Monsters, Ghosts and Creatures of Folklore – answers and explanations
Here are the answers to all 15 questions in the Monsters, Ghosts and Creatures of Folklore quiz, each with a short explanation. From vampires to Bigfoot — where the world's scariest legends come from. Haven't played yet? Take the quiz first and compare your score.
Play the quiz · 15 questions1. Which Romanian ruler's grim nickname helped inspire Bram Stoker's Dracula?
Answer: Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, the 15th-century ruler of Wallachia known as Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler for his favoured method of execution, is widely credited as a partial inspiration for Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula; the name came from his father's title Dracul, 'the dragon'.
2. Zombie lore reached the wider world from the Vodou traditions of which country?
Answer: Haiti
The zombie entered global popular culture from the Vodou traditions of Haiti, spreading to the English-speaking world during the US occupation of Haiti through books like W. B. Seabrook's The Magic Island (1929) and the film White Zombie (1932).
3. Gremlins were first blamed for mysterious machine faults by pilots of which force?
Answer: Britain's Royal Air Force
Gremlins began as Royal Air Force slang in the 1920s among British pilots stationed in Malta, the Middle East and India, with the earliest printed use in a 1929 poem in the journal Aeroplane; RAF veteran Roald Dahl popularised them with his 1943 book The Gremlins.
4. The word 'poltergeist' comes from German words meaning what?
Answer: Noisy ghost
Poltergeist is a German compound of poltern, 'to make noise, rumble or knock', and Geist, 'ghost or spirit', literally a noisy ghost; the word entered English in the mid-19th century, around 1848.
5. In Irish folklore, a banshee's wailing cry is said to be an omen of what?
Answer: An approaching death in the family
In Irish folklore the banshee (bean sidhe, 'woman of the fairy mound') keens outside a house to foretell a death in the family. She is said to attend certain old Irish families such as the O'Neills and O'Briens, announcing rather than causing the death.
6. The name 'Sasquatch' for Bigfoot comes from the language of which people?
Answer: The Coast Salish of the Pacific Northwest
'Sasquatch' is an anglicisation of sasq'ets, a word from the Halkomelem language of the Coast Salish peoples of British Columbia, meaning roughly 'wild man' or 'hairy man'. Indian agent J.W. Burns popularised the spelling in the 1920s and 1930s.
7. In Greek myth, which god turned King Lycaon into a wolf, inspiring 'lycanthropy'?
Answer: Zeus
Zeus punished King Lycaon of Arcadia for serving him human flesh by turning him into a wolf, a tale told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Lycaon's name gave rise to 'lycanthropy', from Greek lykos (wolf) and anthropos (human).
8. In Scandinavian folklore, what happens to a troll caught out in daylight?
Answer: It turns to stone
Scandinavian folklore holds that sunlight petrifies trolls, which is why many rock formations are explained as trolls caught by dawn, such as Iceland's Reynisdrangar sea stacks and Norway's troll-named peaks.
9. Which 1968 George Romero film created the modern flesh-eating zombie?
Answer: Night of the Living Dead
George A. Romero's debut feature Night of the Living Dead, released in October 1968, cut zombies loose from Vodou sorcery and recast them as cannibalistic reanimated corpses. Earlier films like White Zombie (1932) featured voodoo-controlled slaves instead.
10. Which 1922 silent German film featured the vampire Count Orlok?
Answer: Nosferatu
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, directed by F. W. Murnau and released in Germany in March 1922, starred Max Schreck as Count Orlok. It was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Stoker's widow won a court order to destroy all copies.
11. The blood-sucking Chupacabra was first reported in the 1990s in which place?
Answer: Puerto Rico
The chupacabra legend began in Puerto Rico in March 1995, when eight sheep were found dead with puncture wounds and said to be drained of blood; a famous sighting followed in Canovanas, and comedian Silverio Perez coined the name.
12. Which Japanese water imp has a turtle shell and a water-filled dish on its head?
Answer: Kappa
The kappa is a Japanese river yokai usually shown as a child-sized green being with a turtle-like shell, beak and webbed limbs, plus a water-filled dish (sara) on its head; if the dish spills, the kappa loses its strength.
13. The famous 1934 'Surgeon's Photograph' of Nessie was later exposed as what?
Answer: A toy submarine with a model head attached
The 1934 Daily Mail 'Surgeon's Photograph' credited to Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson was revealed in 1994, through Christian Spurling's confession, to show a model head and neck of plastic wood mounted on a toy submarine, staged as revenge by Marmaduke Wetherell.
14. The Golem, a clay giant brought to life, is tied to Jewish legend in which city?
Answer: Prague
The best-known golem legend places the clay creature in Prague, made by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the Maharal) in the late 16th century to protect the Jewish ghetto; its remains are said to lie in the Old-New Synagogue attic.
15. According to popular werewolf lore, a bullet of which metal is needed to kill one?
Answer: Silver
Silver is the metal said to kill werewolves; the trope was popularised by Universal's 1941 film The Wolf Man, written by Curt Siodmak, though earlier German tales told of werewolves shot with melted-down silver buttons.