Time flies. Erratically. Yesterday I was at 299 rep, today I'm at 301. Normally this should entitle me to skip my traditional hundred-milestone-giveaway, but, whatever. Traditions are traditions.

Speaking of which.

In order to get a chance of recieving the $ 9.9999999999999999 game of your choice please tell us about your favorite little regional folkloric legend, tale, or mythical creature. From a troll slicing his own belly open, to mischevious gnomes wrecking havok during christmas days, from seaserpents protecting every boat, to the ghost of a notorious brigand, from food for benevolent ancestors, to burial rituals preventing the dead's return, from unvoluntary evil eye to protections against witchcraft... It doesn't matter if it's from your place or your century (although being familiar with it may help describing it accurately), it can be a tale you grew up with, something your parents or grandparents used to say, it can be a recurring rite with its justifying story, a little tale re-told at specific events, or the reminder of the presence of some entities at the fringe of everyday life.

The important thing is : it must be "real". By real, I mean : it must exist or have existed in folklore, in collective representations, at a certain time or place. And not having been invented by one fiction author.

So let us tell stories of what inhabits our folk's imagination, or the grey zone between realities and poetry. I'll see later if I'll randomize the entries, or just offer the game for a particularly outstanding and amazing folktale.

I've got a nice legend in my home town known the world over as MOMA AND the famed NAtive American Piasa Bird but I really don't feel like writing a book report on them right this minute so I am going to respectfully decline. I just wanted to chime in to give you a +1 and warn you that if you keep making giveaways THIS COOL you are going to be at 400 by days end and you are going to have to do this all over again tomorrow!

Do I have to tell the whole story, or can I just give a synopsis?

Anyway, my pick would be "the Vampire Skeleton", an old Iroquois legend. Its about an evil sorcerer who wasn't buried, and lived on to drain the blood of the living. According to the legend, it was because of this that the dead are buried.

Entering with the Halifax tunnels.

I'll see if I can remember of any interesting local folklore. Probably not; but it's a nice idea.

Congrats on your achievement. You must be very proud! ;D

I like the one about the Pont du Diable (Devil's bridge) that crosses Hérault river in France. It is said that a lord made a pact with the devil to get the bridge built in exchange of the first soul to cross it. After building it, the lord throws a piece of meat across it to lure a dog through it and fools the devil, since he didn't specify it needed to be a human soul.
It's funny , because similar stories have come up in several bridges in different countries but I prefer this bridge since it is in a beautiful area and I have good memories of the time I spent there.
Here's a photo of said bridge.

Congratulations on your 300 rep breakthrough!

Just a paragraph (or two) depending of what you consider worth telling, or most interesting/fun/charming about the gist of it. Anyway, I'll leave that giveaway running for a while, so you have time...

My absolute favourite, considering how you mention it must be "real", is the one about Olentzero, the last jentil. You can have some extra info/pictures here.

You need to know that in Basque mythology, Christians and mythological creatures such as the galtzagorris or lamias were at odds; if not downright enemies. A creature of myth would burn in holy land, which is why they demolished churches by throwing rocks from mountain to mountain. But that's another story.

Essentially, Olentzero was a member of a race of mythical giants known as Jentilak. One day they got an omen about the birth of Christ, which got them understandably worried, so they went to check it out on a mountain. However, it so happened that they all fell to their deaths there (which is odd, considering they were supposed to be living in mountains, but whatever). The only survivor was Olentzero, who was kinda pissed and went on a Christian killing spree until he was put down somehow.

Now, this legend has many versions. The one I told here is the one I originally read and the one stuck in my head, I now read on this reference site I linked a slightly different version. However, the funniest part is how Olentzero was picked, sometime around 50 years ago, as a Basque Christmas mascot somewhat equivalent to the Coca Cola guy. Of course, this legend did not exactly match a Christmas character, so a new one was invented where Olentzero is this nice charcoal maker living on the mountains who, when heard news of the birth of Christ, went down to the villages to give presents to the kids. How fucked is that?

The extreme makeover his legend had, coupled with the fact that most people nowadays hardly ever remember the old version, is the reason this is my favourite folktale. I'll stories of Mari and Basajaun for some other time.

PS: Yes, I enjoy mythology. I'm kinda disappointed there was nothing celtic-related on the public library here in Ireland, but I'm getting around that.

I'm gonna have to go with The Chupacabra, a creature more rare than Bigfoot or Nessie. Back when X-Files wa a popular show and I watched it regularly, they had an episode regarding this vampiric dog like creature that sucked the blood from farm animals, goats and such. I liked it so much that I made a yahoo email account based on this creature and still use it to this day.

Pictures - as you can see, its known to take many forms. I especially like the alien like lizard sleestak one (For you Land of the Lost fans out there).

Thanks for the giveaway Telika.

There seems to be a general consensus among men here for centuries that the devil himself is sharpening the tongues of women so their words cut deeper. Attached pic is an artists rendering.

This is a really nice one. I like the legend for my home town's old name: Stanimaka. Now it is called Asenovgrad. It has it's name for the fortress above the city which is around XI century (or the first recording of its existence)[if you are interested in history and want to know :)] So about the legend: The last Christian king Kostadin was hiding there. One day his mother was frying fish on the fire and a soldier came. He was without a breath. He told him that the fortress was under attack and they should flee and hide elsewhere. the king did not believe it and remained there. The soldier came several times. The last time the soldier came the king said: I wont move until the fish in the pan of my mother is alive. Then the fish started jumping around and he said to his mother: Mother, lets go! Rough translation of the phrase which is Stani maika (Get up, mother).
I like this legend because it shows not only the importance of this fortress but also the "magical" properties of the region. Nearby it is the Bachkovo monastery which has even more legends :)
Here is a photo of the fortress: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Holy_Mother_of_God_Asen%27s_Fortress_Klearchos_1.jpg]click[/url]

I live in Romania, more specifically Transylvania. Here is where all the vampire legends began, and the most famous name you hear when talking about vampires is Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). He was an hones leader that protected the country from being taken over. He was a great strategist and commander, winning many battles where our troops where outnumbered, by implementing guerrilla tactics and warfare. He was also very cruel and merciless, impaling thousands of enemy soldiers. He also impaled those who stole things. All this are facts, not fiction. As for a local legend, it is said that people where extremely terrified of being impaled, so terrified that nobody would dare steal anything from anyone, and if you were to leave a bag full of gold coins in the night in the middle of a road, you would find the bag in the morning in the same place, untouched, because nobody would dare take it.

While I personally am from the English midlands, half my family comes from the North East, so I grew up with the tale of the Lambton Worm. (That's worm as in wyrm.) It's named after John Lambton (the Lambtons being local nobility), who caught a rather ugly fish and disposed of it by throwing it down a wellshaft; the fish, as it turned out, grew into a huge serpentine dragon, which terrorised the countryside, and every night when it slept it would wrap its tail seven times 'round Penshaw Hill. Which is a nice place to take a dog for a walk if you live nearby, and noted for the classically inspired monument on top.

There is a song about how Lambton returned to slay the worm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNDltwH14zM (The lyrics are in the linked Wiki article, but its version has the tail wrapped ten times.) Some tellings involve a witch and a curse, which are also in the linked article, but I don't recall my family ever bothering with those details.

Okay, might as well...I'll go with the Piasa Bird because I've actually seen the actual relic on the actual cliff where it was supposidly (spell) known to actually have been killed. Location, just outside of Alton Illinois, just accross the river from Missouri where I was born and raised.

The first known Westerner to see the painting (see attach) Father Marquette or Pere Marquette as is more commonly known wrote the following upon this stunning find which he made in 1673:

"While skirting some rocks, which by their height and length inspired awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as large as a calf; they have horns on their heads like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail. Green, red and black are the colors composing the picture. Moreover, these two monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe any savage is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to reach that place conveniently to paint them."

The legend itself is a tad vague but evidently this bird/dragon just showed up one day and start picking off Illinois Indians (1 or 2 a day). The bird seemed invulnerable untill through prayer meditation or luck (the legend is very vague here) the Illini chief Owatoga came to the realization that the bird could be struck down if attacked under it's wings which (long story short) they did and killed it. YEAH!! Legend has it that the bird was painted on the cliff, the very spot where the real one was feld, as a battle marker, often to be ceremoniously shot at (with arrows duh) by braves passing the landmark.

Now it gets silly. Many people have claimed to have seen the bird and native american legend has it that these people are nuts as their courageous chief killed it ages before. Also, no one can determine whether there is even a word like "piasa" or anything similar in the Illini language and decendants of the tribe admittedly don't know themselves. What I do know is that the painting is there, it is huge, and it is impossibly too high to fathom anyone without a crane getting up there and painting it. One more note regarding the picture, the reason the painting looks new is because they annually restore the painting to its original glory not in honor of the bird or the indians mind you, but in honor of the tourist dollars it brings!!! YEAH!!!

this is one of many legends of my city.

Mastro Titta

Giovanni Battista Bugatti (1779–1869) was the official executioner for the Papal States from 1796 to 1865. He was the longest-serving executioner in the States and was nicknamed Mastro Titta. He carried out a total of 516 executions in 68 years of service.
It is said that the ghost of Mastro Titta love walking at the first daylight in the places he carried out the sentences
with the working robe (a scarlet mantle) It is also said that, at times, offers a pinch of tobacco to the one that encounters
(an habit he got with prisoners before cut off their heads)

the snuff-box, as the mantle are both kept in the Criminology Museum

im in!
thx for the oppurtunity and grats for the 300 rep :)