Around these parts we have many folk tales around the Curupira. It's usually despicted as a red haired boy with backwards feet, other traits may vary. The stories also vary greatly, from a demon with superhuman strength who kills people straying in the woods, to a gentle forest guardian that scares off hunters and those that would hurt animals. Again, one thing that they usually have in common is how he make sounds similar of a human being to attract his victims deep into the woods. That along with his backwards feet that leave false tracks on the ground, people attracted by his false signals end up hopelessly lost into the forest. In tales of the past, he has been claimed responsible for many disappearances under such circumstances.

It's indeed in need of votes... but once again, don't keep your hopes up.

I don't want to clutter the thread with unrelated material, so I'll share what I know tomorrow by PM. Sufficient to say that it's a setting where 7 wizards summon 7 legendary heroes through time and space to do a battle royale where the last one standing gets the Holy Grail. Each of those heroes falls into one class, and the hero for Lancer class is Cu Chulainn. So he's a proper character and not one I created. You can't create any characters on this game.

btw, the E on his luck stat is quite deserved. He keeps getting picked on, the poor guy.

Drop Bears :P

They're like evil koalas that drop from trees :o

One of my favorite legends is about the origin of love, as told by Aristophanes and recorded by Plato in his Symposium.

In the ancient time before, there lived three races of human beings: The children of the Sun, the children of the Earth, and the children of the Moon. The children of the Sun had male bodies with two heads faced in different directions, four arms, and four legs, whereas the children of the Earth had similar female bodies, and the children of the Moon were half male and half female. These ancient beings were very powerful, as they cartwheeled around like acrobats and could see and fight in all directions. They were so powerful that they dared to climb Mt. Olympus and challenge the gods. For their impiety, Zeus split them all into two with his lightning bolts. Apollo took pity on them, sewing their wounds tight and stitched it up to form the navel which he chose not to heal so mankind would always be reminded of their folly. Hence, love is the longing for one's other half that was lost long ago.

You can also watch the music video version

Here's an aboriginal legend from the Vancouver area:

The Tale of Scnoki

After the great flood, as the waters were receding from the Earth, they left behind the great serpent Scnoki suspended like a massive bridge over what is now Burrard Inlet. This terrible monster had a head at each end, and each of his mighty jaws he fastened to the rocks on either side of the water. When storms rolled over the mountains, sounds of awful portent would mingle with the howling gale, and the fire of the lightning itself was not more deadly than the scorching rays of the reptile's glittering eyes.

Great was the people's terror of Scnoki. None dared to approach him, for all who drew near him would curl and twist up, and would die instantly. His abode was a dread place of evil, and those travellers who drew near it would portage their canoes around rather than pass by him. Even the creatures of the forest crept around that place with quiet footfalls, and the birds who flew nearby hushed their voices and soon escaped to safer branches. Only the gaunt old eagle soaring high above dared to gaze upon Scnoki, and even he flew over with a wild scream, as swiftly as his wings would carry him. The hearts of the people were cold with fear, and they longed for deliverance.

In the place that is now Belcarra Park, a brother lived with his elder sister, who bathed and cared for him until he was old enough to bathe himself. One day, he went into the water to bathe, and disappeared from sight. Alarmed, his sister called for help, and the men launched their swift canoes to go to his rescue. They caught sight of him only once, swimming in the deep water, but though they paddled with all their might they could not catch up with him. He appeared for but a moment, waist-high above the waves, then he disappeared and was seen no more.

The sister sadly went about her daily tasks, but she never gave up hope that her brother would some day return. Each night she made his bed in readiness for him and listened for the sounds of his footfall at the door. Thus did time pass, until a full year had gone by since the brother sped away beneath the rushing waters of the inlet. Then one night as she slept, the brother returned to their home, and went to bed as though nothing had happened.

Great was the joy of the sister the next morning when s he beheld her brother's face again. He explained that he had been all over the world, visiting many countries and seeing many wondrous things, and that now he had returned to kill Scnoki and deliver the people from the serpent's baleful presence.

The brother went into the woods and made eight spears of pitch-wood. Very carefully and very strong he made them. Then he travelled to the abode of Scnoki and addressed him: "Depart from my people forever, and take your curse with you!" So saying, the brother hurled the spears of pitch-wood at the monster. His arm was steady and his aim was true. One after another the spears found their mark, and as the eighth spear struck home, Scnoki released his grip on the rocks, slowly dragged his colossal body across the inlet, and crawled over the mountains where he disappeared into Lake Buntzen and was seen no more.

To this very day, no living thing grows upon the ground that Scnoki passed over - neither a blade of grass, nor a patch of moss. And those incredulous persons who doubt the truth of this story are invited to inspect the stones on either side of Burrard Inlet, which still bear the marks of Scnoki's terrible teeth.

I've got a couple.

La Llorona (the crying woman): I don't know the exact storyline of it, but it's something about a mexican woman getting chased across a river trying to hold her baby up so it doesn't drown, and they both drown. So she cries about it and takes other children to the grave. My wife knows the story better than I do, but the point is that one Halloween, she dressed up as a dead woman in rags and tatters not specifically trying to be La Llorona, and everywhere we went, they kept calling her La Llorona. So it's well known here in SoCal.

Hidden South American Gold: No real name to this, but my dad is from Ecuador and he swears every kid there grows up believing that in some cave/volcano in the Andes (the story changes from country to country it seems), all the gold was hidden from the conquistadors (which is why they never found that much). The kids grow up believing if they searched hard enough, they'd find it. I'm sure this is where the myth of El Dorado comes from, but he didn't reference it as such, so I'm sure some storyteller at some point simply gave this mythical cave a name.

Bloody Mary was also fun and terrifying as a kid. That you went into a bathroom, turned off the lights and as you washed your hands staring into the mirror, you said Bloody Mary three times and she was supposed to come get you. They just had this in the latest Paranormal Activity movie (or the third one, I can't remember). Only reason I put this on is because I swear that when I was in the third grade and did this on a cold rainy day at my elementary school with two other buddies, we all exited the bathroom with scratches on us.

So those are more urban legend type of things. In terms of famous story/myth/slight possible truth, I'd have to say my two favorites are Plato's account of Atlantis and Homer's Illiad (Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles)

Atlantis: what makes this cool to me is if it is just a myth, that it was a myth back then for Plato as well since his grandfather told him the tale of Atlantis (I believe that his grandfather's grandfather told him after learning the myth from someone in Egypt after making a trip down there, and even in Egypt is was already a myth). The other cool thing about this if you do some research, is that the storylines of the highest gods, and the number of gods in ancient Egypt mirror exactly the same as in ancient Maya (along with the positioning of the pyramids), which leads at least some credence that there had to be some centralized landmass where the religions originated from, and in the mythological catastrophe, you can imagine one side of the island made for Africa, and the other could've gone to the Americas. Either this possibility, or that the seafaring capabilities of the peoples of this time allowed them to travel across the Atlantic from the mediterranean/Pillar of Hercules (straight of Gibraltar), or off the coasts of Africa to the Americas, which in it of itself, would shatter a lot of preconceptions regarding the ancient peoples and their technology.

And of course the Illiad (along with The Odyssey and trailing behind the Aeneid), are so awesome in the little truths that exist within them. There really was a city of Troy and the Aeneid recounts the ancient founding of Rome. That there was a city of Troy, makes the prospect of a "real" Achilles that much more awesome. I mean if you strip away the myths about his goddess mother and that he was divine etc., what you're left with is a possible ass-kicking soldier that was so devastating to his foes that they sang songs about him and the soldiers that witnessed him, told the story to their kids all the way down to Homer who finally composed the entire saga of Troy into his epic.

Of course the poems are awesome reads as well. I could go on, but I'll leave it at that hope I get me a game, lol!

There is a creature in Estonian mythology called Old Devil, who regularly gets tricked by various characters, one of whom is a clever slave, appropriately called Clever Hans. My favourite story is the mix of fairy tale types 1135 and 1137 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system and it goes as follows...


Once upon a time Clever Hans was tasked with watching a furnace on New Year's Eve. To pass the time, he decided to divine his luck by pouring molten lead and he put several pieces of lead to melt in the furnace on a pan. As it happened, he was being watched by Old Devil, who could not help his curiosity, came out in the open and asked what he was doing.
"Oh, nothing much. Just fixing up some eye medicine."
"But your eyes are fine."
"It's not for sick eyes. It's for making them see even better, so I could see a mosquito five kilometers away."
"Could I have some of it? I always need to watch out for St George's puppies (wolves)."
"Sure, why not. Bring me a hat full of gold and it's a deal."
Old devil was back with the gold just by the time the lead had melted. He gave it to Clever Hans and asked him, "By the way, what's your name? Maybe some of my relatives might want some medicine and I would like to know who to recommend."
"My name is Self," said the "eye doctor".
"Weird name. It's the first time I have heard it."
"Yes, it is indeed somewhat rare, but now lay on this bench and I will tie you down, so that none of the medicine will spill."
Old Devil did as he was told and made his eyes wide open, so that they were like small saucers, and then Clever Hans took the pan and poured the lead in Old Devil's eyes. The poor devil jumped up and ran out of the door, still tied to the bench, screaming, "Help! Help!"
His relatives came running and gathered around him.
"Who did it?" asked the devils.
"Self did it," cried Old Devil.
"Well, if you did it yourself, why the hell are you crying for help," laughed the devils and went their way.

He was the guy with the spear that always killed what it hit? Either turning into lightning or growing barbs like roots I heard it both ways unless that was two different people. Which is correct if any?

In Finland, there is mythical creature called näkki, or vesihiisi. It is a water spirit that pulls down children into the water if they get too close. It's one of those folk tales used to scare children to prevent them from drowning back in the day when children were plentiful and parents too busy to watch over them 24/7. It's not a creature anyone believes in anymore, but it is something one might come across in finnish fantasy fiction/fairy tales.

Legends can change a lot, so I don't know if there's any "officially" correct abilities for his spear. Game wise, they take that the one common thing in all legends is that it will always pierce the heart, so it's ability ends up being the cause and effect reversal thing.

The Jersey Devil is my local legend. We never really talked about the story in school, just references to the fact that Jersey had a devil all to itself lol.

In doing research for this post I found out a lot about it. Apparently it has a kangaroo like appearance with horse hoofs and bat wings.

A link to a picture is [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jersey_Devil_Philadelphia_Post_1909.jpg]here[/url]

There isn't a lot else to mention about the legend. It eats livestock, freaks people out, etc. The myth dates back all the way to the Lenni Lenape tribes here in Jersey.

The English settler version of the story has a witch who hooked up with the devil and gave birth to a normal baby, which mutated into a monster, killed the midwife, and escaped through the chimney.

Fun Fact: The NHL Hockey Team in New Jersey is named after the Jersey Devil

Count me in, but If I win, could I re-gift the prize, Telika? Thanks and +1 for your generosity, mate, and congrats for your 300 plus rep achievement! ;)

Also, a little promotion in the Giveaways' Directory:
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/how_does_one_make_a_gift_aka_gifting_on_gog_for_dummies/post651

"La Brèche de Roland in French or Brecha de Roldán in Spanish is a natural gap, 40 m across and 100 m high, at an altitude of 2804 m in the steep cliffs of the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees. It forms part of the border between France and Spain.

According to legend the Brèche was cut by Count Roland (a nephew of Charlemagne) with his sword Durendal in an attempt to destroy that sword, after being defeated during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass."

Source: Wikipedia

I remember reading this when I was young:

A long time ago, the southern coast of Singapore was infested by numerous fierce swordfish. The villagers and fishermen could not ply their trades at the sea, as they would be attacked by these fearsome creatures if they ever ventured near the waters. The people requested help from the Sultan, but even him and his royal army could not do anything about it.

A little boy then proposed a solution to the Sultan. Build a row of barricade made of banana tree trunks along the affected coast, he said. When the swordfish tried to attack the villagers again, their pointed beaks would pierce through the barricade and would be trapped immediately.

The plan worked perfectly, and the smart boy became popular among the villagers as their saviour. This invited jealousy from the Sultan. Fearing his rule would be threatened in the future, he sent his soldiers to kill the boy who lived on top of a hill. As the poor boy died, his blood flew down the hill, soaking the whole hill red. This was how Redhill, or Bukit Merah (literally means hill red), got its name.

In turn, the place where the barricade of banana tree trunks were set up became known as Tanjong Pagar, or “cape of stakes”.

There's more here

i always find American Folklore to be pretty boring...
this is tale from where i live in Portland Oregon..
they had these tunnels, that they called the Shanghai tunnels..
they run underground, & are connected to basements of certain establishments & go out to the docks...
they were used to move supplies, in & out easier...
they still exist today...
there are lots of tales about the tunnels being used for Shanghaiing, (look up the word if you dont know what it means) but they have no proof of such incidents occurring, hence the name for the tunnels...
here is a tale about one of those supposed incidents...




Bunko Kelly and the Funeral Parlor

A Spooky Oregon Story

retold by S.E. Schlosser

It seems the infamous crimper Bunko Kelly was commissioned one night by a ship's captain to find him - by hook or by crook - 17 men to sail his ship to Shanghai and back. Kelly went on his usual rounds of the local inns and taverns, looking for drunkards to kidnap and send to sea. But he wasn't having any luck.

On his way to yet another bar, he passed the local funeral home. As he neared the opening for the cellar steps which led up to the sidewalk, he heard the sound of men's voices groaning either in pain or ecstasy; Kelly couldn't tell which. Intrigued, Bunko Kelly went down the steps to investigate. He found 22 men scattered around the cellar, slumped around a huge keg in the middle of the floor. They had obviously been drinking from it, and were now suffering from a massive hangover of some sort. A sniff of the keg told Kelly the men - who apparently thought they'd broken into the cellar of the pub next door - had been drinking embalming fluid all evening. All of them were dying.

In this gruesome situation, Kelly decided he'd found a solution to his problem. He'd dump all the men onto his crimping cart, take them down to the dock, throw them into the waiting canoes, and give them to the ship's captain as sailors. He'd get paid - which was all that mattered to him - and the captain would have a crew. At least for one evening!

To think was to act for Bunko Kelly. Quick as a wink, his employees had loaded the men onto the cart, taken them to the canoes, and Kelly was standing on the prow of a canoe, negotiating with the captain to take 22 men instead of the 17 he'd requested. All or none, Kelly told the sea captain. Reluctantly, the captain agreed. He loaded the semi-conscious, groaning men into his hold and set sail up the Willamette River to the Columbia, and from there to the sea.

So Bunko Kelly got paid after all. And the sea captain? Well, when he arrived in Astoria, he put in a request for 17 more sailors to take his ship to Shanghai. Must have given him quite a shock to go down into the hold of the ship and find 22 bodies where his able-bodied sailors should have been. Still, he managed to get rid of the bodies somehow without causing a fuss, because no investigation was ever made into the disappearance of the fellows who snuck into the funeral parlor that unlucky night.