13 Spooks of Halloween, Because... thirteen.

For a good deal of my life, I've often felt as though I've never really celebrated Halloween to the extent I feel like I should. Basking in the atmosphere is fun, but why not contribute for once?

... The fact that EVERYTHING I draw is Halloweenish, notwithstanding.

So, all this month, I've decided to do up thirteen wholly original monsters just for the season. No prior connection to anything else I've done.

So, to kick it off:

***

Demusa



Demusa was once a woman, fairer than any other.... according to Demusa.
But the opinion was not merely her own, as for much of her time, the maiden had the power to claim virtually any man she wanted. While many were cast down once their youth faded, Demusa's beauty never once faltered. For most of her life, few things were beyond the woman's reach. Her beauty and charisma opened one door after another. "No" was quite simply, not a word that was part of her life.

Even the clergymen and priests were hard pressed to deny her. While most of them remained firm in their celibacy, more than one grew.... sweet on her, and allowed her privileges most were denied.

Unfortunately, it was through these men that Demusa one day did here the word 'no'. From the mouth of a god no less!

The spring had come and the god of the harvest had come to commune with the priests to give them a bountiful harvest.

He was also quite the handsome man, as well. Once Demusa set her sights on him, she resolved to have him, no matter what.
When she propositioned him before the clergymen, she was met, for the very first time, with massive resistance. But the god of the harvest was not a hard soul, and made very little of it.
It was then that Demusa did something that few mortals thought possible, and even fewer divines. She took a god by force.

What happened next has been erased from the annals of history. Most believe that the entirety of the story should be hidden from the world. Cautionary tale or no, it really should not require a fable to convince people why forcing oneself upon a god is a bad idea. "Should" being the keyword.

What is known is that when the smoke cleared, the maiden was no more. Demusa was now a twisted abomination, her crooked mind fractured between seven brains. She was cast from her city, forced to dwell out on the frontier among beasts scarcely better than herself.

Few have claimed to see Demusa on their journeys. Those that do describe a vast landscape with the texture of organ meat. A soft, moist, bloody red terrain, through which slithers only one being: A vast serpent with half a dozen female human heads writhing atop its scalp. When she turns her gaze to them, anything nonliving on them becomes meat. Shoes, clothing, tools, even carriages and weapons. A few of these ghastly souvenirs are claimed by collectors.

It's said that as punishment for her vile debauchery, Demusa is now cursed that when she looks upon stone, it will become flesh. When she looks upon iron, bronze or steel, it comes alive, and yet not. Perhaps a cruel reminder of what she forced upon another so long ago.




***

The Junkie



Juan Schmitt was not a lucky man. He was not a smart man, and he was not a particularly handsome man. He never did much reading, was never able to form any lasting friendships, and was never particularly good at anything. By the time he hit age eighteen, he managed to get himself expelled from high school and never bothered to seek an alternative. What would be the point? Nothing ever brought him joy, so why bother pursuing a life of more unfulfillment?

No fulfillment other than that little something a nice man in a terribly mismatched suit had sold him one day. The needles hurt, but the rush that followed was without peer! Of all the things in his life, this was the one thing he actually felt the need to work for! And the man sold it at such reasonable prices! Even with his abysmal income, Juan was able to buy a weekly dose. Soon the drug began to restore his vitality, and with it, his work ethic. He may not have been skilled, but even his boss began to notice Juan's renewed enthusiasm, and before long, he went from flipping burgers to yelling at other people to flip burgers. The increase in pay meant an increase in income. An increase in income meant two doses a week, not just one!

The rush never left. Each injection brought a brand new high. It wasn't long before Juan had amassed himself a modest, yet respectable amount of savings.

The man with awful taste in formal wear was never late. Never faltered. Each new dose restored Juan's drive. It was like a voice was booming in his head, urging him to succeed! And slowly but surely, he moved up in his ranks. As the voice urged, he amassed enough money to start his own business. A pharmaceutical business, in fact. While his dispenser refused to share his stock for this, there was no real friction between them. Each day, Juan lived for the next dose, and did everything he could for more. The voices - of which they were now many - continued to urge him on, and he moved up and up and up, his franchise soon carving out an impressive niche for itself as his drive grew and grew.

Before he knew it, Juan was at the top, the CEO of a powerful and widespread industry. And before he knew it, the voices were no longer in his head, but whispering jovially into his ear. Things had changed.

Juan wasn't upset. He was never a looker anyway. As far as he was concerned, he'd traded up. The world was his or rather, their oyster.

Reverse-Medusa is BEST Medusa.

I agree completely, that's an extremely refreshing and interesting change for her!

Demusa is cool, I like to think she hides her head in her crawling flesh scape.

Since everybody's talking about Demusa, I'll say something about Junkie. Aside from the fact that the art and design is really, really cool, the backstory is my favorite part of his.
The idea of a reverse Medusa is awesome as well, and I love how you drew both of them. Your style is absolutely perfect for this kind of thing.

Thanks everyone! This is proving a really intriguing exercise for me.


***

The Indescribable Winged Thing



Man often likes to tell himself that he's explored all of Earth's frontiers. With satellite mapping and centuries of exploration under our belt, we aren't completely unjustified in feeling this way. But every so often, nature likes to throw us a curve ball...

No one knows where it came from. Is it cephalopod or something else? Is it animal or plant? Is it of Earth or some entity that drifted into our atmosphere from beyond?

The entity, devoid of a name, haunts the darkened skies of western North America. Never appearing by day, or over lit cities, the thing prefers to drift through the very darkest of skies, sailing effortlessly, like an eight-armed whale. It makes no sound, merely hovering, drifting slowly through the night.
The only time it stops is to feed, extending its tendrils down to snare unsuspecting creatures, absorbing them directly into its translucent flesh to be digested in its nucleus. Its three eyes seem capable of picking up even the most minute of details, able to spot a fly hiding miles below under the canopy in pure darkness. Nothing escapes its notice, and few escape its grasp.

There are those who revere the entity as an angel or a god of some sort. A handful of rural, out of the way towns have adopted the thing as their patron, believing it protects them from evil. They believe that those it takes are being judged as unworthy and weeded out. To behold it is to be blessed, but to be taken is to be damned.

And those who don't share this reverence? Well, it's a long, dark drive back to major civilization....

The thing seems just fine with this setup.

God damn it Gregole.

Stop making it so hard for me to pick a favorite.
This one is my favorite though

Seconded.

You got a DeviantArt account? If so I need to watch you.

I love the name you gave it" the indescribable winged thing" sounds like" We don't fucking know what it is but we think it is something, and that it flies or floats or something...", completely the reaction you get from seeing something that is just too weird suddenly

http://mecha-gregole.deviantart.com/ this is my main DA, for those interested.


The Weeping Reaper


Life isn't always easy. To be depressed, scared to go on, or just dissatisfied with everything is nothing out of the ordinary. While it was not always viewed as such, it has always been.

And like all things normal, someone, somewhere knows how to gain from it.

Don't bother looking us up. Even mythology has forgotten us. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say, mythology hasn't even managed to catch us.
For you see, we don't operate the way you do. We reveal ourself to our client, and no one else. For all you know, we might as well be a hallucination!
but don't get spooked. We're here to help!

For you see, life is like a movie. Sometimes you just don't have the stuff. Your actors are awful, you can't afford decent effects, and some asshole is breathing down your neck to be able to relate to all the bigots and assholes running around.
Sometimes, it just *doesn't work*. And that's okay. We know the feeling! Sometimes it just goes so wrong, you walk right off the set and never look back. No one can blame you!

That's where we come in. We know ALL too well what you're going through. We all went through it too! Each and every one of us. We're happy now though. Sure, we don't always agree.... sure, sometimes we argue... sure we can never get away from one another for the rest of eternity... and sure, sometimes SOMEONE highjacks our nervous system and hogs all three limbs to herself - not to name names (Janet). But we're SO much better off!

You might be scared. You might find us "weird", or "unusual", or "abhorrent", but that's normal. It's all normal. You take the bad with the good. But it's a human vice. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid when it looks like there's no reason to go on. Don't be afraid when you're all alone and we step in to help. Really think about our offer. And definitely don't be afraid when we eat you alive and assimilate you into our rapidly expanding web. Fear is normal, just like depression. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and sometimes we're it.

Remember, whatever you feel, however scared you are, we feel you!

Man, that's legitimately terrifying. By which I of course mean awesome

The Thing That Rides The Lightning



Sometimes the most bizarre things are right under our noses.

Whatever spawned these creatures, science has no answer. Not that there's much of a movement to study them. By the time you can tell them from any other stroke of lightning, it's too late.

The Harvestman



The cornfield is vast. More so than some cities. To call it a jungle would not be unfounded. There are those who've walked into its dusty rows and never walked back out(presumably due more to dehydration than starvation). Even seasoned explorers must be tethered to the outside. For three quarters of the year, tourists dare not venture more than twenty feet inside.

During the Autumn season, none may enter. Those who do become the property of the field's tenders. The cornfield belongs to them, and come autumn, everything must be harvested.



***

I had to resist the temptation to put him in overalls.

The Breeder



Just as man has made it his quest to boldly come within whatever the universe has to offer, evolution has managed to take advantage of human perversion.

It was not two generations after the discovery of this alien world that one of the flora began to produce some rather strangely shaped fruits. Strangely shaped and ambulant.

No one is fooled. There's not a human alive stupid enough to mistake the shambling mound of artificial muscle and soft bark for an actual human. But all it took was the assurance that the toothy jaws at the apex were unlikely to be used before frontiersmen tossed judgment to the wind and took them to bed.

They don't bite. They don't devour the heads of their mates, rip off genitalia, secrete poison, or even give birth to nightmare monsters. The vaguely humanoid, mobile flora that the plants generate are completely harmless pollination mechanisms, designed to integrate with the herds of local animals and spread their seed, assimilating genetic information on the way.

The frontiersmen aren't keen on letting news of these creatures get out.

***


This one, like most of them, started off as just a name. I wound up trying to go in the opposite direction of HR Giger. Giger's creations are very technical, focusing on the scientific aspects of sex like orifices, genitals and sex cells. I tried to go the opposite direction, focusing on the shapes, textures and colors that make people think of sex in the first place.

I admit, this one has a bit of male gaze, but there was really no way of getting around that. I can assure you, they come in a wide range of body shapes for a wide range of tastes.

The breeder might be the best so far but it may be tied with reverse medsua.