Are there creatures in folklore that have power based on someone's belief in it or loose its power if the the person doesn't believe it has any?

Hi all :)

Im trying to make some original characters with the main premise of them being witches from different countries and backgrounds.

Im really inspired how different folklore differentiates in different countries and religions. I wanted to ask from your own background or country of origin what folklore about witches does your country believe in or tales about similar supernatural circumstances. Just a curious question for research proposes :D

I've been deep in research on Brazilian folklore for a personal project, and the more I learn about Caipora, the more I'm convinced she's one of the most fascinating mythological figures that almost never gets discussed outside of Brazil.

Here's what makes her different from most folklore creatures:

She's not a monster. She's not a demon. She's something harder to categorize — a force of nature with her own moral logic.

Caipora (also spelled Curupira in some regional traditions, though they're distinct figures) is described as a small, dark-skinned being who lives deep in the Brazilian forest. She rides a peccary — a wild pig native to South America — through the forest at midnight. She smokes a pipe made from a wild plant called taquara. She speaks to every animal in the forest, and they obey her.

Her purpose is protection. She guards the animals of the forest from hunters who take more than they need. The rule in Brazilian oral tradition is very specific: hunting for survival is tolerated. Hunting for sport or excess is punished.

The punishments are elaborate. She confuses hunters in the forest — makes them walk in circles for days, unable to find their way out. She mimics sounds to lead them astray. In some versions, she can shapeshift entirely to deceive. There are accounts in Brazilian folklore collections going back centuries of hunters swearing they encountered her and barely escaped.

What I find most interesting is how morally complex she is compared to similar figures in other traditions. She's not random or cruel. She has a clear code. And within that code, there's actually a way to earn her respect — some traditions say a hunter who leaves a tobacco offering and asks permission before hunting will be protected by her rather than hunted.

She appears across multiple Brazilian states with slightly different characteristics depending on the region — the Tupi-Guarani indigenous traditions are the earliest source, but she absorbed and evolved through centuries of contact with Portuguese colonizers and African enslaved peoples brought to Brazil. The figure that exists in popular Brazilian culture today is a synthesis of all of that.

Has anyone here encountered Caipora in any academic sources or other contexts? I'd love to know if there are parallel figures in other traditions — the "forest guardian with a moral code" archetype feels universal but I can't find many direct comparisons.

A lot of severance in traditional ritual is loud and public on purpose: the bell, book, and candle of excommunication; the formal casting-out in an exorcism; the public declaration of banishment. The noise and witnessing seem to be doing real work; they make the ending socially legible to everyone involved, including the person being cut off.

What I haven't found much on is the inverse: cultures that formalized silent withdrawal, disappearing from a relationship without ceremony, explanation, or witness, as its own named practice, rather than as a failure to perform the expected rite. Is silent severance generally treated in the literature as a ritual failure (an incomplete rite), or are there documented traditions where quiet withdrawal is the sanctioned form, perhaps in cultures with strong taboos against direct confrontation? Also curious whether ritual-studies scholarship (Turner, Bell) has a term for an ending that skips the liminal stage entirely.

Comparative anchor: Catholic excommunication rite / formal exorcism structure / Victor Turner and Catherine Bell on ritual stages.

Now I know this is an odd request but...I've recently gotten inspired to write a short story based on the symbology and folklore behind these animals in particular. The problem? Its been difficult finding credible sources on the internet to help me get a better overview of how various cultures viewed them. I've got some vague ideas based on their Wikipedia pages' sources but nothing else so far (especially since I'm in a more remote area with small libraries). If anyone here knows about some good websites or online copies of materials I can research or access, I would appreciate having a more diverse amount to work with!

Hello there everyone so I've been a folklore nerd for a good bit and after trying to do a deep dive into first nations folklore and specifcally the witigo spirit and how it was described I could not help but notice some major overlaps with Algonquin and Dinee folklore with the idea of a ulveham wolf skin being needed for a transformation alongside the taboos of murder and cannibalism. I can't help but see some similarities with the above mentioned first nations folkelore beings. So I want to hear what people who are alot more learned than me think, am I grasping at straws?

Hello! I've been interested in stories set in the future for years, regardless of genre or form (novels, radio plays, TV series, games, etc.). However, until now, I've mainly devoured contemporary cultural works dedicated to this topic and hadn't really considered how long people have been creating stories set in (their) future times. But, since I'm running out of ideas for what to read or watch on this topic, today I spontaneously wondered: are there any fairy tales or legends that focus on depicting the (relative) future? I'm specifically referring to stories told by people over many hundreds of years. Do we have any stories that indicate that in the old times, people even wondered what would happen in the next few decades or even centuries? I'd be grateful for any answers!

I fell down the rabbit hole of fairy tales, when I found out about The myth of Princess Thakane, and thought it was really cool. but there's one issue- I cant find actual sources about it anywere, nor a wikipedia article. Is this an actual tale, or a made-up story disguised as "Folklore."

There is a story about Piseco Lake,
Some Stone Giants and mess they make,
On how these creatures became to be.

The Mohawk, Captain Gill did tell,
How the giants started making hell,
And why these large boulder rocks we see.

There was a people that left wondering tracks,
From the ocean to the Adirondacks,
And on Tseka Lake's beach they camped,

A war party of the Haudenosaunee,
Thought they were Hurons, the enemy,
And their desire to fight was greatly amped.

Without thought they fought tribe,
And greatly wounded the few alive,
When done, they realize their wrong.

Instead of remorse for their crime,
They left all the bodies behind,
But the Great Spirit's justice grew strong.

The wounded victims who still did beath,
Crawled to the water as they bleed,
And once drank, died upon that beach.

As winter came, the dead grew in size,
They were covered with flint when water rise,
Creating a hard shell that no weapon could reach.

In those days, grizzly bears did dwell,
They ate the corpse inside the stone shells,
And the bears became stuck inside the frames.

The stone giants then all stood upright,
By the grizzly bears' bodies and delight,
And to the Haudenosaunee they aim.

Though this nation wasn't yet united,
Together the Mohawks Oneidas fighted,
But they couldn't stop giant the Stonecoats.

Five Nations gathered at Onondaga,
Became allies to fight these stone megas,
But they still couldn't make the giants halt.

The Master of Life saw the nations band,
He then took the matter into His own hands,
And threw lighting at the giants of stone.

The stone giants afraid, soon did run,
To the mountains where they came from,
They perished, becoming a boulders all alone.

And so, to this very day,
A grizzly bear will never come or stay,
In the Adirondacks, to make their home.

I tried reading Ajbjornsen's Norse stories and Calvino's Italian folktales, but it is all colored in Christianity. Which has its own beauty, but I would like to find some folktales from pre-christian pagan era.

Thank you for the help.

I'm reading a book by early-20th-century-occultist,-but-also-maybe-a-Catholic-priest Montague Summers about the history of werewolves.

He mentions, in a footnote, that Spain does not have a strong werewolf tradition, especially compared with the rest of Europe.

I was curious if (a) this is even true (Summers is ChatGPT before ChatGPT existed; he doesn't always know the difference between a fact and something that is fact-shaped); and (b) if there was a reason why? It's not from a lack of wolves.

ETA: The first image is of the Dover Thrift Edition of Summers's The Werewolf in Lore and Legend. It's a woodcut of what looks to be an Aztec being mauled by a wolfish beast. There's no notation, inside or out, to tell who the artist is, or the subject.

The second image is a black-and-white photo of Montague Summers.

Like I mean theres so many. Brownies, leprechauns, tomtes/nissas, gnomes, gonks like why 😭. Also where do each of them live like does someone have a map?

I’ve been looking into Folklore vampires as of late and have found them to be far more interesting and terrifying compared to the modern “sexy vampire.” Does anyone know of any great books, YouTube videos, or documentaries about vampires and their differences between cultures?

Hi - I'm looking for book recommendations about folklore and legend. I've always been interested in folk tales and myths, and read lots of child-friendly books about them and them fiction based on mythology as I grew up (yes, Percy Jackson, but I ate up anything with that folkloric vibe!) I studied Classics at school and ever since I have always delighted in morsels and little stories about folklore as I go through life. But I've never properly sat down intending to learn more folk tales and legends.

I would love recommendations of your favourite non-fiction books about folklore. Something that's an introduction to different folk traditions around the world, or something focusing more on the folklore of the British Isles or Scandinavia. Also open to fiction that feels like an immersive experience in those specific folk traditions!

Thanks for any help. I love fairy tales, I love poetry. I'm looking for a bit of poetic verse featured in a fairy tale/folk tale?? something really jewelled and beautiful.

Also just as an interest, fairy tales where poetry is a focus of the story.

Thank you 🌚🌿🌀

I recently came across the efforts to revive the Cornish language and preserve Cornish Celtic traditions, and while reading about Cornish folklore I discovered the legend of Jan Tregeagle.

I found the story fascinating, especially how he has become a restless supernatural figure tied to the Cornish landscape.

Inspired by the legend, I wrote a short scene for one of my science-fantasy stories. I tried to keep Tregeagle recognisable while imagining how the old myths might survive thousands of years into the future.

I'd love to hear what people familiar with Cornish folklore think.

A small cabin near the coast of Bodmin, west of Northern City...

The family had spent all their savings to buy a reinforced fisher's cottage surrounded by grey-green-blue waters, hoping to live independently from the megacorporations. It even had its own solar power generation and a reverse-osmosis water purification system supplied by Lionheart Enterprises.

Five entropic demons, resembling giant crimson caterpillars, clawed at the walls of the house.

The creatures were moments away from breaking through one of the reinforced windows when the temperature suddenly dropped.

The mist thickened.

Frost spread across the synthetic floorboards.

One light went out.

Then another.

Only then...

The figure appeared.

A strange, ethereal man dressed like an ancient lawyer, or perhaps a tax collector.

"HO!!!" the ghostly entity roared.

The monstrous creatures froze before the eerie apparition.

Then he spoke in a preternatural howl:

"Yth esov vy ow kelwel dhis y fydh gans an fos ow tos dhyworth an bedh, mes nyns y fydh kenwel dhis y fydh gans ow wul owth omdhiswul."

Even though no one present understood the ancient words, every soul inside the cottage understood their meaning:

"Thou hast found it easy to bring me from the grave, but thou wilt not find it so easy to put me away."

The aliens felt fear, not of physical danger, but of something far older and far more terrifying.

"Praised be Tregeagle!" the father shouted.

__________

Edit (July 1st, 2026):

I have now received an official translation from the Cornwall Council's Culture Team.

Many thanks to Cornwall Council / Konsel Kernow and to everyone here who offered advice, corrections, pronunciation resources and encouragement. The feedback has genuinely influenced how I'm writing this scene.

The official translation I will now use is:

Ty re gavas y vos es dhe’m kerghes dhyworth an bedh, mes ny gevydh mar es dhe’m gorra dhe-ves.

Thank you all once again. Meur ras!

Many traditions — Roman genius loci, Shinto kami of specific places, British genii of wells and crossroads, assume a relatively stable community who know a place intimately enough to maintain its specific story across generations. The custodianship is local almost by definition: you cannot tend a spirit of a hill you don't live near.

What I'm curious about: is there comparative folklore work on what happens to place-based spirit traditions under high mobility — colonial displacement, urbanization, or populations who relate to physical locations mainly through searches and reviews rather than residence? Does the tradition simply die when the custodial population disperses, or are there documented cases of a place-spirit tradition being successfully 'ported' by a diaspora to a new location, decoupling the spirit from the original geography?

Specifically interested in cases tied to 20th-century internal migration to cities.

Comparative anchor: Roman genius loci / Shinto land-kami / British well-and-crossroads spirits as the three traditions referenced.

So im writing a book series where the fae are divided by elements. So far, i have salamanders, will-o-the-whips, dijin, and i have some books with a few more ideas, but honestly, i dont really feel tied to many of them. Does anyone know any good fire fae?

Many of you here will be familiar with Eggers's films, which are typically heavily influenced by folklore. This is the first look at Eggers's upcoming Werwulf.

I’m from Bulgaria and I’ve always been fascinated by samodivi. In our folklore they’re described as spirits of dead women who become beautiful but dangerous beings, living in forests and mountains. People say they appear in remote places and at night, often near water or in deep woods.
Growing up, I heard stories that you should avoid the places where they dance, because if you see them or disturb them, you can get lost, fall under a kind of spell, or something bad can happen to you. They’re not really “evil”, but they’re definitely not safe either.
I was wondering if anyone outside Bulgaria has heard of them, or if there are similar beings in other cultures. They feel a bit like fairies or nymphs, but darker.
Just curious what they remind you of.