Another YouTube video just got uploaded

Still working out how to best use all the media that I create to its best advantage

Here are the notes from the Video and some of the images I used

The River Spirit

He sounds pretty innocent doesn’t he, but this Japanese spirit is a right con-man. He cries like a human baby to get you close to him, then he will kill you. He also is also, not a spirit as we would think of him. He is flesh and decaying, which gives off a terrible stench. Sexy.

The Shellycoat.

The Shellycoat, a native of Scotland, is a kind of bogeyman, in a dark hooded cloak, made of shells. He gives himself away as he moves, due to the noise that the shells make. He lurks close to the water and has sunken holes for eyes. I gave my Shellycoats extendable snake necks, just because I could. Traditionally the beast is easily harmed if you can get past that coat.

The Borda

The Borda originates from a valley in Italy. In the Milanese dialect, the word Borda means ‘fog’. She is found near to swamps, ponds and bodies of stagnant water. She is blindfolded and always kills what she touches. Her eyes hold the essence of evil. She’s a witch, but she’s also pretty cute.

Grindylow

The Grindylow is a creature native to Lancashire and Yorkshire. A local beast. It is unable to leave the water, so stays near the bank and preys on children mainly as they are easier to pull in. The Grindylow is also known as Peg Prowler or Jenny Greenteeth – don’t they sound beauties.

The Bean-Nighe

The Bean-Nighe is mentioned a couple of times in Hell and High Water. She is an old washerwoman that washes blood out of clothes. She is Scottish in origin, but there are similar tales from France and Japan. If you see a woman like her next to a river, it isn’t a good sign. You are going to die.

Kelpie

The Water Kelpie is a Scottish water beast but can be found under other names all around the world. It can be male or female, is humanoid, attractive and has hooves instead of feet. I made my Kelpie a hybrid of an Iara, a similar Brazillian creature that has a blowhole at the back of her neck and a Japanese Kappa, a water beast that cannot resist cucumber.

The Bishop Fish

The Bishop fish was first mentioned in the 16^th Century. They have a domed head and humanoid, legs. According to legend, they absorb energy from a living victim, kill it and send the corpse home, very kind of it. These are nothing like mermen as we think of them, who traditionally have a human upper half and a fishes tail.

After reading about him, it put me in mind of The Creature from the Black lagoon – the old black and white version. I made my Bishop Fish a hybrid of these and upgraded him. He’s water-dwelling, dark in colour and has the characteristic domed head. His eyes are large, flat and fish-like with no eyelids. He can walk on land, but slowly and unnaturally. I gave him tentacled fingers and toes. I feel he is a clumsy fella. I like him very much. We may see one of his kind again.

Naiad.

The Naiads are spirits that inhabit fresh water. These ladies are beautiful, and most are good-natured, but not mine, of course. Evil Naiads prey mainly on men and beautiful woman. Their aim is usually to disarm and then drown their victim.

The Bolotnik and the Will-o’-the-wisp

This is a little goblin of a fellow. He is knee high, rotund and hops like a frog. He can be bearded or not. He is Russian of origin and lives in swamps. I wrote him as a hard boulder, with an outer layer of flesh, thus extremely heavy. I teamed him with a Will o the Wisp. This is a traditional English spirit. Not usually good to see, and again a lover of the swamp and marsh. My Will-o’-the-wisp decided to tag along above the Bolotnik, just to have a nosy around.

The Afanc

The Afanc takes many forms. This Welsh beast is similar to the Scottish Loch Ness Monster. It is large, has a horses head, and after paralysing its victims with poison darts from its mouth, it consumes them alive. The Afanc is made of the clay and filth from a river or lake bed; thus, it is very difficult to kill as it has no flesh to injure with weapons. You will just have to read my book to see if I can deal with this Welsh dragon.

The Tannin

The Tannin is a Hebrew beast briefly seen in Friarmere. His head is buried underneath the surface of the water, and his snake-like body coils up and down out of the water to a great height. It howls while it is doing this. The Tannin is also another name for Leviathan – the great sea serpent.

The Sea Witch

Not to be confused with a Kelpie, this is a deadlier creature. Fish-like, with a humanoid upper half, but an amphibious head, she could be described as an evil mermaid. She has magical powers too. She can sink ships and flood areas of land. Our gang were unlucky to find one, particularly one person.

The Sea Dragon and the Funayurei

The Sea Dragon comes from the Nordic countries. He is large and agile through the water. In Hell and High Water, on his mission to The Melden Triangle, he dredges up the Funayurei –  a Japanese name for people who have died at sea. There are soldiers from the warships, sailors and shipwreck victims. Along the way, he brings many other types of water zombie. From the lakes, reservoir’s and rivers, he dredges up murders and suicides.  Isn’t he thoughtful?

Mother and the spawn

A huge colossal squid, locked away in a salty sea under the earth. She has a telekinetic connection with all of her spawn. Once hatched, these can attach themselves to humans and Mother can then control them. Let’s hope we don’t meet her.