I’ve always had a soft spot for all things mythological, so imagine my delight when I came across an article in the October 2025 issue of National Geographic History all about the fantastic beasts of the Middle Ages. Medieval bestiaries are such a wonderful blend of imagination, symbolism, and questionable zoology – and this article featured excerpts from manuscripts as old as the ninth century, complete with intricate illustrations and Latin descriptions of creatures both real and wildly not.
The part of me that still secretly longs to be Indiana Jones may have done a little internal swoon.
If you want to read the full article, you can find it on National Geographic’s site (they’ll ask for your email, but you can always opt out later). It’s a fascinating peek into how people once understood the natural – and supernatural – world.
What really caught my attention, though, was how many of these creatures appear in my own Mythical Menagerie series. If you’ve read Myth Hunter (Book 1), you’ll instantly recognise the basilisk (though mine is far more lizard-like and far less… chicken-y) and the dragons. Readers who’ve made it deeper into the series will spot a few other familiar faces as well – and some creatures mentioned in the article only show up in the later books I’m working on now.
The article makes a point I absolutely adore:
“From a modern perspective, it is easy to distinguish fact from fable. But for medieval readers, such distinctions may not have mattered. … Real or imagined, these creatures represented God’s creative power and were part of a sacred natural order designed to teach spiritual truths.”
There’s something magical about that idea. For medieval readers, unicorns weren’t just decorations in a manuscript – they were part of the world. A caladrius perched in your rafters was just as plausible as a chicken. The boundary between reality and myth was wonderfully thin.
That sense of wonder is exactly what I hope to bring to life through the Mythical Menagerie series. The world can feel painfully ordinary sometimes, and stories full of magic, creatures, and mystery remind us that imagination still has a place in it.
So now I’m curious: Which mythical creature would you love to see in real life – and why?
(Bonus points if it’s one that wanders through my books!)
