The Weirdest, Most Disturbing Creatures In The 'Wizard Of Oz' Series
List Rules Vote up the creepiest creatures that live in the Land of Oz.
L. Frank Baum's Oz books have delighted multiple generations of children; the first one was published in 1900, and a beloved film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz has enchanted audiences since 1939. The books scared quite a few people, though. In fact, Oz is a haunting place, full of frightening scenes. The scariest things in the Wizard of Oz series still cause nightmares - the Wicked Witch of the West is just the tip of the iceberg.
The denizens of Oz are famously immortal, but the books are chock full of twisted fates. It's enough to make you steer clear of the Yellow Brick Road for good.
In Oz, almost every villain wants riches, magic, or dominion over the whole land. But the Phanfasms, from The Emerald City of Oz, wish to harm the innocent and end happiness altogether. These shape-shifting spirits live atop a volcano and subject all their visitors to torment.
When the Nome King tries to recruit them as allies, the Phanfasms only agree so they can end Oz, then the Nomes, and then the entire world.
Servants of the Wicked Witch of the West, the winged monkeys appear in the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book, chattering and flapping away. In that story, they smash the Tin Woodman on a pile of rocks, tear apart the Scarecrow, and trap the Cowardly Lion in a tiny cage before taking Dorothy to serve as the Witch's lackey.
First introduced in the book Ozma of Oz, the underground Nomes held the villain title long before the Wicked Witch. The unfriendly, unpleasant little beasts love mining, and Roquat rules over them. A tyrannical king, he often slashes his subjects when displeased with them. The Nome King becomes even more nightmarish in the movie Return to Oz, where he emerges from stone itself in creepy stop-motion.
When Dorothy and friends feed him a laced egg, though, he disintegrates.
Yes, even the Tin Woodman (or Tin Man) has a creepy background. Formerly known as Nick Chopper, he was a normal human until he fell in love with a servant of the Wicked Witch of the West. The possessive witch cursed Nick's ax, and as Nick chopped wood, he also cut off his arm.
The arm was replaced by a tin one, and then all of Nick's body transformed. What's more, he's unable to love the woman he fell for because he lost his heart.