Witches of the world

In the lore ot the Karachay people in Turkey, obur is a blood sucking witch or sorcerer who can tranform into animal form such as that of a cat, a dog, or a wolf. The obers are usually elderly people. After a person becomes an obur, he or she can then recognize others of his … Read more

In Croatian and Slovenian lore on the peninsula of Istria, a person born with a caul (embryonic membrane still attached to the top of the head, forming a veil) was destined to become either a kudlak or a krenik. According to one account, a person born with a red or dark caul became a kudlak … Read more

In an old text written in Latin, Descriptio Antiqui et Hodierni Statue Moldavie translated into Romanian and published in Bucharest in 1973, it is said that people in the Romanian regions of Moldavia and Transylvania believed in the strige (plural: strigele), a witch who killed infants in their cradles. Like the witches of Western Europe … Read more

The vjestitza (plural: vjeshtitze; pronounced as “vyeshtitza” and sometimes spelled as vestizsa) is a female witch in the lore of Montenegro and Serbia, whose main prey was infants but were also sometimes blamed for adult illnesses. The vjestititza is typically an old woman whose soul leaves her body at night when she goes to sleep. … Read more

In Albania, the shtriga is a female witch whose special prey is infants. At least as late as the early twentieth century, the shtriga was blamed for otherwise unexplained infant deaths as well as adult’s death but to a lesser extent. At night, she often sought her prey in the form of an insect such … Read more

In Italian language, strega literally means “witch” and in Italy during the middle ages it was believed that the strega transformed into a bird at night to prey upon infants by drinking their blood. What we know today about ancient Roman belief about the stryx (plural: striges) is from what Ovid wrote in his book … Read more