In his famous book Dracula, Bram Stoker conjured up a ture nightmare: a creature of the dark who feasts on human blood, infecting his victims with vapirism. Dracula was a centuries-old vampire, an “undead” being who drank people’s blood to stay immortal-turning them into vampires, too. He lived in a remote castle high in the mountains of Transylvania in Romania, and had the power to change into a bat, a dog or a cloud of mist to carry out his foul deeds.

Appearance:

Skin - Dracula’s skin is cold and his face deathly pale, which emphasizes his blood-red lips.

Fangs and Breath - The famous long fangs slip into a victim’s neck with ease. Less well known is Dracula’s reeking breath.

Eyes - The Count’s piercing eyes change from an icy blue to a glowing red when he’s angry or aroused by blood-lust. His stare renders a victim powerless to resist him.

Hands - Dracula has hairy palms and long nails. He is  so strong, he can walk down walls like a bat.

Bram Stroker’s dark tale ends with a brave team of vampire-hunters, including one Jonathan Harker and his friend Quincey Morris, chasing the Count from England back to Transylvania. Within sight of Dracula’s castle they finally catch up with the Count in his horse-drawn box just as night is falling. Harker and Morris burst past the vampire’s helpers, hurl the box box from the cart and rip it open. The waking Count’s eyes burn red with hate and triumph, but even as the sun sets and his powers return, Harker chops off his head and Morris plunges a knife deep into his heart. Within Seconds Dracula crumbles into dust. His evil rule is ended at last.

Where in the World?:

Dracula’s ancestral home is a castle in the mountains of Transylvania in Romania. In the story, he sails to Whitby, in northern England, moves on to London, then is chased back to his castle, where his reign of terror finally ends.

Did You Know?:

• Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula by a disturbing dream in which a Count stops a beautiful young woman kissing his throat, saying “this man belongs to me.”
• Stroker chose the name Dracula after reading about Vlad Dracula, a cruel ruler in Romania in the 15th century. “Dracula” means “devil” in a Romanian language.
• Vlad Dracula is also called Vlad the Impaler, as he impaled enemies on wooden stakes.

A wallet can tell you about someone rather quickly. With such a limited space, a man carries only things he cherish or possessional items he may need. So this blog is dedicated for you to figure out more about me. Here is what’s currently in my wallet:

• Georgia Identification Card 
• 42 cents
• Picture of my nephew, Tanner
• Pokemon Pikachu Trading Card
• DCHS Maroon Club Member 2010 Card
• DeathNote clothing brand tag
• Donna Street for DC School Board District 2 Business Card
• High School I.D.
• Georgia Library Card
• Business Card of Virginia (Ginnie) Sams
• An extra broken record piece we gave our principal at graduation

I will allow you to make your own assumptions on why I carry the items I do. Some are easy to understand, because they are used daily, while some have more sentimental value.

I thought I would start Monster Myths off with my favorite creature, the Thunderbird. The beast has been known to myself when I started finding my Native American roots and I have since fallen in love with it’s tales. 

Description:
Eyes - Each time the thunderbird opens its eyes, bolts of lightning flashes from the sky.
Heads - A second head sprouts from the thunderbird’s chest and both are equipped with viciously hooked beaks.
Back - The thunderbird can carry an entire lake of water on its mighty back, realeasing the water in torrential downpours.
Wings - Powerful wings with feathers as long as canoe paddles send claps of thunder echoing through the air. 
Feet - Huge, curved talons tip each toe like those of a giant eagle or vulture.

The gigantic two-headed bird-of-prey is known by Native American tribes to bring thunder and lightning to the skies. Lightning bolts shoot from its eyes, storm clouds are carried on its wings and an entire lake of water on its back makes torrential downpours. Yet in Native American mythology, the thunderbird means different things to different tribes. Some tribes believe that the thunderbird is even the great creator spirit that made the heavens and the earth. native tribes in Africa and Australia also have a similar tradition to the thunderbird, no doubt inspired by the sight of eagles or vultures circling high up in the skies.

The Nootka people of Vancouver Island, off British Columbia, called the thunderbird Tootooch. To them, it was the sole survivor of four giant birds that preyed on whales. By turning into a whale, the god Quawteaht tricked the birds into attacking him. He lured three to their death as he dived deep, but the survivor flew to the heavens. The story probably reflects the fact that storms often come from just one point on the compass. In the tales of the Quillayute people of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, the thunderbird and killer whale are deadly enemies. They once fought a fierce battle shaking the mountains and uprooting trees as they struggled, creating vast treeless plains. Every time the thunderbird seized the whale on its talons, the whale manged to escape, finally retreating into the deep ocean. 

The plural thunderbird is told it could shapeshift into human form by tilting back their beaks like a mask, and by removing their feathers as if it were a feather-covered blanket. There are stories of thunderbirds in human form marrying into human families; some families may trace their lineage to such an event. Families of thunderbirds who kept to themselves but wore human form were said to have lived along the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The story goes that other tribes soon forgot the nature of one of these thunderbird families, and when one tribe tried to take them as slaves the thunderbirds put on their feather blankets and transformed to take vengeance upon their foolish captors.

Actual Size:
The thunderbird has been told in myth to b threee miles long!

Where in the World?:
Thunderbirds are part of the belief systems that were held by many different groups of Native Americans, from the Inuit peoples in the Arctic, to the Aztecs in Mexico. These gigantic birds are thought to live either in the sky or in remote mountain caves. 

Did You Know?:

•  Many American tribes claim to have seen the thunderbird, and in South Dakota they believe it has left huge footprints. The prints are twenty-five miles apart in an area known as Thunder Tracks, near the source of St. Peter’s River.
• Some stories say that the thunderbird lives in a mountain cave, burying its food in the dark hole of ice. If hunters come too close, it rolls huge lumps of ice down the mountainside to scare them away.