from elucipher-deactivated20151112

i’ve talked about my favourite monsters from myth, so here’s five creatures i was scared of when i was a kid

1. thing-in-the-dark: the door in my old bedroom had loose hinges, used to close itself when there was a draught, and i believed there was a thing that only came out in the dark–it was big, with a snout and coarse black hide like a dog and an arched spine and teeth like long knives, and it didn’t make any noise. i’d run from my bed to the door, so it wouldn’t catch me and bite my feet off at the ankles, and i’d throw open the door to let in the light from the landing, because it couldn’t stand that, the slantwise beam across my floor was the only way to keep it at bay. sometimes it was behind the curtains, sometimes under bed, or in my wardrobe, and the worst part was not knowing where it’d chosen to stow itself that night

2. doppelgänger: i had a recurring nightmare about a thing that was me and not-me creeping into my life and stealing it away: it’d start out kind of grey and silky and translucent, like a cloud of smoke, watching me all day long, nasty and hungry. and then i’d come downstairs one day and find it sitting in my chair at the kitchen table, eating toast and eggs and arguing with my sister. it’d hug my mum and wear my school uniform and sit in my classes and eat lunch with my friends and no one would know it wasn’t me, because on the same day i’d find that no one could see or hear me

3. mirror-dweller: i used to put a blanket over my mirror because i thought otherwise monsters could climb through from the other side, from the place that’s in the mirror (which was the same as our world but everything solid was really made of water, like a reflection on a lake), while i was asleep. once there was a leak in my roof and i came in to find water on the floorboards and i was convinced one of them had come through the mirror and left wet footprints behind

4. fairies: there’s an irish myth called aided muirchertaig meic erca, and it’s the story of the high king of ireland mac ercae, who marries a deceitful fairy called sín but breaks his oath to her. on that day he’s attacked by ghosts and the fairy lights his palace on fire and he drowns himself in a barrel. after i read this i was afraid that if i accidentally stepped on a fairy and killed it the rest of the clan would come and burn our house down to the ground. (there’s a photo of me somewhere tip-toeing very carefully down our garden path, avoiding all the cracks in the stone where a fairy might sleep)

5. the crying ghost: there was an old wood behind our house, oak and beech trees, and owls hunt there. my bedroom window was nearest: i used to hear their long shivery calls around dusk and in the very dark hours of the night. i knew what owls looked like, but it was such a sad and eerie sound i thought there must be something else in the trees, dead and ghostly and crying at the sky in a weird voice like silver