The Accursed Mountains of Albania

The mysterious mountains in Albania is a place known for its myths and legends. Strange tales are told of this place and has been named The Accursed Mountains.

“I could not help feeling that they were evil things– mountains of madness whose farther slopes looked out over some accursed ultimate abyss.”
– H. P. Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness

The Albanian Alps, officially called Prokletije is a breathtaking sight in the Balkans with glacial features, pointed peaks and weathered landscape, stretching from northern Albania, all the way to Kosovo and Montenegro. The lush green valleys and thick forests filled with wolves, old traditional stone villages makes you feel you really are in a fairy tale like place.

But the beauty of the accursed mountains comes with a bittersweet aftertaste when learning what the translated name of the mountain is. In English Prokletije is roughly translated to the Accursed Mountains and has a legend and myth that rests amongst the mountain peaks. And according to legends, it was the devil himself who created the mountains. As the name suggest, the legends surrounding The Accursed Mountains are more sinister than fairytale like.

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It is difficult to understand why such a serene place has been dubbed a cursed one, because how could the devil create such a beautiful thing? Anyway, that is the tale, and that is the mountains origin story.

From then on, the mountain range has been cursed and synonymous with blood feuds and bandits as well as natural disasters like avalanches. From 1946 to 1992, the country was under a harrowing communist regime with closed borders to keep people out as well as in. The Accursed Mountains were used as patrolling spots with buried landmines and bunkers for wars. So it’s not only because of its legends they are known as the accursed mountains, but because of their history as well.

It is a sparsely populated place, home to Albanians as well as Serbs, Bosniaks and montenegrins. It is a secluded place that is cut off from the rest of the world for weeks during the winter months. This is a place where the shepherds take their flock during the summer rather than staying for a the whole years.

The Legend of the Brothers and the Fairy

The legend of it being the devil himself who created these mountains is not the only legend of why this mountain range is supposedly cursed. The other legend is steeped much more in Albanian folklore than Christian religion and really comes out from a fairytale.

The mysterious mountains in Albania is a place known for its myths and legends. Strange tales are told of this place and has been named The Accursed Mountains. — **The Fairy Myth**: According to legend, the name is from that one fairy tale were the mother of hunters cursed a fairy from Albanian folklore.

A long time ago three brothers went out hunting. Up in the mountains they met a fairy. The brothers found her so beautiful and wanted her. This turned into a fight about who saw her first, who she belonged to and escalated to become quite violent. So violent that it ended in their death.

The fairy was watching from afar, but had no way of helping and couldn’t choose for them. She hoped for an agreement, but when her brothers died, she ran and hid behind the peaks of the mountain.

The Accursed Mountains

Days went by for the mother without a word from the sons. When none of the brothers returned from their hunting trip, their mother took up the search. She went up to the mountains and found all of her sons dead. She wailed as she buried her sons, her cries echoing through the mountain range.

The fairy heard her and went to her and told her what happened, that it was because of her that they had argued and died. But the mother didn’t want to hear the reason and only looked at the fairy as the cause of their death. The mother cursed both the fairy and the mountains, blaming them for her son’s deaths. And ever since then, the place has been called the Accursed Mountains and known for its mystery.