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Manananggal: The Night Splitter of Filipino Folklore

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As part of the shapeshifting Aswang demons of the Phillipines, the Manananggal was soaring the sky in her bat-like appearance on her hunt for human blood. 

Magtatangal. A witch. They say that it flies and eats human flesh, but when it flies, it only has half its body, and that is why it is called that because it’s tangal which means that it can disengage, and he dislodges half of his body and carries the other half home.
— Fray Domingo de los Santos, Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala (1703)

In the haunted forests and rural villages in the Philippines lives one of the most terrifying figures. Known as the Manananggal, this creature is a type of vampire spirit that strikes under the cover of night, feeding on the living.

Unlike the typical vampire tales of Europe, the Manananggal is not a corpse that rises from a grave nor a spirit that floats invisibly through walls. It is a living woman by day who becomes a monster by night, revealing a grotesque dual nature that makes her one of folklore’s most haunting night beings.

A Woman Who Becomes Night

The legend holds that the Manananggal appears in human form during the day, indistinguishable from any ordinary person. She may be a neighbor, a villager, or a quiet woman passing through town. But when darkness falls, her body undergoes a terrible transformation. Its name comes from the Tagalog word tanggal, meaning “to remove,” because this being literally separates itself in two before it hunts. The torso splits from the legs. The lower half remains rooted to the earth, while the upper body sprouts bat-like wings and soars into the night on stealthy wings. 

Once airborne, the Manananggal hunts for her prey. She is very similar to other vampiric Visayan legends like of the Mandurug, vampiric being that live as people during the day. Sometimes the Mandrugo is said to have a bat-like appearance, but one thing setting them apart is the victims of the Manananggal. 

Read More: Mandurug is said to live in the region of Capiz and disguises itself as a beautiful woman. It sucks blood using a proboscis-like tongue. Some live in forests far from human communities, but the Mandurug can infiltrate human society by marrying into a community, either slowly draining their husband of blood or using him strictly as a hideout and leaving at night to raid other villages, thereby maintaining their cover. // Image: Capiz/ Source

The Manananggal’s favorite victims are sleeping humans, especially pregnant women. According to tradition, she uses a long, thin proboscis-like tongue to penetrate sealed doors and windows without disturbing the sleepers. With this horror-like organ she drains the blood of her victim or feeds on the unborn child inside the womb.

She is also said to target newlyweds and lovers, newborn children and men who were left before marriage. It’s not just a single bite, but often a slow death of feeding on them over a longer period of time. 

The Manananggal is not always hunting alone. The Tiktik is a type of bird that makes a “tik-tik” sound, warning people of the creature’s presence. As the sound gets louder, the farther away the Manananggal is. If it goes completely quiet, the Manananggal is too close for comfort. 

Image: Gian Bernal/Wikimedia

How to Battle the Manananggal

Can you fight against a creature like the Manananggal? According to legends, you have to strike on the body left behind while the Manananggal is out hunting. Folklore holds that if villagers find and sprinkle salt, garlic, or ash onto the detached lower half before sunrise, the monster cannot rejoin its body. When morning light arrives, the separated torso will burn and the creature will die. They are also thought to avoid daggers, light, vinegar, spices and the tail of a stingray, which can be fashioned into a whip and fight them. 

But the safest thing to do is to protect your house for the Manananggal before it gets close. Small containers of salt, ash and raw rice, and the smell of burning rubber are said to deter the Manananggal from approaching one’s house.

Birth of a Creature

But where does Mananaggal really come from? In some instances, shamanists or other practitioners of the occult have also been called Manananggal, using the word as a type of witch. And according to some lore, a Manananggal is not born, but created. 

The Filipino Shaman: Filipino shamans, commonly known as babaylan, were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. Babaylan were women serving in spiritual leadership roles or effeminate men (asog or bayok). There are also sorcerers who are said to have hereditary powers. This type of sorcerers are often conflated with the aswang, evil vampire-like supernatural beings capable of appearing human (or were originally human). The Spanish colonization of the Philippines and the introduction of Catholic Christianity resulted in the extinction of most native shamanistic practices and persecution of the practicioners. // Image: Babaylan Festival in Bago City by Hptina24

Some say that to become a Manananggal you need a special ointment and an egg containing a black chick. While chanting a special incantation you should anoint yourself with the ointment and place the egg in your armpit until it disappears.

Other traditions say when a Manananggal does not kill their victims outright they will turn into another Mananaggal.

Origins of the Manananggal Legend

The Manananggal appears most prominently in Tagalog and Visayan folklore, especially in Capiz, but similar beings are recorded throughout Philippine culture. The Manananggal is a part of the Aswang, or evil spirit lore in the Phillipines. 

Aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil and malevolent creatures in Filipino folklore and the Spanish colonists noted that the aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines in the 16th century. Aswang are traditionally described as one-dimensional monsters and inherently evil by nature, with no explicable motives beyond harming and devouring other creatures.

Among the Aswang types, the Manananggal is also often compared to the Wakwak, a vampiric and bird-like creature as well. The main way to tell the difference between the Manananggal and the Wakwak is that the Wakwak cannot separate its torso from its body.

Wakwak: The Wakwak is a vampiric, bird-like creature in Philippine mythology. In some places the Wakwak is believed to be another form a vampire can take or a type of witch-like entity. The Wakwak is generally described as a very large bird with either feathery or leathery wings, which is said to be as sharp as a knife. It is often described by old folks to have long sharp talons, which it uses to slash its victims and to get their heart. The sound associated with the Wakwak is considered to be an indicator that something is nearby. 

Colonizing Folklore

There are many witness accounts written down from the Spanish colonizers about the locals witnessing these types of entities. But what is the truth about the Manananggal legends, and exactly who shaped it into being what it is today?

The Manananggal legend is most likely from colonial times. The way to repel these entities are very similar to European vampire lore, especially Balkan lore. Chances are that the Spaniards likely villanised and demonized the Aswang entities when they came with Christian missionarries, trying to convert them from their pagan ways. 

The Spanish Colonizing the Phillipines: The colonization of the Phillipines by the Catholic Christian Spaniards shaped the way we view Filipino mythology today. // Image: The Principalia of a rural parish in colonial Philippines, joining the Holy Week procession. Illustration, c. 1870.

Spanish chroniclers like Antonio de Morga and Francisco Ignacio Alcina provided some of the earliest written accounts of Philippine beliefs and have therefore shaped them a lot in terms of how we view them. 

Why the Manananggal showed up during this time period is up for debate and even some conspiracy theories. Some speculate during this time of conversion, the Spaniards created the legend of the Manananggal, as an attempt to draw the local people out of the forests and into the cities. Making them easier to control.

What the truth is difficult to say today, and how the Manananggal legend changed and was shaped before colonisation is tricky as the lack of written documentation. 

A Legend Alive in Story

In modern times the Manananggal remains one of the Philippines’ most iconic supernatural figures. She appears in horror films, literature, and oral storytelling. 

When the moon rises and the world grows quiet, some still say she watches from treetops and rooflines, awaiting the moment when the last lamp goes out and the night feeds again.

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Aswang – Wikipedia

https://mythologicaencyclopedia.com/Manananggal

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The Atoning Vrykolakas Vampire in Santorini

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After a man died before atoning for his crimes, he came back from the dead as a vampiric Vrykolakas when his wife failed to follow his final wishes. What followed was a month full of terror and haunting.  

Perhaps the sunny Santorini is not the place people think vampire-like creatures roamed, although history would tell you otherwise. 

Read More: Check out all ghostly tales from Greece

From the text from a French priest, we have some of the oldest stories of the vampiric Vrykolakas from Greek folklore documented in writing. One of them being the tale of a merchant from Patmos called Patino. 

Santorini: The Greek Island, officially Thira or Thera, is around 200 km from mainland Greece in the Aegean Sea. As well as ancient Greek mythology, the folklore was influenced from the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman rule as well as Orthodox Christianity. Pyrgos Kallistis was the former capital of Santorini.Some speculate that there are so many vrykolakas stories from here because of the volcanic soil so the body doesn’t decompose as well.

The Atoning Vrykola

One of the stories we have written down from a Jesuit priest came from the cousin of a man who had died on Santorini. He was known as a usurer and money lender named Lanettis. He is also sometimes given the last name Anapliotis. Lanettis reformed in the last year of his life and started to make amends to the people he had wronged. When he died he asked his wife to pay his remaining debts, and rectify his wrongdoings if the people came to her. 

Read Also: The Shoemaking Vrykolakas Vampire from Pyrgos Castle

She ended up not adhering to his final wishes though. Instead, she spent the money meant as alms on people she liked, not those in need. Lanettis began haunting his village six weeks after his death as something between a vampiric monster and a revenant ghost. 

Vrykolakas Stories: Jesuit Priest François Richard was a missionary to the Greek island of Santorini. In Paris, his accounts about the Vrykolakas appeared titled: Relation de l’Isle de Sant-erini, 1657. He believed the devil kept some corpses and animated them. For the Jesuit, the “vrykolakas” was simply “a special case of diabolic possession. He said that when a village is visited by vrykolakas, the villagers gather in one house for protection, and apply to their Bishop for permission to exhume the suspect. This is done on a Saturday, the only day when a vrykolakas may rest in its grave. If the body is found “fresh and gorged with new blood”, it is “exorcised” with prayer or cremated.

Almost like a poltergeist, Lanettis started terrorising the villagers. But as a Vrykolas, as the Greek knew these types of the returned dead as. 

Read More: The Vrykolakas Vampire in Patmos

He was known to be yanking the bedclothes off of sleeping people, waking up the priests for matins, emptying wine kegs, and generally abusing and terrorizing people. It seemed to not be targeted toward any particular person, and everyone could become a target. 

The Vrykolakas Vampires: In Greek folklore, they believed in the vampiric Vrykolaka. Traditionally believed that a person could become a vrykolakas after death due to a sacrilegious way of life, but also through other means, like A cat leaping across a fresh grave, Consuming meat from a sheep slain by a wolf or werewolf. Some believed that a werewolf itself could become a powerful vampire after being killed. This revenant wasn’t after just the blood, but also the flesh, some saying the liver was its favorite.

He visited the Mother Prioress of a Dominican convent, awakened her by rolling her rosary on the floor, jeered at her prayers. She spat in his face and asked what he wanted. as a parting joke, threw her shoes into the water cistern. Simply praying the ghost away would do no good. 

Exhuming and Exorcising a Vrykola

This haunting went on for around a month. His wishes to atone in his life had turned into terrorising more people in his afterlife. After a woman lost her speech for three days after encountering him, the villagers gathered up the courage to go to his wife, trying to make her do the right thing and comply with her husband’s final wishes. 

This was not enough however, certain rites had to be done to make sure he strayed in his grave. His body was exhumed, and examined. According to the story, his body didn’t really show signs of being undead, and was badly decayed. Just for good measure though, he was exorcised for an entire day with prayers before being dismembered before he once again was buried. This happened not only once, but twice, and he didn’t stop his haunting until his wife repaid his debt back to everyone to atone for his sins in life. 

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The Vrykolakas Vampire in Patmos

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After terrorizing his village, the Vrykolakas Vampire from Patmos in Santorini were taken to an inhabited island and set on fire. The question is, did it really work?

Perhaps the sunny Santorini is not the place people think vampire-like creatures roamed, although history would tell you otherwise. 

Read More: Check out all ghostly tales from Greece

From the text from a French priest, we have some of the oldest stories of the vampiric Vrykolakas from Greek folklore documented in writing. One of them being the tale of a merchant from Patmos called Patino. 

Santorini: The Greek Island, officially Thira or Thera, is around 200 km from mainland Greece in the Aegean Sea. As well as ancient Greek mythology, the folklore was influenced from the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman rule as well as Orthodox Christianity. Pyrgos Kallistis was the former capital of Santorini.Some speculate that there are so many vrykolakas stories from here because of the volcanic soil so the body doesn’t decompose as well.

The Merchant from Patmos

The story was relayed to the Jesuit Priest, by the abbot of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Amourgo on an island not too far from Patmos, Santorini where the story is set.

A merchant from Patmos called Patino went on a business trip to Anatolia, the peninsula in West Asia that is mainly the land area of Turkey today. While he was there, he died, although the sources don’t say from what. They put him in a coffin and got him ready to be shipped home for his burial. When lifting him into the boat, one of the sailors on the ship was placed on top of it, and claimed he felt something move inside of the coffin. 

He talked the other sailors to lift the lid of the coffin to check it out, and saw that his body was perfectly preserved, with no signs of decay. It doesn’t really say how long time had passed since his death though. According to the story, the sailors said nothing of what they had seen to his wife when they returned her husband. 

Vrykolakas Stories: Jesuit Priest François Richard was a missionary to the Greek island of Santorini. In Paris, his accounts about the Vrykolakas appeared titled: Relation de l’Isle de Sant-erini, 1657. He believed the devil kept some corpses and animated them. For the Jesuit, the “vrykolakas” was simply “a special case of diabolic possession. He said that when a village is visited by vrykolakas, the villagers gather in one house for protection, and apply to their Bishop for permission to exhume the suspect. This is done on a Saturday, the only day when a vrykolakas may rest in its grave. If the body is found “fresh and gorged with new blood”, it is “exorcised” with prayer or cremated.

The Merchant Returning as a Vrykolaka

His wife had him buried with full honors according to the story, so his transformation wasn’t because of anything with an improper burial as many vampiric stories allude to. He began appearing in houses in the area, violently assaulting people and causing damage. Fifteen people are said to have died after his beating, or just in pure terror. 

Read Also: The Shoemaking Vrykolakas Vampire from Pyrgos Castle

Prayers and exorcisms were fruitless in stopping the haunting. Patino’s body was ordered sent back to Natolia, but the thoroughly spooked sailors charged with its transport stopped on the first island they passed and burned it, which ended the phenomena. 

The Vrykolakas Vampires: In Greek folklore, they believed in the vampiric Vrykolaka. Traditionally believed that a person could become a vrykolakas after death due to a sacrilegious way of life, but also through other means, like A cat leaping across a fresh grave, Consuming meat from a sheep slain by a wolf or werewolf. Some believed that a werewolf itself could become a powerful vampire after being killed. This revenant wasn’t after just the blood, but also the flesh, some saying the liver was its favorite.

The same Jesuit priest notes elsewhere in his writings that vrykolakas were commonly thought to be unable to cross salt water by themselves, and they were often dispatched on uninhabited islands. Like on the island of Amourgo, where they were said to roam freely often in groups of five or six, feeding on raw green beans. Who knows, perhaps there is still someone roaming the sunny islands around Santorini?

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Vrykolakas – Wikipedia

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Ukategorisert

The Churel: The Vengeful Vampire Woman of South Asian Folklore

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Fueled by anger and vengeance, the vampiric Churel of South Asian folklore, is said to haunt down men to drain their blood as a vengeful spirit brought back from the dead.

Across South Asia, there are countless legends of spirit beings that stalk the night and prey on the living like a vampire. Among the most feared and vivid of these is the Churel (चुडैल in Hindi and چڑیل in Urdu), a female spirit often associated with death, betrayal, and unfulfilled fate. 

The Churel appears in stories from all over South Asia, but is perhaps most predominantly told in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, and today she remains one of the most potent ghost figures in regional folklore. Her presence is distinct, terrifying, and symbolic.

A Spirit Born of Suffering

The legend tells that a woman might become a Churel under tragic or unjust circumstances. Most commonly after she died during childbirth or pregnancy, but also that she was murdered by her family or husband can make her come back as the bloodsucking Churel. 

Instead of finding peace, she becomes trapped between realms, bearing resentment and a thirst for retribution. This way, she is known as an entity much like a vengeful ghost as well as a vampiric or even demonic creature. 

Other names she is known under: There are so many variations of this legend, she also comes under different names depending where her tales are told. She is called Chudail, Chudel, Churrail, Churreyl among otheres. In Gugarat she is also known as Jakihn, Jakhai, Mukai, Nagulai, Alvantin. In Punjabi they are often called Pichal peri or pichhal pairī.

The Churel is often described with a face that may be hideous and distorted. Her hair is long and unkempt. Her eyes are dark and burning with rage, her breast saggy, and her hands like claws. They are also described to have pig faces with large fangs or human-like faces with sharp tusks

Her appearance is based on what people deem unattractive in their time and culture it seems like. Sometimes she has the ability to shapeshift into a beautiful woman or a little girl to lure the men to her. 

One thing about her appearance she is known for is her backward-facing feet. Something that could be the only way to set her apart from other livingn women when she appears in her beautiful form. 

The Backward Facing Feet Vampire in Other Cultures: In Dominican folklore, people have the legend of ‘La Ciguapa’, a beautiful woman roaming through the trees at night. The only way you can tell she’s something other than human is by her backwards facing feet, and she as well lures men into their death. How did such a similar legend appear on the opposite side of the world? Some believe that it has African roots. Some believe it came with the Spaniards from the classics.  

Predator of the night

In folklore, the Churel is known to stalk men and especially young men traveling alone at night. She may call to them in the voice of a loved one, lure them to isolated places, and then reveal her true form. At that moment, the victim becomes trapped by fear and confusion.

Some tales describe the Churel’s attack as sucking the life force or blood from her victims. She is often said to attack people from the youngest to the oldest, or perhaps most handsome to the least. Working herself through families and friend groups. Legend also tells about Churel’s kidnapping of young men, imprisoning him until he is elderly, or else using him sexually until he withers and dies.

It is also said that she is a danger to new mothers as well. In other versions, the Churel’s goal is not consumption but revenge. Her victims may be men who wronged women, men who harmed others, or simply those unlucky enough to encounter her.

She stalks her prey close to graveyards, forests, crossroads and cremation grounds, feeding on her victims blood, and even semen. Some are said to die instantly, some youth surviving her initial attack is slowly wasting away and dying. 

Types of Churel According to Lore

Although it is a rather old legend spanning across countries, languages and religions, the variations of the legends are vast and many. There are those who have tried to break the types of legends down into three categories though. 

Most Churel are Soshi Churel, women who were neglected in life and now stalk men to drain their blood and semen. Often they will be particularly fond of the blood of their own relatives.

Some Churel specifically target and molest children. Known as Poshi Churel, they only feed upon children and are submissive to their husbands, should he still be alive.

Toshi Churel, and are kind and beneficial to their families. They often become protectors of their family and serve their husbands after death.

Regional Variations of the Legend

But from where does the legend come from, this particular bloodsucking monster with her feet backwards? The Churel myth likely originated in Persia, where similar spirits were said to arise from women who died with unfulfilled desires. And there are Persian accounts of travelers seeing reversed footprints and by mistake, running right toward her. 

The legend spread into South Asia and merged with local traditions. In some accounts, they are associated with demonic entities or identified with dakinis female spirits or servants linked to the goddess Kali.

The Dākinī: The concept of the ḍākinī varies by context and tradition. In early Hindu texts and East Asian esoteric Buddhism, it refers to demonesses who consumed human flesh or essence. In Hindu Tantric literature, Ḍākinī is a goddess linked to specific chakras or the seven elements of the body. In Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhism, ‘ḍākinī’ can signify fierce female embodiments of enlightened energy or spiritually developed women who aid Tantric initiates in achieving enlightenment.

There are many variations of the legend, many of them found in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. Among the Korwas of Mirzapur, a woman who dies in a lying room for childbirth can become a Churel. The Pataris and Majhwars say a girl who dies during pregnancy or in an “unclean” state becomes a Churel, appearing as a girl in white who lures men into mountains. To free the captives they need to sacrifice a goat. 

The Kharwars believe that when the soul leaves the body, it becomes air but if it comes in contact with a person, the soul becomes troublesome. The Bhuiyars claim a girl who dies before 20 days of age becomes a Churel.

In Punjab, it is believed that women who die without proper funeral rites related to their bed may return as Churels. In Punjabi they are often called Pichal peri or pichhal pairī (ਪਿੱਛਲ ਪੈਰੀ, پچھل‌ پيری), meaning reversed footed. They are said to roam the mountains of India and Pakistan and are found in the Himalayas, though it occasionally comes from the mountains and enters some Indian villages.

In Pakistan, sightings are usually reported in the rural mountainous regions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, however sightings in the Punjab province are also occasionally reported.

The Reversed Feet Tribe: Abarimon or antipode in mythology are people whose feet are reversed, however, in spite of this disability, were able to run at extreme speeds. This majestic tribe was first described in Europe by Pliny the Elder, in his book, Natural History (VII 11), who believed them to be native to India or somewhere in the Himalayan mountains.

In Gujarat, any woman who dies unnaturally may become a Churel, though earlier traditions linked this specifically to lower-caste women. In South Gujarat, a village near Mandvi is battling an unusual crisis as it is named the same as the monster, creating problems for the locals. For more than a decade, villagers have been striving to change the name. They say they do not even know how the village came to be called Chudel. Families face difficulties during marriage negotiations. Young men struggle to find brides, as many families hesitate to send their daughters to a village with such a name. Similarly, girls from the village find it hard to secure matches elsewhere, as prospective grooms are reluctant to visit.

It is also believed if a woman died during the Diwali festival, she would return as one of the undead as well as days where she was menstruating. Churel is also the word for a living witch.

Rituals and protection

The best way to avoid a Churel is to prevent her creation. Across regions, people believed in various ways to protect themselves from a Churel and various rituals to appease or ways to content them, like spitting three times, reciting prayers and other spiritual rituals. 

In Tamil culture human priests gather and collectively propitiate her with offerings. In some villages, a Stonehenge-like structure is used to ward off the Churel.

How to prevent a Churel Forming: The body of the woman is anointed with five different products of a cow and sacred texts recited. The place where she died is cleaned thoroughly and mustard (Sarson) is sprinkled on the spot, and along the path used to carry the body. Mustard is said to grow in the land of the dead, and the sweet smell keeps her pacified. Sometimes a Baiga who is someone who pacifies spirits, will step in. In some villages, people believed that placing a corpse face down or burying it in a specific posture would prevent the spirit from rising. If Hindu, the remains are cremated as per Hindu tradition.

The Churel in modern memory

Today the Churel appears in South Asian horror films, television dramas, and contemporary storytelling. She is often depicted as a terrifying female figure, her feet turned backward, her eyes glowing in moonlit fields.

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References:

Churel – Wikipedia

The Name Of This Gujarat Village Has Become A Curse For Its Women

Pichal Peri – Wikipedia

Rajaram Narayan Saletore (1981). Indian Witchcraft. Abhinav Publications. pp. 121–2. ISBN 978-0-391-02480-9

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The Shoemaking Vrykolakas Vampire from Pyrgos Castle

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After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going. 

Perhaps the sunny Santorini is not the place people think vampire-like creatures roamed, although history would tell you otherwise. 

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From the text from a French priest, we have some of the oldest stories of the vampiric Vrykolakas from Greek folklore documented in writing. One of them being the tale of Alexander from Pyrgos. 

Santorini: The Greek Island, officially Thira or Thera, is around 200 km from mainland Greece in the Aegean Sea. As well as ancient Greek mythology, the folklore was influenced from the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman rule as well as Orthodox Christianity. Pyrgos Kallistis was the former capital of Santorini.Some speculate that there are so many vrykolakas stories from here because of the volcanic soil so the body doesn’t decompose as well.

The Shoemaker at Pyrgos Castle

His name was said to be Alexander, and he had been a shoemaker at Pyrgo Castle. He was known as a gentle and kind man when he was alive.

It’s not mentioned exactly what happened that turned Alexander into a vrykolaka after his death. Most often, Greek vampire stories tell about people living sinful lives that are turned into vampires. In Alexander’s case however, it seems something else must have triggered the transformation. One thing worth noting is that Alexander is far from the only shoemaker that turned into a vampire, although the connection to the profession is unknown. 

Vrykolakas Stories: Jesuit Priest François Richard was a missionary to the Greek island of Santorini. In Paris, his accounts about the Vrykolakas appeared titled: Relation de l’Isle de Sant-erini, 1657. He believed the devil kept some corpses and animated them. For the Jesuit, the “vrykolakas” was simply “a special case of diabolic possession. He said that when a village is visited by vrykolakas, the villagers gather in one house for protection, and apply to their Bishop for permission to exhume the suspect. This is done on a Saturday, the only day when a vrykolakas may rest in its grave. If the body is found “fresh and gorged with new blood”, it is “exorcised” with prayer or cremated.

The Helpful Vampire of Pyrgos

According to the story, Alexander returned from the grave, not to attack or eat the flesh from the living like in many stories, but appeared to his living wife as he had in life. He returned to mend his children’s shoes, carry water for the family, work on their house and chop their firewood. 

The Vrykolakas Vampires: In Greek folklore, they believed in the vampiric Vrykolaka. Traditionally believed that a person could become a vrykolakas after death due to a sacrilegious way of life, but also through other means, like A cat leaping across a fresh grave, Consuming meat from a sheep slain by a wolf or werewolf. Some believed that a werewolf itself could become a powerful vampire after being killed. This revenant wasn’t after just the blood, but also the flesh, some saying the liver was its favorite.

Although his family’s reaction to this is not talked about, it seems this went on for a while, and it was his neighbors who took matters into their own hands. After seeing him going on with his chores, fetching water from the cistern and chopping wood in the valley, they decided to exhume his body from his grave. According to lore, all vrykolakas went back to their graves on Saturdays, so it’s most likely this is what happened. Here, even the helpful dead needed to go. 

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References:

Vampirólogos. Francois Richard 

By Light Unseen – Vampires in Media and Culture

Vrykolakas – Wikipedia

Greek Accounts of the Vrykolakas

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The Sea Draug: The Ghostly Fisherman of the Norwegian Coast

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Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters. 

Along Norway’s rugged coastline, where the sea has always given both life and death, sailors have long spoken in hushed tones about a terrifying apparition known as the sea draug. As a place where the sea claimed hundreds of lives every year, no wonder that a particular sea ghost started haunting the shores. 

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Originally, the word draugh simply meant ghosts, and there are stories about them across Scandinavia since before the Viking area. This ghost is not the same creature as the draugr of the Viking sagas, the corporal ghost even though they share a name. The sea draug belongs to coastal Norwegian folklore and is shaped by centuries of fear, loss, and respect for the unforgiving ocean, especially along the coast of western Norway stretching up to the north, the draug is almost always a ghost from the sea.

The Norse Draug: The word draug itself is derived from the Old Norse word draugr , which originally could mean the ghost of any deceased person. The draugen was originally a dead person, either living in a mound (in Old Norse called haugbúi ) or going out to haunt the living. They were corporal ghosts.  // Illustration: Kim Diaz Holm

A Spirit Born of the Sea

In later folklore it became common to limit the figure to a ghost of a dead fisherman who had drifted at sea and who was not buried in Christian soil. Later the word has mainly come to mean a spirit at sea in Norway. This development is partly due to the many and popular folkloric tales of Jonas Lie in the 1870s , 80s and 90s, based on superstitions from Northern Norway. In other Nordic countries though, the word draug, often means the ancient and corporal ghost from the graves. 

The Sea Draug: Fairy tale artist Theodor Kittelsen’s The Sea Troll from 1887 shows a creature that has several features in common with the drowned ghost, the draug. Kittelsen also has his own drawing of the draug as a drowning man in a fisherman’s boat.

It is often said to look like a fisherman still dressed for work, wearing oilskins or old sea clothes soaked through and clinging to a bloated body. Its skin is pale and water-swollen, and its eyes may glow faintly, lit by an eerie shimmer like moonlight on kelp.

Seaweed is frequently described as tangled in its hair or beard, drifting and moving as if still underwater. In some stories, the draug’s presence is announced not by sight but by sound. The creak of oars, the slap of waves against wood, or a strange voice calling out across the water can signal that it is near. When it cried out at night, it sounded like a cry for help from people in danger.

The Fear of the Draug: An incident from Nesna where two men had sailed for coal a few years earlier between Vikholmen on Hugla and Saura on Handnesøya. The shipwreck occurred in winter right near his home. One of them made it ashore on a deserted islet. From there he shouted in vain for help. People on Vikholmen near his home heard him, but did not dare to go out, because they thought the cries came from the sea draug. The man was found frozen to death in the spring. This story corresponds somewhat with the documented accident on January 20, 1823, when fisherman and farmer Lars Pedersen Tønder from Vik on Hugla died on the uninhabited Sauraholmen.

Sometimes he would wander around in the boathouses, and sometimes he would be a stone with seaweed on it, so fishermen were reluctant to take a “seaweed stone” as ballast as he could come onboard with them then..

He settled near fresh water, in mill houses, landed and moored boats or boathouses. Signs of his presence were rust and turned oars. If he went out into the boat, it became noticeably heavier. The ghost could not tolerate light or fire and could be scared away with fire or embers. Grassy land was safe because the ghost could not walk there.

Sometimes he would get into the fishermen’s huts and lie down under the beds. He would only disappear when the room was lit or heated. He would also evaporate if someone shouted “Kirkheim” or threw cemetery soil or excrement after him. Such soil could symbolize that the drowned person was finally able to rest in consecrated ground. Another old piece of advice was to smear feces on the landing rope to prevent the ghost from taking the boat. The belief in the use of excrement against supernatural forces is found in connection with other legendary figures, including ghouls or elves. Rituals, such as spitting on land before getting out of the boat or tying three knots on the rope, were also used as protection.

Boats that Should not Float

One of the most chilling images in sea draug folklore is that of the half-sunken boat. The draug is said to row vessels that sit unnaturally low in the water, as if already claimed by the sea. These boats glide silently through fog or darkness, appearing suddenly alongside fishing boats or ships.

In storms he headed for land like the other fishermen. He could race or steer directly towards boats, and anyone who encountered him at sea was in for a bad time. If a boat was overlooked by the draug, it foreshadowed inevitable shipwreck and death for the crew.

Seeing such a boat was considered a deadly omen. To meet the gaze of the sea draug or hear its call could mean disaster. Some tales say it cries warnings of coming storms, as if trying to save others from sharing its fate. Other stories are darker, claiming the draug lures sailors closer, only to drag them down into the depths.

If the draug shouts “Welcome” or calls out the name of a specific person, you should not respond. You should stand up, turn your back to the sound, and shout the same word. If you find bones, clothes, planks or similar from a sunken boat near where you hear the draug, you must make sure to get it upstream and bury it. If it is buried where the seawater does not reach it, it will lose its effect. If you are in possession of fire when you encounter the draug, you should throw a firebrand at it and shout: “Now you are burning!” Then it will go out to sea, and only the Morilden or mareel will appear after it.

Stories of the sea draug are deeply tied to Northern Norway, where long winters, dark waters, and violent weather have shaped life along the coast. These legends helped explain sudden disappearances and shipwrecks, and they gave form to grief in communities where loss was a constant companion.

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References:

Draug

draug – Store norske leksikon

Draugen – havets hevner og dødens varsler – Helgeland Museum

Draugen – Nordlige folk

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The Haunted Jane Street Hotel: Echoes of the Lost Sailors

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After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers. 

In the heart of New York’s West Village stands a hotel where luxury and lingering sorrow intertwine. The Jane Street Hotel, with its vintage charm and storied past, hides a history steeped in tragedy. 

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Long before it became a fashionable stay for travelers in Greenwich Village, it was known as the American Seaman’s Friend Society Sailors’ Home and Institute, built in 1908. In 2008, it was restored and came back as a boutique hotel, often called The Jane.

Back then it was a refuge for sailors arriving from the high seas. But the souls who once found rest within its walls may never have truly left.

The Jane Hotel: at 505-507 West Street on the corner of Jane Street in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1907-08 as the American Seamen’s Friend Society Sailors’ Home and Institute, and was designed by William A. Boring as a hotel for sailors.// Source

The Titanic Tragedy

The hauntings are often linked to one of the most heartbreaking events in the hotel’s history. In 1912, after the sinking of the Titanic, the Jane Street building became a temporary shelter for surviving crew members brought ashore in New York, mostly British Sailors. 

The survivors of the Titanic stayed at the hotel until the end of the American Inquiry into the ship’s sinking. The surviving crew held a memorial service at the hotel four days after the ship sank. More than a hundred survivors were said to have stayed here after the accident. Afterward, the ASFS commissioned a plaque for the building, memorializing those who died in the sinking.

RMS Titanic: The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic was four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. on 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, she hit an iceberg and sank. Out of the 2,224 people onboard, 1,635 died. Many of them are now believed to haunt different parts of the world. //Image: 1912 illustration by Willy Stöwer.

According to the stories, some of the Titanic sailors, still traumatized from the tragedy, went mad. One allegedly hanged himself. Although mostly the dead from a tragedy like this are said to be the ghosts, but this time, it is the spirit of the survivors that are still here in their afterlife. Many believe that the cries heard in the night belong to these surviving sailors, still mourning the shipmates they left behind in the freezing Atlantic.

The Haunted Jane Street Hotel

Guests who spend the night here speak of strange occurrences that defy reason. According to founder of the Haunted Manhattan walking tour, Brent Pedersen, people have even fled from their rooms because of the paranormal activity. Wailing and moaning echo down the narrow hallways, often in the dead of night when the city outside lies still. The elevators stop and move by themself. Doors creak open on their own, and the sound of heavy footsteps can be heard pacing through empty corridors. 

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Some visitors have reported seeing faint figures drifting through the dimly lit rooms, their features blurred like mist, vanishing when approached. Others speak of sudden, icy chills that move through the air, lingering only long enough to raise the hair on the back of the neck.

Source

According to Pedersen, a woman staying at the hotel heard a man weeping outside of her room. When she peeked outside, no one was in the hallway, but the crying continued. When she saw the face of a crying sailor in the mirror, she screamed and checked out from the hotel at once. 

Source

Another case was on the third floor. A guest staying at the hotel noticed a figure of a woman in white through a porthole on a door. The guest opened and checked, but the woman vanished. But when the door was closed once again and the guest checked, the ghostly figure was still there, on the other side of the porthole. 

Though the Jane Street Hotel has since been transformed into a trendy boutique destination, its past continues to whisper beneath the polished wood and warm lighting. Guests may come for the vintage elegance and charm, but some leave with stories they cannot explain. Perhaps it is only the old building settling in the night. Or perhaps it is the restless souls of sailors who still wander the halls, searching for the peace they never found at sea.

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    From the despair of a mother dying in childbirth, a blood thirsty spirit rises in her place. With her alluring appearance and ability to transform into flying entities, she is one of the feared vampires from Malay folklore.

References:

Inside the city’s spookiest destination for Halloween

Historic NYC Hotel | The Jane | Titanic Hotel Manhattan

The Jane – Wikipedia

Part of NYC’s legendary Jane Hotel to become private club

Ghostly Tales from the Titanic 

Ukategorisert

The Silent Music Haunting Hald Pensjonat

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Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger. 

In the coastal town of Mandal, where summer light lingers long into the evening, Hald Pensjonat appears by the shore, unassuming. But legend has it that it is haunted, although the details of it are scarce.  

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In the left wing there is a carved and decorated ceiling in the Renaissance style with 42 carved heads. The heads are all different and symbolize, among other things, sorrow, joy, despondency and despair. Perhaps they are the only ones who can sway what’s really going on inside of these walls.  

Hald Pensjonat: The historic Hald Pensjonat in Mandal, is thought to be haunted by the soft piano music, although no one is playing. // Foto: Daniel DeNiazi

The Assembling of Hald Pensjonat

The property is a building complex consisting of one central building and two wings. The building in the middle was originally built around 1795 in Eikvåg outside Farsund , and was called “Krohn’s House”. Around 1897, Jens Bugge moved this building to Mandal.

The two wings have also been moved to their current location from other locations. The west wing was originally an older house in the Malmö district of Mandal . The east wing was an older house in Kleven in Mandal, built around 1750. In all, the history of this house comes from multiple parts of the country.

Today, the Hald International Center has premises here. In the summer, the site is used as a guesthouse. The building absorbed the presence of countless visitors, their routines, their conversations, their quiet moments. But not everyone who stayed here is believed to have left.

The Moved Building: Is the haunting from one of the buildings that were moved to Mandal years ago? Here from Farsund, where the pirate, John Jahnse lived in his time.

The Piano Playing Alone

But who is the one behind the haunted rumors? Some say it had to be John Jahnse, a pirate and hijacker of ships who used to live in one of the rooms in the 1700s. This particular room was one of those that were moved from Farsund to Hald. Footsteps were apparently heard around the house and during the second world war, it was said to scare the German soldiers who took over the house. The footsteps frightened them so much that they shot at the ceiling in the fireplace room. Stories say you can still see the bullet hole. 

The most well known phenomenon at Hald Pensjonat centers around the piano music seemingly coming from the fireplace room. More than once, music has reportedly been heard drifting through the rooms without a visible player. 

Sources tell that in the fall of 2000, when a group heard the piano music, they went to check it out. When investigated, the piano is found untouched. The lid closed and the room was empty.

The Mysterious Piano Music: The cozy interior of Hald Pensjonat, featuring a comfortable seating area and an antique piano, where ghostly piano music has been reported. // Source: Ssu/Wikimedia

The Figure in the Corridors

Equally unsettling is the figure some claim to have seen in the hallways. The figure appears briefly, then disappears around a corner or into a shadow where no doorway exists.

But who could this figure be? The building is from a time after the reformation, so no monks lived there. Some speculate a former caretaker. Others suggest a deeply religious guest who once sought solitude within these walls. There are no records to confirm any theory.

A Place that Remembers

Unlike many haunted hotels that have been leaning into its house spirits, the manager for the bed and breakfast used to say that the Bible didn’t want the living to contact the dead and didn’t want people to come seeking ghosts. 

When the summer season ends and the house grows still, some believe the music returns. Soft notes echoing through empty rooms. At Hald Pensjonat, something remains awake long after the guests have gone.

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References:

La spøkelsene leve i fred – NRK Sørlandet

Hald (bygning) – Wikipedia

Tør du sove her?

Hald Pensjonat Mandal Her, i et av rommene bodde Skips kapreren John Jahnsen. Dette rommet var fra før et hus som sto i Farsund og senere flyttet til Hald. Han har vandret rundt i rommet og har ikke forlatt huset. Det er hele tiden hørt fot trinn rundt i huset. Under andre verdenskrig, når tyskerne tok over huset ble de så redde av fottrinnene at de fyrte av et skudd mot taket i peisestuen. Kulehullet finnes der fremdeles. Det er og observert en munk som går rundt i gangene. Høsten 2000 hørte de plutselig piano spilling fra peisestua, de gikk inn, men ingen folk å se. bilde tatt fra hjemmesiden til Hald pensjonat 37 Halseveien, Mandal, Norge, 4517

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The Mandurugo Vampire Bride of Philippine Folklore

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Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty. 

In Philippine folklore terminology, Mandurugo is distinguished from the broader category of aswang, a general term for malevolent shape-shifters. The name mandurugo itself comes from the root word dugo, which means “blood” in several Philippine languages. A mandurugo is literally “one who deals in blood.”

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The mandurugo is typically described as a woman of striking beauty by day, indistinguishable from any other person in her community. And unlike many vampiric notions, she is not seen as a revenant or a part of the undead, but rather a real life woman or creature with powers.

A Beautiful Woman in the Dark

As mentioned, the mandurugo blends in with the rest of human society and targets mainly young men. She marries time and time again to feed on her husbands.  She feeds on her husband at night, laying in bed next to him as he sleeps. She has a pointed tongue she uses to prick and suck his blood and life. 

She also has the ability to shapeshift into a harpy-like creature with wings and at night she can fly and hunt her prey, something she has in common with another vampiric creature in Filipino mythology we’ll come back to.

Her appetites give rise to fear and mystery. If a man suddenly falls ill without explanation, communities whisper that a mandurugo may have visited him in the night. If livestock weaken or drain perplexingly, people suspect the same hunger at work. 

For protection, some would make a concoction of duhat (Java plum) mixed with ginger, manzanitas bark, yantok, blood and makahiya leaves and used as an offering to the mandurugo, so she wouldn’t harm those in the household.

Folklore and Fear of the Filipino Shapeshifters

The Mandurugo is thought of being a type of Aswang creature, shapeshifting monsters in Filipino myths and legends. These creatures were documented to be some of the most feared in folklore and their motifs were often nothing but causing most harm.  

Asawang: Aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil and malevolent creatures in Filipino folklore, such as vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and transforming human-beast hybrids. Spanish colonists noted that the aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century.

Most of the stories and legends about the Mandurugo are found in both Tagalog and Bicol lore, specifically around Capiz, Panay Island it seems to have been most prominent.

We have documented tales about the lore from the Spanish from the 16th century and where the lore about the Asawang and Mandurugo were seen and understood through the Christian lense and demonology, that made an impact about how they are seen today. 

It seems that the lore about the Mandrurugo changed drastically. In pre-colonial Philippines the Mandurugo used protective rituals during vulnerable life stages such as childbirth. It is also likely that once, the mandurugo were a type of Kinnara or kinnari, gentle and beautiful winged creatures that resemble slim youths. They have wings same as birds on their backs, some on their buttocks, in oral tradition it is believed that the Kinari will love and serve devotedly any human who has treated it kind and when the human breaks the creature’s heart the kinari turns into a blood sucking monster.

Kinnara: (Sanskrit: किन्नर Kiṃnara) is a creature from Hindu and Buddhist mythology that the monster of Mandurugo could have sprung out from. They are described as part human and part bird, and have a strong association with music and love. Believed to come from the Himalayas, they often watch over the well-being of humans in times of trouble or danger. // Source: Wikimedia

The Manananggal Vampiric Creature Targeting Pregnant Women

As mentioned, the Mandurugo is only one of many vampiric creatures with a bird-like appearance. The manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings. 

They are definitely similar and have sometimes been used interchangeably in stories. The main difference being who they are hunting. The Manananggal prey on unsuspecting, sleeping pregnant women in their homes. The myth of the manananggal is widely recognized in the Visayan regions of the Philippines.

The word manananggál is derived from the Tagalog word tanggál, meaning “to remove” or “to separate”, and literally translating to “remover” or “separator”. They also use an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck fetuses from these pregnant women. They also prefer to eat the heart and the liver and the phlegm of sick people. Folklore also associates the creature with targeting newlyweds, lovers, newborn children, and occasionally grooms who were abandoned before marriage.

Traditional practices for killing a manananggal include applying salt, garlic, ash, or fire to the lower half, thereby preventing the upper torso from reuniting with it. If it fails to recombine before sunrise, the creature is believed to die.

The Girl With Many Lovers

One of the most famous stories about the husband hunting mandurugo vampire, is the Tagalog story of The Girl With Many Lovers. 

A young girl said to have been the most beautiful in the land, married at the age of sixteen. Although she was from an unknown place and an unknown family, her beauty won everyone over. Her husband was young and strong, but something was wrong. Although there were no clear signs of illness or disease, he withered away within a year and died. 

After his death she remarried, but her second husband, and then her third, suffered the same fate. After all the death that kept following her, suspicion around her grew, although nothing could be proved. 

Her fourth husband, having been warned, feigned sleep one night while keeping a knife close at hand. At midnight he felt a presence looming over him and then a prick in his neck. He stuck at the creature with his knife, and heard a screech and the flapping of wings. 

The next day, his bride was found dead near their house with a knife wound in her chest, having been a blood sucking Manurugo the whole time. 

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References:

Mandurugo – Wikipedia

mandurugo | Facts, Information, and Mythology

https://solarspell-dls.sfis.asu.edu/mea/wikipedia/wp/v/Vampire.htm

Bicolano Myths : ASWANG (BIKOLANO MYTHOLOGY)

Mandurugo: A vampire from Filipino folklore

Kinnara – Wikipedia

Manananggal – Wikipedia

https://www.aswangproject.com/creatures-mythical-beings-philippine-folklore-mythology/
Ukategorisert

The Ghostly Guardian of MS Nordstjernen

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The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.

MS Nordstjernen was built in 1956 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. The order came from Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab, which wanted a modern coastal steamer capable of carrying four hundred passengers. The ship was named after Stella Polaris, the North Star, long trusted by seafarers as a guide through darkness and storm.

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During a test of the fire doors on B deck, designed to slam shut automatically in case of emergency, a young German shipyard worker named Ernst was caught between the steel doors. He was crushed to death instantly.

Despite the accident, the ship was completed on schedule and departed on her maiden voyage from Hamburg to Bergen on February 24, 1956.

Ernst never came along in body. But many believe he never truly stayed behind either.

Photo: Aldebaran/Wikimedia

A Lifetime at Sea

MS Nordstjernen remained in service for more than sixty years, making her the longest sailing ship in Hurtigruten history going all the way along the Norwegian coast until 1994. She crossed the Arctic Circle more than three thousand times without a single major accident. The boat has sailed a distance equivalent to 185 laps around the Earth, or 19 times to the moon.

Stories began circulating early in the ship’s career that Ernst had become a permanent passenger. He was said to travel from port to port, in sunshine and winter storms alike, never setting foot on land. Even in the harshest conditions, when ice covered the bridge and waves battered the hull, Nordstjernen always made it safely home.

– He is here and looks after us. We have full confidence that he wants us well. If he had wanted us to do something bad, we would have made it up, said captain Kåre Søllevold in the TV report that aired on the 2006 Norway Rundt.

The Man in the Corridors

Many passengers claim to have encountered the ship’s ghost. Ernst is most often reported on the cabin deck. Some describe him as a shadow slipping along the corridor walls. Others say they have seen the outline of a grown man, vague but unmistakably human.

Captain Ole Johan Andreassen has worked on the ship for 1.5 years and is among those who believe he has experienced the presence of the ghost. He himself is convinced that he met the restless German when he ate in the church one night. Then suddenly the door closed by itself. He probably didn’t want me to sit in the draft, the captain says, laughing.

Cabin attendants have felt his presence while cleaning empty rooms. Crew members insist he causes no trouble. On the contrary, they say he keeps them company in the smoking lounge. More than once, a visible indentation has appeared on the sofa cushion beside them, as if an invisible body had settled down to listen. Like Sailor Einar Antonsen who also believes he has encountered the ghost.

– When I have a smoke in the smoking booth, he often comes and keeps me company. Then I can see that the sofa cushion pulls down, just as if someone is sitting there, he says, pointing to the place Captain Andreassen has taken.

Photo: Tore Sætre / Wikimedia

There are stranger encounters as well.

Female passengers have occasionally complained that someone gently stroked their hair, even though no one stood nearby. One waiter woke in the middle of the night to find Ernst sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in a green boiler suit. Where his face should have been, there was only white mist.

Today, MS Nordstjernen has been retired from its long service of carrying cruise passengers into Arctic waters. The engines still hum. The decks still creak beneath careful footsteps. And some believe that somewhere aboard, the young shipyard worker remains at his post, faithful to the vessel that claimed his life. After all, a ship named after the North Star should never sail without a guide.

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References:

DEN EVIGE PASSASJEREN på hurtigruteskipet MS Nordstjernen – Issuu 

Vil jakte på spøkelse på hurtigruta – NRK Nordland

Selger verdens eldste hurtigrute – NRK Nordland

MS «Nordstjernen» – Wikipedia

An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.

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