I Am Unlike a Lifeform You've Ever Met Quiz

Answer: Filipino

The tikbalang is said to confuse or scare travellers it meets, by leading them astray or playing tricks; a way of countering it is to wear your shirt inside-out. You can also ask it out loud for permission to pass by, and keep noise to a minimum, so as not to disturb it. A Filipino proverb states that if it is raining despite the sky being clear, it means a tikbalang is getting married ('may kinakasal na tikbalang').

The mane of a tikbalang is made of sharp spines. If you take the thickest of these spines, or three golden hairs from the tikbalang's mane, capture it with a special cord and ride it until it tires out, you can make it your servant.

Answer: Mesapotamian

The lamassu has the body of a winged bull or lion, and the head of a human, usually male. In Mesopotamian and Assyrian mythology, they represented constellations. Statues of lumasi were placed outside cities and public buildings as protective guardians; they were also carved on tablets and buried under thresholds.

They were believed to drive away forces of chaos, and also appeared in the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'. Several of these surviving statues in Iraq were destroyed by ISIS in 2010.

Answer: Welsh

Twrch Trwyth appears in the Welsh story 'Culhwch and Olwen', in which the hero Culhwch is given a series of tasks he must complete in order to win the hand of Olwen, the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden, in marriage. One of these tasks is getting a comb and scissors for Ysbaddaden to shave his beard.

Unfortunately, this comb and scissors happen to be located on the boar's head. King Arthur and his men help Culhwch in the hunt for the boar, and they manage to get the comb, scissors and a razor blade from Twrch Trwyth's head and drive him into the sea, though at the cost of several men's lives.

Answer: Japanese

The kuchisake-onna, or 'slit-mouth woman' is said to be a woman married to a samurai, who mutilated her face by cutting her mouth from ear to ear as punishment for having an affair. She committed suicide and returned as an evil spirit. She covers her mutilated mouth with a mask or scarf. Legend says that if she asks you, "Am I pretty?" and you say no, she kills you with a pair of scissors. If she uncovers her mouth and says, "How about now?", she cuts you in half if you say no, and slits your mouth to look like hers if you say yes.

She can be distracted with ambiguous answers, or by throwing fruit or sweets.

Answer: Norse

The tree in question is Yggdrasil, the World Tree that forms the centre of the Norse cosmos. Ratatoskr acts as a messenger, ferrying messages between Vedfolnir, a hawk sitting on the head of an unnamed eagle at the top of Yggdrasil, and Niddhogg, a serpent who lives at the bottom of the tree and gnaws its roots. ('Gylfaginning', the first part of Snorri Sturlusons's 'Prose Edda', suggests that the squirrel is spreading malicious gossip.) Despite being a squirrel, it has a tusk or horn on its head (its name means 'rat tooth' or 'tusk traveller').

Answer: Cameroonian (Sawa people)

The jengu - plural miengu - are water spirits, usually beautiful girls with long hair and gaps in their teeth. They bring good fortune, cure disease and act as intermediaries between the human and spirit worlds. Some Sawa peoples, such as the Bakweri and Duala, have cults revolving around the jengu, and will sacrifice animals to them in the hope of using their healing powers. According to Bakweri legend, the mother of the miengu was Mojili, a spirit who fled to the sea after losing a bet with Moto, the ancestor of humankind.

In Douala, the annual Ngondo festival involves a messenger going into the water to visit the miengu and staying underwater for as long as possible, before returning with a message from them.

Answer: Australian

Like that other legendary Aussie monster, the bunyip, the muldjewangk is a water monster; specifically, it lives in the Murray River. According to Aboriginal legend, the Murray River was created by the tracks of the Great Ancestor Ngurunderi as he hunted the cod Pondi, and the muldjewangk liked to annoy Ngurunderi and his wives by sabotaging their fishing nets.

They are said to hide in large clumps of seaweed, and are depicted as half humanoid, half fish. If they catch humans and drag them into the river, the humans are turned into muldjewangk themselves.

Answer: Inuit

The Qalupalik is a pale green humanoid sea monster with long nails, straggly hair and a pouch called an amautiit, traditionally used by Inuit people to carry their children, in which she keeps disobedient children and babies. She lives in the icy seas of the Arctic and makes a humming noise before she appears.

She is sometimes depicted with no nose and lots of sharp teeth. She will try and tempt children towards the edge and, depending on the tale, either eats them or simply keeps them underwater with her and feeds off their energy to keep herself young.

Answer: South African

Also known as the impundulu, kwane or izulu, the lightning bird shoots lightning from its wings and talons, and drinks blood. It is a popular choice of familiar for witches and witch doctors, and attacks their enemies. It is passed down through witches' families and can only be killed by fire; guns and poison cannot harm it. If it is spotted riding on the back of a hyena, the hyena is actually its master in disguise.

Its fat is said to have medical properties, and is best obtained by catching the bird as its lightning strikes the ground.

It sometimes takes the form of a man in order to seduce women.

Answer: Mexican

The legend of the tlahuelpuchi originates in the state of Tlaxcala and the Nahua people. The tlahuelpuchi is a cursed vampire-like creature who lives among humans and feeds on children and infants. Female tlahuelpuchi are stronger than male ones, and they are able to shapeshift by detaching their legs from their bodies (similar to the Filipino manananggal), and turning into a mist or an animal, usually a turkey that can fly. Before entering a victim's house, they have to fly over it in the shape of a cross.

They can only be discovered if they are caught drinking blood, as their families protect them, and must be killed instantly, although if a relative of a tlahuelpuchi kills them, they receive the curse. Like the traditional vampire, they dislike garlic.

They are also said to brainwash people into committing suicide, kill animals and damage crops.