Gremlin

Gremlin

Naming
Binomen	N/A
Morphology
Body type	Humanoid
Intelligence
Sentience	Sentient
Sapience	Sapient
Aggressivity	Varies
Ecology
Habitat	Airplanes
Status	DD
Behind the Scenes
Universe	Real

Gremlins are destructive humanoid creatures which traditionally attack and damage airplanes and other forms of machinery.

History[]

Reports about Gremlins originated in the early 20th century and it seems the term was first coined by British RAF pilots in the 1920s. They peaked in popularity during World War II, where they were blamed for any inexplicable damage to aircraft. Destructive as they were, the Gremlins took no sides in the war, targeting enemy airplanes just as often as they did the allies.

In Popular Culture[]

Outside the RAF, the concept of Gremlins was first popularized by Roald Dahl, who featured them in his first children's novel The Gremlins. In this book, the word "Gremlin" is used to refer to the adult males of the species, with the females being called "Fifinellas" and the infants "Widgets".

The creature was later used in a more serious context in Richard Matheson's short story "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", featuring a flight passenger who's terrorized by the vision of a Gremlin damaging the plane's wing and engines, but which goes away whenever the man tries to get someone else to look at it. The story was most notably adapted (by Matheson himself) into an episode of Rod Serling's anthology series The Twilight Zone directed by Richard Donner and starring William Shatner as the lead role.

In the 1984 horror/dark comedy film Gremlins, the title creatures are no longer closely associated with aircraft, and will attack pretty much anything and anyone, spreading havoc, death and chaos whenever they go. These Gremlins are also depicted as representing the later life stage of the Mogwais, which are transformed into Gremlins when allowed to consume food after midnight. This is an invention of the film and has no roots in folklore, as Mogwai and Gremlins originate from highly distinct legends (the former being evil spirits from Cantonese folklore).