Title: Mythical creatures
Contributed by: isaganireyes
“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.”
― Stephen King
Horror is such a storied genre both in literature and in the movies... with roots in the 18th century gothic stories to the introduction of Frankenstein and Dracula in the 19th century up to the proliferation of vampires and zombies on our television and the big screen right now. It made us scream with fright, it scared the wits out of us but somehow we can’t keep ourselves from reading and watching these stories.
We could say that horror has such a great influence in our society. Based on folklore this stories were meant to teach us lessons, show us a side of psyche we are not …
Delivering fright to its readers and audiences while bringing tons of money to their authors and producers. That is if they are successful, if enough people got scared of their story.
Major characters seen in the horror genre
Vampires
One of the staples of the horror genre vampires started to scare us in literature with Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897 but the notion of vampirism has existed for millenia. Portrayal of vampires changed over time. If you're just starting to write vampire stories here are some of the common traits. Vampires need blood. Red Cross!! Vampires are viral. No, not twitter hastaggy viral. They possess superhuman qualities. Most vampires are stronger, faster and durable than most humans. They also happen to better looking than your average joe/jane. Gandang Vicky Belo! And lastly, vampires are immortal.
Werewolf
is amythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (e.g. via a bite or scratch from another werewolf).
Werewolves were said in European folklore to bear tell-tale physical traits even in their human form. These included the meeting of both eyebrows at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low-set ears and a swinging stride. One method of identifying a werewolf in its human form was to cut the flesh of the accused, under the pretense that fur would be seen within the wound. A Russian superstition recalls a werewolf can be recognised by bristles under the tongue.
Witch
A "witch" differs from a sorcerer in that they do not use physical tools or actions to curse; their maleficium (wrongdoing) is perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality, and the person may be unaware that they are a "witch", or may have been convinced of their own nature by the suggestion of others. The most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, "spell" being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these.
A new version of the zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian religion, has also emerged in popular culture in recent decades. This "zombie" is taken largely from George A. Romero's seminal film Night of the Living Dead,[29] which was in turn partly inspired by Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend.[30][31] The word zombie is not used in Night of the Living Dead, but was applied later by fans.
