I always want a demonic badger

Be careful, what you are wishing for.

The moral of the story; Be kind to animals, or else a demonic badger will jump on your back and scare you to death!

Many of our local myths carry a moral^^

Seriously though, that story was really creepy... I loved it!!! I love scary stories!

thanks.

This story is connected to a long tradition of stories with similar creatures. Sometimes it is a white ghostly horse, like in western Austria, in Germany a calf with white glowing eyes and in the border region bedween Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, it is an entire Werewolf^^

Wow! That’s not as strange as what we got here. We got different varieties of Bigfoot, the Mothman, Lizardmen, Chupacabra, a vampiric alien lizard bug thing that attacks livestock, the Jersey Devil, a literal demon, The Michigan Dogman and the Beast of Bray Road, both werewolves, a goat man, the Skinwalkers, which are said to be witches that turn into animals, the Wendigo, a demonic creature that anyone can become by committing cannibalism, but the majority of American folklore and legends tend to revolve around ghosts.

Any kind of folklore is very interesting, especially for folks like me.^^

Thanks for sharing those examples, some of them I had known about allready, but the Bray Road Beast and the Michigan Dogman were new to me. Some of your mentioned examples show, how European and native Indian folklore merged, like the Wendigo.

But believe me: Europe has lot of strange critters.^^

Germany has "Heinzelmännchen" - house kobolds, that help with chores arround the house, until the moment you give them clothes, then they leave (Harry Potter´s Dobby *wink*)
Austria has "Salige Fräulein" - similar to Elves, who reside in the Alps and it is said, they dry their laundrey, after each rain shower as fog over the valleys and they protect the chamois, especially the rare white ones.
Switzerland has "Lutin" - a kobold that play tricks to travellers and appears often as a small anthropomorphic fox^^
Hungary has "Leshy" - appear like anthropomorphic goats with one eye like a Cyclop, they lead travellers astray from the road into marshes
Poland has the "Rusalka" - a dangerous lake-elf woman that collects the skulls of men, that are her pray
And in most parts of Europe the "Wechselbalk" is known - a child from fairy folk that is exchanged with a human baby and that only brings back the original baby, if it is discovered as what it really is, for example force it to speak like an old man by doing such things cooking water in an egg-shell, then it will say "I am as old as the Alps, but I never saw someone cooking water in an eggshell" and then the Wechselbalk will leave and the original baby is returned to its parents.

Creepy lore, hm?^^

I thought Leshy were sentient trees similar to ents from Lord of the Rings. I have heard of your Wechselbalk before. They're called Changelings in English. Your Rusalka sounds like a creature from Irish folklore called the Kelpie, which sometimes takes the form of a beautiful woman swimming, but most of the time disguises itself as a horse that lures people into riding it. Then it's skin becomes super sticky, trapping the rider. It then runs into the nearest body of water where it drowns then eats it's victim. Yup, Europe's got some pretty creepy lore! ^^

Some of the creatures from British folklore that might not be so familiar can also be quite strange.

There's the Scottish Beithir, a sort of snakelike dragon with a venomous sting that lived in the mountains and valleys.

The Nuckelavee from the Orkney Isles, like a skinless centaur with a single eye whose breath could spread disease.

The Wulver from the Shetland Isles, a gentle werewolf-like creature whom lived by fishing and would leave fish on the window ledges of the poor and needy or guide lost travellers home.

The Lhamhigyn y Dur or Water Leaper from Wales, like a large legless toad with wings and a long stinging tail that ambushed people at the waters edge.

The Scottish Brollachan, a shapeless creature with eyes and mouth that could speak only the phrases 'myself' and 'yourself'.

The Redcap, a sort of fairy whom appeared as a short old man with eagle-like talons, sharp teeth and fiery eyes whom wore iron boots and got his name from dyeing his hat with his victims blood.

I think overall the lesson to be learnt from this myth is to be cautious and always to show respect and good manners. The barrier between this world and the other world can be thin at a liminal area like a crossroads and at night and you never know whom you might meet. The young man was lucky in a way that he was shown a degree of mercy, stricken half dead with terror and bitten and scratched but it could easily have been his death or a fate worse than death.

Always interesting as well how we have similar stories in many places of the worlds and even with all the variations the core of the story stays true. I think I remember coming across some similar stories in Britain with boggarts or the barghests.

True. Often the victims die in terror or are carried away with the creature and are forced to roam the otherworld forever.

Folklore is a rich treasure chest for such stories.^^

I kinda thought the guy in your story died from fright in the end. That's the feeling I got from reading it.