Robert E. Weinberg

Very few things are more frightening than unearthly creatures conceived by the masterminds of supernatural fiction. This collection of the macabre renders a large scope of such creatures, from the mythical beast in F. Murray Gilchrist's "The Basilisk," to the horrifying Shape in the Japanese legend Lafacadio Hearn translates as "jikininki," as well as the preternatural horse in Edgar Allan Poe's "Metzengerstein," and the ominous entries in E.F. Benson's "Caterpillars." This volume will take you from the invisible visitors in Hugh B. Cave's "Take Me, for Instance," to a child 's imagination taking on a life of it's own in Robert Weinberg's "Night Shapes."

100 Creepy Little Creatures

Kirsten Simkiss

I have owned this book for years and I had never actually managed to finish. I'd get maybe half way through and then I'd stop short. So, this time, I was determined to finish it. I have to say, I really didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. Most of the stories were either predictable or made no logical sense. Some of the stories didn't even bother to stick with the main topic of being creepy creature stories. Apparently aliens also counted as creepy creatures, which I wasn't really anticipating. I was also under the impression that these would all be creepy - however, a few were just stories with creatures in them that weren't actually creepy or scary in any way, shape, or form. I can gladly say I'm finished with it and that I'm never going to reread this book.

I actually wrote out mini reviews for all of these, but I can't put all of them in this review because I'm limited on how many characters I can use. So, instead, I'll tell you my favorites, my least favorites, and then see if I can comment the reviews I can't fit in.

My favorite stories, going in alphabetical order like the book, were: A Birthday Present for Tommy, Call First, Dark Brother, Dummy, Father's Vampire, The Gargoyle Sacrifice (which is one of the few that has always stuck out in my mind), Ghouls of the Sea (my ABSOLUTE favorite of the bunch), The Inn, My Father The Cat, and The White Wryak.

My least favorite stories, going in alphabetical order like the book, were: The American's Tale, The Devilish Rat, The Edge of the Shadow, Familiar Face, The House on the Rynek, Indigestion, The Keen Eyes and Ears of Kara Kedi, Laura, The Marmot, The Necromancer, The Plant-Thing, The Real Wolf, Seeing the World, Snail Ghost (my absolute least favorite), The Tabernacle, The Toad Idol, Tzo-Lin's Nightingales, and The White Dog. 

Here are the full mini-reviews for each short story. Again, see the comments for the rest of them. I can't fit them all in here because of the character limits.

(view spoiler)[1.	After Dark in the Playing Fields

This one isn’t much of a horror story for me. It’s mostly a guy talking to an owl who’s really pissed off at unseen beings of the night. Nothing to write home about for me.


2.	The Amulet of Hell

This is kind of your typical vampire story – though this is the Greek vampire instead of the typical Transylvanian one. I like how they describe the vampires in this one: kind of gaunt and dark. Do I buy that a vampire needs to attach a necklace to it’s victims first? Nah, but it’s not the worst story ever.


3.	The American’s Tale

Well, Arthur Conan Doyle is pretty famous for not really knowing how America works so this one’s not really an exception. This one is about giant venus fly traps – large enough to snack on people – in Arizona. To be perfectly clear, venus fly traps are mostly an east coast thing. Arizona doesn’t have the nitrogen-rich marshlands they need. So, with that said, this one needs a suspension of disbelief. Or, as the story may indicate, this was simply a lie easily believed by gullible British people who, like ACD, know nothing of America and where venus fly traps grow.


4.	Amina

This one is actually pretty decent. I enjoyed the description of the ghouls, though I’ve never seen one described as such before. How on earth did this poor sap wind up in a party of monster hunters without believing in the monsters? Seriously, that was a poor life choice on his part.


5.	The Avenging Hand

This is one of those stories where I wish that the main character was a little quicker to act, rather than standing about clutching his pearls at his chest in horror. He’s the deer in the headlights type, which is the wrong type of character to have for a brother when you have a demonically possessed arm grafted onto you. One well timed midnight amputation would easily have saved Louis’ life. Or, for that matter, not fainting in fright for three days after an altercation you weren’t even involved in happens so that the local natives graft the demon arm on in the first place. A fun concept, but it suffers from a pansy for a main character.


6.	The Basilisk

This one is a little weird. It’s like Greek Mythology but also very Shakespearean in a way. I can’t say I enjoyed it or even understood it. I suppose the mirror was meant to do something regarding the Basilisk and the main character. I assume, Marina being a nymph, turned the spell on her lover to free herself but it’s not entirely clear.


7.	Baynter’s Imp

This one’s actually kind of fun. If you’re at all into djinn and magical bottled beings or if you enjoy the Bartimaeus trilogy, this story is for you. Basically, a man uses magic to suit himself and it backfires spectacularly. Really, the ending just serves him right.


8.	The Beast of the Yungas

This one’s more like The Lost World than a horror story. Someone dies of fright because they see a dinosaur. It’s a pity they didn’t bother to tell the guy that the dinosaur in question was a herbivore. While it’s never actually confirmed that it WAS the diplodocus, it’s assumed that was the cause.


9.	The Beetle

A serial killer who offended a Hindu god when he was in India during the war gets punished by being turned into a beetle-sized man and tortured by a monkey. Kind of served the guy right. This one’s not bad, but I didn’t love it.


10.	A Birthday Present for Tommy

As far as horror stories go, this one is decent. I would be petrified if I had to deal with monsters of this kind. I love the ambiguity of this one. It doesn’t complicate things – it makes you fill in the blanks on your own.


11.	The Cactus

Evil cactuses from a crater in Arizona. I’m not sure where they got this idea from, but it’s not the worst one I’ve read about so far. Weird, but not bad.


12.	Call First

Curiosity killed the librarian. This one is pretty good, albeit a bit simple. There’s a reason you shouldn’t break into people’s houses – especially ones who practice black magic and have finger-nail rights.


13.	Caterpillars

I’m not sure how to feel about this one. Either the guy is psychic and envisioned the cancer as large grey caterpillars or there are cancer-carrying caterpillars in this lady’s house and she needs to invest heavily in pest control.


14.	Dagon

I liked this one well enough. H. P. Lovecraft is well known for his horror, so that shouldn’t come as a shock. This one’s kind of like a Pacific Ocean version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.


15.	The Damned Thing

This one’s a little vague, but the general gist of it is that there’s some invisible creature humans can’t see (though the dog can) and it ripped into this guy for shooting it. The coroner writes it off as a mountain lion attack, but the reader knows better.


16.	Dark Brother

Okay, this one’s actually pretty cool. The monster, again, is invisible to all but the cat. The cat befriends the Dark Brother, which seems to be an ethereal form of dark smoke that likes to torment and, once the humans living in the house realize, eat the residents of the home he inhabits. I definitely enjoyed this one.


17.	Deep Wood

Deep Wood was fairly enjoyable. A couple finds that some developers are planning on cutting down is inhabited by some unknown living forest spirit who disagrees with the idea of being destroyed. Spoiler alert: the tree spirit wins. I like it when tree spirits win against construction companies, but that’s just me.


18.	Demons of the Sea

This one reminds me of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, honestly. It’s not bad, but it’s not the most satisfying. You never are able to determine what they are or what conditions really summoned the demonic crew. If you like unsolved mysteries, you’ll enjoy this one.


19.	The Deserted Garden

Man ignores locals about spot haunted by Pan and dies as a result. Dismissed as an accident. That’s pretty much the whole plot. It’s simple, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve read in this group.


20.	The Devil of the Marsh

This is the story about the extent of the bullshit guys are willing to go through to get with a pretty lady. I definitely feel like walking for thirty minutes in foggy swamp land at night is a lot more than you should put up with. She’s probably some sort of witch elemental, but it’s never directly said. The swamp creature she kills is more unusual and interesting to me.


21.	The Devilish Rat

I’m not sure why anyone would hve come up with this, but essentially a man ignores his own personality and social needs long enough to let himself become possessed by another soul: the soul of Judas Iscariot. It wasn’t exactly the soul he had in mind. I don’t think I’d recommend this short to anyone. It’s long winded for a short story where mostly nothing happens.


22.	Dog, Cat, and Baby

Short and to the point, this one deals with animals and their jealousy regarding new babies in the household. This one’s pretty good, even if it’s only about two pages long.


23.	Dummy

This is every evil doll movie you’ve ever seen with a touch of ventriloquism. Essentially you start reading and you assume it to be the owner of the marionette. But as you finish reading, you realize you’ve been seeing things from the dummy’s perspective the entire time – and he’s just burned his owner alive.


24.	The Dump

The Dump is enjoyable, though I feel like the preface is a little unnecessary. Maybe it’s my love of weird horror sci-fi movies, but I always do love giant worm stories.


25.	The Edge of the Shadow

This one is more a vampire story than a creepy little creature story, but I guess there are dog howls involved so I guess they thought it was close enough. This one’s pretty long winded for saying as little as it does. Wouldn’t recommend.


26.	Exhibit A

This story had fun spitting in the face of science. I guess aliens don’t like aviators.

27.	Fairy Gossamer

What moron goes into a creepy spider infested unmarked basement tunnel without at least telling someone where he was going? That’s just a bad move. The only horror in this story is that someone would be that dumb. Spoiler alert: this one has a happy ending. None of the spiders were poisonous and the guy gets rich on the spider collector’s hidden gold.


28.	Familiar Face

Friendzoned: why you really should just move on when she’s not into you. When you start wishing on a lab rat with opposable thumbs, you’ve got problems. This one has a good voice, but the main character is detestable.


29.	Father’s Vampire

Father’s Vampire actually reminds me a bit of a trickster story like Anasi the spider. The prey becomes the predator – except not really. As long as your predator thinks they’re lower on the food chain, you’re safe, right?


30.	The Feather Pillow

Bedbugs of the worst variety. This poor lady just happened to already have them when she was on her honeymoon. This one gets to the point and yet doesn’t spare detail when it’s necessary. I enjoyed this one quite a bit.


31.	The Fisherman’s Special

“Dear Diary, today I rode a train with a werewolf who murdered his own brother because of a pretty girl.” This story is alright, although quite predictable.


32.	The Frog

I worry for the sanity of any creature who, in trying to kill it’s creator, chooses to commit murder and suicide all at once by jumping down his creator’s throat to choke him to death.


33.	Frogfather

This one’s a little weird, but not bad. This is one of those stories where man should have respected nature more. It’s not so much a horror story as it is a story with a moral in the background.


34.	The Gargoyle Sacrifice

I’ve read this book partially twice (and finished it this time, obviously) and this is one of the stories that always stood out to me. This one’s definitely one I’d recommend to you. It kind of reads like the beginning of a Supernatural episode, but a little risqué.


35.	Ghouls of the Sea

I really, really enjoyed this one. It’s zombies, more or less, from the ocean. I remember reading this one in times past and it really sticks out in my memory. This would make a great period-setting horror movie.


36.	The Gray Wolf

I don’t know how I feel about this one. Obviously, it’s about a werewolf of some variety, although perhaps a shapeshifter might be a more accurate ruling on this one. I’m not sure if the wolf truly meant harm or if it was supposed to just be in the nature of the wolf, but it’s a very odd little story to be sure. I like that she behaved more like a wolf than a woman.


37.	The Green-and-Gold Bug

This one makes me think of the Parks and Rec line about white people being terrified of curses. I don’t really like it much, but it’s not awful. 


38.	The House on the Rynek

What a terrible night for a curse! Apparently in this one being a werewolf runs in the family. It was kind of weird and almost didn’t make sense at points. Definitely not a winner with me.


39.	I’ll Be Glad When I’m Dead

A man who hates fat people because he’s skinny and bullied decides to wish on a demon summoning to be a vampire. It just didn’t work out as intended. This is one of those, “Careful what you wish for!” stories.


40.	Indigestion

A cannibal is killed by his friend, who is some sort of unnamed monster with tentacles, green scales, ooze, and a bird beak. The monster’s vague description is more interesting to me than the rest of the story. I could have done without the extensive intro about how devoted to being a cannibal Henry was.


41.	The Inn

This is the kind of Inn that the Addams Family would book at for a vacation. I kind of like this one because the creature of the darkness is basically bragging about how awesome he is at his job. Plus, the main character is way less interesting that the creature.


42.	Itching for Action

Turns out the main character is getting what’s coming to him for poisoning all the local pets. Though semi-satisfying, it’s never stated which of his neighbors did the cursing.


43.	Jikininki

This one isn’t really much of a horror story. It’s more of a local haunting in Japan. Maybe I’m just really used to Japanese demons from all the stories and shows I’ve seen from Japan, but this one wasn’t particularly memorable for me.


44.	John Mortonson’s Funeral

This one is suuuper short, but ultimately impossible. There’s no way the guy’s cat broke into the funeral home after he’d been embalmed to eat him in his coffin. Just saying.


45.	The Keen Eyes and Ears of Kara Kedi

This one almost doesn’t make sense. Obviously there was something supernatural going on, but it never explains what it was that killed the neighbor.


46.	The Kelpie

This one isn’t bad, though it’s not my favorite thing ever. It definitely has some fun with the Kelpie mythology, though it doesn’t follow what I’d read of them previously.


47.	Ladies in Waiting

Nothing like a creepy, dusty house full of sex crazed demons to put you in the mood, right? This story’s weird.


48.	Laura

I really don’t think this is how reincarnation works, but okay.


49.	Left by the Tide

EVIL MERMAIDS. MY FAVORITE. This one isn’t rocket science, although I wonder at how someone could sanely just think that someone was wearing a fish.


50.	The Lesser Brethren Mourn

I didn’t really see this one as a horror story, but it actually refers back to the story “John Mortensen’s Funeral” which was neat. I think it’s sort of sweet, really, that all the animals came to pay their respects. It’s a pity there wasn’t some sort of will to change who got all the guy’s money.


51.	The Marmot

Ah, yes, a man with a marmot in his leg. TOTALLY makes sense. Hooray for modern medicine. It’s not the best story, honestly. The one brother speaks really negatively about his probably terrible brother, but obviously he’s not the best guy either.


52.	Metzengerstein

I’m not sure this is really reincarnation as much as it is a vengeful spirit, but the guy clearly got what was coming to him. Edgar Allan Poe is one of those legendary authors, but the beginning of this particular story could have been left off for me. If I had started at the third paragraph instead of the first. I guess in his time the sayings in other languages were common knowledge. Not so in this day and age.


53.	Mimic

This one is definitely cool. I always love the supernatural functioning alongside the real world, but this is definitely a different take on it.


54.	Mive

This one is a case of making sure people know where you’re going when you head out on your own. Also, don’t eat random things like butterfly dust if you can help it. I kind of like the weird vision he had, though it makes you wonder why, if they had conquered such a town, their reign hadn’t spread.


55.	The Moon-Slave

This one is an interesting story. It’s definitely different from other princess stories. Still, I wonder who it was that she pledged herself to – was it Pan, the devil, or some other curious being with cloven feet?


56.	Monsters in the Night

I’m not sure what manner of human the end was supposed to be, but I assume it’s meant to be some kind of android built to kill monsters. This one is weird, but it’s fun to read from the monster’s perspective.


57.	The Mother of Monsters

I feel like this one is definitely a cautionary piece about corsets and pregnancies. Obviously it doesn’t tell you when this was written, but if I looked it up, I’d bet it would be nearing the end of that fashion trend.


58.	Mother of Toads

Rule #1: Never piss off a witch. That’s just common sense.


59.	Mummy

Well, isn’t that just typical of white people in other countries? Who in their right minds think, “I’M GONNA STEAL A DEAD GUY’S SKULL IN CHIU-CHIU FOR A TOBACCO JAR.” For goodness sakes, just get a gourd or something. Who grave robs for a tobacco jar? RUDE.


60.	My Father, the Cat

This one is actually kind of sad, but very well written. I like that Dauphin is so caring of his partially humanoid son. The idea that a fairy-like woman and a cat could have such a child is really interesting, but it’s sad that his wife can never know.


61.	The Necromancer

For as little action there is in this story, there’s twice as much for setting the stage. I found this one very long winded. Obviously it’s older, but holy smokes was this one boring to me.


62.	Night Shapes

That one was cute! That’s a scary story you can read to your kids, although it might be best to explain that one’s imagination doesn’t really make things real or they might be concerned about their own abilities.


63.	The Owl on the Moor

Mysterious and strange woman attacks men walking alone on the moor and NO ONE CAN BELIEVE IT! It sounds a bit like a bad clickbait plot, but this one’s not unlike other stories you’ve read before about witches. Still, it isn’t bad. I have no clue what made the woman want to kill the local men, but as far as I can tell it wasn’t to eat them. At least there’s that!


64.	The Phantom Drug

This one is definitely one where suspension of disbelief is key. While a fun idea, I don’t think a potion could break every bone in the man’s body. More realistically with what had happened, I would worry that the tiger’s mind would stay in the man’s body with it having nowhere to return to.


65.	The Place of Hairy Death

If you happen to be arachnophobic, do yourself a favor and skip this one. Since I’m not, I was just fine. But more realistically, if there were really Aztec gold left, there would be dozens of people pouring into that place. (hide spoiler)]

100 Creepy Little Creatures

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