Top image: In their earliest forms, sirens were almost the opposite of what we’d imagine today. Rather than a woman on the top half and a fish on the bottom, they were sparrow on top and woman on bottom. They were also sometimes described as small birds with women’s faces.
Middle: Adze are vampiric creatures in Ewe folklore (Ewe are a West African ethnic group). Fireflies by default, they take on human form when captured, at which point they can possess humans.
Bottom: Longma are scaled horses from Chinese mythology, born from mares and dragons. They have red and blue spots and a dragon’s mane, and their neighs resemble flutes.
Illustrations by Kathi Ha
Photography by Winston Zhou (wzhouphoto.com)
