List of supernatural creatures and description. Legends of supernatural creatures
Photos from open sources
Mysterious events that defy rational explanation constantly occur in all corners of the planet. (website)
However, not all of them receive worldwide fame. Only the most amazing supernatural cases become the subject of conversation among residents of all countries. So, everyone knows about the American Area 51, where the military studied an unidentified flying object they shot down with an alien corpse on board, or about the Egyptian pyramids, near which trees grow several times faster, and the water purifies itself.
Undoubtedly, in such a large and eventful country as Russia, there were also many paranormal events that captured the imagination of not only the Russians themselves, but also all earthlings. Therefore, many of us may ask a logical question: what supernatural phenomena that happened directly to our people are best known abroad?
Tunguska meteorite
This amazing event took place during the Russian Empire. On the morning of June 30, 1908, in the area of the Siberian river Podkamennaya Tunguska, a colossal explosion with a capacity of fifty megatons of TNT occurred, which is comparable to the power of the largest hydrogen bomb. As a result of the explosion, trees were toppled over an area of over two thousand square kilometers, and windows flew out of houses within a radius of several hundred kilometers from the epicenter.
Photos from open sources
The event, accompanied by an intense glow in the sky, was recorded by all observatories on the planet. According to the official version, it exploded over Siberia, but for some reason its debris was not found. Many experts suggest that it was not a meteorite that was to blame, but Russia’s testing of a secret weapon, or the experiments of the legendary physicist Nikola Tesla, or the tricks of aliens. To this day, this incident is shrouded in mystery, and world scientists are still scratching their heads over it.
Soviet cosmonauts, as pioneers of space research, had a hard time, because due to imperfect equipment, emergency situations arose very often. Space flights were further aggravated by the fact that our astronauts suffered from aliens who flew close to them. Many Soviet cosmonauts who returned from orbit reported that unidentified flying objects were approaching their ships.
Let's assume that the supernatural exists and consists of beings/forces that can interact with our natural universe in ways that are contrary to the natural laws of that universe (at least as we know them).
Take any general or historical example of the supernatural such as miracles, spiritual/supernatural revelations, sixth senses (in some contexts), angels/demons, various explanations of God/gods, vampires/werewolves, etc. What do you like or is your favorite . Basically, you just need a being that exists in another dimension/plane of existence and can at least one-way interact with ours in a way that "breaks" the laws of nature.
What evidence might exist or be obtained for these beings/forces/events truly being supernatural? Is it possible that they can be scientifically tested or proven? To what level or extent?
Any supernatural event that can be observed (such as faith healing) may have witnesses who provide some amount of legal/historical evidence, but is there a way to expand this into a more rigorous scientific test? For example, if we could know that a supernatural event was going to happen at a certain point in time, and record whatever data we wanted, could it ever reach a higher level of evidence than courtroom style evidence?
Note: This probably applies to many other similar questions, such as proving one of many multiple-valued hypotheses, proving free will/dualism, etc. I think this could also work for proving alien encounters...
Court Ammon
What do you define as “truly supernatural?” I have found with this particular topic that the "supernatural" treatment gets to dominate the subsequent discussion. As one trivial example, if supernatural means “not explainable by natural means,” and science seeks to prove everything “by natural means,” science will never prove the supernatural because it is defined as doing otherwise.
Philipp Klöking ♦
Supernatural = not in nature, transcending it. Evidence = relating to/explaining a fact in nature (taken as the sum of all facts, field of science and experience, etc.). Therefore, supernatural by definition means unprovable. Unprovable means that it is meaningless unless it is transcendental to something provable. Only 2 Kantian cents.
LightCC
@virmaior Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it philosophical to think about how a person proves what is real and what the basic nature of reality is?
Philipp Klöking ♦
@LightCC: If this is your only question, first read the already answered questions on this topic, they are to the right of the "related" ones and were already highlighted to you when you wrote this question.
Answers
Court Ammon
I think what's hard to answer your question is that it depends on the meanings of several words:
- Supernatural
- Proof
- witness
- proof
Many of them are notoriously difficult to determine on your own. Trying to define them together often leads to trivial results.
For example, it is trivial to demonstrate that there can be no evidence of the supernatural. Any supernatural effect would have to be unpredictable by our existing empirical models. His research will lead to one of two results:
- It is not amenable to scientific analysis, and in this case it is not scientifically proven
- It is subject to scientific analysis, in which case it becomes part of “nature.” (See Quantum Mechanics for an excellent example of positive quirky results woven into the model, empirically defended through experiments, and now considered "natural")
In contrast, religion constantly claims the existence of the supernatural and offers its supernatural history as evidence. This evidence is clearly not scientific (although some try), but it counts as evidence to them. To reject their claims, we must define “prove” in a way that eliminates their claims. Many definitions have been proposed, but most criteria for "non-scientific proof" do not correspond to what we tend to call "proof", just as scientific "proofs" generally do not correspond to what mathematicians call "proof".
There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of attempts to prove the supernatural by conducting statistical studies of "witnesses" to try to determine the criteria for their credulity. Generally speaking, witnesses have proven themselves to be unreliable in this regard.
Delve deeper into this area of philosophy in these vague terms. Epistemology is the study of what can be known, and has many terms that are more suited to the enterprise: deduction, induction, and abduction are particularly useful examples of terms. It even serves as an effective approach to the concept of "witness", which at first glance seems more complex. If you look at epistemology, you will recognize approaches and words that can be used to frame your question in a way that produces a less trivial answer. This is a good line of questioning, it's just a question that is hard to handle in a Stack Exchange Q&A format unless you acquire the local language first.
LightCC
I freely admit that I am a philosophical layman and do not know all the necessary terms. I agree that it is possible to trivialize the answer by definition of the term. For me, this is usually (but not always) just a way to avoid the original question. But there are cases where this is clearly not the case. Thanks for the answer - I'm always willing to learn, but often lazy about learning the best technical vocabulary for queries like this...
Philipp Klöking ♦
@LightCC: Well, philosophy is essentially the development of a more technical vocabulary for the study and explanation of the logical pattern of terms. Otherwise, every native speaker can be a “philosopher” only through the ability to use the language correctly. Philosophy.SE especially encourages asking and answering with specific technical uses of specific philosophers.
LightCC
Also, I'm not sure that expanding the natural realm to contain any future evidence of the supernatural is always a destruction of the supernatural. This has certainly been the case on many occasions in recent history (the last 400 years or so). But let's say that we find a way to transfer ourselves to another dimension, in which there are "angels/demons" and a different set of "laws of existence". It would seem to expand our natural world to include this new multiverse and say it is no longer "supernatural"... I'm not sure if the word for that is pretentious? Deceptive? Just wrong?
LightCC
@PhilipKlöcking I'll up my game then! :)
Court Ammon
@LightCC What if we transported ourselves to a dimension where the inhabitants of that dimension could demonstrate telepathy or even run straight through solid walls as if they weren't even there? Some may even exist in regions where you can prove that no one can survive. Will we include them as "natural law" or will they be seen as unnatural because you had to leave the world you know to get there? The study of the supernatural essentially leads to the study of the natural. (By the way, these behaviors are anthropomorphisms of the usual behavior of quantum mechanics)
Nelson Alexander
Yes, sure.
You can *scientifically prove** what is considered supernatural. But once you do that, they are no longer supernatural. They are "natural" as the methods show natural Sci.
However, you'll probably be wasting your time on the various hobgoblins and creepy abilities you list. We don't see phenomena, werewolves, resurrections, or mind control that require scientific explanation. First you need to demonstrate them publicly and repeatedly, which in most cases cannot be determined.
As Hume noted, by “miracle” we mean precisely that which cannot be predicted, controlled, or repeated experimentally. We now fly, cure plagues, transmit voices for miles, and perform other previously “miraculous” feats. But they are no longer "miracles" except metaphorically.
Likewise, magnetism, séances, ghosts, and the like have often been of interest to hopeful scientists and philosophers. William James, with his tolerant epistemology, for example, “loved to dim the lights to give miracles a chance,” as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it. The search never ends, the possibilities are never completely ruled out.
So it's possible that some of the weird world machinations you mentioned could be brought to bear on science. We've never seen X-rays before, so it's possible that significant "auras" will be detected. We've never worked with machines with direct neural input, so perhaps such powers could be engineered telepsychically in some way. We've never created genetically monstrous mice or glowing bunnies, so maybe werewolves are just around the corner.
The point is that you are miscategorizing. Anything can become the object of the scientific method. But once it is adequately demonstrated, contextualized within existing theoretical frameworks, experimentally tested, and test results are replicated “at will,” we will no longer call it “supernatural.” And, of course, there is the problem of research funding...
LightCC
Thanks to Nelson, but I want to point out that I did not limit the discussion to scientific research or evidence (although scientific evidence is not limited to the scientific method and can only include empirical evidence). I find it interesting (and actually quite funny) that you can replace the "supernatural" in my question with something like "aliens" and can pretty much leave the same question unchanged... and have those same answers.
LightCC
So, thinking about this a little more, the gist of your answer is that the totality of the evidence shows that scientific research has responded to a natural explanation for what people living before the age of reason would have called "supernatural", that the bar of evidence is so high that it doesn't can be met?
Nelson Alexander
I don't know what the bar is "high". Science is simply a method of determining, falsifying, predicting, experimenting, etc., ending in a hypothetical consensus that is always open to revision given new evidence. Of course, there are many things we don't know. Many may contradict or revise our current “laws of nature.” But the things we call "supernatural" are not supposed to belong to the realm of "natural science." They may simply be intermittent, uncontrollable, random, perceived only by a few. As such, they are not "provable" in the "scientific" sense.
Alexander S King
I think you need to divide the supernatural into two categories:
- Religious Supernatural: Miracles, Divine Intervention, Angels, etc... by definition they are beyond the scope of science and cannot be tested. Testing requires reproducibility and falsifiability, neither of which apply to religious supernatural events. The whole point of miracles is that God supposedly made rules about who works in the universe, and he is the only one who can break them.
- Occult Supernatural: Vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, etc... if anyone ever proves the existence of such creatures, then we will simply have to update the laws of science to account for their existence. You can already see this in the literature that deals with this type of fantasy - those who deal with these types of creatures are depicted as scientists who simply specialize in unusual areas of study.
In any case, proving beyond a doubt that something supernatural happened is very unlikely. If something truly outlandish were to happen (say, a person levitating, or a truly incredible healing, such as an amputee having his natural limb restored), then there are only two ways to convince normal rational people of your truth:
- Or you can somehow replay the event at will.
- The event occurred in front of a significant number of independent witnesses who all testify to its occurrence.
Philipp Klöking ♦
As stated in the comments above, other explanations should also be ruled out. There is much more to it than just having a huge group of witnesses. We have them at every "magic" show in Las Vegas every day, but nothing supernatural happens, there's just no obvious explanation for them.
LightCC
I appreciate the answer. Thank you. I don't think angels/demons fit into the first category because, as far as I understand, myths/literature do not have unlimited power. Regarding your original statement about miracles/divine intervention being unverifiable - I'm not sure, doesn't your first answer at the end potentially contradict that statement?
Alexander S King
“I’m not sure if your first answer at the end potentially contradicts that statement?” No - because testing and proof are two different things. We can rely on witnesses or archaeological evidence to prove that something happened, but you can never verify it.
LightCC
I agree that you will need some kind of repeatability and/or interaction for testing. I need to know that an event is coming so I can collect data. For example, if the genie gave me 3 wishes, and I have only used 1 so far...
Mozibur Ulla
IN logic Hegels in the introduction to the first book of Genesis has the following:
So much is logical for a person, such is his nature. If, however, we contrast nature as such, as the realm of the physical, and the realm of the spiritual, then we must say that logic is supernatural an element that permeates all his natural behavior, his ways of perception, intuition, desire...
And logic has its own methods of proof and demonstration.
LightCC
I accept this definition of the supernatural as explaining it in terms of dualism. A natural being is physical, and a supernatural being is spiritual. But it is not clear to me what the requirement of proof is here. Is Hegel saying that the fact that we are logical is a supernatural element inherent in us? That would be proof (by definition?) that we are dualistic by nature, wouldn't it?
Conifold
If a test taker is interpreted as it is typically interpreted in science, at least two conditions must be met. First, the supernatural must be recurrent and/or reproducible, or we can observe some violation of natural laws at predictable times (such as bleeding from a crucifix on certain dates), or, better yet, set up experiments that cause such violations to occur . Secondly, it had to be manifested, a sublime mystical experience private to a person, no matter how experienced and trustworthy it would not qualify. However, I suspect that if these conditions were met, whatever phenomena were posed would be moved from the supernatural to the natural pillar and studied scientifically.
Single events, supernatural or not, can be the subject of something like historical research, and there is a concept of corroboration based on the existence of reliable and documented accounts. However, this trust often includes the idea that at a minimum these accounts are physically plausible. So singular miracles say that bridging the plausibility gap will require an extraordinary level of documentation.
The supernatural, as in violations of natural laws, is often associated with unlikely events, such as "unlikely" escapes or healings. They are not supernatural, even if they are colloquially exaggerated as "nothing short of a miracle." We know that human probabilistic intuition is very flawed and sees miracles where there are none due to base rate error. For example, the Vatican standard for miraculous healing is that the recovery must be "complete", "instantaneous", "lasting" and "scientifically inexplicable". However, from a scientific point of view, statistical accidents, although inexplicable, are not miraculous. Again, there must be a repeating pattern and a high level of supporting documentation to make a statistical inference about something supernatural.
LightCC
I appreciate the response and tend to agree with the analysis. I think there is room for possible testability if a way can be found to force an event to repeat. Like capturing a vampire and doing experiments (for a fun example!). A faith healer who can heal repeatedly may be different. But overall I agree with the recommendations you offer.
James Kingsbury
Much of this will of course depend on who you ask. My own religious tradition holds that miracles are rare (that is, they happen, but even the circumstances under which they occur are not a repeatable, normal process). There are groups in the Catholic Church that ask a different but related question: for a given claim of something miraculous (such as a miracle healing or apparition), was it actually a miracle?
It is known that there is a concept of the "devil's advocate", whose job was to force miracles into claims by showing that they were fraudulent or due to natural causes.
Recently, people in the town of Medjugorje claimed to have seen Mary (the mother of Jesus), and later the Catholic Church stated that there was not enough evidence for this.
Many have studied Lourdes as an example, where there are many reports of miraculous healings. It has been shown that individual healings are beyond the scientific knowledge of mankind, but since the healing process itself is not repeated, it is impossible to experiment with scientific meaning.
In these three examples, or any others that might be given, it is important to note that they take the form of a test or historical investigation rather than a scientific experiment. Since (at least Catholics claim) miracles are not repeatable historical events, it seems appropriate to take an approach more akin to a question like “Did Caesar conquer Gaul?” rather than “How long does it take for this object to fall?”
LightCC
Similar to other answers - appreciate additional quotes. Consensus appears to be historical/testimonial/empirical evidence only, meaning you have to decide for yourself based on the evidence - no scientific method is possible. Unless you can constantly summon or cause a supernatural being to constantly cause supernatural events.
Incredible facts
Scientists have proven that the human brain can function at 100% even when solving the simplest problems. The question arises: what are the capabilities of the human mind? From time to time, interesting and controversial reports appear about phenomena that we do not understand, as well as about people who, in their opinion, have unusual abilities.
In most cases, scientists and various types of researchers only state data, and it’s up to us whether to believe in human superpowers or not .
Healing
A healer is a person who is able to see and understand all forms of illness, whether physical or psychological abnormalities. Such people feel the pain of others.
Almost everything traditional healers enjoy biokinesis(ability to manage someone else's body) , allowing them to control organic tissue. In this way they heal themselves and others.
The downside to this ability is that some healers can become so sensitive to the illnesses of others that they themselves become ill with the same illness. In addition, one traditional healer, having cured his “colleague,” may lose his gift forever.
There are a lot of people with such abilities. As a rule, they become doctors or nurses. But still, the majority of people who are able to heal without the use of medications and surgical interventions go into so-called alternative medicine.
Important! Remember that not all diseases can be cured using traditional medicine methods, while delays associated with late diagnosis and improper treatment can cost the patient his life!
Brazilian healer
Joao Teixeira is a Brazilian healer who treats thousands of people every day. The healing occurs in an extremely interesting way: the healer performs complex surgical operations without medications, and the blood is practically invisible.
Juan is able to cure serious illnesses with the help of psychological suggestions. According to the healer, his abilities occur due to the interventions of higher beings who use Juan's body. He believes that the souls of once deceased healers, doctors or hypnotists mediate to him.
Russian healer
Juna is a famous Russian healer, psychic and recognized phenomenon. Her superpowers were studied by Soviet scientists, who were unable to explain this anomaly.
Juna has extremely strong energy, with which she influences biological field a person, fills him with energy and heals the body. Her healing operations are based on non-contact massage (keeping hands at a distance from the body).
American healer
Edgard Cayce was probably the most amazing person of the twentieth century. This is a great healer and clairvoyant, thanks to whom many people in the world believed in forces and phenomena that are inexplicable from the point of view of science.
Casey made all the diagnostics and predictions in a state of trance. According to the healer, during a hypnotic sleep he found himself in the “Akashic Chronicles” - the energy-information sphere of the Earth, where all the present, past and future of a person are recorded.
Xenoglossy
Xenoglossy is a phenomenon due to which some people can understand foreign languages without having previously studied them. There are people who born with such a gift, while many can spend a lot of effort and time learning foreign languages.
Strike by lightning
Nikolai Alexandrovich Lipatov from the Vologda region in 1978 he was struck by lightning and miraculously survived, but the miracles did not end there. Unexpectedly for himself and those around him, he began to speak fluently three European languages.
After a car accident
Gennady Sergeevich Smirnov from the Tula region in 1987, as a pensioner, he was pressed against a fence by a truck trailer, and when pressed, he hit his head hard. The very next day he began to speak in German language, which I absolutely did not know before.
Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is the ability to see the unknown. Such people can be in one place and know what is happening in a completely different place at a very great distance.
Clairvoyants see the future, the past, and the present. As a rule, they psychic abilities are based on visions of some episodes from the lives of other people.
Famous clairvoyants
Lev Tolstoy - Russian writer, mystic and clairvoyant, whose desire for holiness and truth became an example for many.
Vanga – world-famous Bulgarian clairvoyant.
Gurzhdiev - famous Russian clairvoyant, mystic. He worked for several intelligence agencies simultaneously during World War II.
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev famous for his chemical table, which is now used by the whole world. However, no less interesting is the story of the creation of this table, which he saw in a dream.
Important! Today, even the most zealous skeptics do not exclude the existence of the gift of clairvoyance. However, before you go to a clairvoyant, think about the fact that you can easily be deceived, because it’s no secret that in the modern world, various kinds of fortune-telling and predictions are a profitable business, with most “sorcerers” and “magicians” and "fortune tellers" are ordinary charlatans.
Empathy
An empath is a person who feels the emotions of others. This ability is more common in children , who are very insightful to the world and people around them. This power may disappear with age, but there are people who manage to maintain the ability throughout their lives.
As a rule, empaths strive to become teachers and consultants, since their calling is to help other people. In essence, an empath can be compared to a good psychologist, and if we add logic to the ability to understand people, then many of us can confidently be called a kind of empath.
Most empaths worry constantly periods of depression, caused by other people's negative emotions getting the better of them. People with such abilities must learn to block the emotions of others so as not to absorb the negativity of others, and also surround themselves with positive people.
Energy vampirism
Energetic vampire- this is a person who, when in contact with other people, uses their energy (feeds on it), and he does this most often unconsciously.
Such people try to surround themselves with as many friends, acquaintances and colleagues as possible in order totakethey have vitality. They are able to read the thoughts of others, which they can use for selfish purposes.
All this makes the energy vampire capable of dominating others.
P.S. Today, every second person can be called an energy vampire, since modern life is filled with negative emotions and communication with people we don’t always like. In addition, we have forgotten how to enjoy everyday things: the smile of a child, the bright sun above our heads.
Pyrokinesis
Pyrokinesis is the ability of a person to cause fire with the power of thought. These people can also intensify an already burning flame.
There are two main forms of this power.
Fire is like heat
A person with this type of pyrokinesis can provoke fire occurrence. Moreover, for each such person, the created fire has an individual visual form. The created flame can burn anyone except the one creating it.
This very dangerous force which has become widespread in recent years. People with pyrokinesis have difficulty managing their emotions and may become angry for unknown reasons.
Fire like light
This form of pyrokinesis is a fireball of energy that produces light. People who create such energy know how to control their emotions. This energy flow similar to the light of the sun or the light of a light bulb.
Spontaneous combustion in Australia
It should be noted that spontaneous combustion of people is not uncommon. Similar phenomena are regularly recorded that cannot be explained from the point of view of science or physiology.
In the Australian city of Brisbane in 1996, a naked girl ran into the street screaming wildly. When she calmed down a little, she said that she had come to this city with her boyfriend for the weekend.
Her friend went to take a bath and she went to bed. After which he went out, lay down next to her in bed and suddenly caught fire within a minute turning to dust.
Spontaneous combustion in Peru
The rector of a church in the city of Orellano (Peru) read a sermon to his congregation in 1993. When he began to read about the fiery hyena that awaits sinners in Heaven, he screamed terribly and turned into fire club.
The parishioners began to flee from the church in horror. When they returned, they found the priest’s clothes completely intact, containing only ashes.
Spontaneous combustion in Spain
Madrid resident Roberto Gonzalez listened to a toast at his own wedding in 1998. suddenly flared up and turned to ashes in less than a minute. Hundreds of people witnessed the tragedy, but the element of fire did not affect anyone or anything else.
The nature of such phenomena studied by scientists has not been established to this day.
Illusionism
An illusionist is a person who can change the structure of molecules in objects. This can be used to disguise something.
Some illusionists use consciousness, to create an illusion, while others prefer specific items, or rather their movement in space. Many compare illusionists to magicians, since both are artists whose main goal is to capture the viewer’s attention and believe in the impossible. But! Illusionists use human subconscious delusions to achieve their goal, and magicians use sleight of hand. As a result, neither one nor the other (according to scientists) has anything to do with magic and supernatural abilities.
As a rule, the best illusionists use their gift for personal enrichment and glorification (an example is David Copperfield), or find use of their abilities in psychiatric institutions, trying to help people with mental disorders.
Levitation
Levitation is an ability that allows a person to raise his body above the ground, that is, to fly (such a gift requires a great concentration of strength and energy). However, examples of levitation of objects are more common.
Medieval levitation
Reports of this mysterious phenomenon have been known since the dark Middle Ages. Thus, Joseph of Cupertino, a member of the French Order, was mentioned as “often rising and hanging in the air,” causing shock among the public.
Levitation in Mexico
There is information that such "flying people" can unexpectedly move long distances. So, in October 1953, a man in military uniform found himself on the street in Mexico City, speaking to passers-by in a foreign language.
It later turned out that he was a Filipino who, in a few seconds, was transported from Manila, where he was guarding the governor's palace. Local residents were delighted with the “balloonist” and gave him a warm welcome.
Levitation in India
Such flights did not always end successfully. Thus, an employee of the Portuguese colony in India in 1655 instantly flew to his homeland in Portugal. Because he violated the “order given by God,” the Inquisition decided to burn him at the stake.
Interesting Facts! according to some scientific studies, levitation is explained by the ability of individuals to reduce their own weight in a way unknown to science. The only thing that scientists cannot understand is how this can be done.
Suggestion
The art of suggestion is the ability to control the minds of other people. This is a very dangerous power, because people who possess it are able to influence the actions of others with the power of thought.
Wolf Messing
In order to instill a certain thought in a person, verbal contact is not necessary, since it is possible to influence a person’s thoughts at a distance. This technique was used by the hypnotist Wolf Messing.
He could keep a person under hypnosis while he was over long distances from it, hundreds of kilometers away.
Thanks to his extraordinary abilities, Messing gained fame as a magician and wizard. They tried to use his talent powers that be for your own purposes.
It was because of his hypnotic sessions that he managed to anger Hitler so much that he promised huge money for the capture of the magician.
Wolf Messing said that he acquired the ability to hypnotize thanks to long training. The hypnotist was confident that all people have the ability to inspire thoughts; they just need to develop such abilities in themselves.
Regeneration
Regeneration is a human ability that allows you to heal yourself in a short time. Known cases tissue regeneration in sick people without the use of modern medicine treatment methods. At the same time, they experience physical pain during the regeneration process. This ability is explained by the fact that the brain can influence the process of restoration of body tissue.
Some sources describe amazing, but unlikely cases of immortality of such people, who supposedly can be killed only in one way: by cutting off the head so that their brain cannot restore the body. Of course, these are all rumors, but as they say, “there is no smoke without fire.” Therefore, the question of the existence of people capable of regenerating themselves remains open.
Seeing spirits
Gift see spirits actually very common, but not everyone uses it. There are harmless spirits and evil ones. Some mediums can physically interact with ghosts, which is not always safe.
Some people who have this ability are afraid of spirits, others take advantage of this and contact them.
The best mediums
Edmund Gurney (1847-1888) - author of the book “Living Ghosts”, was sure that the soul of a person can appear to other people 12 hours before death and the same amount after. He claimed that such visions were the final astral flight of the dying person.
Sir William Barrett (1844-1925) was professor of physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin for 37 years. He said the following: “I am absolutely convinced that those who once lived on earth can communicate with us.”
Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) is known for his studies of life after death. He began studying this phenomenon in the 1880s. From 1901 to 1903 he was president of the Society for Psychical Research. Oliver Lodge is also the author of the book "Raymond, or
Life and Death", which talks about contacts with the spirit of his son Raymond after his death at the front.
Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is a paranormal phenomenon that causes metamorphoses in the body, due to which a person turns into another creature (most often a wolf). Many werewolves only change into one specific animal.
But! Scientists call lycanthropy a special mental condition in which a person, although he considers himself a werewolf, is actually not one, since he does not modify his physical form. At the same time, the lycanthrope is extremely dangerous for society, since it shows aggression and indomitable strength.
Stories about werewolves
According to the legend, in the middle of 1760, in one in the central parts of France, a certain beast frightened the local residents. Livestock and people began to disappear every day. Witnesses described it as a large wolf, giving it the name Loup Garou . They tried to shoot him, but the werewolf turned out to be immortal. It all ended with the hunters killing him with a silver bullet right in the heart.
Robert Fortney from Michigan in 1938 encountered creatures that looked like werewolves. As he claimed, five animals attacked him at once. He even shot one of them, but he was overcome with horror when the most ferocious beast stood on its hind legs and looked at him with a grin.
Let's look at a relatively recent case. Truck Driver Scott On August 27, 2005, a strange incident was reported on the radio, and company director Ian Pannett had already told everyone about what had happened. Moving along the highway, the driver saw some kind of animal tormenting a dead deer on the side of the road. According to him, the beast was not like any known one: a mixture of a wolf and a monkey.
Today, such a wide popularity of lycanthropy is facilitated by a huge number of films about werewolves and vampires.
Telekinesis
Telekinesis is the ability to move objects with the power of thought. This ability requires an understanding of energies, which not many people can learn.
These people concentrate on the object, which encourages it to move without touching. People who know how to learn telekinesis practice a lot and do not stop there. They can even do this all their life and not truly master this ability.
Telekinesis in France
A recorded case of telekinesis occurred with a French woman Angelique Cotten at the age of 14 years. On January 15, 1846, she and three other friends were engaged in embroidery. Suddenly the embroidery fell out of the girls’ hands, and the lamp flew into the corner.
Her friends did not hesitate to blame Angelica for what had happened, since strange events often occurred in her presence: furniture moved away or chairs flew around the room.
Telekinesis in Russia
The most famous case of telekinesis in Russian history is called the “Kulagina phenomenon.” In the sixties of the last century, experiments were carried out involving Ninel Sergeevna Kulagina , which made objects move and changed the trajectory of their movement.
The supernatural has always attracted the attention of many people of all nationalities on all continents. This inexhaustible, permanent interest invariably influenced myths, religious ideas, folklore and even the ordinary everyday life of every nation. We can study and discuss this entire heritage endlessly. In this article we will touch on this phenomenon only from one side - from the side of the inhabitants of what we usually call “supernatural beings”. A list and description of all such creatures in full would form an entire library, so we will limit ourselves to the most famous and popular creatures in modern culture.
Gnomes
The word "gnome" translated from Latin means underground dweller. These creatures are known in almost all regions of the earth where there are mountains or deserts. The traditional, familiar image of a gnome comes from German-Scandinavian folklore, but is also known among the Slavs (for example, Polish dwarfs are relatives of gnomes). Their own dwarf people, living in mountain dungeons, are also found in the Urals, where they are called either Chud or Chuchka. According to widespread legends, these supernatural beings are engaged in jewelry making, mining all kinds of treasures and, among other things, have significant knowledge of medicine.
Nature of the gnomes
The word “gnome” itself, according to one version, began to be used in the 16th century by Paracelsus, the famous European doctor and occultist. He used it to designate the spirits of the earth - elementals. The latter are supernatural beings that set the world around them in motion by influencing one of the four primary elements - earth, air, fire or water. So, the spirits, called gnomes by Paracelsus, lived in the element of earth. Later, this term began to denote the entire list of supernatural creatures that, according to legend, live underground and are united by common features - appearance, craft, etc.
Goblins
Goblins are another category of supernatural neighbors of humans. In general, they can be considered as distant relatives of gnomes. They also live underground, in mountain gorges dotted with caves. Like gnomes in many legends, goblins do not tolerate the light of the sun. But if gnomes are representatives of Scandinavian and German folklore, then the goblin is a character from Romanesque culture. These supernatural creatures got their very name from the Old French language.
The appearance of goblins is described in legends very differently. But the constant feature of all of them is incredible ugliness. Goblins are similar to humans and can range in height from thirty centimeters to two meters. When necessary, they know how to turn into beautiful people. But they are always given away by their long ears, claws on their hands and sinister animal eyes. The only exception to the rule is the English hobgoblins, who play the role of cute brownies in British folklore, which we will talk about next.
Brownies
The creatures that are known in Russia as brownies are perhaps the most widespread character in world folklore. Of course, they are described differently and interacted with differently, but everywhere these creatures top the list of supernatural beings. In the Slavic tribes they were also called the Kut gods. The brownie lives with the family in their home and monitors the housekeeping, safety and favorable atmosphere. However, if the owners are careless, then he can appear as a formidable, frightening creature. There was no consensus on where this guardian of home comfort came from. Someone believed that this was a manifestation of the first ancestor, the progenitor of the family. Others insisted it was a deceased family member. With the Christianization of Rus', the belief in brownies did not disappear, but the popular opinion began to prevail that it was either a spirit sent by God, or, conversely, a small demon planted by the devil in order to harm the inhabitants to the best of his ability. However, there was also a belief that unrepentant sinners become brownies, whom God sends as punishment to serve people as protective spirits.
Russian brownies
One way or another, the brownie was the one on whom the well-being of the family depended. Therefore, they always tried to build a good relationship with him. It was customary to feed the brownie by leaving a plate of food for him in a special place. The grateful spirit protected the home from thieves, from fire, and warded off troubles and misfortunes. The brownie was especially concerned about livestock, and mainly horses. It was believed that at night he tinkered in the stable, making sure that the horse did not remain hungry or unkempt. Like other supernatural creatures, in Russia it was believed that the brownie could predict the future. For example, if at night you hear roaring, howling, crying and similar ominous signs, then you have to expect trouble. If at night there is quiet laughter, joyful exclamations and the like, then the family will be in for a pleasant surprise.
Some legends also feature female brownies. In some cases, we are even talking about entire families of brownies. However, this is much less common in folklore.
Dragons
Very popular supernatural creatures, the list of which includes hundreds of varieties around the world, are dragons. Currently, their popularity is increasing, thanks to the massive passion for the fantasy genre in art. Legends about supernatural creatures, similar in appearance to huge lizards, cutting through the air and breathing fire, are known literally on all continents among all tribes and peoples. The storyline in them can be very different, and the cultural codes and symbols that they carry are accordingly different. In Asia, for example, dragons are the wisest creatures who came down from heaven and gave people knowledge, culture, medicine, taught them magic, agriculture and morality. In the West, on the contrary, they were chthonic monsters, bringing with them only death and destruction. In Christian times, the dragon was often associated with the devil, but at the same time it was a favorite heraldic symbol. A battle with him to save a woman or acquire wealth is a typical plot for European as well as Slavic folklore.
Unicorns
Our list of supernatural creatures continues with such an interesting character as the unicorn. He is usually depicted as a horse with a beautiful straight horn growing from his forehead.
The earliest images of this animal come from India, and their age is estimated at four thousand years. Gradually, this character penetrated from Asia to ancient Greece and Rome. However, there he was considered a very real animal. Such beliefs spread among the Greeks thanks to a doctor named Ctesias, who spent many years in Persia, and upon returning to his homeland in Hellas, described in his writings massive Indian donkeys with a horn growing on their foreheads. This all took place in the 5th century and was later popularized by Aristotle. The traditional equine appearance of the unicorn today was not originally taken for granted. He was imagined with the body of both a goat and a bull, and according to some descriptions, this creature looked more like a rhinoceros.
Unicorns in later legends
In later Western European myths, the unicorn was represented as a ferocious creature, meeting which promised death. But, being the personification of morality and holiness, this creature could only be tamed by a virgin and kept in submission only by a golden bridle. It is not surprising that with the spread of Catholicism, this animal became one of the emblems of the Virgin Mary. His enemies were elephants and lions. The belief in them was so strong in Europe and Russia that as early as the 19th century, naturalistic research was carried out to find out whether supernatural creatures called unicorns actually existed or not. Some European monarchs, including those, were proud that their staffs - attributes of royal power - were made from the horn of this animal. There was even a European market for the purchase and sale of these horns, in which Russian merchants (mostly Pomors) played an important role. Today it has been established that these horns actually belonged to narwhals.
Werewolves
Werewolves are another supernatural creature, the list of varieties of which exceeds all imaginable limits. But they all have one thing in common - they have the ability to transform from people to animals, and vice versa. Most often these are wolves, but in fact there are legends in which heroes turned into birds, fish, and other animals. The difference between werewolf transformations and other magical transformations is that they do this either of their own free will or under certain conditions, but in any case they turn back into people. In Russian mythology, even one of the heroes, named Werewolf, had this ability, according to folk legends, and the prince. Similar stories are extremely popular in Indian, Scandinavian and Celtic mythologies. In addition, the ability for such transformations was almost everywhere assigned to sorcerers and witches. During the Inquisition, the accusation of such an act served as a reason to initiate an investigation into connections with the devil.
Sometimes a distinction was made between werewolves from birth and those who became one for some reason. A werewolf could be born if a person whose mother ate the meat of an animal killed by a wolf during pregnancy, or who bore the curse of werewolf herself. And one could acquire the ability to turn into animals either magically or become an apostate. It was believed that in the latter case a person becomes a werewolf, albeit after death. The latter also include children who died unbaptized. Accordingly, some werewolves experience this ability as a curse, others use it as a magical gift and know how to control this ability.
Ghosts and ghosts
Ghosts are perhaps the only supernatural creatures whose list and photos can be viewed from a strictly scientific point of view. This phenomenon is so unprecedented that it goes beyond the boundaries of myths and legends and is part of everyday life. And these days there are a lot of people, even those who grew up in advanced civilization, but who are confident in the existence of ghosts. Moreover, a huge number of eyewitnesses claim to have had or are in contact with them. We are talking not only about mediums and parapsychologists, but also about specialists within the framework of strict academic science. However, the number of the latter is small. But the number of eyewitness testimonies, mysterious photographs and videos depicting ghosts is enormous.
According to the most common beliefs, ghosts are the souls of dead people. Why they appear in this world and what their nature is - there is no consensus. But almost no one doubts that the dead appear in the form of translucent silhouettes.
Mermaids
Finishing our list of supernatural creatures are mermaids. In modern culture, this is a very ambivalent character. It must be said right away that beautiful maidens with fish tails are not mermaids, they are sea maidens. Mermaids are girls in completely human form, originating from Slavic legends. In pre-Christian times, they were considered the spirits of rivers, and after Christianization, the belief spread that drowned women who committed suicide became mermaids. They are not accepted in the afterlife, and therefore they are forced to serve their punishment on earth, living at the bottom of the river. The only night when mermaids come ashore is night
Conclusion
As already mentioned, the characters listed above are not all supernatural creatures. The list can be continued to tens and hundreds of thousands of names, if you delve into the beliefs of each people in detail. Those who are curious will no doubt be able to do this and find a lot more new unknown material.