Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. You’re a banker, living in a cottage in Dublin. It’s autumn and the wind is brisk but pleasant, so you decide to take a nighttime stroll. You latch your gate behind you, and turn to find a stranger dressed in a fashionable suit. He begins to tell you your own family secrets: sins, adultery, sorrows, destitution. Then he…
