Some folktales are centered on magical tales of heroism and grandeur.
The vanquish of evil in the pursuit of a princess -- and helping others in order to make the
world a better place.
However, some folktales don’t have happy endings, and some can be just downright disturbing,
with many Scandanavian legends being grim and utterly terrifying.
So today on Top 5 Scary Videos, I’m going to be counting down our list of the Top 5
Scary Swedish Urban Legends.
Lets jump in.
5 Draugen Kicking off with a short one at this number
-- The Draugen is the ghost of a man who died at sea.
In one specific iteration, a man fled from a ghost, calling out to the dead to save him.
The next day, the cemetery was covered in seaweed and the graves were wide open.
Many claim to see the Draugen -- huge, and covered in seaweed -- particularly during
storms, where he will skin boats and drown sailors.
This dude is no fun at all.
4 Myling This is perhaps one of the most disturbing
ghost stories with Myling telling the tale of unwanted or murdered children.
Yeah, nothing fun here.
Often time the ghosts are referred to as utburd, meaning “that which is outside”.
The ghosts of these children long to be given a proper burial, so they jump on the back
of the first person they meet and demand to be taken to a cemetery.
In some cases the Myling drains power from its human ride, and in others, the human is
too weak and dies from exertion.
The ghost often take on human for as it gets closer to the burial ground and is described
as a very large spirit.
The root of the Myling is believed to be a response to instances of infanticide.
Yeah, this one is dark.
3 The Sacrificial Beggar Child This Swedish Legend goes that there was a
town called Dalland that was inflicted by a disease that was wiping out a lot of the
population and resulting in many residents fleeing.
The townspeople were beside themselves until one day a man from Finland came along with
advice on how to stop the disease.
He told them that only a sacrifice would put an end to the misery, and explained that they
would need to bury a living thing in the ground.
The villagers were desperate so they took his advice.
They began the process by burying a rooster alive in the ground, but the act failed to
produce any results, so instead they decided to bury an entire goat.
However, this also failed.
Feeling they had no other options left, they decided the only sacrifice worthy enough to
end the disease would be an actual human being.
They set their sights on an orphaned boy and offered him bread as bait, which he fell for
before dropping in a prepared hole.
The villagers began to bury the hapless child who was absolutely terrified and plead with
them for mercy, but they continued on.
Before long, the deed had been done and the child was left to die.
Some villagers claimed they could hear his cries from beneath the ground, begging for
them to release him.
2 The Christmas Ghosts This legend begins with a woman preparing
to head to midnight Christmas Mass.
In order for her and her friend to make it on time, they agreed to wake the other, and
head out at the same time.
Late at night, she thought she heard her friend telling her it was time to leave, so she grabbed
some bread that she had baked for later and head out.
While en route, she stumbled across two witches who wished to murder her on the spot, however,
they couldn’t harm her because of the cross in her pocket.
She didn’t think much of it and proceeded to the church, heading quickly inside.
As she was sitting she heard something that utterly terrified her.
A voice that told her that she could be killed on the spot, but would be spared because the
speaker was her godfather.
The voice made it clear that she was in terrible danger.
She looked around, and quickly realized all of the people gathered in the church were
headless.
She ran, only to be accosted by a ghostly parishioner, who attempted to grab her by
the veil.
She escaped, but upon her return she saw the remains of her veil that had been seized by
the ghosts, ripped into tiny pieces and distributed amongst the graves that were outside the church.
Her mind instantly imagining what could have been if the ghosts had grabbed her instead
of her veil.
1 Kitta Grau This legend tells the tale of a very evil
woman named Kitta Grau, who was so despicable she apparently knew the Devil himself, they
were on a first name basis, and she was so nasty he even feared her.
The Devil had been attempting to spread discord between a married couple, but had failed,
resulting in Kitta mocking him, saying that she could easily complete the deed herself,
so she did just that with the Devil’s encouragement, even promising her a beautiful pair of shoes
if she were to succeed.
Kitta first went to the wife, informing her that her husband was a wonderful but that
there was evil in his heart.
She claimed she needed to shave her husband under his chin to remove the last of the wickedness
that resided in him.
The woman agreed, believing this would do good.
Kittan next went to the husband, where she praised their marriage and the man’s wife,
but told him that his wife planned to cut his throat.
Straight up savagery.
He didn’t believe it, but became a little paranoid.
So, one evening while in bed, he pretended to be asleep, during which time his wife attempted
to carry out her plan of shaving his chin.
Her husband, of course, believed she was trying to kill him.
Now, don’t fret, they didn’t kill each other, but it did create the discord the Devil
was so hoping for, and Kitta Grau ended up earning herself a brand new pair of shoes.
Well, there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Were there any Swedish Legends that we missed?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below, as well as what place
you would like us to tackle next.
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And until next time, see ya later.