8 Modern Mythological Creatures

By Joseph F. Nacino

To get you ready for Halloween, check out our list of 8 modern mythological creatures that scare and fascinate us.

There’s a saying that there’s nothing new under the sun. However, our imagination constantly filters our perception such that our history will always be marked by the strange and the unknown. That’s why for this October, we decided to look at the modern mythological creatures that have sprung up before and during the Age of the Internet. These creatures have their own stories about themselves—or even reinvented themselves with new stories—to achieve their own mythology.

1. Slender Man

In today’s Internet Age, the perfect example of the modern mythological creature is the Slender Man. Originally an internet meme by Eric Knudsen that exploded as a creepypasta in 2009, the Slender Man is a tall, thin man that haunts children. Unlike other creepypasta creations like Jeff the Killer or The Rake, the Slender Man has managed to make the transition to the real world when two pre-teen girls tried to murder their friend in Wisconsin in 2014 as a sacrifice to this creature.

2. Clowns

Though clowns have been present throughout human history, these funny-looking comic performers have both entertained and unsettled us with their white-painted skin and bulbous noses. The unsettling feeling is ratcheted up higher if one sees a clown in incongruous places like dark streets or in the woods, which could explain the current spate of threatening clown sightings in the US and the UK.

3. Infected

With movies like 28 Days Later, we now dread the spread of a sickness that would turn people into raving mad but still-living flesh-eaters (unlike zombies, which are undead). That’s why people started getting jittery in 2012 when a drug addict gnawed off a man’s face supposedly due to an illegal drug called ‘bath salts.’ Recently, a similar crime involving a drug called flakka happened again in Florida this year.

4. Black-Eyed Children

The urban legend of black-eyed children dates back to 1998 but stories have appeared sporadically. These children, with ages ranging from 6 to 16, usually appear from out of nowhere and ask people for help. When you get a closer look at them, the children have black eyes and you get an unnerving feeling of fear around them.

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