Demons of the Mountains

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Maggie:
Huwawa
"An ancient guardian demon, appointed by Enlil (the Sumerian storm God) to watch over the cedar mountain foest found in the coastal mountains of Syria. Huwawa, who makes an appearance in the epic Gilgamesh, is colossal in size with a massive gorgon-like face made of ropy twisted coils of intestin striking terror into the heart of the beholder. With a snarling mouth of fire with breath kills. Information varies claiming he is a volcano personifies or a storm giant himself.:



Yaksas
"Yakṣha (Sanskrit यक्ष) or Yakkha (Pāli यक्ष) is the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology.The feminine form of the word is yakṣī or yakṣiṇī (Pāli: yakkhī or yakkhinī).
In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology, the yakṣa has a dual personality. On the one hand, a yakṣa may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is a much darker version of the yakṣa, which is a kind of cannibalistic ogre, ghost or demon that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travelers, similar to the rakṣasas.
The yakṣas may have originally been the tutelary gods of forests and villages, and were later viewed as the steward deities of the earth and the wealth buried beneath.
In Indian art, male yakṣas are portrayed either as fearsome warriors or as portly, stout and dwarf-like. Female yakṣas, known as yakṣiṇīs, are portrayed as beautiful young women with happy round faces and full breasts and hips.
In the state of Kerala, in South India, Yakshis are depicted as vampire enchantresses."
In Buddhist mythology, the yakṣa are the attendants of Vaiśravaṇa, the Guardian of the Northern Quarter, a beneficent god who protects the righteous. The term also refers to the twelve heavenly generals who guard the Buddha of Medicine (Sanskrit: Bhaiṣajya; Tibetan: sangs-rgyas sman-bla; Chinese and Japanese)


Huldrefolk
"The 'Hidden People" are classified as fairies more then demons. (Genus Loci is an even better word I think) Living in sort of a parallel world to ours they live much as we do having families and jobs etc. Some folk lore says their magic hats keep them invisible, other stories say it is their magic cloaks.
Lore says that the Huldrefolk are invisible because Eve, Adam's second wife, hid the children of Lilith from God when he came to visit one day. He asked Eve "are these all the children?"  And Eve answered "Yes" (Liar   )  To which God responded "Let what is not revealed remain concealed." And so the children of Lilith and Adam are invisible to us.
The Huldrefolk are said to resemble humans, though smaller, and the females wear a blue, green or white dress. The females also have a cowlike tail and a hollow back."

I have investgated 2 properties where homes were under construction. At both sites tools disappeared, work that had been done the previous day vandalized and even a fire damaged half of a structure (before there was any wiring or plumbing laid out.)
At site 1 the father of the family decided to 'camp' at the site with the family. It was summer and the weather was nice enough to do so. It was a couple weeks after that camping date that a friend of theres contacted me and asked me to come out and walk around, they didn't really tell me anything more then the  missing tools and broken windows. I agreed to have a walk around but was fairly certain it was a case of kids just vandalizing the place. On my walk around I found a few things to suggest my thoughts were correct. Soda cans, candy bar wrappers, Gatorade bottles, normal junk kids leave behind.
As I walked around the structure that at this point was only half done (a shell with windows and plumbing with electrical wiring going in currently,) I noticed at the corner of the house a semi circle of moss growing on the ground with wild mushrooms growing with in. That was my first hint to the riddle.  I talked the the family after I finished my walk around, each of them separately. The father then the mother then each of the 3 kids. Both parents only recalled the batteries in their camcorder dieing even though it had been fully charged.
Each of the kids had a different story to tell. The oldest boy (14) told me he heard footsteps all night long outside the tent but never heard voices or saw anything. He did explain the footsteps where light, like a child's and fast.
The second child, a boy also (11), explained he heard whispering all night long but couldn't understand anything that was said.
The third child, the youngest a daughter 8 years old, told me when she peeked out of the tent that night she saw small figures rushing around the house, past the tents, back and forth all night. When she described them she said she could not tell if they were boys or girls but they all dressed in dark clothes, had tails and horns like cows.

At the second site a cabin was being built. Far enough away from the main road they would not have power except from the generator they were installing. The generator was being housed in it's own small 'shed' a good 15 feet from the cabin. The wiring in the cabin had yet to be done but what was planned was minimal. The problems started not when the cabin was built but when the guy building the place decided to clear little more area around the cabin. After he removed a dozen or so older trees he noted that things started to go missing at the place. Rolls of wiring, food and beers from his cooler.  That was just frustrating but then things got destructive. The generator shed caught fire one night (No gas anywhere near the generator, yet) The generator itself was vandalized then a few of the support beams of the cabin were half cut through.  He started spending as much time out there as possible and things seemed to quiet down for a while until he contacted me, after talking to my husband, to ask for help.  After he told me all the trouble I hiked up there and checked everything out. Nothing caught my attention in the immediate area of the cabin but when I meandered out to the newly cleared area I noted ferns and violets growing in a circular area. After that I asked again if there was anything else he could think of to tell me. Hesitant he explained a bunch of 'kids'  (He's an older gentlemen so teenagers counted as kids to him)snuck up one night dressed in dark clothes wearing horns on their heads and ran around the cabin for hours making all sorts of noise. (It was later that day he got in touch with me.)

Not seeing anything more then the circles myself I can't say for sure what either case really was, but based on the descriptions given to me one of the 'creatures' I've narrowed it down to was Huldrefolk.

Tengu / t'ienkou / Garuda
"Inhabiting cedar and pine trees the Tengu are classed into two groups. Higher Tengu are described as being human in form wearing red robes and a small crown atop a head of white hair. Red faced the creature carried with it a fan made of feather. Higher Tengu each reside on thier own mountain peak.
Lesser Tengu are said to appear having small wings and sharp claws on their fingers and toes. Most often dressing in all black they have large, shining mischievous eyes and elongated beaklike noses. Lesser Tengu travel in flocks  unlike the lesser solitary Higher Tengu.
Akin to the Chinese T'ienkou, sometimes described as a shooting star or a demon dog desending from the sky amidst fire and thunder. Winged the creature swoops down kidnapping and eating small children.
Another close resemblense is the Hindu bird called the Garuda.
In Hindu mythology, a Garuda is a lesser Hindu divinity, usually the mount (vahanam) of Vishnu. Garuda is depicted as having a golden body, white face, red wings, and an eagle's beak, but with a man's body. He wears a crown on his head. He is ancient and has size enough to block out the sun.

The Tengu are beleived to be the spirits of the vengful dead and are malicious delighting in practical jokes. Like fairies they enjoy stealing children and hiding them from thier parents."
Lesser Tengu are also known for being guardians of certain temples, villages, and families who have done right by them in the past. This is comparable with the Chinese tradition of the Foo Dogs.

Also, Lesser Tengu are often depicted as wearing wooden sandals (geta) that are unusually tall and have only a single riser rather than the normal two.

Yuki-Onna
The Lady Of Snow appears as a beautiful maiden dressing in all white. Her skin is pale and her breath is like frost and her kiss sucks the life from her victims. It is said she can take the form of mist to pass through the smallest of cracks and holes.


Abatwa
Like fairies but much smaller. So much so it is said they sleep in ant hills and hide under blades of grass. Nomadic in nature, according to lore, they are hunters who devour thier kill completely then continue to travel. Legends say the small spirits travel on a single horse sitting in a row down the horses neck, withers and back to it's tail. When they fail in killing game they are said to eat the horse they ride.

Akvan
A very large, powerful Div (Persian demon). Described as having a whide mouth, fangs, hornd, sharp curved toenails and wearing a short skirt. Said to be relitivly un-intellegent and predictable that it will always do the opposite of what is asked of him. His soul purpose is to harm humans and cause destruction.


Kishi
A two faced demon with a front facing facade of a handsome male and a backfacing facade of a hyena. This second face is hidden by his hair. Known to frequent dances and celebrations the creature lures women to his land and plays host for dinner. When the time is right his head turns on his shoulders, hair is thrown back and he devours the guest. It is said if you are ever taken home for dinner by him (no pun intended)  You should not eat or drink anything offered and escape as soon as you can.



Mahisha-Asura
A Hindu demon found in the Markandeya Puarana. His basic form is that of a buffalo but he is an expert shapshifter and can assume the forms of a lion, elephand and human as well as make multiples of himself.
It is said that the Goddes Durga or Nanda Devi, battled Mahisha-Asura when he made millions of multiples of himself (after she rejected his offer of marriage). The battle is fabled to have lasted near a hundred years before she finally killed him.


Gwyllion
A female spirit residing in moutains, usually along trecherous passes. She is described as being and old hag with a frightening laugh. Solitary travelers who loose their way sometimes meet this kind old woman who offers to lead them back to the safe path, but usually lead their victim to a deadly fall.
Some beleive these spirits will take refuge in a home during bad weather. Offering the spirit clean water, and hiding all knives, is the best way to not offend this creature.


Patupairehe
Living in remote mountains and hilltop, places wrapped in dense fog, these fairies are described as "tall, rehaired, pale humans" Guardians of the wilderness where they live they are said to take human lovers often. Male Patupairehe are expert flute players and use their music to lure women who pass within earshot of thier songs. Albino children are said to be a product of such couplings.
Folk Lore says that the Maori people learned to fish, make nets and string fish from teh Patupairehe.
Patupairehe are said to be repelled by cooked or cooking food, fire, ash adn the color red.


The White Monkey
Very much like the Tikoloshe of South Africa this creature excells at being malevolant. Kidnapping women to add to his Harem the creature is described as a tall (taller then the Tikoloshe) creature covered in white fur that lives in a cave in the mountains.Fire crackers are said to scare away the White Monkey.

Yaksas
Yakṣha (Sanskrit यक्ष) or Yakkha (Pāli यक्ष) is the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology. The feminine form of the word is yakṣī or yakṣiṇī (Pāli: yakkhī or yakkhinī)
In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology, the yakṣa has a dual personality. On the one hand, a yakṣa may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is a much darker version of the yakṣa, which is a kind of cannibalistic ogre, ghost or demon that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travelers, similar to the rakṣasas.

In Kālidāsa's poem Meghadūta, for instance, the yakṣa narrator is a romantic figure, pining with love for his missing beloved. By contrast, in the didactic Hindu dialogue of the Yakṣapraśnāḥ ("questions of the Yakṣa"), a dangerous cannibalistic Yakṣa, the tutelary spirit of a lake, threatens the life of the epic hero Yudhiṣṭhira.

The yakṣas may have originally been the tutelary gods of forests and villages, and were later viewed as the steward deities of the earth and the wealth buried beneath.

In Indian art, male yakṣas are portrayed either as fearsome warriors or as portly, stout and dwarf-like. Female yakṣas, known as yakṣiṇīs, are portrayed as beautiful young women with happy round faces and full breasts and hips.

In the state of Kerala, in South India, Yakshis are depicted as vampire enchantresses.

In Buddhist countries yakṣas are known under the following names: Chinese Pinyin: yè chā, Japanese: Yasha ( Yasha?), Burmese: ba-lu).

In Buddhist mythology, the yakṣa are the attendants of Vaiśravaṇa, the Guardian of the Northern Quarter, a beneficent god who protects the righteous. The term also refers to the twelve heavenly generals who guard the Buddha of Medicine (Sanskrit: Bhaiṣajya; Tibetan: sangs-rgyas sman-bla; Chinese and Japanese)

Duergar
A malicious spirit whose soul intention is to cause harm to all who invade "his hills".  Described as being a foor tall wearing moleskin shoes, a lambskin coat and a hat made of a peice of green moss with a large feather.
He leads travelers astray by carrying a flickering tourch that most think is someone traveling a safe path.
The safest way to survive an encounter with this creature is to be stil, silent and passive until daylight. Traveling in groups and knowing the terrain are a great deterant as well.

Tommy Knockers
Two foot tall creatures with large heads, long arms nearly to the ground, weathered skin, long beards and dressing in miners clothing. Said to be invisible they are known by the constant noise they make while working all through the night. Some believe these creatures are the spirits of miners killed in the mines.

There are several well known cases of Tommy-Knockers or Knockers as they are known in England. I will make available links to that information as I find it again.

Yunwi Djunsti
The "Little People" of the Cherokee. A fairy species standing about 2 feet tall with long dark hair that flows to the ground and dress in white clothing. Resembling the Cherokee themselves they speak the same language, sing the same songs and thier social structure is much the same. Invisible to the naked eye there are 4 types of these creatures.
The first live in hard to reach mountains and make their homes in the rocks.
The second are said to live in rhododendron (Azaelia) patches.
The third live in scrub brush.
And the last live in the open.
The last two are of a grumpy nature and well avoided while the first two are known to be of benefit, if treated properly.
In Cherokee lore the only people who can see and communicate with the Little People, without fear of bad luck and even death, are twins!
Even the benevolent of the species are lovers of misheif and enjoy tripping people, breaking things and wreaking havok. Like other faries this species enjoys helping travelers loos their way, and stealing children.

(As a child growing up on the pow wow circuit for a number of years the Cherokee story tellers enjoyed hearing stories my twin brother and I would tell them about seeing little people, though most often it is said to be bad luck to talk about seeing them if you as (un) forutnate to do so.)

Maggie:
Mountain Fairies
Amidst the 5 sacred mountains in China( Mount Tia (East), Mount Hua (West), Mount Heng (North), Mount Song (Center) and Mount Heng (Southern extent) ) Beautiful little spirits dance about like butterflies luring men into their realm and entertaining them until the traveler decides to leave. The problem is, often times when these travelers emerge they find themselves alone in the world. Their loved ones all aged and gone and many years having been lost.

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