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Anila H.

Creature Feature Ep 4 : The Dead

Hello Bookworms,

Welcome to another episode of Creature Feature, where you will know about the most unique, unheard creatures ever (plus some creepy legends).

Today we are going to talk about the dead. Don’t be confused: I don’t mean the gruesome zombies eating your brains, and neither the fast ones in World War Z. As you already know, the first episodes are focusing on Albanian Mythology (later we will continue to other countries) Also, these legends aren’t taken from books, or internet, I got them from asking people.

Now let’s talk about our topic. The Rising Dead, in Albania, is supposed to be someone,

Creature Feature Ep.3: The True Story of A Witch Part 2

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Hello Bookworms

For the first part, click here

Truth be told, these two episodes, which involve witches, are quite difficult to write. See, I am not a big fan of witches. I was scared of them since I was little. 

Confession Time: I am a huge fan of “Blade” movies, especially the second one, and even though the vampires there are really creepy,  I don’t mind. Blade has been the first horror movie I have ever
watched (age 5). Still, even though I can handle Blade’s vampires, and even though I am 18 years old, I am extremely scared of Snow White’s Evil Queen. Yeah, I admit it, it is weird. Movies with witches intrigue me, but I am extremely scared of them. In contrary with vampires though. I am super scared of vampires, but I adore them.

Anyways, now let’s continue with our topic today.

Now, as I was saying, I have interviewed an Albanian old lady, and she has told me lots of stories, which are supposed to be true.

This story happens in a village of Albania, where a man, who worked as a night guard, was coming back home after his shift. Something in all Albanian legends is that a crossroad isn’t a good sign, especially when three women are standing there mixing some ingredients in a mysterious pot, in the middle of the night. Now, this sounds a bit like Macbeth from Shaekspeare. I thought that too, but the man didn’t become a king. The man saw the three women, and he instantly knew who they were. As I have mentioned in the first post, these witches are people, whom you know, and they don’t like it when you recognize them.

He did, but he was kinda stupid, since he told them:

“I know who you are.” And he told them their names.

They responded:

“If you tell anyone, we are going to eat your liver!” (This reminds me of the Korean kumiho, or the Japanese Kitsune, a nine tailed fox, who eats human liver)

Was he scared? No! Now, I am starting to think that he was quite stupid. He told everyone about what he saw. The next day he was found dead, in his house, his liver torn apart.

The moral of this story? Do not talk with three creepy women standing at the crosswords doing God-knows-what with herbs in a pot, and do not talk about them, if they warned you they are going to eat your liver.

Have a great day!

Happy Scary Reading!

Creature Feature Ep.2 The true story of a witch Part 1

While continuing my research in unique creatures, I stumbled upon a true story, that made skin shiver from fear. I am sure you all know what a witch is. You think a witch is an old lady, who eats little kids.
This statement may be right or wrong, because these old fairytales may seem like a joke to you, but some old people in Albania really believe these legends. According to the person I interviewed, a witch was:
-A woman. She might be an old lady, or a young one.
- Someone who made children sick. She doesn't necessarily eat them. But if someone knows her identity, she will eat his/her liver.
- Someone close to the victim. Someone, who knows the victim. She is envious of the victim.
After writing that piece of information in my notebook, I asked the old lady again:
"Grandma (you usually call old people this way, even thought you don't have any blood relations with them), tell me how do you protect yourself from witches?"
"There are some ways. Something my mother would do was to put a mixture of seeds (the one you use to feed birds) into a bag, and then let it hang on the door. When the witch will enter, she will start counting the seeds, and because she can't, she will leave.  It would help putting a religious book, or object near the seeds."
That answer baffled me. I remember watching a greek TV series with vampires, and there was a legend that if you put rice at the entrance of your room, the vampires will start counting the rice.

The old grandma also told me the story when she met a witch.
"It was night. I hear my son taking a deep breath, and having difficulty breathing. I enter in his room, and in the darkness I find a woman with a blue towel on her head hiding her eyes, and her hand on my son's forehead. I tried to grab her, but she dissappeared. She was someone I knew, that's why she had put her towel in order not to let  me see her face."

Well, this was indeed a scary story, but I don't know if it was true or not. Regardless this was a very interesting creature, and I plan to continue my research. I will make sure to give the Albanian witch a lot more importance. By the way in Albanian "shtrige" means "witch". That ca be used even to offend someone.
This was the second episode of "Creature Feature"

Have a great day!

Happy Scary Reading!

Creature Feature Ep.1 Albanian Edition

Hello bookworms,
I am currently in Italy, enjoying some hot cappuccino even though it's summer. I spent an awful day today,from waking up at 2AM (after staying up the whole night reading "12 Years a Slave") , to traveling for 2 hours, to feeling nauseous while the plane was landing, to again traveling for 2 hours with a bus (falling asleep, and waking up scared) , to finally arrive at my destination only to find out that's raining pretty hard, and I don't have an umbrella...so...
But, anyways, I am ok now. I am currently writing on my IPad, and that's a bit annoying, but I don't have my laptop with me, so I have to bear with it.
Today "A Writer's Dark Corner" presents "Creature Feature" (credit to Roberta for the name), the first feature ever created to help writers find out about the most interesting, creepy, and unique creatures you never knew existed.
Anila interviews people for these creatures. Please support us in finding these unique creatures, by commenting, sharing, subscribing, and spreading love for horror.
I hope you enjoy it!
Not long ago, I interviewed an Albanian old lady about unique, creepy legends.This is "Creature Feature Ep.1 Albanian Edition" 
Pelhura is an Albanian creature, who is supposed to appear strolling around meadows. Usually shepherds are warned, when they go with their sheep in the meadows. If you see a "Pelhura" you need to hide between the sheep. This creature cannot pass the sheep, because the latest are supposed to be God's animals. While the goat is supposed to be devil's creature. "Pelhure" in Albanian means "fabric" or "cloth". The creature looks like a ghost, because it is covered in a white cloth, but it's huge, and it feeds on humans.

Lugat is the Albanian vampire, or the dead (usually vampires are called the undead, but in Albanian they are called the dead)
How is a lugat created?
It is told, that if you cry too much for the dead, he or she will wake up as a lugat, and he or she will eat you.
If you talk bad about the dead, this person will wake up, and he or she will eat you.
If this person has done something wrong in his or her life, the grave can't hold him or her.
There are a lot of everyday quotes regarding the lugat:
You eat like a lugat (You are filthy, and disgusting when you eat, and you are always hungry)
You sweat like a lugat (again, you are disgusting) 
Your nails are just like the lugat's (your nails are too long, just like the lugat's)
And then there is the curse "I hope you wake up as a lugat" , which means "I hope you die!"

Well, this was it! I hope you enjoyed it!

Have a great day!

Happy Scary Reading!