Resources · Creatures, spirits & other beings

Folklore Dictionary

Meet the beings of folklore: explore their names, descriptions and associated traditions, from familiar creatures to less familiar inhabitants of the otherworld.

1,598 reference entries · Browse A–Z or explore by place

Explore by place

Creature coverage

Zoom or move the map, then choose “Filter to this area” to list creatures with a tradition location in that view. You can combine this with a character family or a search term.

Creatures associated with a tradition

4 creatures at 35 tradition locations · 0 without tradition coordinates

Markers use tradition coordinates linked through source names, recorded aliases, language groups or reviewed associations. Language-group links show cultural context, rather than verified creature occurrences in every tradition. Creatures sharing a location are grouped; select a marker to see their names. Counts cover all matching entries across every results page.

Use the location filter or the list below to browse associated places.

Browse associated places without the map

Browse the dictionary

4 matching entries

CreatureTraditionDescriptionMap locations
Abzar iyesiSpirits and otherworld peoples (suggested) Turkic Household spirit 35
Al AnaSpirits and otherworld peoples (suggested) Turkic Female spirit that kidnaps human children and replaces them with her own. 35
ArchuraSpirits and otherworld peoples (suggested) Turkic Shapeshifting woodland spirit 35
AsenaAnimals (suggested) Turkic Blue-maned wolf. 35




If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help

How to cite: Fielder-White, Jonathan (2026). The Folklore Database. Citation version 1.261028.1 (28 October 2026). https://folkloredatabase.com. ORCID iD 0009-0006-1672-4451
The citation version records the access date and does not identify an archived database snapshot.
Please cite the relevant sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including the Folklore Database, Berezkin-Duvakin Catalogue, ATU, Thompson, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed. Please respect copyright and licences.

Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-Duvakin derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
Rights in original software, interface design and other protected material not expressly licensed for reuse are reserved to their respective rights holders.

Text and data mining: For protected material not offered under a Creative Commons or other reuse licence, the Folklore Database reserves the rights it holds in automated extraction, dataset creation and AI training, to the extent permitted by law. This reservation does not restrict uses permitted by the applicable Creative Commons or other licence, public-domain status, or statutory exceptions and limitations. Third-party material retains its own terms. Please contact us for help identifying the applicable sources, licences and attribution for bulk research access.

Designed and Developed by Jonathan Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. Rights reserved except where licensed or otherwise stated.