THE CONCORDANCE
memory
What haunts because it is not forgotten.
Asia & the Isles · 11
BakenekoA transformed cat of Japanese folklore, sometimes linked with age, mistreatment, or revenge. Related to, but not identical with, the split-tailed nekomata.GashadokuroA gigantic skeletal yōkai said to form from the bones of people who died of starvation or in battle without proper rites. Its approach is announced by a rattling, grinding sound.GwisinA Korean term for ghost, spirit, or divinity. Unlike the dokkaebi, gwisin in folk usage are often the human dead who remain because of unfinished ties. Distinct from the kumiho, which is a fox, not a ghost.JiangshiA hopping revenant of Chinese folklore and later popular culture, usually tied to a body animated by disrupted death rites or vital force.KuntilanakThe Indonesian cousin of the Malay pontianak: a female revenant of pregnancy or childbirth death. Names are often used interchangeably; tellings and the city of Pontianak’s founding legend keep them entangled rather than identical.Mae NakMae Nak of Phra Khanong: a specific Thai revenant of a woman who died in childbirth and waited for her husband. Her shrine at Wat Mahabut remains a place of living offerings.Nü GuiA Chinese category of female ghost, often the returning spirit of a woman who died under injustice. Not one named monster, but a recurring figure of grievance, mourning dress, and unfinished memory.PontianakA female ghost figure found in Malay-language folklore, with local versions and names that shift across the region.Sundel BolongA Javanese and Indonesian female revenant: a woman who died pregnant or in childbirth, often after sexual violence, leaving a hole in her back. Distinct from kuntilanak though films blur them.UbumeA spirit associated with women who died in childbirth in Japanese lore, often appearing near water or bridges and testing the living with a baby that becomes impossibly heavy.YūreiSpirits of the dead that linger for unresolved reasons — often bound to places, objects, or grudges — until the matter that holds them is finally settled.
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◌Eastern Europe · 5
DrekavacA South Slavic night-being often linked with the souls of unbaptised or improperly buried dead. Its cry is the warning; descriptions of its body shift from village to village.GolemIn Jewish tradition a golem is unformed matter, later an artificial human animated by holy language. The famous Prague tale of the Maharal is a later legend attached to a historical rabbi, not a proven event.LeshyA forest being in Slavic tradition, variously imagined as guardian, trickster, or shapeshifter whose domain confuses the unwary.UpyrA Slavic term for a dangerous returning dead figure, often associated with improper burial or an unclean death. Later vampire fiction borrows the word but should not overwrite older regional meanings.VilaBeautiful, often winged mountain or cloud spirits in South Slavic lore (vila, samovila, samodiva), capable of aid or harm. Offerings at springs and trees belong to living memory of the cult in some communities.
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♧Europe & the North · 5
AnkouIn Breton tradition the Ankou is death's worker for a parish, often the last person who died that year, heard in a creaking cart. A herald and companion of the dead, not a murderer for sport.Black ShuckA spectral black dog of East Anglian folklore, often linked in stories to storms, churchyards, and ominous encounters.Church grimGuardian spirit of a church and churchyard in English and Scandinavian folklore, often a black dog, sometimes a church-lamb. Protector of consecrated ground, easily confused with omen-dogs such as Black Shuck.DybbukA possessing spirit in Jewish folklore and literature, whose stories belong to distinct historical and religious contexts and deserve care beyond horror shorthand.Santa CompañaIn Galician tradition the Santa Compaña is a nocturnal procession of the dead along parish paths, often led by a living person with a cross or holy water. For some it remains a living folk belief, not a discarded ghost story.
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✧Oceania & the Pacific · 4
MenehuneSmall night-working people in Hawaiian storytelling credited with prodigious stone construction. Interpretations range from legendary craftspeople to encodings of earlier populations—handle with cultural care.Night MarchersA supernatural procession in Hawaiian storytelling, often treated with serious respect. This entry points outward rather than pretending a living sacred tradition is simply a scare story.TaniwhaTaniwha are powerful beings in Māori traditions, associated with specific places and whakapapa. They may protect, warn, or threaten depending on the story and relationship.TipuaIn Māori tradition, tipua can be supernatural beings or uncanny animated objects and places. Meanings are specific to whakapapa and locale; treat as knowledge, not a catch-all cryptid.
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◎South Asia · 4
BhūtaA broad South Asian name for a disembodied spirit or restless dead, often linked to violent death or incomplete funeral rites, yet also, in some regions, to honoured local deities and household guardians.PretaHungry ghosts in South Asian religious cosmologies, beings of intense craving and thin satisfaction. Theological and ethical contexts matter more than horror costume.ShakchunniIn Bengali folklore, the spirit of a married Hindu woman who died while her husband still lived, retaining shankha bangles and a fierce attachment to household life. Related to, but not identical with, petni and churel.VetālaA spirit associated with corpses and cremation grounds in Sanskrit and regional storytelling traditions, notably in tales built around riddles and moral dilemmas.
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✦The Americas · 5
El CadejoSpectral dog spirits of Central American lore, commonly told as a white protective cadejo and a black malevolent one that follow night travellers, especially the drunk or alone.El SilbónThe Whistler is a feared figure of the Llanos, known for a melody whose apparent nearness or distance can be deceptive in different tellings.IjiraqShapeshifting beings in Inuit lore (especially North Baffin dialects) associated with leading travellers astray or hiding children. Inuksuit may help the lost find a way home. Treat as living cultural knowledge, not a game enemy.La LloronaA weeping figure whose story travels through Mexico, Latin America, and Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. Her appearance, origin, and meaning differ sharply from place to place.La SiguanabaA Central American spectre — Siguanaba, Sihuanaba, Cigua, Cegua — beautiful from behind, horse-faced or skull-faced up close. Related to La Llorona as a weeping or water woman in popular talk, but not the same being: she punishes lust and infidelity, and in Salvadoran cycles seeks her son Cipitío.
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