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The Uhaml Forest Spirit of Without a Face

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In the darkness of night and under the foliage cover of the forest, the demonic spirit of Uhaml is said to roam. The only way to escape it is getting out of the forest faster. 

In the folklore of the Germans living in former Bohemia and Silesia, places that are now part of Czech Republic and Poland, a forest spirit was warned about. Particularly in the regions shaped by dense woods, marshes, and old trade routes, the spirit known as the uhaml prowled. This entity is something between ghost and monster that no one can describe how it looks like.

Lore described the uhaml as a formless figure, often glimpsed only in fleeting moments or seen more as movement in the shadows than a solid body. It was not a spirit tied to a specific grave or location, but a presence that could appear anywhere in the darkness.

Bohemia and Silesia: A lot of old folklore from these parts were often germanic because of the german settlers from medieval times, especially for mining. At times, certain settlements far outnumbered the Czech and Polish speakers. During the 1900s, there were less and less until world war two when all the Germans were expelled.

The Forest Spirit

The uhaml was not merely a scary story told to discourage children from wandering at night. It served as a cultural explanation for tragedies that the people of earlier centuries could not otherwise explain. Carriages that overturned, travelers who disappeared between towns, hunters who never returned from the woods, and people who died suddenly in the dark were all sometimes attributed to the presence of the uhaml.

The exact nature of the uhaml varied by region and storyteller. In some tales it resembled a disembodied shape moving just beyond the sight of the observer. In others it was more like a presence that could not be seen at all, only felt. Although there is no description for the creature, it is often said to be female. 

The spirit is sometimes described as some sort of a demonic bird, although it is said to have horse feet. The call of uhaml is what is most prominent of the spirit, sounding something like Uhuhu, like an owl. People imitating the spirit are in danger of being chased by it. 

The Uncanny Owl: The name Uhaml can be explained as a Silesian dialectal form of Standard German “unheimlich”, meaning “eerie” or “uncanny”, or can more likely be connected to the Eurasian eagle-owl, called “Uhu” in German with regard to its call. According to historians, people of olden times believed that when the eagle owl let its sinister scream sound in European forests or along the coast, it was a sign of ghosts, accidents, or other terrible things to come. In Asia, especially for the Mongolians and the Turks, the owl is seen as sacred instead.

A Folkloric Warning

But how do you save yourself from a danger you can’t see? To protect oneself of the uhaml, people were said to sometimes leave three chips of wood or a loaf of bread in the parlor. The uhaml would enter and cut the bread in two and take one of the pieces with her. If you were being chased by her, the only way to escape was to reach the border of the forest and home and to seek cover of the eaves of the roof, hoping she would pass by. 

Another similar creature is found in Lower Austria close to the historical territories that had tales of the uhaml, there is the Udl. This is a demonic kind of bird dwelling in the woods covering the slopes of the castle mountain in Mödling. The screeching and nightly call of the Udl is an omen for war or other disasters.

Read Also: The Demonic Omen of Disaster at Mödling Castle Hill

So what was the uhaml? Some connect the legends as a sort of cousin to the German Aufhocker, another unidentifiable shapeshifting spirit of the forest, jumping on the back of other people, wearing them down. The victims often die of exhaustion because the Aufhocker cannot be shaken off or killed. As the Uhalm, the only way of getting out of the situation is by making it back home in time. 

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References:

Uhaml – Wikipedia

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The Demonic Omen of Disaster at Mödling Castle Hill

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Sometimes called the Devil’s Stone, the ruins of the former Mödling Castle is said to be haunted by a demonic bird-like entity, screeching at night as an omen of death and disaster. 

Just 30 minutes from Vienna lies the ruin of Mödling Castle, once Austria’s largest castle complex, where the Babenbergs lived in 1177, but history of the place on the hilltop stretches much further back.

Read More: Check out all ghostly tales from Austria

Throughout the years, the once noble castle was often dubbed by its other name, Devil’s Stone. Although the old castle is now in ruins, there are local legends about demonic spirits said to never have left, and never will. 

In the Ruins of Castle Mödling

Once upon a time, this now ruins was one of the largest castle complexes in Austria. In the 12th century, a branch of the Babenberg family resided here. The ruins remaining is actually a 19th century reconstruction of the much older castle that originally was. 

After the Hungarian victory at the Battle of Pressburg, the Bavarians retreated as far as the Vienna Woods, resulting in a two-hundred-year gap in records and only a few noteworthy archaeological finds from this period. 

The next record of a castle in Mödling dates from 1137 and mentions a “castellanus” who presumably already resided on a hill overlooking the town. Around 1150, the Babenbergs, under Duke Henry II Jasomirgott, began construction of a stone castle. Today, only the foundation walls and a few imposing arches remain.

The Demon Stones

Another nickname for the Mödling Castle is actually Teufelstein, meaning Devil’s Stone. It is uncertain when people started to refer this place as such, but in the play Der Teufelstein in Mödling (also Die Zauber-Rose) from 1800 it is referred to as such. Although a folktale romantic comedy, could there  be something the writer drew inspiration for? 

Because there have been several legends referring to the Devil’s Stones. In these tales, people often talk about something demonic happening on the castle hills, like wicked goblins causing mischief, or even demonic birds screeching in the night as a bad omen of oncoming danger and death. 

The Cries of the Demonic Bird Udl

One of the enduring legends of the Schlossberg or the castle hill near Mödling, is the call of the demonic bird Udl. It is said to sound eerie and hoarse, filling everyone hearing it with dread, because they know what it means. 

Demonic Bird Lore: The Udl is thought to be connected to the Eurasian eagle-owl as many other demonic bird stories are. According to historians, people of olden times believed that when the eagle owl let its sinister scream sound in European forests or along the coast, it was a sign of ghosts, accidents, or other terrible things to come. In Asia, especially for the Mongolians and the Turks, the owl is seen as sacred instead.

No one can scare the creature away, and no one dares to kill it. It always returns to its forest and is said to never leave. And its voice heralds war and famine, sickness and death. And attacks from the Hungarians, Ottomans and even Romans, the attacks were plenty on these hills.

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References:

http://www.moedlingkleinestadtganzgross.at/heimatbuch_1958.htm

https://www.burgen-austria.com/archive.php?id=1943

Mödling – Wikipedia

Burg Mödling – Wikipedia

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Guajona: The Blood-Thirsty Entity of Iberian Folklore

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Preying on the blood of the young one, the vampiric Guajona from northern Spain is said to stalk the villages and valleys in Cantabria, thirsting for blood. 

In the grim and windswept villages of northern Spain in Cantabria there walks a terrifying figure from Cantabrian mythology. Known as the Guajona or sometimes Lamia, she is a spectral entity associated with night, hunger, and death itself, an entity between a witch and vampire. 

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Cantabria is a historic community between the Basque country, Asturias and Castile, facing the Cantabrian sea. The area is known as the lush and green part of Spain from the coast to the mountains. Its remote and mountainous region made it possible for them to preserve both their celtic and Roman paganism for a long time. And with it, their monsters as well. 

The Spanish Vampire: Guajona lore is very similar to the neighbouring Asturian mythology of Guaxa. The origin of Guajona or Guaja could be in classical Arabic وحش wahsh, meaning “beast”. Although some give a different explanation. Xulio Concepción claims it comes from the Latin: “enemy,” in turn derived from the Indo-European ghos-ti: “foreigner, guest.”

Guajona and the Face of Hunger

The Guajona is described as a pale, gaunt woman with sunken features and long, stringy hair that drapes her shoulders like tattered cloth. Her skin is pale as bone, and her eyes are often said to glow faintly in the darkness. Her hands and feet are gnarled bird legs, her face is yellow and consumed by rough and hairy warts, her eyes are tiny and bright as stars. Her aquiline nose and mouth contain a single black razor sharp tooth that extends long enough to be under her chin and used to suck blood.

What marks her above all is her appearance of starvation. She is thin to the point of grotesque, as if hunger itself has become her form.

The creature only appears at night. It is unknown where she is meant to sleep during the day although it is suspected to be hiding underground. She feeds upon the life force of those she encounters. Those who see her are said to feel a sudden cold chill, an inexplicable weakness, or a sense of unbearable dread.

The Legend of Lamia: A lot of European myths about vampiric beings can be traced back to the Ancient Greek legend of Lamia, the child-devouring monster that were also known to haunt people and suck their blood as a daimon. As well as sharing many similarities between the legend of Lilith and other ancient succubus entities.  Read more: The Beautiful Queen Lamia Who Became a Vampire Monster. // Image: Lamia (second version, 1909) by John William Waterhouse.

A Nightmare in the Night

Descriptions of her movements are unsettling. She is sometimes said to glide over the ground without making sound, appearing suddenly behind travelers on deserted roads, creeping toward sleeping homes, or waiting in the shadows of forests and village edges. Guajona invades homes without getting noticed and walks silently toward healthy young children to suck their blood in their sleep by sticking her tooth into their veins. 

Cantabrian Mythology: The indigenous mythology of Cantabria , from its earliest origins and throughout history, has become intertwined with Celtic and Roman myths , and is partly related to legends and traditions from the rest of the Cantabrian coast . Christianity in Cantabria was a very late arrival. In the  4th century , the population was still mostly pagan. Among the remnants of myths that still persist as a substratum in Cantabrian tradition is the worship of great protective deities, such as the adoration of the Sun. // Image: Source

She does not kill them, instead leaving them almost bloodless so when they wake up in the morning they will be tired, pale and discolored. Guajona also attacks adults. Some versions of the legend say she not only drains life but also spirit. Those who encounter her may fall ill in inexplicable ways, left pale and weak as though an unseen hand has taken from them something essential. In older narratives, unexplained wasting sickness, sudden death, and lifelong fatigue were all sometimes attributed to an encounter with the Guajona.

A Cautionary Tale of the Guaxa

The legend of Guajona is often told together with the legend of the Guaxa from Asturia, the neighboring region to Cantabria. In fact, most places on the northern part of the Iberian peninsula from Portugal to Spain have their version of a bloodsucking witch entity no one really knows where it comes from. Some would even claim it is the same legend, just going under different names. 

So what is the difference between the tale of Guajona and the Astorian Guaxa? The lore behind the Guaxa follows a lot of the same steps as with the Guajona. She’s described as an old woman, sneaking into people’s homes to drink their blood. She particularly loves the blood of children. 

As the Guajona she is thin, ugly covered in warts and is said to have a single sharp tooth. The Guaxa is often said to be invisible and said to be able to slip though small cracks like the chimney, and even the keyhole. 

As with many vampiric beings from southern Europe, she is associated with owls or other nocturnal birds. In Asturia, people can say “It looks like the Guaxa has swallowed you,” when people have lost a lot of weight, as the Guaxa slowly over time drained people’s lives. 

One thing that is not so often talked about with the Guajona is how to ward off or fight against the Guaxa with amulets or other rituals. 

Read More: A Cautionary Tale of the Vampiric Guaxa from Asturia

Similar creatures are found in Galician lore as well, going under the name of the Meiga Chuchona. The question is, where did the legend evolve from? Should these entities be seen as the same creature with different names, or is their geographical regions and variations enough to make them separate beings in folklore?

Origins of the Legend of the Guajona

Adriano García-Lomas, a scholar of these topics, maintains that the Guajona was invented by the folklorist Manuel Llano, based on its Asturian equivalent. This opinion is widespread and can be considered the accepted one today. At least in Cantabrian, although the Asturian lore would say it’s the other way. 

Research of the lore shows that the legends go back centuries at least. As mentioned, many of the vampiric and witch entities in Europe, especially those areas taken over by the Roman empire, have a lot of things in common with the ancient Greek Lamia. Perhaps it is all a mix from south and north? Perhaps there is something particularly frightening lingering in the misty woods in Northern Spain? 

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References:

Guajona – Wikipedia

Cantabria – Wikipedia

Mitología cántabra – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

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Teresa Prieto The Witch of Jove and Spain’s First Vampire Case

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Teresa Prieto, known as the Witch of Jove, has captivated the imaginations of many through the centuries as the first recorded case of a vampire in Spain that reached the court. What was she? A witch? A vampire? Or was she one of many innocent women accused of something supernatural.

Long before the vampire became a figure of Gothic fiction, the fear of blood drinking witches already haunted the villages of medieval Spain. One of the earliest recorded cases emerged in the late fifteenth century in the coastal settlements around Gijón in Asturias. There, a woman named Teresa Prieto became the center of one of the strangest accusations in Spanish history. To her neighbors she was not simply a witch. She was believed to be a creature that slipped into homes at night and drank the blood of children.

Read More: Check out all ghostly stories and legends from Spain

The case of Teresa Prieto, later known as “the Witch of Jove” or “the Vampire of Xove,” sits at the crossroads between folklore and historical reality. It reveals how medieval fears of night demons, witchcraft, and vampirism could merge into a single terrifying accusation.

Gijón City: It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. This is also where the first recorded vampire court case in Spain happened.

Night Visitor of the Village

In the late 1400s the area of Jove, today called Xove, was not the modern district of Gijón known today. It consisted of small scattered villages connected by narrow paths and surrounded by forests and fields. Oral traditions and superstition shaped daily life. Local healers lived on the margins of society, gathering herbs from the woods to make remedies and potions.

The Asturian Guaxa: The Guaxa is said to be an old and thin woman-like entity, ugly and covered in warts. She is said to have a single sharp tooth she stalks her prey with. She sneaks into people’s homes in the middle of the night and feeds on them with her one sharp tooth. Children are preferred, but also young women and handsome men are in danger. She doesn’t kill them at once, nor does she transform her victims to one of her own. She slowly kills them, draining their life, bit by bit. In Asturia, people can say “It looks like the Guaxa has swallowed you,” when people have lost a lot of weight, as the Guaxa slowly over time drained people’s lives. Although this is a very Asturian legend, the case of Teresa Prieto was called a Strix or Estrige.

Within this environment strange rumors began to circulate.

Parents claimed that something entered their homes during the night. The intruder moved silently while families slept and approached the beds of children. When morning came, some children were found dead. According to the stories told by villagers, the bodies bore two small marks on the neck, signs that their blood had been sucked during the night.

Fear quickly turned toward a human suspect. The villagers accused Teresa Prieto.

The Shadow of the Strix

The accusations against Prieto did not arise in isolation. At the end of the fifteenth century European folklore still carried strong beliefs in striges or strigias, monstrous female beings said to prey on infants. These creatures were described as winged women with the claws and beaks of birds of prey who drank the blood of children to use in magical brews.

Such beliefs had deep roots in classical mythology and medieval superstition. The Roman strix and the Greek lamia were both imagined as female night predators who attacked infants. In medieval Europe these creatures slowly merged with the idea of witches. A woman accused of sorcery could easily be accused of vampiric acts as well.

The Strix: The strix (plural striges or strixes), in the mythology of classical antiquity, was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh and blood. It also referred to witches and related malevolent folkloric beings. The strix is described as a large-headed bird with transfixed eyes, rapacious beak, greyish white wings. In Romanian, strigăt means “scream” and strigoaică is the name of the Romanian feminine vampire while strigoi is the Romanian male vampire. Albanian folklore tells of the shtriga, and Slavic of the strzyga/stryha.

In the isolated communities of Asturias, the old legends were still alive. When children died unexpectedly, the ancient explanation returned. A blood drinking witch must be responsible.

Accusation and Trial

Around 1480, Teresa Prieto was formally denounced by her neighbors. She was accused of being a striga, a night witch who entered homes and drained the blood of children. The case reached the attention of the Spanish Inquisition, which opened proceedings against her.

The accusations described her as a woman who wandered through villages at night and entered houses secretly, harming Christians and sucking blood from children. In essence, the first documented case of vampirism in Spain, although the lore behind the blood sucking entity looked a little bit different than the modern version. 

She was turned in to Juan de Acebal, at the time a prosecutor and litigant who would lead the first Asturian case in the renewed Tribunal of the Inquisition, which had just been re-established in the kingdom of Castile, precisely on All Souls’ Day in 1478.

Prieto was arrested and subjected to interrogation and torture. She was bound hand and foot, twisting and turning on her back, and she was forced to drink liters of water continuously for at least an hour. Despite the ordeal she maintained her innocence and never confessed to the crimes attributed to her.

Torture: Water cure was among the forms of torture used by the Spanish Inquisition. Before pouring the water, torturers often inserted an iron prong (known as the bostezo) into a victim’s mouth to keep it open, as well as a strip of linen (known as the toca) on which the victim would choke and suffocate while swallowing the water.

The tribunal or the Bachelor Brecianos, eventually condemned her to death by hanging. There, it was ordered that she be taken “on horseback, riding a donkey, her hands and feet bound with an esparto rope around her neck,” publicly and shamefully before the townspeople, to the stone gallows where the witch or sorceress of Gijón would be hanged and her flesh burned to ashes.

Yet the case did not end in the way many witch trials did.

Escape From the Gallows

Before the sentence was carried out, Teresa Prieto appealed the verdict. As she stated in her protest, when she was arrested she was not informed of the charges or anything else; she had not been told who had denounced her; the accuser turned out to be the only witness and, aside from contradicting himself, was a personal enemy of hers, which should legally disqualify his testimony; furthermore, she had not been provided with the required legal representation, and the lieutenant corregidor had acted against her unjustly and contrary to the laws of the kingdom. She also emphasized that she had been subjected to torture without cause or reason and was summoned repeatedly without any new evidence or proof appearing. To conclude her plea, she stressed that by appearing before the court she demonstrated her good faith and should be able to atone for any possible crime.

The Court Case Files: (PARES, Portal de Archivos Españoles)

The appeal succeeded. Instead of execution she was imprisoned while the case continued. Her conduct during the proceedings appears to have influenced the authorities, and eventually the sentence was overturned.

In November of 1500 she was released from prison and allowed to return to Asturias as a free woman. Neither party was ordered to pay costs, but Teresa requested a written copy of the sentence and the return of the property and assets that had been confiscated from her.

In the end the supposed vampire of Jove was never proven to be anything more than a victim of fear and rumor.

The Birth of a Spanish Vampire Legend

Even though Teresa Prieto survived the trial, her reputation never disappeared. Folklore continued to describe her as a vampire witch who crept into houses at night to feed on children. Later historians and folklorists such as Julio Caro Baroja and Juan Uría Ríu recorded the story as one of the earliest examples of vampiric belief in Spain.

The witch of Jove belongs to a darker chapter of European folklore. She stands at the boundary between legend and historical record. A woman once accused of slipping through the night to drink the blood of children. A case where ancient fears of witches, demons, and vampires converged in the life of a single unfortunate person.

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  • The Hauntings of Stortorvet Gjestgiveri Restaurant
    In one of the city’s oldest buildings, the freshest food is served in the ancient locale. For years though, there have been talks about Stortorvet Gjestgiveri restaurant being haunted, and even made it as one of the most haunted clips in the national ghost hunting show.
  • The Headless Ghost of Buck Jones: Dublin’s Restless Sheriff
    Haunting Jone’s Road in Dublin, a headless horseman is said to roam after his life turned dark after scheming peers. And the former Dublin Sheriff, Buck Jones has become one of Ireland’s most well known headless horseman ghosts.
  • John Kavanagh’s ‘The Gravediggers’: A Pint with the Dead
    Next to the Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, there is a pub called John Kavanagh’s ‘The Gravediggers’, where they went to have a pint after working at the cemetery. Rumor has it that the pub is haunted by those buried next door.
  • The Armenian Vampire Dakhanavar of the Valleys
    Said to be a protector of the Valleys in Armenia, the Dakhanavar vampire hides in the caves in the mountains, waiting for intruders to quench his thirst.
  • Connolly Station: The Soldier Who Waits for a Train That Never Comes
    Could the Connolly Station in Dublin be haunted? Some claim that the ghosts of the victims from the Dublin Bombing in world war two could still be lingering near the tracks.
  • The Headless Undead in the Ruffinihaus Courtyard
    Once a place for executions, the place the Ruffinihaus in Munich, Germany is built upon is said to be haunted. It is said that in the dead of night, the undead rises from their graves, still carrying their heads the executioners took.
  • The Ghost of Könizwald, Bern: The Ghost of General Robert Scipio von Lentulus
    Where the former country estate Campagne Mon Repos in Bern once was, the ghostly council of the military leader from General Robert Scipio von Lentulus was given in times of unrest. Is he still haunting the Könizwald woods, even after his estate is gone?
  • The Alter Südfriedhof Cemetery and the Ghost of the Munich Eskimo Tragedy
    One of the old cemeteries in Munich said to be haunted is the Alter Südfriedhof, or the old south cemetery. According to lore, the ghostly voices of the so-called Eskimo Tragedy are still heard at night.
  • The Uhaml Forest Spirit of Without a Face
    In the darkness of night and under the foliage cover of the forest, the demonic spirit of Uhaml is said to roam. The only way to escape it is getting out of the forest faster.
  • Gwrach y Rhibyn – The Hag of the Mist Haunting the Welsh Waters
    In the shadows between ghost, creature and witch, the Welsh Gwarch y Rhibyn has been given many names. Like a Banshee she has been said to be a deadly omen, often called The Hag of the Mist because of her presence in wet areas, or the Hag of the Dribble because of the versions where her mouth is dripping with blood.
  • The Hofbräuhaus and the Ghost of A Munich Man in Heaven
    Unhappy with the lack of beer in heaven, the Bavarian angel never returned when sent on a mission back on earth. To this day, he sits at The Hofbräuhaus bar in Munich, enjoying his brew.
  • The Demonic Omen of Disaster at Mödling Castle Hill
    Sometimes called the Devil’s Stone, the ruins of the former Mödling Castle is said to be haunted by a demonic bird-like entity, screeching at night as an omen of death and disaster.

References:

Mito y realidad de Teresa Prieto, la bruja de Jove

Un zumbido mortal. Theresa Prieto, la vampira de Jove | El Comercio: Diario de Asturias

https://citaclio.blogspot.com/2022/11/teresa-prieto-la-asturiana-condenada.html

Strix (mythology) – Wikipedia