals and monsters.
47 documented entities
Witches, Shape-Shifters and Transformed Beings
Yoruba traditions
Aje is a Yoruba concept of formidable spiritual power associated especially with women, motherhood, creation, destruction, social authority and the beings often called the Mothers.
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Philippine folklore
Aswang is the familiar face that leaves the body at night, a presence preserved in Philippine folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Slavic traditions
Baba Yaga is a Slavic folklore figure who appears as cannibal crone, dangerous hostess, initiatory tester, guardian of boundaries and occasional giver of aid.
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Indonesian and Javanese traditions
Babi Ngepet is an Indonesian and especially Javanese legend of a person who transforms into a boar to steal wealth through forbidden or morally dangerous…
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Japanese folklore
Bakeneko is the cat that learned to wear a human face, a presence preserved in Japanese folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Tulu and coastal Karnataka traditions
Bhoota Kola Spirits is the diverse daivas or bhutas embodied and honored in Bhoota Kola ritual traditions of coastal Karnataka and Tulu Nadu.
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Ethiopian, Eritrean and Horn of Africa folklore
Bouda is the hyena-shadow moving behind the artisan, a presence preserved in Ethiopian, Eritrean and Horn of Africa folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Kanuri and West African traditions
Bultungin Were-Hyena is a Kanuri-linked were-hyena tradition remembered in early ethnographic writing through the verb bultungin, glossed as transforming into a hyena.
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Hindu and Buddhist traditions
Dakinis is a broad class of female beings in Hindu and especially Vajrayana Buddhist traditions, ranging from dangerous flesh-eating spirits to enlightened embodiments of wisdom.
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Korean folklore
Gumiho is the nine-tailed hunger wearing beauty, a presence preserved in Korean folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Yucatec Maya and regional Mexican traditions
Huay Chivo is a Yucatec Maya and regional legend of a sorcerer or way who transforms into a goatlike animal to frighten, attack or move…
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Yucatec Maya and regional Mexican traditions
Huay Pek is a Yucatec Maya shape-shifting tradition in which a sorcerer or way assumes canine form.
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Chinese religious and folkloric traditions
Huli Jing is the fox spirit behind the borrowed face, a presence preserved in Chinese religious and folkloric traditions traditions of the unseen world.
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Vietnamese traditions
Hồ Ly Tinh is a Vietnamese fox spirit associated especially with the legendary Hồ Ly Tinh defeated by Lạc Long Quân in narratives of the…
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Japanese traditions
Inugami is a Japanese dog-spirit familiar associated in regional folklore with sorcery, possession, wealth, revenge and hereditary stigma.
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Quechua and Andean traditions
Jarjacha is an Andean legend of a person transformed into a llama-like or hybrid creature as punishment for incest or severe violation of kinship law.
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Chinese and East Asian traditions
Jing is a broad Chinese category for refined essence or beings—often animals, plants or objects—that acquire supernatural intelligence through age, cultivation or transformation.
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Angolan and Central African traditions
Kishi is an Angolan figure described as an alluring human whose second face or hidden nature is hyena-like, predatory and dangerous.
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Russian and East Slavic traditions
Koschei is a deathless antagonist of Russian wonder tales whose life or death is concealed outside his body in a nested sequence of animals and…
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Kerala and South Indian traditions
Kuttichathan is a powerful childlike spirit of Kerala traditions, feared for mischief and affliction yet also honored within specific ritual and devotional contexts.
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Balinese traditions
Leak or Leyak is a Balinese term associated in popular and ritual narratives with sorcerous transformation, night flight and frightening separated-body manifestations.
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Thai, Lao and Cambodian traditions
Ma Lai is a Southeast Asian female transforming or separated-body spirit associated in regional accounts with night wandering, fear and predatory supernatural appetite.
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Mesoamerican and Indigenous Mexican traditions
Nahual is the human soul walking in an animal body, a presence preserved in Mesoamerican and Indigenous Mexican traditions traditions of the unseen world.
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Japanese folklore
Nekomata is the fork-tailed cat beyond the mountain road, a presence preserved in Japanese folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Chinese, Korean and Japanese traditions
The Nine-Tailed Fox is an East Asian supernatural fox form whose meanings range from auspicious omen and divine marvel to seductive destroyer and dangerous shape-shifter.
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Malay and Malaysian traditions
Orang Minyak is a Malay and Malaysian night-terror figure described as a man coated in black oil, associated with intrusion, assault, magic and urban rumor.
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Romanian folklore
Pricolici is the wolf-revenant that returns from the grave, a presence preserved in Romanian folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Chinese literary and religious traditions
Princess Iron Fan is a powerful female figure of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, ruler of the Banana-Leaf Fan needed to cross the…
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Ethiopian and Horn of Africa traditions
Qolle is a Horn of Africa spirit term recorded in possession and local religious contexts, with meanings that vary by language, region and scholarly transcription.
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Latvian and Lithuanian traditions
Ragana is a Baltic term and figure associated with witches, prophetic women, harmful magic and, in some interpretations, older sacred or supernatural female powers.
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Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist traditions
Rahula Spirits is a Tibetan Buddhist and Himalayan category associated with the eclipse power Rahula, planetary disturbance and classes of spirits linked to seizure or…
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Balinese traditions
Rangda is the terrifying widow-queen of Balinese sacred drama, associated with destructive power, witchcraft narratives and the ritual opposition to Barong.
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Andean traditions
Runa Uturuncu is an Andean shape-shifter or “jaguar person,” associated in regional folklore with sorcery, nocturnal transformation and predatory power.
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Scottish, Orcadian and Shetland folklore
Selkie is the seal-skin bride who never forgot the sea, a presence preserved in Scottish, Orcadian and Shetland folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Diné cultural context
Skin-Walker is the English label commonly applied to a feared witch figure in Diné cultural narratives, often associated with harmful transformation and profound moral violation.
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Romanian traditions
Solomonari are enigmatic Romanian folkloric magicians associated with hidden schools, dragons, weather control and testing the generosity of villages.
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Japanese literary and performance traditions
Tamamo-no-Mae is the celebrated Japanese court lady revealed in medieval and early modern literature as a powerful fox spirit whose death leaves the deadly Killing…
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Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist traditions
Theurang is a Tibetan spirit class associated with mischievous disturbance, theft, sudden noise, minor illness and unruly local presence.
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Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist traditions
Tsen is a Tibetan class of fierce red spirits associated with war, violence, sudden illness, mountains and territorial power.
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Malay and Indonesian traditions
Tuyul / Toyol is a Malay-Indonesian spirit commonly imagined as a childlike being kept or inherited to steal wealth and serve an owner.
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Lithuanian and Baltic traditions
Vilkatas is a Lithuanian and Baltic werewolf figure associated with transformation, curse, sorcery, exile and the dangerous crossing between human and wolf identity.
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Chinese traditions
Wangliang is an early Chinese spirit or monster associated with mountains, forests, tombs and deceptive imitation of human voices.
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Chinese traditions
Wangxiang is an early Chinese aquatic spirit or monster named in classical classifications beside dragons and water beings.
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European and wider Indo-European folklore
Werewolf is the human shape broken beneath the moon, a presence preserved in European and wider Indo-European folklore traditions of the unseen world.
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Chinese traditions
Wutong Spirits is a complex Chinese spirit group associated in different periods with wealth, local cult, erotic visitation, possession and official suppression.
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Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions
Yakshinis are female yaksha beings of South Asian religious, artistic and narrative traditions, ranging from fertility and tree spirits to guardians, attendants and dangerous enchantresses.
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Serbian and South Slavic traditions
Zduhać is a South Slavic weather-protector whose spirit leaves the sleeping body to battle hostile atmospheric beings and defend the community’s crops.
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