When we look back at history, there seems to be a tendency to believe that ALL people living back then thought and believed in the same. That was of course not the case. Even though…
The Draugr is a resurrected dead person, often a viking or warrior, who leaves his burial mound to terrorize the living. It could also be a sailor who drowned at sea and were thus never…
Here is another Norse mythological creature I have hard time translating into English. The old Norse word is vættr, and in Swedish the word is vätte (singular) or vättar (plural). One possible translation might be…
The Mare (Maran) is an evil female spirit who visits men or animals at night – hence the term ”nightmare”. She is riding her victims, making them sweaty, out of breath and with a feeling…
The elves in Nordic Folklore are usually described as very small, female beings, dressed in shimmering white and with wings, often dancing on a misty field. But as with other supernatural beings, they can change…
The Huldra is a female supernatural being in the Nordic Folklore (although as with the Nix it is a species, not a single entity). The Norwegian name Huldra comes from Huld, a völva in Norse…
Next up among our mythic creatures is the Nix (Swedish: Näcken). The Nix is a water creature, who lives in lakes, rivers, streams and brooks, and tried to lure people into the waters to drown.…
The Nordic ”Tomte” or ”Nisse” has no really good translation to English. The closest might be hobgoblin, elf or gnome. But since it is a specific Nordic creature, I will call it Tomte. The Swedish…
In the last post about trolls, the concept of ”bergtagning”, where trolls kidnaps people, were explained. One version of this story is the Changeling, where the trolls take a human child from the cradle and…
As with giants, there is different types of trolls. In some stories, they seem related to the giants of the Folklore – large, brutal and rather stupid. But actually, in most Folktales, trolls are not…