Judging by the kinds of creatures fans have seen since Pokémon came on the scene 25 years ago, the designers of Pokémon search far and wide for inspiration. Sometimes the origins of how a particular Pokémon came into being are surprising, and not a little strange.
With so many Pokémon to come up with for each new generation, the designers can't just rely on their own imaginations. Oftentimes, they have to delve deep into the past to find myths and legends, often ones that are creepy and disturbing, and give them a new lease of life in the form of Pokémon.
10 Duskull, Dusclops, and Dusknoir Are Based On Spooky Lanterns
Due to their round shape and recessed eyes that resemble the flames inside a paper lantern, Dusknoir and its two evolutionary predecessors are most likely based on a Japanese yokai called the chochin-obake, which is a haunted paper lantern with eyes and a mouth.
This mythical being most likely came about as a result of the way a paper lantern looks when it breaks, looking as if it has a gaping mouth. Dusclops also has similarities to mummies and the hitotsume-kozo, the Japanese version of the cyclops, while Duskull shares a resemblance to hitodama, said to be wandering souls of the dead.
9 Jynx Is Based On A Lonely Flesh-eating Mountain Woman
Jynx's appearance is based on a Japanese fashion subculture known as Yamanba, which involves girls dying their hair blonde and using copious amounts of fake tan, leaving the area around the eyes white. The term Yamanba comes from the Japanese yokai, Yama-uba, which have been portrayed as flesh-eating monsters that live alone in the mountains and try to lure people to their cabins. Mixing the flamboyance of Yamanba with the myth of Yama-uba makes for one quirky, creepy Pokémon.
8 Drowzee and Hypno Are Based On Greedy Nightmare Eaters
Baku are creatures in Japanese mythology that have an elephant's head, tusks, and trunk, with horns and a tiger's tail. If a child has a nightmare, they can call out for baku to come and eat their dreams. They'd better be careful, though, because if a baku isn't full after eating a child's nightmare, they'll also eat the child's hopes and desires.
Drowzee and Hypno are cute versions of the baku, the former more so thanks to its elephant's trunk. Hypno received the addition of a silver ring on a piece of string that it uses for hypnosis. It also got extra fingers so that it has the same amount as humans, which just adds to its creepiness.
7 Bronzor And Bronzong Have Surprisingly Creepy & Bizarre Origins
Bronzor's plain design makes it a rather forgettable Pokémon. Looking at it, you wouldn't think it had one of the strangest, most macabre origins of all the Pokémon. The story goes that the priests of Mugenyama Temple wanted to make a bell (Bronzor evolves into the bell-like Bronzong), so they asked the women of their parish to donate their old bronze mirrors for bell metal.
One particular woman regretted giving away her mirror, feeling as if she'd given away a part of her life as it contained memories of her mother and grandmother. When the mirrors were melted down, the bell-founders discovered this mirror, which wouldn't melt because the woman who'd donated it did not do so with all her heart. Angry and ashamed, the woman drowned herself, promising to give great wealth from the afterlife to whoever rang the bell containing her mirror once it had been made.
6 Lunala Is Based On A Ghost Bat, A Death Bat, And A Bat With Eight Eyes
Lunala is based on 3 different bats, one being Itzpapalotl. In Aztec religion, it was a skeletal warrior sometimes depicted with bat wings with blades on them, similar to the ones Lunala has, who threatened to devour people during solar eclipses.
Camazotz, whose name translates to "death bat," is a Mayan bat god who beheaded someone and took the severed head to a ballcourt so that the gods could use it in a game. Lunala may also be based on Pe'a-Pe'a-makawulu, an eight-eyed bat in Hawaiin mythology, which would go some way to explaining Lunala's third eye when in its Full Moon phase.
5 Misdreavus Is Based On A Screaming Disembodied Head
In Japanese mythology, nukekubi are floating heads that shriek and wail and drink people's blood. Perhaps the most frightening thing about nukekubi is that anyone (although usually a woman who has been publically shamed) can become one.
If someone catches the nukekubi curse, their head will detach itself from its body in the middle of the night and go in search of blood. Misdreavus also bears a resemblance to teru teru bozu, creepy-looking dolls made of cloth or paper that Japanese farmers hang outside their windows and are said to bring favorable weather.
4 Lotad And Lombre Are Based On The Child-snatching Kappa
Kappa are demons in Japanese folklore that are a cross between humans and turtles. On their heads, they have what is called a "dish", which, in Lotad and Lombre's case, has been made into a lotus leaf. Kappa wait near rivers to snatch away children who come to play in them. What they are supposedly after is a mythical organ inside the human body, called the shirikodama, said to contain the soul. It might sound as ridiculous as some Pokémon theories, but Kappa can be warded off by farting when they come near.
3 Sneasel & Weavile Are Based On Conniving, Wind-surfing Weasels
Sneasel is based on the kamaitachi, a Japanese yokai made up of 3 very organized weasels that have a system in place for when they attack their victims. Like Sneasel and Weavile, kamaitachi have hands like sickles with which they can cut people's feet.
They are said to be 3 evil gods, the first knocking a person down, the second cutting them, and the third applying medicine so that the person wouldn't feel any pain and there wouldn't be any bleeding. So fast that you can't see them, they were borne out of people slipping on ice and the cuts and cracks people get on their skin in cold weather.
2 Lickitung & Lickilicky Are Based On A Long-tongued Filth Licker With Acidic Saliva
Lickitung and Lickilicky's cute design belies their creepy origins. The Licking Pokémon are partially based on the akaname, or "filth licker". Perhaps invented to incentivize children to keep the bathroom clean, akaname are said to have acidic saliva that can clean dirt and filth off of bathrooms. Both have a single claw on their hands and feet and have a habit of licking dirty things clean, as do the akaname. Lickilicky's tongue is said to be just as dextrous as a human hand, which makes it all the more creepy.
1 Mawile Is Based On A Woman With A Second Mouth In The Back Of Her Head
The inspiration for Mawile comes from a Japanese yokai called futakuchi-onna. In the prototypical story of the futakuchi-onna, or "two-mouthed woman," a poor farmer couldn't bear the expense of food, so when he met a woman who didn't eat anything, he immediately married her. As time went by, the farmer began to notice that his stores of food were depleting.
Suspicious of his wife, he pretended to go out to work one day but stayed behind to spy on her, and he witnessed her hair parting and her skull splitting apart to reveal a second mouth in the back of her head. Her hair became serpent-like and grabbed food for the second mouth to eat. Mawile's grotesque second mouth is greatly exaggerated and creates a creepy contrast with its otherwise cute appearance.
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