GRIM REAPER

Name:  Grim Reaper, Angel of Death

Features:  Skull face wearing a flowing and hooded black cloak

Source:  16th Century European legend

Habitat:  Shows up anywhere when someone is about to die

This dark and ominous mythical creature is in command of a deadly harvest – to collect souls.  His appearance only means one thing - that a soul will be taken to the afterlife.

He is described as having the face of a human skull and wearing a long flowing black robe with a hood.  The dark cloak he flows about in resembles the robes the priests or monks used to wear when performing the last rites over the dying.

Sometimes he is depicted as having large wings that are as dark as his cloak.

He also carries a scythe and sometimes an hourglass.  The scythe is to sever the spirit from a human body and the hour glass is for him to indicate to the intended that time is wasting.

Sometimes he is accompanied by a raven or a black crow.  Both of these birds are a universal symbol for the coming of death.

The Reaper can not be cheated or tricked.  When he appears he will take your soul.  It is said that anyone who fights the inevitable will destine their soul to endless torture in the afterlife.  When the grim appears, it is best to accept one’s fate, even just to go willingly and taking him by the hand.

This mythical creature doesn’t kill anyone, he simply shows up when one’s time has come.  He is the guide for you to follow into the afterlife.

In Greek Mythology, he brings the souls to Charon, the one that mans the boat that takes souls across the river Styx.  This river separates the land of the living from the land of the dead.

Just like the Banshee that appears and wails in warning, this dark and gloomy mythical being is also an omen of death.

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