Country file · Europe

Cryptids of Greece

What cryptids are in Greece? The best-known is Kallikantzaros.

Greek folklore has no shortage of strange creatures, and the kallikantzaroi are among the most widespread. These goblins are said to live underground and saw at the World Tree all year, then come up for the Twelve Days of Christmas to cause trouble in people’s homes. They are driven back by the blessing of the waters at Epiphany.

  • 1 cryptid
  • 1 recorded sighting

Cryptids reported in Greece

Humanoid · Recorded 1904 (Politis)

Kallikantzaros

Greece (also the Balkans and Cyprus) Greece’s Christmas goblins, said to emerge from underground in the Twelve Days to wreck homes until Epiphany holy water sends them back to the World Tree. Folklore

The legends of Greece

Customs such as keeping the hearth lit, hanging a pig’s jaw, leaving ashes or putting out a sieve were protective, and each region has its own names for the goblins. They were collected by the folklorist Nikolaos Politis in 1904.

Hotspots

  • Arcadia and the Peloponnese

    Regions with detailed kallikantzaroi traditions recorded by folklorists.

  • Chios

    An island where tales say the goblins pose riddles and a wrong answer is fatal.

Sightings timeline

  1. 1904
    Politis’s collection Kallikantzaros

    Nikolaos Politis published regional accounts of the kallikantzaroi, an important written record of the tradition.

Nearby

Bulgaria1 cryptidRomania2 cryptidsHungary1 cryptidItaly2 cryptidsSlovakia1 cryptidAustria4 cryptids