Saturday Seven–Legends and Monsters

Okay—I admit when I saw the call for Saturday Seven from LASR, my first thought was ‘great—something else to do.’ I really didn’t plan to participate because—WIP.

But for the next day, every time I turned around I saw another possible topic: 7 favorite witches; 7 great winter salads; 7 fascinating mysteries; 7 Reasons to Quit my DayJob; 7 Reasons not to Quit my Dayjob—and the list grows.

So I am caught in LASR’s web.

My first Saturday  Seven comes directly from research. I write Gothic/paranormal/fantasy romance with a lot of Celtic influence. I’m constantly looking for legends/creatures/people to work into my stories. Here are seven I’m working with now in that infamous WIP. (Bonus: some of these titles are linked to posts that go more in depth.)

1.  Skinwalkers—A very scary Navaho shapeshifter. These critters make Dracula look like a fluffy bunny. Just mentioning them in a conversation can summon them—so you’re welcome.
2. Witches—When I was a kid, I rooted for the Evil Queen and I never grew out of that. My witches are charmingly depraved; male and female (and the male ones are particularly intriguing); usually the protagonist instead of the antagonist; mostly Scottish; and they don’t need gimmicks like twitching noses to get their magic out there.
3. Blue Men of the Minch—Like demonic Smurfs, these creatures lurk beneath the frigid waters of the Minch, the stretch of water between the northern Outer Hebrides and mainland Scotland. Their favorite game is to challenge boat captains to a rhyming competition and drown the ones who couldn’t come up with snappy poems.
4. Baibhan Sith—(pronounced baa-vun shee)A female Scottish vampire who seduces comely young men and then rips them to pieces with long claws and teeth. She lives in northern Scotland—mostly.
5. Brownies—Wee brown men and women who often attach themselves to a particular clan or person—sometimes driving the object of their attentions mad in the process.
6. Colorful Lady Ghosts—Every castle in Scotland has a female ghost of one hue or another. We have white ladies, green ladies, pink ladies—each with her own personal axe to grind against the living.
7. Granny Women—These ladies are the traditional herbal healers of Appalachia and points west—including Arkansas and Missouri. They were the women who delivered babies, cured the ague, made sure the cows gave milk and the cream churned into butter. They dispensed everything from liniment to love potions to those under their care. Some people call them witches.

Do you have a penchant for a particular kind of creature or historical person—mythical or otherwise?

DO TELL in Comments. 

And Thanks, LASR–This is going to be fun!