It may have been noticed that no mention has yet been made of ancient America or ancient Africa, the South Seas, and Australia. That these areas may in fact be largely left out is due to a fact already stated: namely that the idea of monsters arises at a relatively late stage of cultural development. The ancient American civilizations do show some rudimentary–perhaps independent–composite forms, but these are for the most part ill-defined and it is often difficult to distinguish between monsters and human figures masked or disguised in animal skins. Ideas of magic, totemic customs, and animistic equation of different natural spheres may have led to some of the ideas underlying the shapes that interest us here. But it seems that these never brought about a true creation of new beings in a distinct visual form. For this reason, we shall have to leave out these areas of civilization if we want to keep to our subject, though in individual cases references will be made to possible connections. The observation that monsters were not created originally by the so-called ‘primitive’ peoples, as one might have expected, but are in fact to a large extent the product of highly developed civilizations is surprising enough.

Such are the views of Heinz Mode in Fabulous Beasts and Demons, a book on mythological and folkloric creatures. Even accounting for the state of the field at the time, it’s hard for me to imagine just how fundamentally mistaken Mode was. Since I was a lad, I was regaled with tales of monsters, beasts, demons and gods every bit as weird, terrifying, and imaginative as the denizens of classical mythology. Being no stranger to the subject, Charles R. Saunders has much to say on the things which haunt the Dark Continent.

The Nfezu-loi of the Luabala River

There are two parts to “Imaginary Africans”: the first including discussion of some of the amazing things which populate the legend of Africa. He discusses what would nowadays be considered “cryptids”–the bizarre chemosit, the savage dingonek, the great horned chepekwe, the dinosaurian nzefu-loi. One can imagine that the gargantuan snake that menace the Tigress in “Queen of the Black Coast” may have been a badagui, or one of its cousins.

The second part discusses the more overtly mythological beings, dwellers of ethereal planes, haunters of the shadowy realms beyond death, ravenous horrors lurking beyond the veil between worlds. There are counterparts to European mythical stalwarts: were-leopard irimu, the vampiric tyerkow and mwanga, the dwarfish kitunusi and utechekulu, the giant Rom and Sau. The elfin wakyambi make an interesting complement to Saunders’ “Blackelven” article. Then there are those that have no real counterpart… but I guess you’ll just have to wander over to find out more.

In addition, Saunders has updated his Recommended Reading section with Craig Spector’s Underground, a rather intriguing-sounding story full of racial tension, Confederate history, and unholy underworlds.

If only “highly developed civilizations” can create monsters, methinks that they are just a little better at hiding–in fact, as well as in folklore.