Monsters have always been with us. The oldest stories hint at tales stretching back before the invention of writing. One myth common across Indo-European cultures features a monstrous dragon—and its slaying by a brave hero.

More modern monsters often do not offer us the comfort of showing us how to defeat them. They can also be uncomfortably close to us—even in the United States. Here are 10 contemporary beasts and where to find them.

10 Mothman

In 1966 in West Virginia, people began to report sightings of a terrifying human figure with wings. Soon dubbed “the Mothman,” this creature appeared to gravediggers, couples out walking, and other groups of people. Even eerier than a flying man was the pair of huge glowing red eyes with which he stared at witnesses. For months, more and more people reported sightings of the Mothman. But they all stopped in December 1967.

On the 15th of that month at Point Pleasant, the Silver Bridge catastrophically failed. A single cracked beam suddenly fractured and sent dozens of cars plummeting into the river below. When the bridge fell, it was full of rush hour traffic and 46 people lost their lives. People immediately connected the appearances of the Mothman to the disaster and saw him as a herald of doom.

Since the Silver Bridge disaster, Mothman has rarely been seen. But there are those who claim to have glimpsed him just before other tragedies. So was Mothman a spectral creature trying to warn people of disaster or, as some researchers think, just a large owl?^[1]

9 Slender Man

Slender Man may be one of the most horrific things to come from the Internet, and that is up against some stiff competition. Originally birthed from a Photoshop competition in 2009 when users were challenged to create paranormal images, the Slender Man has spread throughout popular culture and even, tragically, into the real world.

A tall, thin, and besuited character, Slender Man appeared in the background of many photos. Soon, a whole backstory and legend became attached to him. He targeted children or drove adults insane. One alleged power of Slender Man is that he can take control of people and force them to do things against their will.

In 2014, two 12-year-old friends held down and stabbed another 12-year-old 19 times. The aggressors told police that this was what they had to do to become proxies of the Slender Man or else he would kill their families.^[2]

The two girls told each other that they could see “Slendy” and created a world in their minds where he was real. The girl they attacked survived the ordeal, and the two assailants were sentenced to long periods in mental hospitals.

8 Black-Eyed Children

Children can be scary things to some people at the best of times. But when they stare at you with ghostly black eyes, fear is probably an appropriate response. Black-eyed children have been popping up all over the world.

In 1996, a Texas journalist made what is considered one of the earliest sightings. Stopping his car late at night, the reporter was approached by two children who tapped on his window. As soon as he looked at them, he was gripped with terror.^[3]

The two asked for a lift to the cinema and became agitated when he would not let them in. When he broke eye contact with them, the children’s eyes turned pure black. Understandably, the journalist drove off rather quickly.

Now black-eyed children have been spotted in many countries. In the UK, they have been seen several times in Cannock Chase. Recently, they have been making an appearance on the London Underground. Perhaps this explains why Londoners are so reluctant to make eye contact with anyone on the morning commute.

7 Bunny Man

Venture into the woods near Colchester Overpass in Virginia, and you might be in for a big surprise. According to local legend, a former inmate of an insane asylum has made this location his home. But this is not any old madman—he always wears a giant bunny costume.

The tale goes that a 12-year-old boy named Douglas Griffon murdered his parents with an axe at Easter. Locked up for his crimes, all was well until he escaped during a prison transfer. When the police searched for him, all they discovered were mutilated rabbit corpses.

When three teenagers were later killed in the area, a hunt uncovered the axe-wielding Griffon dressed up in a homemade bunny outfit. Before they could capture him, he stepped in front of a train. That should be the end of the story. But rumors persist that Griffon’s spirit—still dressed in his costume—haunts the area.

In fact, people who have looked at the legend of the Bunny Man have concluded that the story above is false. Interestingly, there was a recorded event when a couple was menaced by a man with an axe. He wore a white suit and bunny ears.^[4]

6 Dog Boy Of Arkansas

In the Arkansas town of Quitman, many of the houses are supposed to be home to ghosts. Gerald Floyd Bettis was born in one such haunted house in 1954. Apparently, the boy was sufficiently spooky for his home. He developed a mean streak along with unusual habits such as collecting cats and dogs.

This is how he gained the name “Dog Boy.” Gerald was not caring for the animals he found but torturing them instead. Neighbors could hear their screams.

As Gerald grew up, he tormented his parents, forcing them to live only in the upstairs rooms and feeding them only when he decided they needed feeding. He threw his elderly father out a window and beat up his mother. Eventually, Gerald was arrested for his crimes and died of a drug overdose. But Dog Boy was not done with his home.^[5]

The new owners of the house have reported coins floating down hallways, lights turning on of their own accord, and spectral apparitions. Due to these “darned spirits,” the house has been difficult to sell.

5 Skunk Ape

The Skunk Ape is a creature said to stamp through the swamps of several states. Also known as the “swamp ape” or “swamp cabbage man,” this large humanoid beast carries with it a pungent and repulsive odor—as you might if you spent your life in the swamp. As it is supposed to look somewhat like Bigfoot, many people are searching to capture the Skunk Ape to find out just what it is.

Sightings of the creature tend to occur when hunters spot something moving in the dense plants. Suddenly, a tall and bipedal hairy monster looms up and runs away, leaving nothing but an awful stench in the air.

Given the eyewitness testimony and lack of any physical evidence, most researchers think that the Skunk Ape, if it exists at all, is just a black bear that has rolled around in something nasty.^[6]

On the other hand, Dave Shealy is so sure that the Skunk Ape is out there that he has set up a Skunk Ape Research Headquarters in the Florida Everglades.

4 Charlie No-Face

Charlie No-Face may be the saddest case of a modern monster. At night, people would drive down the back roads of Pennsylvania to catch a glimpse of a monster they called the “Green Man,” or “Charlie No-Face.”

In the glare of their headlights, they might see a solitary figure slowly walking up and down the streets with a disfigured face. Shrieking, they would drive off and tell the story of how they came face to no-face with a legendary creature.

The real monsters, though, were the ones in the cars. Charlie No-Face was a man whose real name was Ray. He had suffered a terrible accident as a child when he climbed a pole to reach a bird’s nest. The pole carried a high-current electric wire, and Ray was burned so badly that he lost his nose, eyes, and right arm.^[7]

Due to his appearance, Ray preferred to stay inside during the day with his family. But he liked to go for walks at night so that he would not frighten people. Despite the sometimes cruel attention he received from those who came to see Charlie No-Face, Ray refused to let them put him off his nightly strolls.

3 Goatman

Few things would be scarier than meeting a creature that had the head and legs of a goat but the body of a human. However, the Goatman of Maryland is even more terrifying because he also carries an axe.^[8]

According to legend, the monster was created by a scientist who was doing research into . . . whatever mad scientists do with goats. The experiment went wrong, and the researcher was transformed into a half-man, half-goat. Apparently a little distressed by this change, he took out his rage on cars with an axe.

The Goatman legend took off in 1971 when a local dog was found decapitated. Now the Goatman is said to enjoy bleating at people out of the darkness in the woods. He has a particular fondness for haunting places where lovers in cars like to park.

The legend of the Goatman was kept alive by local teens who would use the excuse of “Goatman hunting” to organize drunken parties. Imagine meeting the Goatman when you’re drunk, though.

2 The Three-Legged Lady Of Nash Road

The Three-Legged Lady of Mississippi is a ghost that locals claim will chase you down Nash Road. And racing against a three-legged lady doesn’t sound very fair.

Sources vary, but legend has it that a young girl was kidnapped and murdered in the area. The killers cut up her body and tossed it into the woods. When the girl’s mother went searching for her daughter, all she found was a single leg. Unable to stop searching, she now wanders Nash Road with the decaying leg of her daughter stitched crudely to her body.

Should you want (for some reason) to meet the three-legged lady, you must drive to Nash Road at night, turn off your headlights, and honk your horn three times. The three-legged lady will then tap on the roof of your car. As you drive off, presumably in horror, she will race you along the road, bumping into you all the way. It’s not recorded what happens if you lose the race.^[9]

1 Melon Heads

In Michigan, Ohio, and Connecticut, people have reported sightings and attacks by small humanoids with grotesquely swollen heads. The Melon Heads, as they are known, are often associated with legends of people locked up in asylums.

In Ohio, the Melon Heads are said to be cannibals who stalk rural places. With shriveled bodies but massive heads, these pale creatures surprise the unwary and attack them with their pointed teeth. Local tales describe how the Melon Heads were taken in as children by a demented scientist called Dr. Crow.

Through his experiments on them, they became twisted. When they escaped or were let loose, they thrived and waited in lonely places to capture their victims.^[10]

In Michigan, the Melon Heads were children suffering from hydrocephalus, a real condition that can cause the head to swell immensely. After being abused, they escaped from the hospital where they were being held and became feral in the wild. Of course, there is no evidence for the Melon Heads’ existence. But there never is any evidence—until there is.

You’re watching a horror movie in the cinema. The movie’s main antagonist, say a big hairy razor-toothed monster, pops up on the screen. Would you hide behind your popcorn? Would you scream. If you are watching any of the movies in this list, the chances are you’d drop your oh-so-expensive popcorn as you double up in laughter. Movies have helped generations to visualize classic literary monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and The Phantom of the Opera with stunning celluloid renditions. Horror movies have also created new bogeymen like Freddy Kruger, The Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Godzilla; monsters that scores of people see in their nightmares on returning home from the cinema. But, sadly, the movie industry has also provided us with creations like these:

Top 10 Best of the Worst Films

10 Sharktopus—Sharktopus

What could be scarier than a giant octopus? A giant shark, of course! What could be scarier than a giant shark? A Sharktopus! The plot of this dumbfounding T.V. movie is nearly as silly as the eponymous beastie; the US Navy, in a moment of dubious inspiration, decide that their multi-billion dollar arsenal is lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. They commission a group of vaguely science-type guys called ‘Blue Water’ to bio-engineer them a new super weapon. And so the Sharktopus was born. Everything looked to be working well; they employ this giant crime-against-nature to decimate a group of drug smugglers off the coast of California. But the test goes horribly awry when Sharktopus escapes and makes his way to the beach-bum haven of Puerto Vallarta. Many sexy, bikini-clad women and douche-bag Californian guys are killed by the marauding hybrid monster, until it is eventually blown up by the daughter of Sharktopus’s creator. Seriously. That’s the plot.

Crap, yes. But entertaining crap. This wonderfully silly movie from 2010 was made for the SyFy channel by the king of low-budget movies Roger Corman. Initially Corman was reluctant to make this movie but the SyFy team have a certain way to convince filmmakers to get on board—wheelbarrows full of cash. They wanted to cast ‘The Dark Knight’ actor Eric Roberts, (brother of ‘Pretty Woman’ Julia), who agreed to be in the film because he thought that the plot sounded so utterly ridiculous that it’d be a lot of fun to work on. People of the ‘Jaws’ generation always check the water before entering for a swim…can we expect kids of the ‘Sharktopus’ era to do the same? Probably not…^[1]

9 The Lepus—Night of the Lepus

“Jolly Humour”, “Bitter Fun”, “A very different sort of humour…Intercontinental, sadistic”. This is how the British press described the 1964 horror/comedy novel ‘ The Year of the Angry Rabbit’ by Australian author Russell Braddon. When Hollywood decided to make a movie based on this innovative gem of a book, they made one huge mistake. They dropped the humour. Whoever decided that a storyline based on a bunch of giant mutant bunnies running amok could be done as a straight, po-faced horror really needs to take a good long look at themselves, (maybe they had a bad experience with a giant, man-eating rabbit as a child?)

The official poster for the film didn’t actually show any rabbits on it because studio executives thought that audiences wouldn’t take the film seriously after seeing fluffy bunnies on a poster for a horror movie. In reality, nobody can take this picture seriously after watching faded film star Janet Leigh and, (randomly), Star Trek’s DeForest Kelley battling against these monstrous mammals who’ve acquired a taste for human flesh. To make the giant monsters seem extra ‘real’, actual bunnies were used along with miniature sets designed to look like a dusty South-western town! Venerable producer AC Lyles was best known for making B-movie Western flicks such as ‘Young Fury’ and ‘Johnny Reno’ and, most recently, as a consulting producer on the seminal TV drama ‘Deadwood’. So how could a man with years of experience in the industry think that a film about humungous rabbits chasing folk in an Arizona backwater town be a hit? We’ll probably never know. Incidentally, this movie was made was made in 1972 and according to the Chinese Zodiac, it was the year of the, you guessed it…Rat.^[2]

8 Hitler’s Head—They Saved Hitler’s Brain

Although the title states that ‘they saved Hitler’s brain’, in this celluloid atrocity, they actually saved the Fuhrer’s whole head! They couldn’t even get the title right! Originally a TV film called ‘The Madmen of Mandoras’, producer Carl Edwards was unsatisfied by the limited audience his little opus got, so he made a feature length movie. It needed twenty minutes of extra footage to bulk out the original TV film, so he enlisted a UCLA student to make the added material…without any original costumes, the original cameras or any use of original production methods. As a result, large swathes of the movie seem totally different to the original, further cementing this film’s status as one of the worst movies ever made.^[3]

7 Goblins—Troll 2

The scary monsters in the movie Troll 2 are, as the title would suggest…Goblins. Wait, what? There are no trolls in this picture and no reference to the original ‘Troll’ movie. What in the hell is going on here? It’s so utterly appalling that the director, Claudio Fragasso, used the pseudonym Drake Floyd on the film’s credits. But loads of people have done that in movies, right? Well, this is the man who directed such clangers as ‘Women’s Prison Massacre’ and ‘Shocking Dark’, (an unofficial sequel to ‘Terminator’ released a few years before ‘T2: Judgement Day’). So if he doesn’t want to put his name to a movie, you know it’s going to be bad.

Yes, it’s pretty shoddy…however, in the world of bad movies, this one falls into the category of ‘so bad it’s amusing’. In recent years the movie has garnered a cult status, with clips from the film becoming internet memes due to the spectacularly bad acting and the cruddiest monsters seen in 90’s cinema. The plot is pretty damn fantastic too—a family are chased by a group of vegetarian goblins who seek to transform them into plants and devour them. Why they had to be veggies and not just carnivorous goblins I do not know. The sub-Halloween mask faces of the goblins give the film such a comical air that ‘Troll 2’ is immensely watchable; you can’t take your eyes off it… a bit like a watching a hilarious car crash.^[4]

6 Charles “Butcher” Benton—Indestructible Man

Lon Chaney was a giant of the movie world. The ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’ was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, bringing life to genre-defining monsters such as ‘Erik’ the phantom in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Quasimodo’ in ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. His son, Lon Chaney jnr. also had success in his career—mainly as the title character in Universal Studios’ classic 1941 monster flick ‘The Wolf Man’ and its sequels. However, Chaney jnr. felt that he was living in his father’s shadow for much of his career. Most actors who tasted the success that Chaney jnr. had would be more than happy with their careers. But when your daddy is considered as one of the greatest horror actors of all time, bringing a gravitas to an often maligned genre, then one can understand why he thought he’d lacked sufficient accomplishments.

In his role as re-animated crook ‘Charles “Butcher” Benton’ in the movie Indestructible Man, Chaney jnr. showed that his worries about failing to live up to his father’s reputation was pretty damn accurate. Don’t get me wrong, the younger Chaney was a good actor, but he couldn’t make this embarrassing excuse for a movie monster work. After scientists experiment on the body of an executed criminal, the accidentally re-animate him and making him super-strong and making his skin impervious to damage! This Frankencrook goes on a murderous rampage, seeking revenge on his former partners. Is this even a monster? Certainly not in the traditional sense. He isn’t a composite of body parts like Frankenstein’s Monster, or a magically animated clay giant like The Golem…he’s just Lon Chaney jnr. Also, the title is very misleading—he dies in the end! It should have been called: ‘The Not-Exactly-Indestructible Man’. Poor.^[5]

10 Movies That Are So Bad They Are Good

5 Mothra—Godzilla vs. Mothra

Fans of the ‘Godzilla’ series of movies won’t be happy with this entry. Mothra is a much loved character amongst the long list of giant monsters that seem to destroy Japanese cities on an alarmingly regular basis. Quite why Mothra is held in such high regard is beyond me! It’s a big moth. A giant spider that spits acid would be horrifying. A huge, laser-eyed mantis would cause widespread panic. A flame breathing scorpion would cause fear-induced pants soiling with ease. But a big moth? Other than coating large urban areas in wing dust, thus ruining thousands of white shirts, what’s so scary about Mothra?

Nothing—but then again, she isn’t meant to be scary to humanity. Mothra is a protector of Earth; a re-incarnated race of aliens spliced with a moth by the cosmos(?!) Seriously? A moth? Earth’s most powerful protector is a moth? At least a giant butterfly would be pretty to look at! Granted, she can shoot arcs of lightening from her antennae and cause powerful winds with her giant wings, but come on! The idea that this town-sized bug is here to help humanity just adds to its crappiness. Along with the big bouncing bunnies in The Lepus, Mothra can count herself as one of the lamest giant creatures in film history!^[6]

4 The Monster—Blood Beach

“Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water…you can’t get to it!” Wow. What a tag-line! This film is in no way linked to the movie ‘Jaws’ but the producers had no problem in trying to cash in on the success of Spielberg’s shark attack flick. But this is no two-bit rip off! In fact, there is no sniff of a giant shark terrorizing beach-goers in Blood Beach; the monster is below the sand! I think…

You don’t really get more than a fleeting glimpse of the monster in this movie. You also can’t really tell what the hell it is. Is it a bloodthirsty clam? Is it an carnivorous alien cactus? What the hell is it? We know it has a taste for anything that moves above its subterranean abode…but what is the thing? Even after the local police manage to blow the thing to pieces with dynamite, viewers are left scratching their heads wondering what the hell was chomping on dogs and sexy ladies. Whatever the beast was, it probably cost under a hundred bucks to make.^[7]

3 The Stuff—The Stuff

Over consumption of ice cream is very bad for you. Tooth-rotting sugar, the calorie-count and nerve-splitting brain freezes are all awful side effects to this favourite desert. None of these problems compare to killer ice cream in this film. That’s right, the ‘monster’ in the 1985 movie ‘The Stuff’ is killer ice cream.

When a bubbling white liquid is found oozing from the earth by a couple of miners, they soon discover that it’s tasty, filling and contains no calories! It starts getting sold to the public and ‘the stuff’ fast becomes the new food fad—everyone is eating the stuff by the bucket load. But there are side effects… you turn into a zombie-esque creature and the stuff starts eating you from inside. The oozing sludge also has a mind of its own—in a memorable scene in a motel room, The Stuff attacks a man while slithering up and down the walls and ceiling, (this scene was shot in the same room as Johnny Depp’s bedroom in ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’). Although the film isn’t terrible, the idea of killer ice cream isn’t going to strike fear into the hearts of many people, except the marketing executives at Häagen-Dazs. In fact, the crew used tub upon tub of this particular ice cream as ‘the stuff’, along with yoghurt and fire-extinguisher foam.^[8]

2 Terror Toons—Terror Toons

This is going to be tough to write…here goes: in some place called ‘the cartoon universe’, a character who looks like a green, Nazi-era cartoon of a Jewish man wearing a doctors costume called ‘Doctor Carnage’ rips some blokes skull out through his stomach. So far, so stupid. Meanwhile, sisters Cindy and Candy and some brain-dead friends decide to watch a DVD called Terror Toons (created by the Devil). They watch the film which is about the psychotic antics of Doctor Carnage and his mutated lab monkey side-kick, Max Assassin…jeez. After a quick game of strip Ouija, the terror toons materialize in the house and go about killing the main cast in painfully cheesy ways— a cop is killed by a stick of dynamite in a box of donuts, a girl is sawn in half in a botched magic act and a pizza delivery boy is dismembered with a giant pizza cutter.

The terror toons take Cindy to Hell where she meets the Devil, who tells her of his evil plan to use the terror toons to rid the world corrupt children. Realizing that “she is now in a cartoon”, Cindy turns herself into a superhero and the Devil sends her back to Earth. Cindy seeks the machine that makes the terror toons DVDs and, after killing Doctor Carnage with a giant axe and stomping out Max Assassin’s brain with her new found super power of, uh, stamping really hard, she destroys the machine. Cindy’s parents return home to see that everything went a little bit mad whilst they were away. Right, I’m not writing anymore about this film. My fingers feels dirty!^[9]

1 Leyak —Mystics in Bali

Balinese culture is rich and interesting. From gamelan music to the amazing dancing and stunning food, the people of Bali have an ancient culture that draws tourists from all over the globe to their stunning island home. However, the movie ‘Mystics in Bali’ is possibly the worst advert for Balinese culture one could imagine. ‘Mystics’ is Indonesia’s first attempt at a horror film directed at the international market. Check out the trailer, it’s so bad it’s hilarious!

An Australian women named Cathy travels to Bali to do research on the local mythology. A witch promises to teach Cathy about the dark arts of Balinese magic but instead turns Cathy into a Leyak; a floating vampire head with her internal organs hanging out from her neck. Local holy men seek out Cathy and destroy her. If you could encounter a ‘real-life’ Leyak, I’m sure this foetus-eating monster would be really quite scary. Not in this film. The sight of lead actress Ilone Bastian’s head removing itself from her neck and clumsily floating around is nothing short of comical. The movie was banned in Indonesia—I assume to save face rather than because of its X-rated content. A real stinker.^[10]

Top 10 Films So Bad They Are Hilarious

About The Author: CJ Phillips is an actor and writer living in rural West Wales. He is a little obsessed with lists.

Everyone’s heard of Ghengis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Epstein. But, sadly, history is filled with mass murderers, psychopaths, child abusers, tyrants, and dictators that you’ve probably never heard of. As delicious as it is to think of these power and fame-hungry monsters dying in obscurity – undoubtedly a fate worse than death for some of them – it is important to learn from their crimes, to make sure they can never be repeated. Let’s take a look at some historical bad guys you’ve probably never heard of. 

10. Elizabeth Bathory

The name “Elizabeth Báthory” probably means nothing to you. But it should evoke chilling tales of darkness and horror. Known as the “Blood Countess,” this 16th century Hungarian noblewoman killed more than 600 girls and bathed in their blood to maintain her youth. It was one of the most sinister reigns of terror in history. 

Or was it? Beneath the tales that have woven her into a monstrous figure, there lies a complex narrative. New evidence suggests her terrifying reputation was either a result of a conspiracy hatched against Bathory by friends and family, who sought to discredit her and steal her wealth and power, or that she really was a criminal but that tales of her monstrous atrocities have been exaggerated to the point of absurdity over the centuries. Poor record keeping in her day certainly doesn’t help us parse truth from fiction. But whether she was really guilty of those crimes or a victim of someone else’s slander, it appears there is indeed a true villain in this story somewhere. 

9. Sawney Bean

Legend has it that in the 16th century, Sawney Bean and his family carved a gruesome path through the rugged Scottish countryside. Portrayed as a clan of cannibals and murderers, the Bean family is said to have lurked in the hidden caves, preying upon unsuspecting travelers for sustenance and pleasure. Their reign of terror and the sheer brutality of their crimes have immortalized the Bean clan as one of Scotland’s most macabre characters.

According to lore, the Beans, believed to number in the dozens, would ambush and rob unsuspecting passersby before dragging them to their secret coastal cave hideout. There, they would murder their victims, dismember the bodies and feast on their flesh. The scale of their atrocities is said to have been staggering, with estimates claiming hundreds of innocent lives fell victim to the family’s insatiable hunger. Now, as you’ve probably guessed from the wording so far, there’s a lot in this story that’s probably made up. But true or not, the legend did inspire several works of art, including The Hills Have Eyes. So good luck sleeping tonight.

8. Gilles de Rais

If you ran into Gilles de Rais on the streets of 15th century France, you’d probably bow politely to this esteemed nobleman and military captain. But de Rais was hiding in plain sight like Heisenburg. Today, he’s remembered not for his valor on the battlefield, but for his descent into the depths of depravity as an early serial killer.

Once a trusted companion of Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais’s life took a harrowing turn following her execution. Fueled by a disturbing fascination with the occult and alchemy, he embarked on a series of unspeakable acts. He lured young boys to his castles, then indulged in acts of sadistic torture, sexual abuse which we will not describe here, and ultimately, murder. The magnitude of his crimes is staggering, with estimates ranging from dozens to hundreds of innocent lives lost at his hands. Thankfully, de Rais was eventually caught, forced to confess, and brought to justice. However, some modern historians wonder if he was actually guilty, or just telling his tormentors what he thought they wanted to hear?

7. Leopold II

When we think about vast European empires, you probably think Britain, Spain, France, and a few other power players. Belgium, on the other hand, is depicted as a teeny country that was often bullied by Germany. None of that is necessarily wrong, but Belgium’s status as a cute waffle-maker and blameless victim in the World Wars has blinded the globe to its terrible crimes in Africa. 

Enter Leopold II, Belgian monarch from 1865 to 1909. While celebrated for some of his policies back home, his rule in the Congo Free State deserves no such praise. Under the guise of philanthropy and civilization, and hungry for lucrative rubber, Leopold II unleashed a reign of terror in the Congo, utilizing forced labor, enslavement, and rampant human rights abuses. Millions of Congolese people were subjected to horrific conditions, including mutilations, mass killings, and other forms of terror and state-sanctioned violence. Sadly, the great European powers mentioned above did still manage to exploit Belgium in one sinister way. Although they all copied Belgium’s cruel, exploitative practices in Africa, they allowed Leopold to take the heat from the international community all by himself, since Belgium was too small to narratively defend itself.

6. Leonarda Cianciulli

Don’t let the nickname “Soap-Maker of Correggio” trick you into thinking Leonarda Cianciulli, a seemingly bland 20th century Italian woman on the surface, was just a sweet neighborhood lady who valued cleanliness. Behind her seemingly ordinary facade lurked a deeply disturbed mind, driven by a belief in the occult and a deranged quest for personal protection. 

In an effort to protect her children from harm, Cianciulli often lured unsuspecting women into her home, drugged them, and subsequently killed them with an axe. That’s heinous enough – but what followed was even more gruesome. Cianciulli dismembered the bodies and boiled them piece by piece, transforming legs and heads into soap and tea cakes. Hence the no-longer-very-charming nickname. Her grotesque acts were rooted in a belief that human sacrifices would shield her loved ones from misfortune.

The revelation of Cianciulli’s crimes sent shockwaves through the Italian populace. Fortunately, she was brought to justice – but not before destroying numerous lives and traumatizing the whole country.

5. Carl Panzram

You’ve heard of Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, and Jeffery Dahmer. But Carl Panzram can hold his own in hell with any of them. Born in 1891, Panzram led a life of crime from an early age. But it wasn’t until the man was behind bars that his true nature unraveled. After escaping, Panzram, now fully committed to a career of criminality, went on a heinous spree that involved burglary, arson, sexual crimes, and murder. 

He spent several stints in jail but managed to escape on numerous occasions, including once by sawing through the window bars. At no point did Panzram ever attempt to lay low or become a productive member of society. When he was arrested once and for all, Panzram admitted to 21 murders and more than 1,000 acts of sexual abuse that we will not be going into detail on here. He was ultimately hanged in 1930. 

It was actually the criminal plots he never got around to pulling off that raise the most eyebrows, including ones to poison a whole city’s water supply and even to provoke war between Britain and the US by sinking a British ship in New York harbor and blaming it on the American government.

4. Belle Gunness

We’re all far more familiar with male serial killers. But – and this isn’t what anyone thinks of when they push for gender equality – it’s worth noting that several women have lived lives of incredible violence and cruelty as well. Enter Belle Gunness, a cunning murderer in the 19th and 20th centuries who left a trail of death and mystery leading to her farm in La Porte, Indiana. Gunness enjoyed luring wealthy bachelors to her farm, where they would mysteriously vanish, never to be seen again. It is believed that she would first dispatch her victims through poison or blunt force trauma. Then, to cover her tracks, she dismembered the bodies and disposed of the remains on her property, leaving behind few traces of her heinous acts.

Rumors swirled around Gunness and her farm, as the disappearances of multiple suitors raised suspicions among the community. But it was not until a fire engulfed her property that the true extent of her crimes came to light. Amidst the charred ruins, authorities discovered not only the remains of several unidentified individuals, condemning Gunness and establishing her as one of the most notorious female serial killers of all time.

3. Oskar Dirlewanger

He might not be responsible for as many innocent deaths as Hitler or other members of the Nazi high command he served. But Oskar Dirlewanger, leader and namesake of the notorious SS Dirlewanger Brigade, committed some of World War II’s most monstrous crimes. Operating with impunity, Dirlewanger and his unit of literal criminal psychopaths unleashed a reign of torture and terror that shocked even their comrades in the SS. That is, as we’re sure you can imagine, saying quite a bit.

Under Dirlewanger’s command, the brigade perpetrated unspeakable acts of physical and sexual violence against civilians, prisoners of war, and partisans. Their actions were fueled by a toxic combination of ideological fervor, a desire for personal gain, and, especially, a sadistic pleasure derived from inflicting pain.

Dirlewanger’s atrocities peaked during 1944’s Warsaw Uprising, where his brigade was unleashed against resistance fighters. But it was innocent civilians – specifically children – who found themselves at the nonexistent mercy of Dirlewanger’s men. We won’t go into detail here about what happened, but the information is out there if you have a strong stomach. After the war, Dirlewanger was tortured to death by vengeful Polish officers in 1945.

2. Ilse Koch

Hitler. Himmler. Goebbels. Goering. Dirlewanger. All Nazis. All men. But the Third Reich wasn’t entirely a man’s man’s world. Some women are unsung villains of Nazi Germany too. Ilse Koch, for example, infamously known as the “B***h of Buchenwald,” was one of the most sadistic concentration camp leaders in the Reich. As the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, Koch was given oversight of the women’s camp. 

Koch was known for her obsession with human skin, collecting tattoos and body parts from murdered inmates. Rumors swirled of her macabre decorations, including lampshades and book covers allegedly made from the stuff. Beyond her gruesome collection, Koch would personally select victims for beatings, lashings, and even murder, based on the tiniest provocations, or none at all. 

After the liberation of Buchenwald, Koch was tried by an American military tribunal and ultimately found guilty of charges including incitement to murder, cruelty, and the use of human remains for personal gain. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was infuriatingly released in 1949. However, she was given a life sentence in a separate trial regarding unrelated crimes, and died in prison in 1967. 

1. Idi Amin

We could fill a dozen of these lists with two-bit Third World dictators. But Idi Amin deserves a special mention, Amin ruled Uganda with an iron fist from 1971 to 1979. And if you’ve ever learned about anyone on this list, chances are it was Amin. As is often the cases with dictators, human rights abuses, mass killings, and chilling terror were hallmarks of his regime. 

During his rule, Amin targeted various ethnic and political groups with arbitrary arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Ugandans. The dichotomy featured by the flamboyant image he presented to the world and the vast suffering he was responsible for back home is both bizarre and completely in line with what we’ve come to expect from the cruel leaders of Banana Republics and former democracies in the developing world. On the one hand, it’s a tragedy his crimes aren’t more well known. On the other, we imagine he’d be furious if he knew how few people recognized his name. In the end, it’s yet another cautionary tale about the importance of standing up to tyrants and protecting the right of all people to choose their own governments. We really shouldn’t need this many, but here we are.

Weren’t Jaws and Jurassic Park fantastic? I can never venture into water or a forest without imagining some shark or dinosaur, let alone a ghoulish-eyed strange creature, creeping up and turning me into dinner in the most excruciating way. And let’s not mention giant irradiated bugs, zombies, and human-hunting aliens.

Why do we watch these creepy movies? They probably reinforce our belief in the existence of life-destroying creatures that defy the natural order. Or maybe we’re fascinated by explorations of humankind’s deepest and darkest psyche. Heck, we watch them for the thrill of it, right?

Whatever your reasons, films go to tremendous lengths to weave traumatic storylines into our hearts and minds. Here are some of the best monster movies that left their audiences petrified.

10 A Quiet Place (2018)

A Quiet Place gives literal meaning to the phrase “silence is golden” and will probably save your life. Set in an apocalyptic age, the Abbot family (father, mother, a deaf daughter, and two boys) must live and do everything noiselessly because sound attracts sightless creepy aliens endowed with super hearing capabilities.

From pouring sand along paths to keep from crunching leaves to using sign language and tip-toeing around the eerie-looking abandoned town in search of supplies, the film plays with your elemental fear by creating the feeling that even the slightest of whispers can bring your death.

We see this when one of the boys triggers a toy space shuttle (he sneaked out of a shop in town against his parent’s approval), and the noise alerts one of the alien creatures nearby that jumps out and… you’ll have to watch to see what happens next.

I won’t spoil the movie but imagine this—one year later, the family is still alive, but the mom is heavily pregnant. How are they going to hack that?

9 The Descent (2005)

The Descent revolves around six besties who go on a bonding adventure in the Appalachian Mountains to help one of them (Sarah) overcome the loss of her husband and daughter. But what should have been a fun exploration of the cave system becomes a nightmare when the narrow passage they are in collapses behind them.

The claustrophobia within the dark tunnels is tangible and nauseating. Fear and betrayal set in as the girls turn to their primal selves for survival when they realize they are trapped in the underground home of blood-thirsty humanoid creatures. As with A Quiet Place, these creatures are also blind and hunt through sound.

The film offers two endings; one where Sarah, the main character, escapes from the caves and another where audiences realize it was purely a hallucination. What happened to the other girls? You probably guessed it.

8 Tremors (1990)

Tremors opens in an isolated town with a handful of residents, including two laborers (Val and Earl) who are more friends than co-workers. They do just about everything together—cooking, playing games, living together, and, yes, bickering. They bicker a lot.

Tired of the small town, Val and Earl decide to leave, except the dead bodies of the townfolk (and sheep) are strewn everywhere, and the only road is blocked. The two men get on horseback to seek help from the next town when the monster creature erupts from underground to pursue them.

It’s an eyeless monstrous snake-like sandworm (what’s with the sightlessness) with multiple tentacled tongues that detect, attack, and kill their prey through seismic vibrations. The duo encounters a seismologist investigating unusual readings on her equipment, and they work together to escape the giant sandworms. Tough, considering the monster’s sensory ability but worth trying.

7 The Babadook (2014)

There is a monster in this story, but not like the ones under your bed or in your closet. This monster lurks in the shadows, messing with your head and troubling your psyche until it turns you into the monster.

We see Amelia, a young widowed mom, doing her best to raise Sam, her six-year-old boy. The boy exhibits such erratic behavior it stretches Amelia thin. He’s an insomniac and spends his time building crude weapons to fight and protect his mom from an imaginary monster.

But that imagination becomes a reality when Sam convinces his mom to read to him from a pop-up book titled Mister Babadook. Babadook, a pale-faced taloned-fingered humanoid, torments his victims once they become aware of his existence. In typical style, doors start opening and closing, and strange sounds can be heard.

Amelia destroys the book, and a more sinister version appears at her doorstep, with pop-ups detailing her killing their dog, Sam, and finally herself. Her mental state deteriorates as she gets frequent visions of the Babadook and experiences disturbing hallucinations in which she murders Sam. Things take a turn for the worse when she becomes the monster in the story and actually tries to kill Sam.

6 The Mist (2007)

A freak thunderstorm blows in a heavy enveloping mist into a village in Maine, except that’s not all in blows in. A species of blood-thirsty “things” also tags along. Cat-sized insects, praying mantis/dinosaur hybrids, and things with tentacles from another dimension (thanks to government agencies messing with stuff they shouldn’t) devour anyone who dares venture outside.

David and his son venture into the town in search of emergency supplies, and lucky for them, they are already in the supermarket when the mysterious attacks begin. Well, they, plus a bunch of other townspeople, too.

Some people try to put together a plan to protect themselves, while another faction toots the doomsday apocalypse narrative. The latter goes down a dark path as they believe offering sacrificial meals (people—David’s son included) will keep those monsters from attacking the store.

For David and his group, this becomes a quest to save themselves from fellow humans and the man-eating bugs prowling their town. As he and his group leave the store, it becomes apparent that surviving this ordeal may not be possible. What’s best? Death by suicide, being eaten alive?

5 Reaper, Blade II (2002)

What could scare a vampire? A cannibalistic vampire. Especially one that bears a proboscis-like tongue within its concealed three-way jaw. Unlike normal vampires (if there’s such a thing), this deadly breed (reapers) has a few weaknesses—the sun/UV light and an accelerated metabolism that requires them to feed every few hours.

The reapers will feed on humans, vampires, and themselves. Worse still, a strain in their tongues turns their “meals” into fellow reapers. It’s a pandemic that will annihilate the world unless Blade can stop them.

How did it all start? Vampire overlord Eli Damaskinos desires to create a race of strong vampires immune to light and other traditional weaknesses. But things don’t pan out as expected as the strain turns its carriers into near-unstoppable, blood-thirsty feral monsters. Blade, the human/vampire hybrid, teams up with other vampires to slay the reapers and their reapers.

There is hate, mistrust, and betrayal around (particularly from unexpected quarters), which makes decimating the enemy harder than it should be. If you haven’t watched Blade, you might need to start with that to get some history.

4 Sweetheart (2019)

Jennifer Remming and her friends were at a boat party when a storm happened, and she washed ashore on a deserted island with a pristine beach and jungle interior. She sees Brad nearby, an acquaintance of sorts, and runs to him, but he dies soon after leaving her alone again. Jenn buries him and ventures into the jungle—there isn’t much to see except the belongings of a family and their graves.

The following day, she finds Brad’s body dug out and devoured, a clear sign of something else on that island. That night, Jenn hears a plane passing over and shoots a flare gun, attracting the attention of the sea monster.

Jenn runs into the jungle to hide and stays out of sight. It’s no less scary having a humanoid thingy with an amphibian face, fins, arms with claws, and a muscular body (were those hooved feet I saw) come after you every night, and there are several close calls.

Jenn’s boyfriend Lucas and friend Mia wash ashore several days later in a life raft, but they don’t believe Jenn’s story about the monster. When Jenn tries to escape the island on the raft, Lucas and Mia stop her, knock her senseless and tie her to a tree. It’s nighttime, and the sea monster will come hunting.

3 Them! (1954)

Them! is a true Hollywood classic. Two state police officers chance upon a little girl wandering around in shock in the desert near Alamogordo. On further investigation, they find a vacation trailer she and her family were in that had been attacked and destroyed. Her family is missing, and whatever attacked them doesn’t look like your normal mountain lion or stuff. “It could be anything.”

A store owner is found dead, and the coroner’s report reveals substantial formic acid on his body. The FBI gets involved alongside two myrmecologists from the Department of Agriculture. They manage to get the little girl out of her catatonic state, and she screams, “Them!”

Apparently, atomic bomb testing in the area released radiation that mutated ants into giant foraging creatures multiplying too fast, kidnapping, and killing people. The officers must figure out how to destroy these creatures without getting killed themselves.

2 Cloverfield (2008)

Rob Hawkins is leaving Manhattan for a job in Japan. His brother and a couple of friends throw him a farewell party. Rob gets into an argument with his sort of ex-girlfriend, and she leaves. Everything is going well until the power goes out, and the partygoers hear a strange sound. Venturing to the rooftop, they witness an explosion and flying flaming debris.

Everyone exits the building to find even more chaos on the streets. The cause? An unknown terror is ripping through skyscrapers and desolating everything in its way. The National Guard attacks the monster, but smaller parasite-like creatures fall off its body to attack them and nearby pedestrians.

Beth is trapped in her apartment and leaves Rob a phone message. Love indeed abounds as Rob, in his friends’ company, makes it their mission to save her. They get caught between the creature and the Army and even get attacked by the parasites. The parasites bite Marlena, and she starts bleeding through her eyes and then explodes.

The small group is still determined to rescue their friend even as the Army plans to destroy all of Manhattan to kill the monster. Just when you think the nightmare is over, the post-credit scene tells you the horror is only beginning.

1 The Cave (2005)

Artifact plunderers interested in accessing the vaults beneath an ancient abbey blow up the floor but end up falling to the bottom of an expansive cave system. Unfortunately, the opening caves in, signaling the end of their lives. Or is it?

Years later, a team goes to excavate the site and discovers a river within the cave system that stretches for miles. As bad luck would have it, they, too, get trapped underneath and must find a way out of the caves.

Strange things start happening. The group witnesses their team members get attacked, dragged away, or dramatically killed by blood-thirsty creatures that lurk in dark crevices, on walls, and in the water. These hideous, emaciated-looking humanoid cave creatures take on a bat-like appearance with large wings, vestigial eyes, two sets of jaws, and crest-like formations on their heads.

In a fight, Jack, one of the characters, is injured by these creatures, and his body mutates. His physical features and senses become heightened, leading the biologist in the team to believe that the creatures were previously humans infected by a parasite that led them to become the things they are now. As the group finally finds a way out, Jack sacrifices himself so the rest can leave.

Back to civilization, Kathryn meets up with another member of the team. As they converse, it becomes clear that she, too, mutated.

You must have read so many monster tales and also seen many monster movies. Such movies and novels do give us goosebumps and at times we are left wondering what would happen if such a monster stood right in front of us in real life. It surely would scare us to such an extent that we would perhaps faint then and there. But there are people who claim to actually have seen monsters for real. Whether it is true or not, it sure is interesting to learn about these 10 scariest monsters that people say they have seen in real life.

TOP 10 Scariest Monsters People Think Exist:

10. Dover Demon

Dover Demon is a monster that three teenagers claimed to have seen in Massachusetts on April 21-22, 1977. According to the teenagers, these monsters had curly fingers and huge glowing eyes. Each of the three teenagers who saw this monster drew its sketches and each of them drew the same type of image. The police however, believed that this was just a joke played by some other teenagers on the witnesses.

See also; 10 Most Terrifying Creatures Ever Found.

9. Converse Werewolf

The converse werewolf is a part of the North American legend. As per this legend, there was a rancher who had sent his teenage son to hunt a deer in the woods. However, the son did not come back and so the father went to the forest along with a rescue team. When the father heard the scream of his teenage son in the forest and ran to that direction he saw his child was being eaten by a huge wolf-like creature that did not die even after being shot by a rifle and just ran away.

See also; Top 10 Reportedly Haunted Places in Alabama.

8. Santu Sakai

This is a Malaysian legend about a creature that kept on attacking villages and ate the innocent people living there. Santu Sakais are beloved to be half human and half animal. Not too many people believed in the existence of Santu Sakai, however, a man named Henri Van Heerden claims to have seen two of these monsters while hunting and then he ran off in his car. Since these monsters are said to eat human they are one of the scariest to exists, if at all they do.

7. Champ

This monster is said to be living in the Lake Champlain. There is no physical evidence that could prove the existence of the Champ and the scientists believe this is just a trick to attract more tourist into this area. However, until now around 300 people have claimed to have had encounters with this scary monster. The first person ever to see this creature was Samuel de Champlain who saw it in the year 1609.

See also; 10 Most Interesting Kaiju Monsters of All Time.

6. Skunk Ape

This ape-like creature is a part of the legends of many states in the US, including Florida, North Carolina, and Arkansas. The monsters got their name from the smell that people say came from it. It was in the 1960s and 1970s that some people saw this ape. However, scientists do not believe in its existence, and think what people saw back then was just a bear.

5. Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a huge bird-like creature that people saw from 1890 until 2007. These creatures are believed to be a part of North American folklore and remind of prehistoric pterodactyls. In the 20th and 21st centuries, many people from Texas, Missouri, Alaska, and Illinois supposedly saw these giant birds.

4. Yeti

Yeti is popularly known as Abominable Snowman and is said to be residing in the Himalayan Mountains. It is a part of the mythology of the indigenous population of Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal. The British, in 1921, held an expedition in Mount Everest and it is then that they saw the footprints of some creature that they thought must be a big wolf, but once they looked at them more carefully it looked like footprints of some huge human. The members of this expedition named the creature Abominable Snowman.

See also; Top 10 Mysterious Creatures Spotted on Camera.

3. Chupacabra

This strange creature is a part of the North American folklore and is first believed to have been seen in Puerto Rico. Chupacabra supposedly attacks livestock, particularly goats, and suck their blood. This creature is believed to look like a small bear but has many spikes on their back.

See also; 10 Most Popular Mythical Creatures Known To Mankind.

2. Loch Ness Monster

“Nessie” is the monster that apparently inhabits Loch Ness, a lake in Scotland, since 1933. There are many stories from different people who claim to have seen this monster, however, there are not many photographs or other types of recorded material. The monster, as people say, is a big dinosaur, which is alive to date. In addition, 2017 was the ‘record year’ for sightings of these Scariest Monsters “Loch Ness monster” according to BBC.

Bigfoot is a part of the legend from North American folklore. It is said to be living in forests and is an ape-like creature. This monster, as described by the people who saw it, is huge and hairy, but scientists do not believe in its existence. They say these are just rumors or a hoax because no valid evidence of its existence has ever been gained. According to the scientists, what people have seen most likely were bears.

It is true that the existence of these scariest monsters cannot be guaranteed. However, there are many people who claim to have seen them, and when they did, it surely must have scared the wits out of them. Of course, this would have been your condition too had you encountered any such monsters, wouldn’t it?

The world is filled with lots of people finding it hard to be successful. The question borders on why it is increasingly becoming difficult to succeed or achieve goals. Well, I think the world is changing too. I am sure you agree that the world is changing but not in the sense you are thinking about. The world is changing because we are changing. So, literally, we are becoming the change we have created. Unfortunately, it isn’t a good or positive change we are talking about here.

In recent times, the world has seen people exhibit their inner monsters more prominently than they are expressing positivity. This is both an individual problem and a serious issue for us all to deal with. If this is not dealt with, the younger generation will soon see it as the normal way of living. So, we need to arise and chole these inner monsters to death before they break our sanity and destroy humanity. To this end, we shall be looking at 10 inner monsters limiting people.

The inner monsters: Ten Inner Demons You Need to Battle.

Doubt

One of the most powerful self-limiting inner monsters is doubt. It is the feeling that makes you uncertain about yourself. It is a feeling of lack of conviction in one’s ability and possibility for success. This has haunted many great dreams and shattered many destinies. It is one major reason people never take steps to do anything worthwhile with their lives. The doubt either makes them do little or avoid doing anything at all. Get rid of your doubt, or you won’t do anything worthwhile with your life.

Fear

This is another inner monster we have created by ourselves for ourselves limiting us from advancing in life. It is a self-imposed thought that suggests things will be bad or that they won’t turn out well. It is the state of being afraid that the step you are about to take will end in catastrophe. Because of this feeling, many great projects never began.

They were simply shut out at the ideation stage because fear suggested that they will end in pain. It is time to face your fear, facing it makes you overcome it.

Delay or Hesitation

Here is another inner monster that often prevents people from achieving anything in life, it is called delay. It is a way people respond to impulses to get things done either by being slow about it or making it late. Many people hesitated about what they should have done when they were young until they had no more strength to go for it.

Sometimes in life are unique and will only go for some adventure or goals, if you keep delaying, you may never be able to do it anymore. You need to kill this inner monster by taking action.

Low Self Esteem

When people do not know who they truly are and what they can do, they are said to suffer from self-low esteem. People in this category are just ignorant of the possibilities of what can come out of them. So, they don’t ever see themselves doing anything worthwhile. To them, great things are meant for a certain set of people which they are not among.

Several millions of people across the globe have never attempted anything worthwhile because of low self-esteem. If you are one of them, it is time to arise.

Unforgiveness

As long as we are humans, we will always have someone that will offend us and we will offend people as well. When people offend you, you must learn to let go because it is the best thing to do to give room for your creativity. When you hold people in the prison of your heart for the wrongs they once did to you, you are also in that prison with them.

With this, you create a spiritual force around you that will keep you off great things. You will suddenly realize your mind is not capable of processing great things. Unforgiveness shut you out whereas the person you are holding has moved on with their life. You will soon realize you are the only one left behind.

Hatred

This is an intense dislike for someone, people, or place. Hatred often arises because of what someone or a group of people may have done for you in the past. It is taking unforgiveness to the extreme. Many do not know that hatred is a poison that kills your creativity and drags you back on the path of fulfillment.

Hatred will make you lose people that ought to be your leverage. It will also keep you in the thought of whatever they have done while you ought to be thinking about new ideas. Break off from the prison of hatred. Whoever hurt you, just forgive, make friends with them, and move on.

Excuses

You and I know what this is all about. Several people will always give reasons why they can’t do something. They will never see reasons why they should. Excuses are other ways the unserious and lazy people reiterate that they don’t want to do something or achieve a goal. It is the path most traveled by many, but it is the path of doom. You need to arise today and realize that greatness never comes by making excuses.

It comes only by defiling the excuses to do what needs to be done appropriately. You need to make a decision to stop giving excuses. If you do this, you will automatically find ways to get things done irrespective of whether it is convenient or not.

Distraction

Distractions are attention stealers. They steal your attention and creativity of what matters per time. The truth about distraction is that it needs you to take you off the goal, and if it succeeds in taking you away, it means you gave yourself to it. Whatever that takes your attention is already in you, this is why it is an inner monster. Something that does not interest you will not take your attention. If you resort that nothing will take your attention, nothing will.

So, fix your distractions, they are the seeds you planted in yourself growing to block your goals. If you are truly focused on your goals, you should not be distracted because focus blinds you to every other thing around. Stay focused and you will get read of this inner monster.

Complacency

This is a level at which one is no longer motivated, moved, or willing to press further in the pursuit of great things. They just feel they have done enough. This is a dangerous point to be at even if you have achieved some goals before. It means no more aspirations or goals to achieve anything. If this is the point you are at now, it is an inner monster you must kill at all cost.

I advise you to give yourself some break and visit a new environment to catch new breath and ideas. You can not be complacent and make any significant use of your life. Arise from that and go for gold. If you are getting close to complacency or you have people with that already and they are almost dragging you into it, then stand up for your future.

Imposter Syndrome

This is best defined as a feeling that you are a fraud when you are about to launch into new areas of your life to explore greatness there. You begin to feel like you are not part of the kind of people making waves there or that you don’t have the qualities to be an authority in that niche. While this is mostly attributed to those who have achieved a lot in certain niches trying to venture into other industries, unfortunately, it is affecting people who haven’t done much too. This has a way it cripples your ideas and leaves you empty.

You must realize that as long as an idea flows through you, you have got capacity to deliver it. God will not give you an idea you don’t have the capacity to deliver. Sometimes, it may be the next thing God wants to make you but rest assured that the capacity has been installed in you first. Just bring it out in you!

Now is the time for you to ask yourself a sincere question and provide a truthful answer to it. Which of these 10 inner monsters is or are yours? I am sure you will have at least one of these 10 inner monsters, and it is most likely the reason you have not been achieving your goals. Now that you know the enemy of your achievement, would it not make sense to nail it to the cross so that you can achieve the goals and dreams of your heart?

List out all the inner monsters you have and sincerely seek help from professionals to help you break loose from them. Achieving anything worthwhile will always require you to be intentional. So, stop the inner monsters before they stop you!