J.A. Hernandez

Tracking the mysterious identity of one of the most famous ghosts in the world.

A classic video game where the undead defy gravity and family feuds reach epic proportions.

Wind spirits of Romanian folklore.

The ruins of a villa in Sicily that some believe once housed a Satanic order.

A man so hated that his corpse was executed.

The first of many stories published by a now famous, versatile Irish author.

An old, crumbling manor house in Poland with a restless spirit.

The story of a castle in Scotland and the ghost that haunts it.

A sea monster that was first spotted in 1936.

Low-flying triangular objects in Belgium.

Oklahoma's Bermuda Triangle.

Aztec vampires. Need I say more?

Strange occurrences and spectral figures on a short road in Missouri.

An American serial killer who made an appearance on a game show amidst his murder spree.

A director's debut film that helped kick off Hong Kong's New Wave movement.

The story of a woman pulled underwater by a strange beast on one hot summer day.

A Gothic-style castle in Ireland with a few incorporeal residents.

A science fiction novel from 1951 with themes still relevant today.

An island inhabited only by the corpses of sinners.

Oh, the tales children are told to get them to behave.

A cryptid referenced as far back as Ancient Rome.

An urban legend over fifty years old may have real roots.

A film from over a century ago and the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema.

A legendary voodoo priestess predicted a Louisiana town's destruction.

Desecrated mummies in Ireland make for restless spirits.

What do you get when you combine horror, ghosts, comedy, and Cantonese Opera?

"Sleep child, sleep or else...Coco will come and eat you." — Auto de los desposorios de la Virgen by Juan Caxés. 17th Century.

A migration for a better life led to a series of shocking events.

A shriek from the jungle portends death.

The world's first documented vampire.

An alluring figure from Irish folklore that can bring you a wonderful life for a price.

Stories of a spirit from Mexico City, dating back to at least the 1500s.

A gravedigger still lingers a century after his death.

What is now known as Brazil's National Boogeyman brought the very first ever Brazilian-produced horror film to the world.

A creature parents tell their children about all around the world. Is it a myth? Or is there something more?

A horror movie icon's final performance as a Universal Classic Monster.

A sea serpent off the coast of England, spotted by soldiers during World War I.

Strange happenings in a city centuries old.

A horror movie icon's secret, real-life superpower.

Everyone's favorite wintertime horned, anthropomorphic pre-Christian pagan kidnapper. What can be said about Krampus that hasn't already been said?

A museum in New York with recorded ghost sightings from over one hundred years ago.

An amusement park in Australia with the restless ghost of a little girl.

A malevolent Scottish ghost. (Or is it?)

A familiar spirit born from a brutal ritual.

One gate is visible in the day, six more at night, and passing all seven takes you straight to Hell.

An old highway full of haunts.

A strange creature lurks in the swamps of a wildlife refuge in Delaware.

Local legends are fascinating. Most of them can't really be traced back to any particular origin, and precisely how or why locals know about them is a bit of a mystery.

Many legends of cryptids don't have a clear origin, a story that can easily be traced back to the first sighting. For these creatures, the line between cryptid (an as-of-yet undocumented natural animal) and supernatural is sometimes blurry, as is true with cases such as The Qalupalik of Inuit Folklore or El Peuchen of Mapuche Mythology. In some ways, the controversy surrounding sightings of strange things can make them even more intriguing to explore because there is little in the way of proof for or against their existence. At the core of these legends or folklore is a story, often a tangled combination of truth and fiction, genuine experience and exaggeration.

A ghostly black dog isn't the only thing prowling castle ruins in Poland.

A creature born from the ashes of cremated oxen, out for revenge.

A movie from Japan that forever changed the film industry.

A strange mystery from Norway that remains unsolved over fifty years later.

A witch with a true horror that may surprise you.

Don't you just love spirited dolls?

A procession of the dead just waiting to curse you.

The life and times of horror host Morgus the Magnificent.

There's more behind the mirror than you may think.

One of the most famous hauntings in the United Kingdom.

One of the few vampires documented in official government records.

Another trip to South America, deep in the jungle, where the last thing you want to do is follow a beautiful and mysterious woman away from your traveling companions.

A terrifying flying feathered serpent from South America.

A theatre haunted by the ghost of opera singer Frederick Federici.

Australia's most haunted house.

If you hear his whistle, it may be too late.

They sure don't make cartoons like they used to.

A shapeshifting jumbie that strips off her own skin to go hunting.

A revenant out for blood.

One quick stop in a small town might be your last.

A spooky story from Chicago that may seem like an urban legend—until you dig deeper.

A woman who created her own movement in Gothic that still continues today.

A local legend from Karnataka, India, that you don't want to encounter in the dark—or at all.

A woman you'll wish to never, ever encounter.

The world's first creepypasta.

Wisconsin's most famous ghost, and one of the only ghosts to have ever killed the living.

Vrykolakas—the modern Greek undead that wants to eat your liver. Read more to find out how to protect yourself and learn about how to pronounce the word while you're at it.

The movies full of gore and violence used to be just fine for kids of all ages!

This is an interesting true crime case. I didn't know where I'd end up on it when I began researching, but I uncovered some strange things. Perhaps you've heard of Big Lurch, the rapper cannibal who murdered and ate his girlfriend. If you've previously seen a headline similar to what I just wrote, then let's set the record straight right now. Yes, Big Lurch is a rapper. No, the victim wasn't his girlfriend. Murder and cannibalism? It's not as clear as it first appears.

For every story out there, for every monster, there are tropes. It happens with them all, but somewhere, there's a beginning. A place where the tropes start, a story where we can point our finger and say, "that right there is where vampires first got their fangs!" That's Varney the Vampire. The origin of fictional vampires with fangs. And that's not all.

Did you know that a woman named Milicent Patrick designed "the Creature"—also known as Gill-man—the monster in the 1954 film The Creature from the Black Lagoon?

Zdzisław Beksiński. Have you ever heard of him? Even if you have, you're in for a visual treat.

There are a lot of criminal cases from around the world that barely (or never) make English-language news. I'm about to walk you through one of those that was pretty famous in Sweden, but you're unlikely to have heard of it unless you follow Swedish crime, black metal (particularly second wave), or Satanic news.

Oh, beautiful Lake Tahoe. Just look at that blue sky, freshwater, green forest, and monstrous snake creature.

I first learned about the Tamám Shud Case, aka The Mystery of the Somerton Man, years ago. I researched it and found it to be a confusing mess. There has been so much that's happened, and there are so many theories on it. Occasionally, I revisit it and discover new developments. The following is my own high-level case briefing.

Naturally, 'octopus' is always the first thing everyone thinks of when the state of Oklahoma comes up. The two are inseparable, like a sucker on a fish tank. But, of all the octopuses* in Oklahoma that we could focus on, which one should we pick? The Oklahoma Octopus™ I'm talking THE Oklahoma Octopus. Not all those other lesser-known ones that cover the state. I'm sure you know to which one I'm referring. The one that's the size of a horse, reddish-brown leathery skin. The one that walks between lakes, stalking teenagers and pulling them down to watery deaths where they become a crunchy, juicy in the middle, cephalopod snack.

Nearly every building in Skagway, Alaska has a story to tell and clear links to the Klondike Gold Rush past. One building, in particular, the Red Onion Saloon, has an odd history, and visitors claim a resident ghost. It opened for business in 1898 as a dance hall, saloon, and bordello at the height of the gold rush.

Benjamin Franklin—scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, publisher, and philosopher. You may know him as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States or as a drafter/signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, or perhaps the first United States postmaster general. Or maybe his experiments with electricity, inventing bifocals, becoming an early abolitionist and the first president of the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. You may know his face from the $100 bill or have heard his name on warships, towns, counties, corporations, or colleges. If you grew up in the US, you probably heard stories of him flying a kite in a storm to invent electricity. Yes, he was known for a lot of things. But, did you know about the bones in his basement?

Gilles de Rais was a lord in 1400s France and best known for the horrific torture and murder of more than 600 young boys and girls (mostly boys.) Or maybe 200. No? 100? Oh, the number of victims is unknown. Okay, let's start again, then...

Did you know that there are at least 21 ways to tie shoelaces? For neckties, there are anywhere between 85 and 177,147 methods. The oldest knot on record dates to about 13,000 BC. Of all the knots you've ever tied in your life—have you ever tied one that won't tighten? I have. It's kind of a pain, too, when it happens. You think you've got it right, go to draw it tight, and are met with a mess that takes a while to untangle so you can try again. In 1542, one of those stuck knots resulted in 17 executions by slow slicing, 10 beheadings, and 20 enslavements. There's a lot to unravel here, so let's jump right into it.

You know, the problem with having niche interests is that most people excuse themselves out of a conversation with me as soon I start rambling about things like prototypical lesbian¹ vampires as literary devices in Victorian-era fiction. It's not that uncommon of a conversation topic, right? I suppose you just have to be around the right people, though. Good thing I've got you. For many people, vampires only sprung into existence in fiction when Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897. They know about, but have never seen, the 1922 film Nosferatu and look confused when I mention Carmilla.

The 1950s sure did see all kinds of craziness. The Cold War raged, fear of nuclear weapons invaded every home and school, constant UFO sightings put people on edge, and World War II still weighed heavily on humanity. The '50s brought fresh ideas into comics, movies, and magazines—mostly touching on the cultural fears without calling them out directly. Elvis packed venues, Hitchcock films hit theaters at least once a year, and what would later become classic literature flew off the shelves—an exciting time for everyone. With all that going on in the world, what was happening down around Florida?

I don't do movie reviews, but I will be writing about horror movies. The film industry is a massive part of horror, and they've pushed the genre forward in many respects. It's so hard to say anything about this film without spoiling it. Here's my own spoiler-free description: Two daughters and their mother inherit an old, dusty, secluded home. Then, they meet a witch and an ogre. What follows is a journey deep into the psyche of one of the daughters as she struggles for her own life and sanity.

There are many intriguing stories from history, especially the farther back you go. In fact, my own family's Native American Tribe, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and the larger Muscogee Nation they split off from long ago have all sorts of terrifying legends. The Inuit people are no exception to this type of thing, and they have their own stories of grotesque creatures to tell their children about. Fun!

Back when I was in 5th grade, I found a book in my house, and to this day, I'm still not sure where it came from. Up to that point, it was the single fattest book my 10-year-old self had ever seen. I thought some of Tolkien's books were long, but I never could have imagined that so many pages would fit inside anything other than a dictionary.

How often do you pay attention to the screenwriters behind your favorite films? For most, the answer would be, "never." It's normal, though, to focus on the end product, an audiovisual work of art. Often, creators disappear into the shadow of their work. In a way, it's a good thing because their work takes on a life of its own. In another way, though, it's terrible for creators because people end up not knowing who was responsible and never encounter other works they may love.