I’m obviously a sick, sick person, because I’m getting a kick out of this webpage. It’s the Chamber of Horrors of Travel Medicine, and while not specifically about villains, I think it ties in well. I stumbled onto it because of the horrific image of a half-eaten human carcass ravaged by a mountain lion – which I’ve been researching for a project. The rest of the images on the page were equally grotesque and I ended up reading through. It addresses a lot of conventions we see in our favorite film and literature, such as quicksand, death by piranha, disease, and cannibalism.

As it turns out, some of these non-human villainous threats aren’t all that implausible.

Warning: Some of the subject matter is quite graphic and not for the faint of heart.

Myths and facts from The Chamber of Horrors of Travel Medicine