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Creature Feature
It has been wildly too long since the paper had a Creature Feature, so in honor of one of Clarion University’s own resident beasts of mythology, we take this time to bring you the story of the legendary Studio Hell Beast.
Wizards are a well known stable of fantasy and fiction. Wizards, also known as sorcerers, warlocks, witches and a wide variety of other terms, are most widely characterized by their ability to manipulate magic.
While many of them are mostly human in nature, some believe their abilities to manipulate magic come from an ancestor of magical descent, such as dragons, unicorns or fairies.
Just in time for the Christmas season is a story on our favorite holiday goodies craftsmen and cookie manufacturers, elves.
Elves originally come from Germanic folklore, where they were believed to be a race of divine beings blessed with magical powers which could be used for the benefit or harm of mankind.
Generally, Creature Feature takes the opportunity to address mythical beasts, but this week, we take the time to look at the advances in a growing group of creatures that are taking the scene; robots, and all things associated.
Robots have long been a fixture of much of science fiction lore, featured heavily in future societies as manual and menial labor.
Few mythological creatures are as diverse as goblins. The term can apply to a group of sub-races of mythical creature, including goblins, hobgoblins and gremlins.
Goblins are said to grow up to 30 centimeters and are covered with a thick coat of black or gray hair.
Many monsters are combinations of normal animals in strange, often terrifying new ways, but few do as interestingly as the chimera.
The chimera of classical mythology is one of many creatures combining the identities of human and beast, or merging features of more than one animal, referring to a number of possible creatures.
Ghosts are a commonly known creature of myth and lore. Ghosts are said to be the disembodied spirits of the recently deceased stuck on earth with unfinished affairs to attend to.
Descriptions of ghosts are widely varied, ranging from invisible forces, to wispy human forms, to fully-formed human forms that lack the physical dimension.
Vampires have existed in legend as far back as 125 AD in Greek mythology with The Lamia, which was a human woman turned to evil by great loss and ate the flesh and blood of the innocent.
The word “Upir” (an early form of the word later to become ‘Vampire’) appears for the first time in writing in 1047 in a document to a Russian prince as “Upir Lichy” or ‘Wicked Vampire.’
Vampire legends started in the far East, more related to the Iranians, and moved west with caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranian.
Zombies have been one of the timeless staples of the horror genre, but few know the full story of the origins of the walking dead as we know them today.
The tradition of zombies comes to us from the island of Haiti, where practitioners of voodoo would fear becoming the slaves of witch doctors who had risen from the grave.
Gargoyles combine the magic of mythology with the functionality of architectural engineering. The term “gargoyle” comes from the French word, gargouille, meaning “throat” or “gullet.” The function of gargoyles architecturally was highly stylized water spouts. After a while, gargoyles lost their functionality and became stylistic additions to gothic-style architecture.
The majestic phoenix is a symbol of the eternal nature of life, and a powerful symbol of rebirth.
The phoenix is recognizable by its bright plumage of scarlet and gold. More than that, the phoenix is known for its extraordinary ability to, upon death, burst into flame and produce a new phoenix.
Unicorns are one of the most universally recognized of all mythic creatures, second only to perhaps the dragon. People have tried to fabricate their own unicorns, everything from fusing goat-horns together to making taxidermied horses and mounting horns randomly on their heads.
Dragons are creatures that have been with man in myth and legend since the earliest notions of serpentine creatures exist. Western lore tends to represent the dragon as the fire-breathing monster that haunts the horrors of legend. Dragons have been featured in such sources as the Bible, where one was described as having seven tales, and was seen as an agent of the devil.
Werewolves are one of the most well-known of mythical creatures. Werewolves have been in a number of films, and exist in a number of mythologies under various similar incarnations.
The werewolf is said to be a human who turns into a wolf-monster every full moon to feast upon the flesh of its victims, a mindless killer unaware of the nature of its crimes in human form.
Mothman is regarded by many in the paranormal community as being one of the most horrifying of all creatures. It tends to inhabit the Ohio River Valley, and became most active from 1966 to 1967.
According to skygaze.com, the event that introduced the world to the Mothman occurred Nov.
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