Author: Mandi Konesni

Mandi resides in Ohio, where she shares her workspace with an ornery bassle pup, two lab mixes, two cats, and assorted squirrels. It’s a regular menagerie here in the Konesni household! In addition to writing, she runs an online storefront, a roleplaying website, and is a 3rd Degree High Priestess. She’s an avid reader and blogger, who adores music. Whenever there is a concert in town, you can bet she’s taking the night off and cheering on her favorite bands. She can easily be bribed with peanut butter M&Ms, gemstones, hot lead singers, and gargoyles.
Elizabeth Báthory
Experts, Folklore, Gothic History, Monsters, The Monsters, Vampires

Mystical Menagerie – Unmasking The Undead

History has plenty of accounts to share when it comes to real-life vampires.

The Blood Countess

We start with The Blood Countess, the original vampire, Elizabeth Báthory. So much so that she is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most productive female serial killer in history. A Hungarian Countess, Bathory is infamous… 

With a reported six hundred murders under her belt, I daresay no woman will unseat her throne anytime soon. It is believed that, besides Vlad Tepes, she is the other main inspiration for Count Dracula.

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John Henry_Fuseli — The_Nightmare
Experts, Fears & Nightmares, Phobias

Mystical Menagerie – The Eternal Nightmare

Most people love their sleep, especially as they grow older. We can’t wait to fall asleep. However, it means terror and possible injuries for some of us, if not worst. Is it a simple question of mistaken identity? Or is it paranormal?

Check For Monsters Under Your Bed

You wake terror beating at you. There’s something insidious in the room with you, creeping closer, intent on doing you harm. You try to run, but your limbs won’t obey your commands. You cannot shout. You cannot scream. 

The only thing that moves is your eyes, frantically searching the parts of the room you can see while lying prone in bed. Pressure increases on your chest until you can’t breathe, and you realize you are going to die. Panic consumes you. 

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Black-Eyed Children
Black-Eyed Children / BEK, Experts, Fears & Nightmares, Legend & Folklore

Mystical Menagerie – The Black-Eyed Children Folklore by Mandi Konesni

The Black-Eyed Children folklore is gaining traction in the horror movie industry. Did you know that Black-Eyed Children are part of a general belief around the world? Mandi Konesni dive into the subject in this week’s column!

Fear The Children

A child at your door or car window with a friend or two. Asking to come inside, to make a phone call, or for a ride. It seems innocuous, but your gut screams at you. 

Shrouded in shadow, something seems ‘off’ about the children. Chills race along your spine, the hair on your neck and arms stands straight up. You crack the door or roll down the window slightly… 

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Mermaid
Curses, Experts, Fears & Nightmares, Gothic History, Legend & Folklore, Monsters

Mystical Menagerie – The Mermaid Folklore by Mandi Konesni

The mermaid legend is making quite a come back in the horror movie industry. Did you know that mermaids are part of folklore around the world? Mandi Konesni dive into the subject in this week’s column!

A Siren’s Lure

A glint on the glassy sea. A trick of the eye. Nothing more than seafarers’ tales, they say. Yet, you swear you saw the glimmer of scales beneath the waves.

 Heard the barest of laughs and an ethereal voice from the fog, a siren’s lure you cannot erase from your mind. Are you going mad or being ensnared in a spell as old as time? Was that a beckoning hand, summoning you into the deep?

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Lizard
Ancient History, BooTube, Experts, Fears & Nightmares, Gothic History, Legend & Folklore, Monsters, Paranormal Footage

Mystical Menagerie – The Reptilian Monster of California by Mandi Konesni

The phobia of reptiles go back millennia. However, we’ve evolved but did lizards evolved too? Mandi Konesni dive into the subject in this week’s column!

A Primal Fear

Move to the suburbs, they said. It’ll be safer, they said. Until you’re running through the maze of carbon-copy streets, heart-pounding, breathing frantic. The pup in your arms is getting so heavy, but you’re terrified to put it down. All you wanted was to take the pup for a quick potty break before bed. The quiet, tree-lined street was a haven, a refuge from city life. 

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Black Dog
Experts, Legend & Folklore

Mystical Menagerie Column — All Dogs Go TO Hell by Mandi Konesni

Dogs are the loyal and faithful companion to men for millennia. However, how did we get there and how did it all started? Mandi Konesni dive into the subject in this week’s column!

The Introduction

Panic grips you as you push through tangled tree branches, stumbling over upraised roots. Unearthly baying surrounds you. The sounds of pounding paws in the dirt echo your own frantic footsteps as you struggle to escape the endless forest the creatures are pushing you deeper into. 

 As you peer into the darkness, reddened eyes stare back at you from the abyss. There’s nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. You’re surrounded. Now that they’ve found you, they will hunt you to the edge of the earth and beyond. 

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Wendigo
Folklore, Legend & Folklore, Monsters

Mystical Menagerie Column — The Ultimate Taboo by Mandi Konesni

The Wendigo is part of the First Nations of North America. This is a respectful article about the legend of the cryptid. Mandi Konesni is a paranormal expert with an avid, yet, respectful approach on the cryptozoology of this world.

Tempted A Little Too Far

Hunger beats at you, a thirst like you’ve never known before. You’re ravenous, but no matter how much you eat, you can’t satiate your appetite. 

There’s only one thing you crave, the only sustenance you know might give you a few moments of peace from the gnawing ache in your stomach, but to dare is to forsake your last vestiges of humanity…to cross the ultimate taboo. To be tempted too far is to be damned. Cursed.

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