Pokemon games have so many different creatures these days that it's a little hard to keep track of all of them, so imagine how hard it must be to come up with all of these Pokemon designs.
It doesn't come as a surprise that everyday objects or animals are the sources from where Pokemon designers draw inspiration from. However, there are peculiar Pokemon whose design comes from something you don't see every day, terrifying myths and legends. When you learn about these, they'll make the Pokemon they're based on way creepier. Let's take a look at the origin stories of some of these creatures.
10 Manectric And Raiju
A wolf or a dog with blue and white fur and a body covered in bolts of lightning is the description that Manectric shares with the mythical beast Raiju from Japanese myth. In the stories, Raiju is a beast that accompanies Raijin, Shinto's god of lightning.
Raiju is a peaceful creature most of the time, but its anger is supposed to unleash powerful thunderstorms where he knocks down trees with its powerful claws. This beast is also said to hide inside people's belly buttons, which is just super creepy and has led to the superstition in Japan that you should sleep face-down during thunderstorms for centuries.
9 Froslass Is A Yuki-onna
Froslass is a Ghost-Ice type Pokemon that seems to be wearing something resembling a traditional Japanese kimono. This icy ghost comes from the myth of the Yuki-Onna, a snowy vampire woman that hunts down men during snowstorms, freezing them and feeding on their vital energy or their blood, yikes.
There are also other versions of this myth where Yuki-Onna pretends to be human and marries an unsuspecting man, eventually killing him when he discovers her true nature. And in others, she invades homes and steals children. As you can see, the myth can vary, but all of them seem equally horrifying.
8 Whiscash Is Very Similar To The Namazu
This Pokemon looks just like a Catfish, which makes sense due to it being a Water-Ground type Pokemon. As harmless as it seems, this guy originated story is based on the legend of the Namazu. This mythical beast is a monstrous catfish, kept in place by an ancient god called Kashima.
Kashima contains the gigantic fish using a stone, but sometimes this god's strength fails for a moment, or maybe he just gets distracted, allowing Namazu to struggle and squirm, causing earthquakes all over the world.
7 Shiftry And The Tengu
Known as "The Wicked Pokemon," Shiftry is a Grass-Dark type that, according to the Pokedex, lives in the tops of trees that are thousands of years old. Their design comes from the Tengu myth. In Buddhism, they are depicted as demons and harbingers of ill omens. The oldest form of this myth shows Tengus as bird-like creatures, but their most well-known appearance is the more modern one where instead of beaks, they have a long nose.
These demons were widely feared and respected. People believe Tengus protects the forests they live in and brings down their wrath on anyone who takes so much as a leaf from their territory. Thus, there are many traditions among wood-cutters based around calming them, like leaving special rice cakes as offerings when they cut down a tree.
6 Lotad And Kappa
Lotad is a cute little blue Pokemon with a lily pad over its head. This Pokemon is a Water-Grass-type one, and the Pokedex says that it inhabits peaceful wetlands, like lakes and ponds. Kappas are the mythical creatures were Lotad's design comes from, and they look like the last thing you'd want to see underwater.
Kappa, also called river-tigers, are humanoid demons that live in water and Japanese folklore has tons and tons of stories about these guys. In most of their stories, Kappas share a similar weakness: they hold water on a bowl-like hole on their heads (similar to Lotad's leaf), and if this water spills, Kappas weaken significantly or dies.
5 Mawile Comes From Futakuchi-Onna
Mawile is a Steel-Fairy type Pokemon that often is seen from behind, showing off the mouth on its enormous hair-like jaws. This creative design comes from Futakuchi-Onna, a mythological woman that appears in many Japanese stories.
They all usually follow a similar theme; a miserly man marries a woman thinking he will save a lot of money because she doesn't eat. In the end, the woman turns out to have a terrifying second mouth on the back of her head, with tendril-like hair that she uses to feed it. In the end, she eats all the man's food while he's out working. These stories don't usually end well for the man when he finds out Futakuchi-Onna's true nature.
4 Espeon Takes A Lot From Bakeneko
The Psychic-Type Pokemon Espeon is one of Eevee's many possible evolutions and looks like a cat with a forked tail. This design comes from the old Japanese myth that cats that live a very long time become spirits or monsters, the most common one being Bakeneko, a split-tailed cat demon.
Like most mythical creatures, there are many stories about Bakeneko, where they have different powers and appearances. However, they take horrible vengeance on people who killed or were cruel to cats, mainly in stories that warn children about leaving animals alone.
3 Drowzee And Hypno Are Baku
Drowzee and its evolved form Hypno are two creepy-looking Psychic Pokemon that feed on the dreams of their victims, so they're already pretty horrifying and not far at all from the myth that inspired them: Japanese Baku.
This creature, like the Pokemon based on it, looks like a sort of demonic tapir. The gods created Bakus from the leftover parts after making all the other animals. They feed on human dreams and nightmares, and honestly, the idea of a creepy dream-eating tapir sitting next to your head while you sleep should be enough to keep you awake tonight.
2 The Yama Uba Inspired Jynx
Jynx is already an unsettling looking Pokemon, looking almost like a human woman with a purple face, long blonde-white hair, and a huge red dress. This appearance comes from the cannibalistic Yama Uba, a witch-like older woman or an evil winter spirit, depending on the story.
In one of the more disturbing versions, a pregnant woman near labor gets lost in the icy mountains. She meets a kind elder who helps her give birth and gives her shelter. After that, she reveals her evil-looking true form and eats the newborn child and the mother. Yeah, somehow Jynx is even more disturbing now.
1 Sneasel Is Actually A Kamaitachi
These Dark-Ice Pokemon are really small and agile with sharp claws and aggressive nature. They get this from Kamaitachis, weasels "yokai" or spirits with long claws that ride on top of dust devils, quickly using their claws to cut up everything around them.
Kamaitachis have other magical properties, such as invisibility and their cuts being painless and producing wounds that don't bleed. This paints a horrifying picture where a group of people would be just walking around until suddenly a cold breeze blows by, and one of them falls down in pieces, seemingly out of nowhere, from an invisible Kamaitachi attack.