What’s the most feared folkloric creature in your country?
August 2, 2025
In Denmark we have plenty, but I assume "elven folk" are the most broad and have the longest history.
26 comments
Here in Ireland we have the banshee – to see her, or hear her wailing, signals a death in the family.
We’ve also got the Pooka, a devilish clever man/horse.
And the Good People (fairies) who will steal away babies or handsome young people to hide them in fairyland for many years.
In Swabia we have the “Nachtkrapp”, the night raven, who will come and get the children who stay outside beyond nightfall. And then there is Beelzmärte, Furry Martin, who is Santa’s sidekick, responsible for beating children that didn’t behave during the year.
Here in the Netherlands, there really aren’t all that many folkloric creatures, especially in the West where I’m from. That said, we do have the *boeman*, which is basically the bogeyman, and in the East there is folklore about the *Witte Wieven*, which are spectral women or elves that dance in the mist, especially around old burial mounds.
Oh, and I guess there are *kabouters*, which are gnomes. They’re not so much scary as they are annoying. Whenever something goes missing, parents will mockingly tell their kids that the *kabouters* stole it.
in Poland we have baba yaga- old witch who kidnaps people (especially kids) from the forest and eats them. We had childrens books about her <3
[Lidérc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lid%C3%A9rc) – has similar traits as the incubus / succubus, and can also give you nightmares and do all kinds of mischief. It is not really feared nowadays though.
Mumus – this one lives under your bed. Similar to the boogyman.
Krampusz – we borrowed it from our neighbours. Its image has softened a lot, kids are not fearful of it anymore.
In Spain, particularly in Galicia are the “Santa compaña” (galician for “Holy Company”)
It’s long to explain, sonexcuse me if I just post the Wikipedia link. I thunk it had everything worth knowing 🙂
Huldra: A beautiful but dangerous forest woman with a cow’s tail who lures men into the forest to trap them.
Draugen: A sea ghost, often described as the spirit of drowned fishermen.
Nøkken: A water spirit living in rivers or lakes who can lure people into the water to drown them. Shape-shifts to trick you.
Troll:
Since when have we feared the elven? If anything Trolls and giants are far more feared across our history.
Perhaps Polednice. An old mysterious woman appearing at noon, who punishes misbehaving children and sometimes steals them.
We also have Otesánek. But he’s just a cute fairy tale figure. A couple can’t have children, so the man makes a baby out of a piece of wood, it comes to life, so they’re happy, love him, take care of him and he eats and eats and eats… until he eats his parents and everyone else. I was often compared to him as a child, he’s lovely. But my baby sister then feared that I’d truly become Otesánek and eat my family.
In bavaria, we have Druden.
Basically, the personification of sleep paralysis with a dark figure sitting on your chest which let’s you suffer from shortness of breath.
It’s also part of the wild hunt.
Depends on where you live and what scares you, but to me, I remember fearing Näcken – a shapeshifting nymf living in rivers or floods in the forest, trying to lure in passer-bys
Washer women: ghost women appearing at ponds at night and luring travelers to drown them. The clothes they wash belong to their victims. It is also said they are the spirits of mothers who committed infanticide.
We also have the tarrasque, who’s also known as one of the strongest monsters in DnD lol
In Finland probably Iku-Turso, a malevolent sea monster from Kalevala mythology, would be the most feared perhaps. It was said to bring misfortune, disease, and destruction.
If we count real animals with mythic status, then the bear was both feared and deeply revered as a sacred forest creature, surrounded by taboos and rituals.
Other feared beings include Näkkis (water spirits that drown people), Hiisi (malevolent forest spirits), and Ajattara (a disease-bringing forest demon).
In western Austria we have the well known Krampus who is St. Nicholas’ companion who pubishes naughty kids by whipping them. Their day is December 5th.
Then there are the Perchten, who roam around with their cowbells and make noise to get rid of the winter and the evil spirits. They do their thing between Christmas and Januar 5th. There also other Perchten, who are nice but that would be too much explaining.
Nowadays they get mixed up are essentially the same and they can be found throughout the Alpine region.
In Hungary, the classic bad guy to scare kids with is the “mumus” – the word is kindof the equivalent of the “bogeyman”, except it’s not specified to be a human (the human version would be the “zsákos ember”, meaning ‘the man with the sack’ – basically a kidnapper)? Maybe it helps if i say that the Boggart from the HP books is translated to be a “mumus”. But it’s really more like a sleep paralysis demon.
I think for Sweden it would be the trolls. They are definitely the most frequent beings of folklore and local legends across Sweden. They are also the most diverse in both appearance and character of all folkloric creatures. Because contrary to the popular English/American notion of trolls, the trolls of Swedish folklore can be of basically any size and appearance. Anything from lumbering huge giants to human sized to really small and tiny. And they can be anything from very grotesque and ugly to very human-like, and even beautiful and seductive. And although in most folkloric stories trolls are the antagonists of humans, they may at times also be kind and help us and even bring us wealth, luck and happiness if we are good to them. The one trait that nearly all stories about trolls have in common though, is that they live in a sort of mirror society to ours. They mirror us and we can see a lot of ourselves in them, including our more base and ugly sides. Trolls are our “uncanny valley”, and I think that is what makes them most unsettling and both scary and fascinating.
Babaroga – “rog” basically means horn. She is Yaga’s sister who lives in caves and she takes bad kids away 🙁 . This probably number one . After that comes Drekavac, Bukavac…
Personally “Vila” would be for me – means fairy, can be mean and evil creature, throws curses in our literature.
Some of the typical Czech folklore creatures are Čert (a rank and file devil tasked with living in our world and tempting mortals), Vodník (water dwelling folk that like to drown people and collect their souls), Polednice (a demon that only appears in high noon and steals chindren, sometimes described as a hideous old hag), Klekánice (similar demon that appears when the evening bell rings), Hejkal (“the howler”, forest based creature similar to a feral man or satyr that is known for its bone chilling shrieks and that can tear a man to pieces if they don’t run away upon first hearing it) or Fext (revenant, an undead, that is resistant to decay and almost undestructible, so it’s best not to rob it’s grave).
In Hungarian folk tales elves/fairies tend to be pretty chill. Often mischievous, you can usually outsmart them and then they help you and everything. Fairy princesses make good wives too, especially if they were cursed to become a fox or a cat or something and you lifted the curse.
Somewhat joke answer is that the most feared one is the owl with the copper dick. (rézfaszú bagoly)
Otherwise I’d pick the mumus or the lidérc.
The mumus is a being of undescript appearance. It dwells in dark places. It can shapeshift and sort of manifest what you are afraid of the most. As a kid I imagined it as [a puli dog](https://images.app.goo.gl/Rg5fMQjocpC9wBAQ9) with glowing red eyes and evil instead of cute.
A lidérc is also a shape shifting ghostlike thing that acts as kind of a succubus / incubus. It can appear as a ball of flame or as a black goose or as a shadowy figure. It is said to be born from a black egg. You either have to hatch it in a pile of manure or under your armpit if you find its egg. If you do, it can become helpful household spirit, but it is fiercely jealous of its owner. It usually grants your wishes but sometimes it can pull pranks on you or trick you. To get rid of it you have to give it an impossible task. The harmful lidérc causes various nightmares whereas the helpful ones are said to cause more erotic or sexual dreams. In Hungarian the word for nightmare is lidércnyomás meaning “lidérc pressure” because it is thought to sleep on your chest like an incubus.
Tbh as a kid I was most afraid of the owl with the copper dick.
⸻
The scariest folkloric creature?
In Italy mothers with hoof in hand.
They appear suddenly, limping with one hoof just removed from the foot, the other still shod to balance themselves in the hunt. Their gaze strikes you, but it is only the beginning of the ritual.
If you try to escape, they utter a curse that echoes in the soul:
Come here and I won’t do anything to you!
This phrase has paralyzing powers. You stop. You hesitate. Or run even faster. Either way you’re screwed.
If you get close, you are hit by a barrage of shots calibrated with millimeter precision, using the hoof or any blunt object nearby (wooden spoon, remote control, ’96 cookbook).
If you run away, the hoof is thrown with a trajectory guided by the spirit of Legolas’ Bow: it always hits you. After the hit, a bonus beating follows for daring to escape.
ATTENTION:
Don’t cry.
Crying triggers the final phase of the spell:
It hurts me more than it hurts you!
…and another lap starts.
The only known defense is to pretend to pass out or foam at the mouth. It works in 63% of cases. Perhaps.
In Greece there are many folkloric creatures to pick one, since they are different from region to region. I think the most national “feared” folkloric creatures are these:
*Μπαμπούλας (Baboulas).* A dark creature lurking under beds or in the shadows. It frightens misbehaving children and has no fixed form. No one sees it, only senses it.
*Στοιχεία (Stoicheia).* Spirits haunting or guarding bridges, springs, or old homes. They appear as shadowy figures and punish disrespect. Some are protectors, others bring doom.
*Σκιές του Δάσους (Forest Shadows).* Invisible beings that drift through trees after dark. They whisper to travelers and lead them astray or mad.
In Brittany there’s the Ankou, collecting the souls of the dead. He travels in a cart drawn by one or two skeleton horses. He carries a scythe, has a long black coat and a black hat.
In the south of France we have the Drapé, a white horse who carried away children they found playing when they should be at home. Or the black washerwomen you met at night where water stagnate. Seeing them meant you would die soon.
In Italy there is the British food. Grandmother’s threaten to feed it to you if you put cream in carbonara
One of the many feared folkloric creatures is the legendary Gorgona the sister of Alexander the Great (aka Thessaloniki). Overcome with guilt after accidentally spilling the immortal water before she could give it to her brother, she transformed into a fearsome sea creature. She appears to ships and asks the sailors, “Is King Alexander alive?” If they reply, “He lives, reigns, and conquers the world,” she allows them to sail in good weather. However, if they say he has died, she sinks the ship.
Majority of people in Ireland are terrified of the fairies. But there’s 5 types of fairy people fear the most. I’ll rank the least to most.
5. Murúcha. These are the sea fairies. They’re generally pretty sound most of the time but are often blamed for random drownings at sea. If you respect them, they’ll leave you alone. So you never whistle on a boat.
4. The Púca. The Púcaí are shapeshifting mischievous creatures of the Irish countryside. Rural folk generally leave a piece of their crop to them so that they leave you alone. They generally won’t kill you. Put they will petrify your livestock and may kidnap you for a brief time.
3. The Síofra/Changeling and the Fir Dhearg. It’s more of a historic fear as it’s quite easy to protect your kids from these creatures. Basically, a Fear Dearg brwaks into your home and swaps your baby with a fairy baby. You’ll generally see a set of rosary beads, horse shoe, crucifix ect inside the babies room so this stops these things from happening.
2. Na Daoine Maithe. The good folk, the Aos Sidhe. These are the most widespread fairy. They are basically like ethereal people, but magical and live underground in a place called Magh Meall but they also inhabit Lios and Rátha which are called fairy Forts in English. They are associated with fairy trees (lone hawthorns in fields) that are supposedly sacred to them. They’re everywhere so everyone takes the utmost respect when they’re outside.
1. A creature I dare not even say or write its name. It comes in the night. Makes families vanish. It’s from a legend that describes the birth of Oisín Mac Fionn Mac Cumhaill. In Mayo saying it’s title is bad luck. It’s like the wandering devil of Irish folklore.
Why isn’t the Bean-Sídhe (banshee) feared. Well while she’s an omen of death. She’s a good spirit. Not malevolent
In Norway it is trolls. Not the cute, fuzzy hair ones, but big, ugly, scary creatures that will kill you. Spend a night in nature, a forrest or in the mountains, walk around alone after sunset and you most likely will see or hear one. And you will be afraid.
26 comments
Here in Ireland we have the banshee – to see her, or hear her wailing, signals a death in the family.
We’ve also got the Pooka, a devilish clever man/horse.
And the Good People (fairies) who will steal away babies or handsome young people to hide them in fairyland for many years.
In Swabia we have the “Nachtkrapp”, the night raven, who will come and get the children who stay outside beyond nightfall. And then there is Beelzmärte, Furry Martin, who is Santa’s sidekick, responsible for beating children that didn’t behave during the year.
Here in the Netherlands, there really aren’t all that many folkloric creatures, especially in the West where I’m from. That said, we do have the *boeman*, which is basically the bogeyman, and in the East there is folklore about the *Witte Wieven*, which are spectral women or elves that dance in the mist, especially around old burial mounds.
Oh, and I guess there are *kabouters*, which are gnomes. They’re not so much scary as they are annoying. Whenever something goes missing, parents will mockingly tell their kids that the *kabouters* stole it.
in Poland we have baba yaga- old witch who kidnaps people (especially kids) from the forest and eats them. We had childrens books about her <3
[Lidérc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lid%C3%A9rc) – has similar traits as the incubus / succubus, and can also give you nightmares and do all kinds of mischief. It is not really feared nowadays though.
Mumus – this one lives under your bed. Similar to the boogyman.
Krampusz – we borrowed it from our neighbours. Its image has softened a lot, kids are not fearful of it anymore.
In Spain, particularly in Galicia are the “Santa compaña” (galician for “Holy Company”)
It’s long to explain, sonexcuse me if I just post the Wikipedia link. I thunk it had everything worth knowing 🙂
Santa Compaña – Wikipedia https://share.google/PO5vdLoNUBYNgcTSq
Huldra: A beautiful but dangerous forest woman with a cow’s tail who lures men into the forest to trap them.
Draugen: A sea ghost, often described as the spirit of drowned fishermen.
Nøkken: A water spirit living in rivers or lakes who can lure people into the water to drown them. Shape-shifts to trick you.
Troll:
Since when have we feared the elven? If anything Trolls and giants are far more feared across our history.
Perhaps Polednice. An old mysterious woman appearing at noon, who punishes misbehaving children and sometimes steals them.
We also have Otesánek. But he’s just a cute fairy tale figure. A couple can’t have children, so the man makes a baby out of a piece of wood, it comes to life, so they’re happy, love him, take care of him and he eats and eats and eats… until he eats his parents and everyone else. I was often compared to him as a child, he’s lovely. But my baby sister then feared that I’d truly become Otesánek and eat my family.
In bavaria, we have Druden.
Basically, the personification of sleep paralysis with a dark figure sitting on your chest which let’s you suffer from shortness of breath.
It’s also part of the wild hunt.
Depends on where you live and what scares you, but to me, I remember fearing Näcken – a shapeshifting nymf living in rivers or floods in the forest, trying to lure in passer-bys
Washer women: ghost women appearing at ponds at night and luring travelers to drown them. The clothes they wash belong to their victims. It is also said they are the spirits of mothers who committed infanticide.
We also have the tarrasque, who’s also known as one of the strongest monsters in DnD lol
In Finland probably Iku-Turso, a malevolent sea monster from Kalevala mythology, would be the most feared perhaps. It was said to bring misfortune, disease, and destruction.
If we count real animals with mythic status, then the bear was both feared and deeply revered as a sacred forest creature, surrounded by taboos and rituals.
Other feared beings include Näkkis (water spirits that drown people), Hiisi (malevolent forest spirits), and Ajattara (a disease-bringing forest demon).
In western Austria we have the well known Krampus who is St. Nicholas’ companion who pubishes naughty kids by whipping them. Their day is December 5th.
Then there are the Perchten, who roam around with their cowbells and make noise to get rid of the winter and the evil spirits. They do their thing between Christmas and Januar 5th. There also other Perchten, who are nice but that would be too much explaining.
Nowadays they get mixed up are essentially the same and they can be found throughout the Alpine region.
In Hungary, the classic bad guy to scare kids with is the “mumus” – the word is kindof the equivalent of the “bogeyman”, except it’s not specified to be a human (the human version would be the “zsákos ember”, meaning ‘the man with the sack’ – basically a kidnapper)? Maybe it helps if i say that the Boggart from the HP books is translated to be a “mumus”. But it’s really more like a sleep paralysis demon.
I think for Sweden it would be the trolls. They are definitely the most frequent beings of folklore and local legends across Sweden. They are also the most diverse in both appearance and character of all folkloric creatures. Because contrary to the popular English/American notion of trolls, the trolls of Swedish folklore can be of basically any size and appearance. Anything from lumbering huge giants to human sized to really small and tiny. And they can be anything from very grotesque and ugly to very human-like, and even beautiful and seductive. And although in most folkloric stories trolls are the antagonists of humans, they may at times also be kind and help us and even bring us wealth, luck and happiness if we are good to them. The one trait that nearly all stories about trolls have in common though, is that they live in a sort of mirror society to ours. They mirror us and we can see a lot of ourselves in them, including our more base and ugly sides. Trolls are our “uncanny valley”, and I think that is what makes them most unsettling and both scary and fascinating.
Babaroga – “rog” basically means horn. She is Yaga’s sister who lives in caves and she takes bad kids away 🙁 . This probably number one . After that comes Drekavac, Bukavac…
Personally “Vila” would be for me – means fairy, can be mean and evil creature, throws curses in our literature.
Some of the typical Czech folklore creatures are Čert (a rank and file devil tasked with living in our world and tempting mortals), Vodník (water dwelling folk that like to drown people and collect their souls), Polednice (a demon that only appears in high noon and steals chindren, sometimes described as a hideous old hag), Klekánice (similar demon that appears when the evening bell rings), Hejkal (“the howler”, forest based creature similar to a feral man or satyr that is known for its bone chilling shrieks and that can tear a man to pieces if they don’t run away upon first hearing it) or Fext (revenant, an undead, that is resistant to decay and almost undestructible, so it’s best not to rob it’s grave).
In Hungarian folk tales elves/fairies tend to be pretty chill. Often mischievous, you can usually outsmart them and then they help you and everything. Fairy princesses make good wives too, especially if they were cursed to become a fox or a cat or something and you lifted the curse.
Somewhat joke answer is that the most feared one is the owl with the copper dick. (rézfaszú bagoly)
Otherwise I’d pick the mumus or the lidérc.
The mumus is a being of undescript appearance. It dwells in dark places. It can shapeshift and sort of manifest what you are afraid of the most. As a kid I imagined it as [a puli dog](https://images.app.goo.gl/Rg5fMQjocpC9wBAQ9) with glowing red eyes and evil instead of cute.
A lidérc is also a shape shifting ghostlike thing that acts as kind of a succubus / incubus. It can appear as a ball of flame or as a black goose or as a shadowy figure. It is said to be born from a black egg. You either have to hatch it in a pile of manure or under your armpit if you find its egg. If you do, it can become helpful household spirit, but it is fiercely jealous of its owner. It usually grants your wishes but sometimes it can pull pranks on you or trick you. To get rid of it you have to give it an impossible task. The harmful lidérc causes various nightmares whereas the helpful ones are said to cause more erotic or sexual dreams. In Hungarian the word for nightmare is lidércnyomás meaning “lidérc pressure” because it is thought to sleep on your chest like an incubus.
Tbh as a kid I was most afraid of the owl with the copper dick.
⸻
The scariest folkloric creature?
In Italy mothers with hoof in hand.
They appear suddenly, limping with one hoof just removed from the foot, the other still shod to balance themselves in the hunt. Their gaze strikes you, but it is only the beginning of the ritual.
If you try to escape, they utter a curse that echoes in the soul:
Come here and I won’t do anything to you!
This phrase has paralyzing powers. You stop. You hesitate. Or run even faster. Either way you’re screwed.
If you get close, you are hit by a barrage of shots calibrated with millimeter precision, using the hoof or any blunt object nearby (wooden spoon, remote control, ’96 cookbook).
If you run away, the hoof is thrown with a trajectory guided by the spirit of Legolas’ Bow: it always hits you. After the hit, a bonus beating follows for daring to escape.
ATTENTION:
Don’t cry.
Crying triggers the final phase of the spell:
It hurts me more than it hurts you!
…and another lap starts.
The only known defense is to pretend to pass out or foam at the mouth. It works in 63% of cases. Perhaps.
In Greece there are many folkloric creatures to pick one, since they are different from region to region. I think the most national “feared” folkloric creatures are these:
*Μπαμπούλας (Baboulas).* A dark creature lurking under beds or in the shadows. It frightens misbehaving children and has no fixed form. No one sees it, only senses it.
*Στοιχεία (Stoicheia).* Spirits haunting or guarding bridges, springs, or old homes. They appear as shadowy figures and punish disrespect. Some are protectors, others bring doom.
*Σκιές του Δάσους (Forest Shadows).* Invisible beings that drift through trees after dark. They whisper to travelers and lead them astray or mad.
In Brittany there’s the Ankou, collecting the souls of the dead. He travels in a cart drawn by one or two skeleton horses. He carries a scythe, has a long black coat and a black hat.
In the south of France we have the Drapé, a white horse who carried away children they found playing when they should be at home. Or the black washerwomen you met at night where water stagnate. Seeing them meant you would die soon.
In Italy there is the British food. Grandmother’s threaten to feed it to you if you put cream in carbonara
One of the many feared folkloric creatures is the legendary Gorgona the sister of Alexander the Great (aka Thessaloniki). Overcome with guilt after accidentally spilling the immortal water before she could give it to her brother, she transformed into a fearsome sea creature. She appears to ships and asks the sailors, “Is King Alexander alive?” If they reply, “He lives, reigns, and conquers the world,” she allows them to sail in good weather. However, if they say he has died, she sinks the ship.
Majority of people in Ireland are terrified of the fairies. But there’s 5 types of fairy people fear the most. I’ll rank the least to most.
5. Murúcha. These are the sea fairies. They’re generally pretty sound most of the time but are often blamed for random drownings at sea. If you respect them, they’ll leave you alone. So you never whistle on a boat.
4. The Púca. The Púcaí are shapeshifting mischievous creatures of the Irish countryside. Rural folk generally leave a piece of their crop to them so that they leave you alone. They generally won’t kill you. Put they will petrify your livestock and may kidnap you for a brief time.
3. The Síofra/Changeling and the Fir Dhearg. It’s more of a historic fear as it’s quite easy to protect your kids from these creatures. Basically, a Fear Dearg brwaks into your home and swaps your baby with a fairy baby. You’ll generally see a set of rosary beads, horse shoe, crucifix ect inside the babies room so this stops these things from happening.
2. Na Daoine Maithe. The good folk, the Aos Sidhe. These are the most widespread fairy. They are basically like ethereal people, but magical and live underground in a place called Magh Meall but they also inhabit Lios and Rátha which are called fairy Forts in English. They are associated with fairy trees (lone hawthorns in fields) that are supposedly sacred to them. They’re everywhere so everyone takes the utmost respect when they’re outside.
1. A creature I dare not even say or write its name. It comes in the night. Makes families vanish. It’s from a legend that describes the birth of Oisín Mac Fionn Mac Cumhaill. In Mayo saying it’s title is bad luck. It’s like the wandering devil of Irish folklore.
Why isn’t the Bean-Sídhe (banshee) feared. Well while she’s an omen of death. She’s a good spirit. Not malevolent
In Norway it is trolls. Not the cute, fuzzy hair ones, but big, ugly, scary creatures that will kill you. Spend a night in nature, a forrest or in the mountains, walk around alone after sunset and you most likely will see or hear one. And you will be afraid.