Yara-ma-yha-who (Australia)

I learned about this little fellow from a Cracked article.  They were asking themselves what could possibly frighten little Australian children, who grow up amid poisonous lizards, snakes and spiders.  Not to mention sharks, dingos and the many other lethal predators which call Down Under home.

 

The answer to that question is the Yara-ma-yha-who, from Australian Aboriginal folklore.  It resembles a little red man with suckers on the ends of its hands and feet.  Its head and mouth are disproportionately large but it has no teeth. 

A froglike appearance is common among European goblins and earth-faeries (sometimes referred to as gnomes or brownies).  Brian Froud often depicts his gnomish faeries with a wide mouth or frog legs.

The Yara-ma-yha-who is an ambush hunter, hiding in trees to drop down on unsuspecting prey.  It drains its victim’s blood and then swallows him or her whole.  After a time, it regurgitates the victim, who comes back shorter and with a reddish tinge to their skin.  If a victim is fed on repeatedly, they turn into a new Yara-ma-yha-who.

This puts the Yara-ma-yha-who in the same category as nineteenth century vampires (like Dracula).  Originally, a vampire had to feed  many times on the same victim before that victim turned into a vampire.  In the novel, Dracula, Lucy Westenra is fed upon again and again before dying and rising from her grave to feed on beggar children.  Mina Harker also does not transform after a single feeding, although it makes her vulnerable to Dracula’s call.

One could probably argue that these creatures are a metaphor for falling in with a bad crowd.  After all, at first it seems relatively harmless, but then the victim is drawn deeper and deeper into something they can no longer escape from. 

Victims of the Yara-ma-yha-who can defend themselves by, first off, not wandering off alone in the bush.  However, if swallowed, they can play dead after being regurgitated and wait for the creature to fall asleep.  Victims have to be careful, though.  Like the crocodile in Peter Pan, the Yara-ma-yha-who will stalk a previous victim if they liked the taste.