Elizabeth Fabowale

Illustration of the legendary drum from Cameroon’s Bakossi Forest, glowing in a misty clearing with forest spirits nearby, in parchment-style folklore art.

The Drum of the Bakossi Forest

August 2, 2025

Long ago, in the green heart of the Bakossi highlands of Cameroon, there was a forest that whispered. The trees did not just rustle, they spoke, and the spirits of ancestors walked among their roots. This was the Bakossi Forest, sacred ground where no one dared to build, hunt, or harvest without permission from the elders. Within this forest lay a drum

A skinless, half-horse, half-man Nuckelavee rises from a cursed sea near the Orkney Islands, glaring at a terrified fisherman under a blood-red sunrise. Waves churn as its fiery hooves burn across water in this haunting folktale illustration, parchment-styled and filled with dread.

Mythical Creatures

When the Nuckelavee Rode Ashore

In the farthest reaches of the Orkney Islands, where sea mists roll in heavy and the waves whisper secrets to the shore, lived a fisherman named Bram. Unlike the rest of his village who honored the old stories, Bram scoffed at them. He believed tales of spirits and curses were