Top 20 Terrifying Female Creatures From Myths And Legends

Top 20 Terrifying Female Creatures from Myths & Folklore

Hell hath no fury like THESE monsters. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 20 terrifying female creatures from myths and folklore.

For this list, we’ll be looking at female figures from myth and folklore whose stories and murderous predilections have left people around the world sleeping with the light on . . . or not at all. Since we’re talking about “creatures”, we’ll be excluding deities usually depicted in more or less human form.

#20: Gello

Greco-Byzantine Mythology
This bloodthirsty demon jealously attacks women who have what she never will: children. Gello is very particular about who she feeds on, preferring virgins, pregnant women or women with babies, and when she has found an appropriate girl, she is merciless. Similar to a vampire, Gello sinks her talons into them and then sucks their blood. The female demon causes infertility, miscarriage or the death of infant children. Perhaps even worse, she can possess women and force them to murder children. She doesn’t attack only women, either, but sometimes goes after the children themselves, especially children who have been left unattended.

#19: Yuki-onna

Japanese Folklore
This name is given to a mysterious and enticing “snow woman” who haunts snow-laden areas in the dead of winter. The spirit of a woman who froze to death, she’s easily recognizable, with pale skin, icy blue lips and long raven-black hair combining to create her frigid beauty. But the very whiteness of her skin makes her hard to spot in a snowstorm – a fact she uses to her advantage. Like many other Japanese spirits, she leaves no footprints, and she can also suddenly transform into mist or snow. This makes it easy for her to come upon unwary travelers and dispatch them with her fatal freezing breath.

#18: Rusalki

Slavic Mythology
These pale, beautiful creatures are the spirits of women who died by drowning – either by their own hand or someone else’s. Largely an aquatic people, Rusalki are known to come crawling out at night to climb trees and comb their long wet hair. That would be creepy enough on its own, but they also have a dangerous habit of luring men into the water and drowning them. To make matters worse, they like to laugh and tickle people. Sure, that probably doesn’t sound so bad, but most tickle sessions aren’t as fatal as these.

#17: Soucouyant

Caribbean Folklore
By day, these innocent little old ladies look like they couldn’t hurt a fly – but by night, watch out! When night falls, they toss aside their wrinkled skin and become horrifying blood-sucking hags. Traveling across the night sky in a ball of flame, the soucouyant seeks out her victims. They take advantage of even the tiniest crack to enter a home. Once inside, they feast on a sleeping victim, and said victim will awaken with bruises – if they’re lucky, that is. The not-so-lucky ones either become a soucouyant or die– at which point the soucouyant takes their skin to live in during the day.

#16: Scylla

Greek Mythology
Immortal, with a six-pack of dog heads around her belt line, plus a cattail and twelve tentacles, Scylla isn’t exactly something you’d want to see when you’re kayaking. Dog heads aside, she has quite the living arrangement: Scylla lives in a cave on one side of the narrow Strait of Messina, directly across from her partner in crime: Charybdis, and each is prone to eating any sailor who gets too close, giving birth to the phrase “between Scylla and Charybdis” – which basically means “between a rock and a hard place.” If you do manage to kill Scylla, don’t stick around too long to celebrate because her old man, the sea-god Phorcys, will come and bring her back to life.

#15: Jenny Greenteeth

English Folklore
This monster gets her name from her green skin and razor-sharp teeth. She lives in bogs, ponds or rivers, covered in slime and algae with her long hair swirling around her. If anyone gets too close, she pulls them into the water and holds them down until they drown. Her favorite victims are young children or the very elderly, and in some legends, she doesn’t just drown her victims – she eats them. She is associated with duckweed, which can gather into a thick mat on the surface of a pond so that it looks like solid ground, leading children to try to walk on it and sink down into the water.

#14: Dziwożona

Slavic Mythology
These supernatural kidnappers live in the trees and bushes near water and take the form of red hat-wearing old women. Their M.O.? Stealing newborn babies and replacing them with their own children, called changelings. Fortunately there are ways to protect infants from being snatched. For one, it’s important to never wash your baby’s diapers at nighttime; otherwise the swamp demon might pull the old switcheroo. Additionally, keep your child safe by keeping them out of the moonlight, having them wear a red hat, and tying a red ribbon on their hand. Some versions of the myth say that Dziwożona are more than just kidnappers, though; supposedly they can also shapeshift into beautiful young nymphs, in order to... you guessed it, seduce and kill young men.

#13: Ohaguro-Bettari

Japanese Folklore
This creature, often dressed like a beautiful bride, calls out to young men, but modestly hides her face. Intrigued, the men approach her, anticipating a treat for their eyes. But when they get close, she turns around to reveal that her face is a featureless white mask with a gaping blackened mouth. Sometimes these creatures will even appear outside a man’s house, pretending to be his wife. Ohaguro-Bettari is part of a class of monsters that appear as beautiful women from a distance. There are many other types, including the rokurokubi, whose necks stretch out to entangle their victims, and the Jorōgumo, who is actually a bloodthirsty spider.

#12: Lamia

Greek Mythology
Lamia wasn’t always a monster. She was once the queen of Libya, in a blissful affair with Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus’ wife, Hera of course found out, and as she’s wont to do, exacted revenge by killing Lamia’s children and – in an ironic twist – turning Lamia into a child-killing savage. Usually depicted as having snake-like features, Lamia also has the ability to remove her eyes from her face and then put them back again, although some say this trick was a gift from a pitying Zeus, since Hera cursed her to never close them. Some myths chalk Lamia’s new look up to Hera’s revenge, but Homer’s “Odyssey” makes a claim it was a genetic trait from her mother, Hecate.

#11: Harpies

Greek & Roman Mythology
These monsters, the spirits of wind, have the face of a beautiful woman but the body of a fierce bird. Their main goal in life is to steal food from people and leave them to starve. In other cases they swoop down and carry evildoers off to be tortured. Vicious and sadistic, they live on the Strophades Islands, waiting for the chance to snatch something up. Harpies have been known to fill various, terrifying roles in myth. On the Greek side, at Zeus’ command, they kept King Phineus captive on an island and never allowed him to eat, whereas the Romans described them as stealing an entire feast from the Trojans, prophesying that the group would starve.

#10: Furies [aka Erinyes]

Greek Mythology
Also known as Furies, or Dirae in Roman myth, Erinyes are demons out to exact vengeance. Living in Erebus, part of the Underworld, Erinyes are a hodgepodge of all things scary: they’ve got hair made of snakes, the wings of a bat, and a dog’s head, with bloodshot and raving eyes. As terrifying as they may be to look at, they’d be even worse to be around, since they have a reputation for lashing people to death with brass-studded whips. In the set of Greek tragedies the Oresteia, the goddess Athena makes them guardians of righteousness rather than retribution. But… rest assured that they defend justice with just as much fury.

#9: Kuchisake-Onna

Japanese Legend
Her name means "Slit-Mouthed Woman," and with good reason. She is the ghost of a woman whose mouth was slit from ear to ear by her jealous husband. According to urban legend, this restless spirit wears a surgical mask to hide her mutilated face, approaching strangers and asking if they think she’s pretty. If they say no, she kills them with a pair of scissors. If they say yes, she removes the mask, revealing her mutilated mouth. “What about now?” she asks. If the victim says no, she cuts them in half. If they say yes, she slits their mouth open to look like hers. A lose-lose situation if ever there was one.

#8: Black Annis

English Folklore
This crone has a blue face, iron claws, and a distinct fondness for the taste of human flesh. At night she wanders the glens of Leicestershire, looking for victims. Her favorite food? Children, although she’ll take lamb in a pinch. Before she eats a child, she skins them alive and wears it around her face– um, quite the fashion statement. Or she may use the hides to decorate her walls – which probably need a little something. See, she lives in a cave that she dug herself with her long sharp claws, with an oak tree in front of the entrance. It’s called Black Annis’ Bower, and she likes to hide in the tree in order to capture unsuspecting travelers.

#7: Aswang

Filipino Folklore
These flesh-eating shapeshifters are regular townspeople by day, but at night they transform into terrifying creatures or vicious animals. As a strange and frightening combination of vampires, witches and werewolves, they feed on children, including unborn babies. In order to get at a fetus inside a mother’s womb, they use a long proboscis to suck the baby out while the mother is sleeping. In some stories, they make a horrible tik-tik sound, which is louder when they are far away and softer when they are close. Confused, people try to run away from the noise, but instead they run right into the Aswang’s clutches.

#6: Mare

Germanic Folklore
Many folk tales speak of creatures that attack sleeping victims, and the mare falls into this category. These evil spirits like to climb aboard a person’s chest as they sleep, “riding” them like a horse. The victim stays asleep, but this exertion enables the mare to steal their breath and energy. The victim awakens the next day feeling exhausted and drained. This creature thus gave rise to the word "nightmare." Mares don’t only ride humans, though – they also exhaust animals, such as horses, and even like to climb aboard a tree, leaving it stunted and tangled. Mares also tangle themselves in the hair of humans or animals, leaving them with a bad case of “bed head.”

#5: Banshees

Irish Mythology
The name banshee comes from the Gaelic for “woman of the mounds,” referring to their preferred living quarters, on the mounds of the Irish terrain. Recognized by their long, messy hair and fondness for green or red attire, the Banshee can go from one end of the beauty spectrum to the other at will. Legends claim they are the ghosts of women who either died while giving birth, or were murdered, and have a piercing voice to warn of imminent death. Though the Banshee is identified in Irish myth, both Scottish and Welsh folklore have similar figures as well, with wonderful names like the Hag of the Mist.

#4: Bloody Mary

British Folklore
In the dark of night, in a candlelit room, look into a mirror and chant the name “Bloody Mary” three times. They say that this evil spirit appears to those who complete the ritual. When she appears, she might tell your fortune or reveal the face of your future husband – but she might also scream, curse you, claw out your eyes, drink your blood or even strangle you and steal your soul. It’s impossible to know what will happen, but either way, this blood-soaked apparition is sure to give a fright. Seriously, maybe you’d be better off with a Ouija board – or with just not asking about the future.

#3: Succubi

Various
These days, succubuses tend to be portrayed as sensual and beautiful. But in ancient and medieval times, they were often depicted with demonic features such as claws, wings, and tails. The female counterpart of incubuses, they’re said to crawl on top of men in their sleep, seducing them in dreams and having sex with them. It doesn’t get creepier than that. In Arabic mythology, spirits called qarînah are similar, using the same M.O. to drain their victims of life force. To make matters worse, qarînah are said to be invisible. Those blessed with clairvoyance can see them, but only in the form of an innocent-looking pet such as a cat or dog.

#2: Baba Yaga

Slavic Folklore
Ruthless and clever, this trickster figure lives in the depths of the woods, with her house supported by chicken legs and surrounded by a fence of human bones. As a witch, she can fly around in a mortar with a pestle in hand. She is very powerful, so people sometimes ask her for help. Those who seek her out sometimes find a maternal guide, but she also eats anyone who displeases her. Even if you do convince her to help, Baba Yaga isn’t gentle. For example, in one folk tale she gives a young girl a skull full of fire, which completely incinerates the girl’s stepmother and stepsisters. Talk about a fairy godmother.

#1: Medusa

Greek Mythology
When it comes to Medusa, looks really can kill! With snakes for hair and a gaze that turns mortals to stone, she is the most famous of three winged sisters called the Gorgons. Eventually the hero Perseus beheaded her, with the help of four of the Greek gods. But she was so powerful that even after she was killed, she had the power to turn anyone to stone with just one look into her dead eyes. Her head was eventually given to Athena, who put it on her shield to ward off evil. It just goes to show that even in death, Medusa remains one of the most dangerous creatures in Greek mythology.