Any religion has in its arsenal a set of parables explaining the main provisions and norms of correct behavior from the point of view of this religion. And, of course, these parables are not complete without intimidating unscrupulous followers. So, here is a list of the most creepy religious monsters, carefully watching your actions and just waiting for the chance to pay you a visit.
1. Dibbooks
The spirits of the deceased sinner come from Ashkenazi Jewish folklore. Instead of going to eternal rest, the dybbuk, held in the world of the living by committed crimes, prefers to move into the body of some still living sinner and spoil the life of him and those around him.
Dibbooks are analogs of Catholic demons, which priests love to exorcise in Hollywood horror films. It's easy to avoid meeting a dibbook - don't commit sins.
2. Nephilim
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Goliath was not the only large man in the Bible. In fact, it is possible that he was a descendant of an entire race of biblical giants known as the Nephilim (giants).
Theologians disagree about their origins: some believe that the Nephilim were descended from Cain, others that they were children from unions between angels and earthly women. But in any case, it is obvious that the giants were huge, ferocious creatures that you would definitely not want to mess with.
3. Pretes
Extremely unpleasant characters from Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. While Western religions have a tradition of associating the reincarnation of humans into demons with their own sins, the pretas ("hungry ghosts") are hostages of their bad karma, corrupted by previous incarnations.
They all the time experience unquenchable hunger and thirst, and look like creatures with a small throat and a huge insatiable belly. While preta staggers on the ground, his relatives must take care to correct his karma with the help of a special ritual, otherwise there is a danger of this spirit being reborn into an even more vicious bhuta.
4. Rakshasa
Another hello from Buddhism - a man-eating demon. Again, returning to Western religions, we note that spirits in them, as a rule, are endowed with very specific powers: some torture, others threaten, others frighten, and still others kill.
Rakshasas, on the other hand, have the widest range of possibilities: depending on their desire, these monsters can take any shape: be tiny, huge, beautiful, ugly, people, animals. The only thing that is invariable is that they have huge claws and feed on people. There is no consensus about where they come from, but it is clear why: so that decent Buddhists would be more terrible.
5. Genies
In Islamic mythology, jinn are the only creatures besides humans who have free will. Jinn live as if in a parallel world: we do not see them, but they are.
They are born, marry, produce offspring, and when they die, just like people, they appear before the judgment of Allah. Moreover, the genies are free to believe in his existence or not to believe. Djinn are of different types, but the most malevolent ones are the efreet: huge, winged, evil and cunning creatures of hell that live underground. And, of course, they serve Iblis - the analogue of Satan.
6. Abaddon
Traditionally used in the texts of Judaism, the word "abaddon", meaning "destruction", later in Christian texts gets a physical embodiment - the angel of destruction, destruction and death.
Abaddon is also called the "Destroyer" and "King of the Locust" in honor of the calamities he caused. According to some texts, originally Abaddon was the angel Muriel who collected the dust from which God created Adam. According to another version, his main function was to watch over Satan in hell. Later texts describe Abaddon as a demon sitting on a throne of maggots and commanding an army of locusts that destroys and devours all living things, with the exception of the righteous and saints.
7. Pishacha
An even more vile creature than the Rakshasa. These are the lowest and most vicious of all the eastern demons. Pishacha - the spirit of a person who committed a crime during his lifetime, for example, fraud, rape, theft, etc.
Pishachi look rather disgusting: in many texts they are described as humanoids with black skin, red eyes and protruding veins. They are engaged in the fact that they go to places of executions and cemeteries and spoil girls: it was their tricks that someone's unexpected pregnancy was attributed to.
8. Hazi Dahaka
Zoroastrianism, once a flourishing world religion, is now prevalent mainly in Iran, Pakistan and India. Hazi Dakhaka "moved" from it to Iranian folklore, becoming a part of it.
He is described as a creature with three heads and six eyes. He knows all the sins of the world and bleeds with snakes and rats. According to the prophecy in the Zoroastrian version of the Apocalypse, all this will end with the fact that before the end of the world Hazi Dahaka will devour all the animals in the world and a third of humanity.
9. Vetale
Unlike other oriental ghosts, the vetala prefers to deal not with the living, but with the dead, and literally with corpses.
After the vetale possesses a corpse, it stops decomposing and walks around the world like a zombie from Central American mythology. The difference is that the vetale is not interested in devouring brains or human flesh. Its purpose is simply to annoy and torment people out of envy.
1 0. Hongdong
A faceless deity from Chinese folk beliefs, the personification of chaos. Hongdong is described as a humanoid creature that resembles a living, shapeless sack with no holes.
Hongdong primarily promotes evil and avoids good. However, at the moment, his fate has already ended tragically: the gods Hu and Shu, who always considered Hongdong a freak, decided that they had to drill his eyes, nose and mouth in him. Unfortunately, despite their good intentions, after this surgical intervention, the deity suddenly passed away.
11. Xing Tian
Another Chinese folk myth says that there was once a giant warrior who served under Emperor Yang. When Yang was defeated by the Yellow Emperor, Xing Tian decided to take revenge and challenged the offender to a duel. During the battle, the Yellow Emperor beheaded Xing Tian and hid his head in the mountains. And then the story gets weird.
Instead of resting, Xing Tian's body lived and dragged along the ground in search of a head. After a long time of fruitless searches, the warrior surrendered and … grew a new head on his torso, using nipples instead of eyes and a navel instead of a mouth, turning into an ugly creature, always rebelling against the gods.
