#running down the hills to you

[serpentface]

The pylidaigh, a type of vampiric snow ghost, as imagined in folklore in and around the Highlands.

This is a ghost believed to come into being when a person dies in the snow and their body is not found before their soul (still trapped without its funeral rites) 'freezes' inside of it. The body then reanimates into a pylidaigh's twisted form. It looks like someone who slowly died of starvation, just a thin layer of flesh over bones. Its skin is as white as the snow itself, so pale it can blend seamlessly into a blizzard. Most of its body appears subtly stretched and lanky, save for its exceptionally unsubtle long, skinny arms, which drag on the ground behind it when it walks. After a big meal of blood, its belly swells like the abdomen of a tick.

A pylidaigh can only tread across snow and ice, and so doorways and windows are best kept clear of snowfall during the winter in order to prevent it from reaching inside. It mostly comes out to hunt during blizzards when there is little that can prevent it from catching its victims.

In spite of its fragile appearance, a pylidaigh is supernaturally strong, and can run at great speeds when it wants to. No mortal weapons can pierce its body, nor can any bonds known to craftsmen hold it in place. It is usually said that chains forged like iron but made out of ice can bind a pylidaigh and render it immobile, but this smithing technique remains tragically elusive to the average joe.

This ghost is either cast as a wildly dangerous but tragic figure, or one that is more simply malicious. In either case, it is described as experiencing nothing but bitter cold. It shivers endlessly. It retains distant memories of what it was to be alive, and it is motivated by a futile desperation to experience the feeling of warmth again.

In more sympathetic framings, it is described as using its freaky gibbon arms to capture its victims and pull them into an embrace, rather innocently trying to warm itself against their body. This inevitably fails, and the embrace becomes a bone crushing squeeze. When that too fails to warm the ghost, it rips out the person's throat and drinks their blood until the victim is as cold and drained as the pylidaigh itself.

In other cases, this more pitiable narrative of a ghost seeking warmth with no comprehension of its actions is discarded in favor of making it purely monstrous. Here it is a type of vampire with an insatiable thirst, practically a physical manifestation of the worst of winter itself. Some tales acknowledge both variants, suggesting a pylidaigh's violent attempts to warm itself may be initially devoid of malice, but turns into an act of furious jealousy of the warmth of the living after years of suffering.

The only (more or less) surefire method to permanently kill a roaming pylidaigh involves trapping it with fire. They are attracted to any source of heat, and will attempt to warm themselves with the flames (if not tempted away by a juicy living human body). The fire itself cannot kill them (as the sheer cold of their body is more powerful even than flame) but they can be trapped if kept near the fire long enough for the snow it depends upon to melt. This does not kill the pylidaigh either. The monster will remain in stuck in place (and potentially become a threat again if it snows more) for the duration of the winter. Only when the spring comes and all the snow melts does it revert into a normal human carcass (though mysteriously invulnerable to decay), at which point it can be cremated.

Pylidaigh in the wilds also revert to a human corpse during the snowless seasons, but will roam again each following winter unless it is burnt in the interim. It is of critical importance that any human corpse found in high mountain pasture is cremated- not only out of respect for the poor soul trapped as an earthbound ghost, but to prevent the threat of the possible dormant pylidaigh emerging next winter.

[timothyslucy]

*AHEM*

that is all.

[rainyraisin]

I love incorrect quotes‼️‼️‼️🗣️🗣️🗣️💯💯🔥🔥‼️‼️

Set during Sonic 1 when Tom is still actively annoyed by this kids existence 😭😭😭 Even though I adore their dynamic when Tom is actively trying to be a father to Sonic, I also love when he’s just begrudgingly being a dad (he’s enjoying their time together he just won’t admit it yet)

(More yapping in the tags bc I’m an absolute yapper it’s what I’m built to do)

[trainingdummyrabbit]

oh another id not posted here.. porccubus!donqui. btw. i am not taking arguments at this time.

[khainovo]

hi. so i actually have no self control and just made a half-assed one myself (in hopes someone takes this idea and 100x the effort)

in reference to this post i made on saturday

[awtysm-cryptid]

i cant imagine the primal terror the Shinazugawa brothers unlock in demons epecially Genya like

the eldest is a hashira and has the power and anger to fucking back it up and by god hes marechi and mad enough to abuse that fact

and the younger will uno reverse eat you, temporarily become a cannibal demon, and also put a lump of metal between your eyes

[silverhalla]

people are always hating on the hinterlands but I am here with a hot take: the storm coast sucks SO much worse

[demadogs]

also volume 2 was fucking good i literally never understood any of you guys who said you hated it i feel like if the monologue didnt happen you would say you loved it. my first thought after finishing the whole season, still convinced that byler was dead, was “well it was still their best season by far”.

[nerevar-deactivated]

oh also not related to the main roasting yesterday that my best friends wife and i had at him but we were making fun of him for fighting "like a thug" and he was like 'i dont fight sword and board like a thug' and we were both like :/ uhhh and he goes 'i fight sword and board less like a thug than i do two stick' and i was like "dude you fight two stick like a goon hired by a 1930s mobster that means nothing" and then we had a great laugh about him playing a bongo solo on my right arm during my two hour trial

[spinninglightning]

whenever i read fics i always end up thinkin of a song for the fic or like, th chapter and then i canr stop associating the fic w/ those songs

[girltakovic]

hello upper middle class northern usamerican tumblr user. i want to play a game. you will notice that you are in a super america convenience store in rural kentucky - you have three minutes to purchase a snack and drink of your choice and make normal small talk with the cashier. however, if you use the word "cryptid" or generally make reference to appalachia and its inhabitants as "wild", uncivilized, or lacking restraint around alcoholic beverages during your time here, i will personally tie you to the chassis of a four wheeler and tip it into the river. live or die. make your choice

[zerozeroren]

Officially the most niche piece of art I've ever posted.

A promotional image for this fic (no I'm not the author) and a tribute to Generally Pooky and Krimsonrogue who gifted me and a dear friend of mine with many a happy hour of bad book bashing.

[molagboop]

Coffe

[rmorde]

Gojo: You should have gone for the head.

Toji: I did you monster!

Gojo: Sorry. You should have gone for the neck.

Toji: I did that too fucker!

Gojo: ...

Toji: ...

Gojo: Well... This is awkward.

[thornshadowwolf]

I don't remember why but I dreamed about looking up the common religions in different regions of Thailand last night

[ratcandy]

oh god help me .my l egs