The main legend from my hometown is about a fearsome dragon called "la Grand'Goule", the Big Mouth, which terrorized the region around the 7th century.

The city's underground was full of caves connected to each other, and the beast was using them to devour people. One day, it started feasting on nuns from the local convent's caves (and the question would be, did the nuns need wine that badly to keep going there? :p).

Enters saint Radegund, local Frank princess, who goes in with a tiny cross and holy water to face the beast, which goes poof!

10 centuries later, a wooden statue of the monster (see attached) was made for procession purposes, and it became such a favorite that the tradition was to throw cakes at its mouth and ask for its protection. In a weird twist of the story it became more or less the holy protector of the city along with the saint ^^

Legend tells that Wellington Harbour was once a lake inhabited by two taniwha (supernatural aquatic beasts, equivalent to dragons), Ngake and Whataitai. Ngake wanted to get out into the sea, so he headed up to the northern corner and charged south at great speed, smashing through the land and into Cook Strait and vanishing, battered and bleeding into the depths. Whataitai sought to follow him, but he got stranded in the shallows where he remained trapped for eleven generations until a great earthquake lifted the land and he dried out and died. His soul left him in the form of a bird and flew to the top of Mount Victoria to mourn him.

not entering, just wanted to say thanks +1

Thank you for the generous giveaway. In and +1. :)

Alcatraz Island of San Francisco, as many know, was used as a prison for federal inmates for about 30 years until 1963. The island was originally inhabited by Spanish explorers in the 1800s. Native Americans kept away because they believed the island to be cursed. Sometime in the mid 1800s, when the US obtained California from the end of the Mexican American War, the island became a military fort against possible invasions from the sea. During the American Civil War and Spanish American War, the island was used as a prison. Then in 1933 the prison facility came under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Anywho, for anyone who visits San Francisco there is an optional "night tour" of the prison. I did this once some years ago, and it was pretty scary. I read a bit about some of the legends about Alcatraz being haunted before the tour, just to make it a bit more interesting. I didn't notice (or imagine) anything strange especially since you are with a large group of people, but I think being in the prison alone would be entirely different.

There are lots of reports and legends of paranormal activity, hauntings, and the like at Alcatraz from both guards who served there as well as tourists in later years since the prison's closure. Some think that because the prison was out of the public view, there may have been torture conducted on prisoners. Al Capone, the most notorious criminal to have been housed in Alcatraz, is thought to be haunting the prison. To avoid being killed in the recreation yard, Capone began to practice playing the banjo. Park rangers and tourists have reported hearing banjo music coming from areas of the prison.

The D block of the prison was used for solitary confinement, and many people claim that visiting that area brings a sudden feeling of coldness or intensity. One cell in particular, 14D, is the most 'active' in terms of reports. Apparently in the 1940s, a prisoner in 14D screamed all night claiming a creature with glowing eyes was going to kill him. The next day the prisoner was found dead, strangled to death. It could have been a guard who killed him, but nobody knows.

There are too many stories and legends about Alcatraz to list here, so I'll leave a few links for the interested!

http://www.sgha.net/articles/fh.html
http://theshadowlands.net/famous/alcatraz.htm
http://www.prairieghosts.com/gpalcatraz.html

Not in, because I don't really know any proper myths...

Cheers +1

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There's a lot of tales about creatures half woman, half fish... but I like this one:

Iara (Mãe D'agua)
Tupi, was the most beautiful woman of the tribes that lived along the Amazon River. For its sweetness, all the plants and animals loved her. Remained, however, indifferent to the many admirers of the tribe. One summer afternoon, even after the sun goes down, Iara remained in the bath, when she was surprised by a group of strange men. Unable to escape, the girl was grabbed and gagged. Eventually passed out, and even then raped and thrown into the river. The spirit of the waters turned the body of Iara in a double. Remain human from the waist up, becoming fish the waist down. Iara became a mermaid, whose singing lures men in an irresistible way. Seeing the beautiful creature, they approach it, that embraces and drag to the depths, never to be seem again.

(sorry for all the mistakes... ;p)

Mãe D'agua
Iara and Boto-rosa (pink dolphin? another tale...) from deviantART

My great-grandmother used to tell me and my sister a tale of the old man of the birch wood. He is a terrifying giant whose sole purpose is to punish children who behave badly. He lives in the forest and camouflages himself as a birch tree (these were common in the area where my great-grandmother lived). When a child behaves badly, a parent need only call his name, and he will hunt down the child and whip them with his arms made from birch branches and twigs.

When we refused to finish our dinner, or threw a temper tantrum, my great-grandmother would face the forest and call, "Oh, old man of the birch wood, old man of the birch wood!", and we would immediately rush to obey her in fear of his appearance.

Needless to say, my sister and I were scared of ever venturing into the forest after hearing this tale.

Another tale revolved around a woman who had drowned in the lake nearby who would pull children underwater, drowning and devouring them, if they ventured in too deep.

There were other tales too, of elves and gnomes who lived in the walls and listened in on naughty children. You can probably sense the underlying pattern behind these folk tales.

These were stories that were passed down from generation to generation, told by parents or grandparents to children to make sure that they behaved well. I think my great-grandmother herself, now 98 years old, heard these stories in her own childhood.

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Happy Pi ref :)

In Southern Africa many people prop their beds up with bricks to keep tokoloshes away. A tokoloshe is a spirit who causes trouble for you when you sleep - it might sneek in and bite your toes off or steal your children, or deliver poison or curses from a witchdoctor hired by your enemies, or it might impregnate your wife in her sleep while you're away from home for an extended period. Apparently that last example actually happens quite often, and many people consider that irrefutable proof that tokoloshes are real.

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How about ... BUMP :D

Sleipnir, Odin's warhorse.
A six or eight (depending on what you read where) legged steed of rather epic proportions... most interesting, or maybe disturbing though, is his origins.

According to Norse mythology, the wall that enclosed Asgard was destroyed during a war between the Vanir and the Aesir, leaving the gods vulnerable to an attack by the giants.
One day, an itinerant stonemason named Blast came to Asgard and offered to rebuild the wall if the goddess Freya would consent to be his wife. He asked for the sun and the moon as well. The gods wanted the wall rebuilt but the terms stated by the mason were outrageous. However, the god Loki proposed a way of outwitting the mason and getting at least part of the wall rebuilt for nothing. The gods agreed to the payment asked by the mason, but only if the work was completed within six months. The mason insisted that he be allowed to use his stallion, Svadilfari, in rebuilding the wall.
The work proceeded much more rapidly than the gods had anticipated and they began to worry that the mason might have to be paid after all. The god Odin threatened to kill Loki if the wall was completed within the allotted time. Loki saw that the mason's horse was doing the heavy hauling and he devised a plan to deprive the mason of the help of his horse. Taking the form of a young mare, Loki lured the stallion into a thicket and made sure that he remained there until the next day. When Svadilfari returned to his master it was too late to complete the work. The mason became so angry that he revealed his true form, that of a rock giant. The god Thor dispatched the giant with a mighty blow of his hammer, Mjollnir.
Months later, Loki returned to Asgard. He brought with him a gray colt with eight legs, the foal of Loki the mare and Svadilfari the stallion. He gave it to Odin, saying that its name was Sleipnir. The colt could travel over land and sea and through the air.

Folkloric BUMP!