Fairies

            Fairies live in the great mountains and the rocky grounds around the waters. All fairies are young, beautiful, dressed in a thin white dress and have long hair that falls down their back and chest. Fairies won't hurt anyone until someone offends them (by running into their circle while they are dancing, or by treading on their dinner, or in some other way). When someone offends them, they disfigure that man's face, or shoot him in the arm or leg, or in both of his arms or legs, or his heart, so he dies immediately.

            Witches

            A witch is a woman who (according to folk tales) is possessed by some sort of a demon spirit that, while she is sleeping, comes out of her body and turns into a butterfly, a hen or a turkey, and flies around from house to house eating people, and especially small children. When she finds a man sleeping, she opens the left side of his chest with a stick, takes out his heart and eats it, and then his chest heals. Some men that are eaten in that way die immediately, and some live for quite a while – she decides upon that while she's eating their heart; they die as she chooses them to. The witches eat no garlic, and therefore, before the beginning of the lent, many people smear garlic over their chest, soles and armpits, because it is said that the witches eat people the most during the shrove-tide. No young and beautiful woman is called a witch, only old hags. When a woman confesses to being a witch and thus reveals herself, she can then no longer eat people, and she becomes a medicine woman instead, administering herbs to the ones that were eaten. A witch flying by night shines like fire. Their favourite gathering place is the threshing floor. People therefore say that a witch, when she wants to fly from her home, smears some ointment over her armpits and utters: "Neither to the thorn, nor to the shrub, but to the threshing floor". There is a tale of a woman, who wasn't a witch, that smeared that ointment over her armpits and, instead of "Neither to the thorn nor to the shrub", she unconsciously said "Both to the thorn and to the shrub", and when she flew, she got bruised and beaten by hitting against many objects. The people of Srem say that the witches there gather in greatest numbers on a walnut tree outside the Molovin village, and in Croatia the word goes that they gather in Klek above Ogulin. A tale told in Srem says that a man, seeing from his bed that a witch flew away from his house, found her ointment pot, smeared his skin with it and, saying the same words as she did, changed his shape and flew after her. He came to a walnut tree outside Molovin and saw many witches there sitting at a gold table and feasting, drinking from gold cups. When he saw all of their faces and recognised many of them, he then crossed himself in wonder saying: "Anate vas mate bilo". They scattered immediately, and he fell from the walnut tree transformed back into his human form. The gold table disappeared like the witches did, and their gold cups turned into hooves of various beasts. If a woman is a witch, when that demon spirit leaves her body, she remains lying as if she were dead; if someone at that moment put her head where her feet used to be, she would never wake up again. When people see a butterfly flying through their house in the evening, they usually think it is a witch, so they catch it if they can and burn it a little over a candle or a fire, saying: "Come by tomorrow to get some salt". If a woman does come the next day to ask for some salt, or on any other business, and if, in addition to that, her skin is scorched somewhere, then they are sure that it was her the previous evening. When in a village many children or men die, and when everybody accuses a woman of being a witch who ate them, then the people tie her up and throw her into the water to see if she could sink (because it is said that a witch cannot sink). If the woman sinks, then they get her out of the water and let her go, but if she doesn't sink, they kill her for being a witch. In this way the witches were eliminated in Serbia even during Karadjordje's rule. Some people turn the chains upside-down during the shrove-tide to defend themselves from witches. Some throw a horn into glowing embers, because it is said that witches are particularly sensitive to that smell and run away from it. Some crumble eggshells, so that witches could not sail over the waters in them. Where would a witch go but to her own kind.

Werewolves or Vampires

            A werewolf is a man that (according to folk tales) becomes possessed and brought back to life by an evil spirit forty days after his death. The werewolf then comes out of his grave by night and chokes people in their houses and drinks their blood. An honest man cannot be turned into a vampire unless a bird flies over his dead body or some other animal crosses over it; people are therefore constantly watching the deceased to prevent animals from crossing over him. Werewolves appear in greatest numbers during the winter (in the period between Christmas and Ascension Day). If people start dying massively in a village, the rumour starts to spread that there is a werewolf in the graveyard (some people start saying that they saw him at night walking around with his shroud), and the villagers then try to guess who might have turned into a vampire. Sometimes they take a black horse without a spot to the graveyard and make it cross over the graves of the suspected werewolves; it is said that such a stallion cannot and would not cross over a werewolf. If they get their evidence and start digging the man up, then all the villagers gather around the grave armed with hawthorn stakes (since werewolf is afraid only of hawthorn stakes). When they dig up the body, if they find it didn't decay, they stab it with those stakes and throw it into the fire to burn. People say that a werewolf is found in his grave fat, swollen and red from human blood ("as red as a vampire"). A werewolf sometimes comes to his wife (especially if she is young and beautiful) and sleeps with her, and it is said that a child conceived by a werewolf is born with no bones. When famine strikes, he is frequently seen around watermills and barns where wheat or maize is stored. It is said that he goes nowhere without his shroud cast over his shoulder. He can creep through a smallest hole, so locking the door against him is no protection, and he is similar to witches in that respect.

Vjedogonja or Jedogonja

            A man from whose body, while he is asleep, an evil spirit comes out (in a similar way as from witches). Such spirits pull out trees in the mountains and fight each other using the trees as weapons, e.g. Bokeski against Neapolitanski, and those who win draw the crops that are to be yielded that year to their fields. They can break the mountains easily and roll great stones. When a man suspected of being jedogonja dies, people drive hawthorn thorns under his nails and cut the tendons on his knees with a black-handle knife, so that he couldn't come out of his grave (like a vampire). – As strong as a jedogonja.

Stuhac

            In Hercegovina people say that stuhacs (like fairies or devils) dwell in the great mountains or rocky grounds; they have webbed feet made from human tendons, and their feet won't slide down a steep hillside or rocks. If a stuhac happens to tear the skin between his toes, he catches a man, takes the tendons from his legs and makes himself another skin.

Mora

            Mora presses men's chest while they are asleep. Some people say that mora is a witch that repented and promised not to eat people any more, so she only presses their chest and stops their breathing. Others think that mora is a girl that will become a witch once she is married. In Montenegro, those whom mora presses and chokes, when going to sleep, put an unfastened belt over the quilt. In Grbalj, there is a prayer that the one choked by mora should say before going to bed. Here it is:

Mora bora! Don't you cross
Over this white home,
Because it has strong keys
Our Siodor,
Siodor and Todor,
And Marija and Matija,
And little sister Livantja,
To whom there is no access.
Over this white home
Not a stony stone,
Not a windy wind,
Not an intrusive intruder,
Not a widowed widow,
Not a magic magician,
Until they should count
The stars in the sky,
The leaves in the forest,
The sand in the sea,
The hairs on a bitch,
The coat of a goat,
The wool of a sheep,
The hairs in the wool;
And when they count that,
Put shaft around their waist,
Use zastikala as their stick,
Stand on an eggshell,
Drown in the open sea,
Trinka joj trakuli,
Their head to the devil,
May devil take all their goats,
And their milk wouldn't curdle,
May they rather say: ouch,
Ouch be given to them by Lena, plena
And Mary Magdalena. Amen!

There is a tale about a man that was tortured by a mora and couldn't fall asleep, until he finally became tired of living at his home and mounted his white steed and ran away into the world choosing no particular direction. But that was in vain too, because even on the road, when he would close his eyes, mora would immediately attack him. Wandering thus through the world he finally came to spend the night in a tailor's house. After dinner, when the tailor resumed his work and started sowing, his guest complained to him about being tortured by a mora, "but", he said, "while you're still working, I will lie down by your side so I could get some sleep." He covered himself with his coat and lay down. The moment he fell asleep, mora started pressing him, so in his sleep he started shouting and struggling. When the tailor heard that, he moved the candle closer to see what was bothering his guest, and on the coat that his guest covered himself with he saw a long white hair moving as fast as a coiling snake. Seeing that, the tailor took the scissors that happened to be in his hands and cut the hair. The moment it stopped moving, the guest became quiet, and he slept peacefully until the morning sun. When he woke up, he praised the Lord for such a sleep and recovery, and then he hurried to tend and feed his horse, only to find it dead. After the tailor told him about how mora had been choking him and how he had cut the hair on his coat, they concluded that his hoarse was the mora that had been choking and torturing him. A man that is being choked by a mora should put a broom turned upside-down behind the door of the room where he is sleeping, before going to sleep.

Nocnica

            It is some sort of apparition that does misdeeds to a man sleeping at night. For example, when a man has swollen and tender breasts, he is said to have been suckled by the nocnicas.

Sudjenje

            There is no escape from the sudjenje (=destiny, fate). Our people think that every man's life and the manner of death is predestined, and that nobody can elude his destiny. There is a tale of an emperor who was told by a fortune-teller or a prophet that his daughter would be bitten by a snake and die. Having heard that, the emperor ordered a castle of glass to be made for his daughter, in which not an ant could enter, let alone a snake, and he wouldn't let her go out of the castle. When the foretold day of his daughter's death came, she, safe and sound, asked for grapes to eat. The servants immediately brought her a large bunch, and in it a small snake was hidden. The snake bit her and caused the death that was her destiny.
There is no death without the day of destiny. – When my destined dying day should come.

Kuga

The Serbs say that kuga (=plague) is a living woman (those who were ill with it point that out particularly). Many people say that they have seen her going about, wearing a white head scarf; others say that they have worn the scarf, that is, that she finds a man working in the field or meets him on the road, and sometimes she even comes to his house and says: "I am the plague, so carry me thither" (wherever she wants to go). So he allows her to climb on his back (because she won't do any harm to him or his house), and takes her without effort (because she has no weight to him) wherever she tells him to carry her. The plagues have their own land somewhere over the sea (only they live there), and it is God who sends them over here (when people do ill and bad deeds) and tells them how many people they are to kill. But they in their turn are killed in great numbers by the dogs; it is therefore said that they are afraid of evil dogs. When a plague strikes, she is rarely referred to as kuga, but rather as kuma (=the godmother) – people hope that they will make her benevolent in that way. They also mustn't leave their dishes unwashed overnight, because she comes at night to see if the dishes are washed well, and if they are not, she scratches and poisons all the spoons and bowls. (When the plague breaks out, some people take advantage of it and steal in her name, because those afraid of the plague won't leave their house to see who's there when they hear something outside or when the dogs start barking.)
He snatches like kuga snatches children. – He outstayed his welcome like kuga in Sarajevo.

Vrzino kolo, Grabancijas

            The Serbs say that some students, when they finish twelve schools, go (twelve of them) to vrzino kolo (=the vicious circle) to finish their education and to swear an oath, and while they are reading from a special book, one of their friends disappears (he is taken away by the devils or the fairies), but they cannot say which one is missing. People of Croatia say that there is a village called Vrzici at the foot of Velebit mountain, and above that village, on the top of the mountain, there is a place called Vrzino kolo, where the fairies dance. The student who went to the vicious circle later becomes grabancijas, he accompanies the devils and fairies and leads the clouds during thunder storms and hail. The grabancijas people are all dressed in rags, therefore a ragged man is said to be looking like a grabancijas, and the man that is thought to be very learned is said to have been to the vicious circle.

Repac

            In Boca, the man that is born with a bloody caul and a small tail is called repac. Repac is said to be much stronger than other men, especially when he gets angry. If at that moment (so it is said) he would put the strength of his tail to use, he could overpower a dozen men as if they were a dozen small children.

Hazdaha, Hala, the Dragon

            Hala is thought to be drawing tremendous spiritual force from hazdaha, so that it can fly and lead the clouds and guide the hail towards the crops. Dragon is thought to be a fiery hero, from whom, while flying, the flames shed and glow.
Insatiable hala! He is fighting like hala is fighting bumper harvest.

Caratan

            A man that is born by the light of the moon and over whom a cat or some other demonic animal crosses before he is baptised. He consequently remains unfortunate whole of his life, and cannot take up any trade or keep a job for a long time, but he rather wanders around and amuses people with his craft, dance and jest, cheating them out of their money. But such money is no profit to him, rather an easy come, easy go.

Madjijonik

            Madjijonik (=magician) is a bit like a witch, but, unlike the witch, he cannot assume the shape of an animal. He therefore carries with him various magic objects, such as needles without eyes, grey hairs from a person's head, fingernails that have been cut off, mouldy yarn, black wool, etc. When he wants to harm someone, he perfectly knows which of these objects he should combine to produce the desired harmful effect (therefore no man would pick up a needle without the eye if he finds it somewhere). It is said that some people who were charmed in this way, after a priest's prayer, vomited all the objects used to cast a spell on them, and finally they vomited their own heart.

            taken from Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic's, Ethnographic Records, "Beliefs Concerning Things that don't Exist"

translated by Snježana Todorović