Exploring Eerie Legends and Mysterious Folklore with Amazing Artwork

 Eerie Legends: An Illustrated Exploration of Creepy Creatures, the Paranormal, and Folklore from Around the World 

by Ricardo Diseño and Steven Mockus  

Eerie Legends book cover by Chronicle Books

Ricardo Diseño's artwork

The myth of La Llorona

El Chupacabra

Joroguma, Japanese Spider Woman

Huge thanks to Chronicle Books and Netgalley for making this ARC available to read. I was so excited to find Eerie Legends: AnIllustrated Exploration of Creepy Creatures, the Paranormal, and Folklore fromAround the World by Ricardo Diseño and Steve Mockus available for download. This book is like an alphabetized reference book of legendary creatures, cryptids, and other strange and unexplained phenomena from around the world, spanning different cultures and eras throughout history. Each entry features amazing artwork from Diseño, often depicting the creature or legend as well as its impact on people. This was my favorite part of the book. The drawings were in color and really creepy. Diseño featured not only elements of these legends, but also seemed to put his own spin on them, rendering them in bright colors (purple, turquoise, orange, red, yellow) against the dark, black background. Although I received a digital copy to review, I would consider purchasing a physical copy to examine the pictures in more detail. I also read that the book’s cover glows in the dark, which seems like another great feature. In addition to these drawings, each entry includes a brief informational sketch of the legend, often providing some history, context, or other explanatory information, along with a fictionalized story, sometimes told from the point of view of a victim or the creature. The entries were good, but if you’ve read other books about these legends or cryptids, it doesn’t really reveal anything new or ground-breaking. I liked their brevity, which made it easy to read and explore. Although adding the narrative/fictionalized accounts was a clever addition, I didn’t think these were consistently strong or interesting. Some were clever, but I found myself losing interest in these brief stories as the book went on. It seemed like either they were too short to develop any meaningful kind of story, or it was just more repetitive of the informational text. I applaud the efforts to keep these stories to a page, but I think focusing the book on the images and stories behind the legends is more effective.

One thing that differentiated this book from some other books about creatures, cryptids, and urban legends was its recency. While there are some classics like the Loch Ness Monster, Florida’s Skunk Ape, and the Jersey Devil, the book also includes other, more recent phenomena like Loab, an AI generated character that appears to haunt the internet, and Slenderman, a creepy pasta character that influenced an attempted murder. While somewhat familiar with Slenderman, the information provided some additional context and details. I wasn’t as familiar with Loab, but her story helped to show how technology is influencing the facilitation of these legends and tales. I also loved how the book spanned different eras and cultures, focusing on some legends from Japanese (Joroguma) and Mexican/Latin America (Chupacabra, La Llorona). This is a great book to have as a reference and a showpiece highlighted by Diseño inventive images of these creatures. I also found that Diseño created a set of horror movie tarot cards, so I’m interested to see what other work he has available.