Forgot to add a picture of the flower for those who don't know it, so here it goes.

Oh, hell yeah. I'm all for this. Shove your folklore down my throat.


Sorry, I had to do that, because what I wanna talk about is one of my favorite folklore creatures ever. Elverpiger. I'm not sure if they're Danish or Scandinavian/Nordic, but here goes.

This particular type of elf lives inside little rounded hills and come out when it's foggy outside. They appear as stunningly beautiful young girls, very light on their feet, and they will ask young men to dance with them, eventually "dancing" them inside the hill, where it will close around them and the young man will disappear for an indefinite amount of time - without aging a day. Sometimes, they never leave the hill again.

The only way for one of their victims to get away is to get a look at their hollow backs. Yes, you heard correctly, they are indeed hollow-back girls. Supposedly, it just looks like nothing is there at all, but I like to imagine it as an actual hole in their back with either end of their spine visible, all gory. I'm pretty sure that would break the enchantment if someone saw that.

The elves are said to be daughters of the elf-king, who also lives inside this hill. He never comes out, though. Also related is mosekonen, the "Bog Madam". Ever seen a swamp or a meadow where the mist almost came rolling towards you? That's the Bog Madam brewing.

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invisible spaceexplore elsewhere Ask a Question, Get an IC Answer - character development game Only doing 1x1s and tiny groups for now due being generally busy. If you have a cool idea, feel free to approach me, though, alas, even the most awesome adventures must be passed up on sometimes. invisgmt+1 + 6th semester university student = patience please ♥

The Flower of Seibo is one of my favourites

It is said that the Seibo (a tree) had no flowers, but in some time of the 18th century, a native american girl called anahi was running from white people because he had an affair with a high rank soldier.
After giving birth, the soldiers pursued her to kill both her and the child and stop the scandal it would become. The girl had just given birth, and so, she was rapidly found by the soldiers.
Then, she tried to hide, but was caught around a big Seibo in top of a hill. There, the soldiers tied her and prepared to shoot the girl.
As they did, she asked the tree for protection, at least for her son, but being as slow as a tree is, it reacted too late and she and the boy were killed. As the tree couldn't help her, it did the only thing it could, and took her blood and turned it into a flower so she could stand tall and proud in front of her killers, and soon all other Seibos did the same thing.

And this is the beautiful flower.

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Guyanese people can be crazy superstitious. A few examples:

• Pointing at a gravestone will anger the person buried there; to atone, you must then bite all ten fingers at once, otherwise the person you pointed at will find you in your bed at night... and yank your big toe.
• If you sweep someone's foot with a broom, they won't get married.
• If silverware is dropped on the floor and makes a loud sound, it means someone is coming.
• If your palms itch, it means you're going to be coming into some money.
• Keeping a broom under your bed can keep evil spirits at bay.
• When returning from a funeral or wake, you walk into the house backwards to keep the spirit from following you inside. For good measure, a few curse-words will suffice as well.
• If you jump over someone's legs while they're sitting on the floor, they won't grow anymore.
• If you directly hand someone pepper sauce, you will get into a fight with them. In the past, people have put the pepper down on the table so I could pick it up instead of just handing it to me for this very reason.

And now... the Fire-Rass.

Also known as "Ole Higue" (I've heard it pronounced as "holaigue" before), the Fire-Rass is the Guyanese equivalent of a vampire. It is always a female, and it takes the form of an old woman. She is usually introverted and quiet, sometimes rather friendly, and known for giving away treats to children (for instance, there is an account of a Fire-Rass that had a mango tree in her front yard, who would give ripe fruits away during the daylight hours). It is said that by receiving a gift from a Fire-Rass, you've been made a target (they prefer small children as their prey). They can only enter a home if they've invited themselves in, and by having a fruit or something of that nature given by them in the house, they can then enter.

At night, they remove their skin and place it into a receptacle (sometimes a coconut shell), before traveling to the house of the victim in the form of a ball of fire. Once there, they can enter through the keyhole and suck the blood of their victim while they sleep. If they like the blood they will keep drinking, and if not they may vomit in the room before leaving.

One method for keeping a Fire-Rass out of your house, is to place a heap of rice outside the front door. The creature will be forced to count every single grain of rice before entering the home, and if the heap is big enough they will still be counting come daylight, once they've run out of time.

Also, if you find the container with their skin, putting peppers in it will cause them to complain of burns the next day, thus identifying them as a Fire-Rass.

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These ones are superstitions in Brazil as well.

Must be a regional thing! Brazil is pretty close to Guyana after all.

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Time to jump in with my South-Eastern USA roots. I have literally been raised on these legends and such, and just found out a year or so ago that people outside of my area aren't aware of them.

The whole mysterious Bell Witch tale is probably the most well known, over in Adams, Tennessee. Apparently, the Bell family, especially Kate Bell, was haunted by a mysterious poltergeist presence. It got even worse after they found a dead half-rabbit half-bird creature on their doorstep. Andrew Jackson, himself, was so interested in the story, he rode by one night, only to be chased about by screams and cacklings. Anyway, the property is still haunted and no one really knows why, but it's said if you do any type of investigating, you'll die within a year.

If you go to a cemetery without flowers, you'll be haunted for seven years.

The best way to ward off demons is to place crosses above every doorway (which we've done at my house)

Yankees *shiver*

There's a civil war ghost in practically every building down here, I swear.

Don't swallow gum, or else it'll stick to your ribs for 7 years (don't ask why I believed this up until the age of 11)

Singing before breakfast is bad luck.

If you don't want a guest to come back, sprinkle salt on the doorway and sweep it off the porch when they leave.

If a bird flies in your house, someone's going to die.

Swamps are the homes of good spirits, unless it's Sunday, in which case, it's the gathering place of demonic and evil ones.

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