Editorial attribution
Daniel Storm covers demons, monsters and horror lore for Morbid Index — grimoire and folklore figures, cryptids and the fictional universes built around them — with a focus on naming primary sources and keeping documented tradition separate from modern invention.
This is an editorial byline. Read our attribution policy and sourcing standards.
150 entries
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
The word 'Bigfoot' traces to a 1958 California logging site and, per the finder's own family, carved wooden feet. Here's the documented history behind America's most famous cryptid.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Brian Bethel's 1996 Abilene encounter became the template for the Black-Eyed Children legend. Here's what the earliest record says and what later retellings added.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
William Peter Blatty based The Exorcist on a real 1949 case involving a boy known for decades only as Roland Doe. Here's what's documented, and what the film invented.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
The Jersey Devil legend traces to a real colonial-era Quaker printer, not a cursed 13th child. Here's the documented history behind New Jersey's most famous cryptid.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Who invented the Ouija board, how it got its name, and why the planchette really moves. The documented history behind America's best-selling talking board.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Poltergeist means noisy ghost in German. Here's the real history of the term, why teenagers keep showing up in these cases, and what investigators actually found.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
1952 produced more UFO reports than any other year of Project Blue Book, including radar and visual sightings over Washington, D.C. Here's the documented history.
Sep 2, 2026
Lore & Explained · Folklore
The real story behind the Backrooms: a 2002 renovation photo from a Wisconsin hobby store, a 2019 anonymous 4chan post, and how the internet built a shared mythology around both.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Flatwoods Monster case reached the Air Force's UFO program within months of its creation. Here's what the surviving National Archives record actually shows.
Sep 2, 2026
Lore & Explained · Folklore
Slender Man was invented in a 2009 Something Awful Photoshop contest by Eric Knudsen. Here's the documented history of how a deliberate creation became a shared internet legend.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
William Weber said the Lutz family invented their haunting story. The Lutzes passed a polygraph. Here's what the actual evidence supports, and what it doesn't.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The DeFeo murders at 112 Ocean Avenue are documented fact. The Lutz family's haunting claims are a separate, disputed story. Here's what the record actually supports.
Aug 30, 2026
Lore & Explained · Demons & Occult
Who is Asmodeus? Follow the figure from Iranian Aeshma and the Book of Tobit through Ashmedai, Christian demonology, the Goetic Asmoday, and modern fiction.
Aug 25, 2026
Lore & Explained · Folklore
Who Baba Yaga is in East Slavic folklore, from her chicken-legged hut and flying mortar to Vasilisa, disputed origins, scholarly interpretations and the John Wick misconception.
Aug 25, 2026
Lore & Explained · Folklore
What is a banshee? Explore the Irish bean sí, death omens, keening, family traditions, Lady Fanshawe, the comb motif and modern horror myths.
Aug 25, 2026
Lore & Explained · Demons & Occult
Is Beelzebub a real demon? 2 Kings names Baal-Zebub of Ekron. The Gospels say Beelzebul. Binsfeld, the Dictionnaire Infernal and Lord of the Flies came later.
Aug 25, 2026
Lore & Explained · Demons & Occult
Is King Paimon real? The Lesser Key of Solomon calls him a crowned demon king of the West. Hereditary borrows the name. Here is what the grimoires actually say.
Aug 25, 2026
Lore & Explained · Folklore
Who is La Llorona? Trace the Weeping Woman from Nahua death omens and nineteenth-century Mexican literature to regional folklore, Xochimilco and modern horror.
Aug 25, 2026