RESEARCH BASE

Search 3,721 documents across 34 fields — every claim tier-rated by evidence

3,721 Documents 34 Sections 43,625 Citations 34,852 Keywords Indexed 4 Evidence Tiers

3,633 are the core, quality-scored corpus (34 lettered sections — see How We Work); the remaining 88 are cross-corpus synthesis documents (68 InterDocs, 12 Connections, 8 Theories) also indexed here.

2,633 results for "Zheng He" — page 93 of 132

B_5_11 Verified Beings & Entities

B_5_11 — Plant Spirits and Green Man: Vegetation Entities Worldwide

Plant spirits and vegetation entities — supernatural beings inhabiting, embodying, or governing plant life — represent one of the oldest layers of religious thought, reflecting humanity's absolute dependence on the veget

Green Man plant spirit vegetation deity foliate head tree spirit dryad
B_4_12 Verified Beings & Entities

B_4_12 — Tengu, Oni, and Japanese Supernatural Taxonomy

Japanese tradition preserves one of the world's most elaborate and systematized supernatural taxonomies — a vast ecosystem of non-human beings encompassing kami (gods/spirits), yōkai (strange beings), yūrei (ghosts), oni

tengu oni yokai yūrei kami Japanese supernatural
B_4_11 Verified Beings & Entities

B_4_11 — Apsaras and Gandharvas: Hindu-Buddhist Celestial Beings

Apsaras (apsarā, "moving in water" or "moving between waters of the clouds") and Gandharvas (gandharva) are complementary classes of celestial beings in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology — the divine dancers/nymphs and divine

Apsaras Gandharvas celestial nymphs celestial musicians Hindu mythology Buddhist cosmology
B_4_05 Verified Beings & Entities

B_4_05 — Ancestor Spirits and Ancestral Worship Traditions

Ancestor veneration is arguably the most universal religious practice in human history, attested in every inhabited continent from the Neolithic onward. It rests on a shared premise: the dead do not disappear but persist

ancestor worship ancestor spirits veneration Obon Egungun Vodou
B_4_14 Verified Beings & Entities

B_4_14 — Valkyries and Warrior Spirit Women: Norse, Celtic, Slavic

Warrior spirit women — supernatural female figures who choose, accompany, or determine the fate of warriors in battle — constitute a distinctive category of being that crosses the boundaries between deity, spirit, and pe

Valkyrie warrior spirit woman chooser of the slain Brynhild shieldmaiden Morrígan
B_4_19 Credible Beings & Entities

B_4_19 — Smithing & Craft Deities: Divine Artisans Across Cultures

Smithing and craft deities represent one of the most consistent divine archetypes across cultures, reflecting the deep association between metallurgical skill and supernatural power in premodern societies. From Hephaestu

smithing-deity hephaestus ptah goibniu vulcan ogun
B_4_02 Beings & Entities

B_4_02 — Mandaeism: Living Gnostic Religion

Mandaeism is one of the oldest continuously practiced Gnostic religions in the world, with an estimated 60,000-100,000 adherents primarily concentrated in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran, with significant diaspora co

Mandaeism Mandaeans Ginza Rabba John the Baptist Gnostic Ptahil
B_4_07 Credible Beings & Entities

B_4_07 — Nature Spirits, Elementals, and Land Wights

Across every inhabited continent, human cultures have independently developed traditions of intelligent, non-human entities inhabiting natural features — trees, rivers, mountains, stones, winds, and fires. This document

nature spirits elementals Paracelsus gnomes sylphs undines
B_2_24 Credible Beings & Entities

B_2_24 — Wild Man: Feral Human Mythology and Bigfoot Traditions

The Wild Man — a large, hairy, human-like being living in the wilderness beyond civilization's edge — appears in mythologies, folklore, and claimed-sighting reports across every inhabited continent. The earliest fully de

wild man Enkidu Sasquatch Bigfoot yeti yeren
B_2_07 Credible Beings & Entities

B_2_07 — Fairy, Fae, and 'Hidden People' Traditions

Across virtually every human culture, traditions exist of "hidden peoples" — beings who inhabit a parallel realm adjacent to but normally invisible within the human world. In Ireland, they are the Aos Sí (Tuatha Dé Danan

fairy fae faerie sidhe aos sí tuatha dé danann
B_2_23 Verified Beings & Entities

B_2_23 — Shapeshifter: Transformation Mythology Across Cultures

The shapeshifter — a being that can alter its physical form, often between human and animal — is arguably the single most universal mythological motif, appearing in every documented human culture with sufficient mytholog

shapeshifter transformation metamorphosis skinwalker selkie kitsune
B_2_19 Credible Beings & Entities

B_2_19 — Smithing and Craft Deities: Cross-Cultural Analysis

Smithing and craft deities occupy a distinctive mythological position across cultures: they are simultaneously among the most revered and most marginalized divine figures. Hephaestus (Greek), Vulcan (Roman), Ptah (Egypti

smithing-deity hephaestus ptah goibniu vulcan ogun
B_2_02 Beings & Entities

B_2_02 — Anunnaki Connection

The Anunnaki are a group of deities in ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythology. Their name means "Princely Offspring" or "Those of Royal Blood." In original texts they are anthropomorphic gods who

Anunnaki Igigi Enlil Enki Anu Nibiru
B_2_21 Verified Beings & Entities

B_2_21 — Unicorn: Horse-Horn Mythology and Cultural Persistence

The unicorn — a single-horned equine creature of extraordinary beauty and power — is one of the most enduring mythological figures in world culture, with a documented textual tradition spanning at least 2,400 years and p

unicorn monoceros re'em qilin kirin Ctesias
B_2_11 Verified Beings & Entities

B_2_11 — Wild Man, Sasquatch, and Hairy Hominid Traditions

The figure of the "wild man" — a large, hairy, human-like being dwelling in wilderness — constitutes one of the most persistent and geographically widespread archetypes in human tradition. From Enkidu in the Epic of Gilg

wild man Sasquatch Bigfoot yeti Enkidu Grendel
B_2_09 Verified Beings & Entities

B_2_09 — Shadow People, Sleep Paralysis Entities, and Dark Figures

Shadow people, dark figures, and night-visiting entities represent one of the most consistently reported anomalous experiences across human cultures. The phenomenon centers on sleep paralysis — a state where the body rem

shadow people sleep paralysis Hatman Old Hag night terrors mare
B_2_01 Beings & Entities

B_2_01 — Reptilian Beings Overview

Reptilian/serpent beings constitute the single most widespread non-human archetype across human civilizations. Every major culture on Earth independently developed traditions of intelligent serpentine or reptilian entiti

reptilian serpent beings Nagas dragons serpent gods shapeshifting
B_1_01 Credible Beings & Entities

B_1_01 — Angels, Celestial Hierarchies, and Messenger Beings

Angels (from Greek angelos = "messenger," translating Hebrew mal'akh) appear in virtually every religious tradition — intermediary beings between the divine and human realms who carry messages, enforce divine will, guard

angels celestial hierarchy Pseudo-Dionysius nine orders seraphim cherubim
B_1_02 Verified Beings & Entities

B_1_02 — Thoth — Egyptian God of Writing, Wisdom, and Cosmic Order

Thoth (Egyptian: Ḏḥwty, conventionally vocalized as Djehuty) is the Egyptian deity of writing, wisdom, measurement, the moon, magic, and cosmic order — the divine scribe who records the judgment of the dead, invents hier

Thoth Djehuty Hermes Trismegistus ibis baboon Egyptian wisdom deity
B_1_04 Verified Beings & Entities

B_1_04 — Ningishzida — Serpent Deity, Underworld Guardian, and Knowledge Bearer

Ningishzida (Sumerian: dNin-ĝiš-zid-da, "Lord of the Good Tree" or "Lord of the Faithful Tree") is a Mesopotamian deity associated with serpents, the underworld, vegetation, and secret knowledge. He appears in Sumerian t

Ningishzida Gizzida serpent deity underworld guardian Sumerian Mesopotamian