THE GREEN HUNTSMAN – The Green Huntsman is an interesting example of the many figures who started out as folklore before being committed to the printed page in horror stories.
Long before the short stories featuring the Green Huntsman began to appear around the 1830s the figure was already being conflated with the Wicked Huntsman of Basque folk tales. Joseph Holt Ingraham’s 1841 story titled simply The Green Huntsman is arguably the best known of the short stories.
The figure eventually known as the Green Huntsman has its origins centuries ago. Originally a mortal man, this huntsman was a Castilian nobleman who had a perfect body but a very ugly face. As the tale was inevitably embellished it got to the point where the man freakishly had just one large green eye above the nose of his otherwise handsome face.
The nobleman was obsessed with tracking down and marrying a mythical woman called the Christmas Bride who could only be found on Christmas Eve. This woman was incredibly beautiful but blind. The Green Huntsman wanted her as his bride not only because she would not be able to see how hideous he was, but, more importantly, she was destined to give birth to a son who would become the New Charlemagne, who would unite all Europe under one ruler.
Clad in his all-green hunting outfit the Green Huntsman would ride forth every Christmas Eve accompanied by his hunting dogs. One year the whip he used to urge his horse onward contained a hair from the head of the Virgin Mary herself. (Remember, there was a lucrative business long ago in selling fake relics like pieces of wood from the “true” cross, plus the bones or other items from various saints.)
That hair from Christian mythology’s Blessed Mother supposedly would act as a divining rod, and the bristles on the whip would point the way to the Christmas Bride. The Green Huntsman had paid an enormous amount of money to the Pope himself to obtain the hair. Continue reading
TEHAINGA’ATUA – The Chief of the sky gods in Bellona and Rennell (Bel-Ren) mythology. Tehainga’atua ruled the stars, which Bel-Ren astrologers read to determine when (they believed) the sky-god would command particular stars to unleash dangerous seas, rain and thunder storms plus hurricanes. Earthquakes would be unleashed on the two islands by Mahuike, another of Tehainga’atua’s subordinate deities.
Nohoilpi – The gambling god of the Navajo, sometimes referred to as the Great Gambler. He is a renegade son of the sun god Tsohanoai.
The hit movie Moana seems to have caused a lot of people to refer each other to my various Polynesian myth articles. A few of them even claim that it feels like my articles (written and posted years ago) may have inspired the creative team behind Moana.
PART ONE: When Pele offends the love goddess Laka that deity takes revenge by causing Pele to fall in love with the mortal Prince Lohiau of Kauai. CLICK
Okay, I hate to go on record defending George “Jar Jar” Lucas of all people but there is one criticism directed at him that I think is unfair. People often accuse Lucas of jamming in a Jesus parallel with the way Shmee Skywalker gave birth to Anakin without any actual father being involved in the process.
HUITZILOPOCHTLI
YAHOLA and HAYUYA – These two gods resided in the air and the clouds. They were the guardians of Muscogee people being given training in mysticism and the medical arts. Yahola and Hayuya were the two most prominent of the four Hiyouyulgee, divinities who tutored the ancient Muscogee about the use of fire and various plants, medicinal and otherwise. Yahola and his brother Hayuya endowed people with strength, creative inspiration and magical abilities.
EKEITEHUA – (Also called Singano) This major deity was the god of the northwest wind and was also the main district deity of the Iho (Taupongi) Clan, the archrivals of the Kaitu’u Clan since those two clans are the last survivors of the original eight traditional clans.
ARKOANYO – The bird-creating deity who often protected his fellow divinities, especially from the storm god Valedjad. That god often grew so angry with his fellow deities that he unleashed powerful storms on them, sometimes destroying lesser deities who dared to oppose him. 
To celebrate the upcoming release of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the Sleep Matters Club have rounded up 40 bedtime monsters for