I will always come back

Greece is full of stories and some of them are bound to be dark and spooky. For Greeks there are demons and bad energy all around. The demons prey especially on babies, that’s why you have to cross their mouth when they yawn, so the bad spirits don’t come in.

Greeks have many encounters with the supernatural. There are haunted houses around Greece, where you can hear the screams of ghosts. Apart from “ghosts” and “creatures” we also have what we call “hauntings” (στοιχειά) which are something between a ghost and an animal.

If you are born on the Sabbath, you don’t see those creatures and Hauntings.

Ghosts in Crete

During the Ottoman occupation of Greece the daughter of a wealthy Turk fell in love with a Greek, in Crete. Her father wanted to punish her for this. He locked her in the basement of the house and lashed her every night. She died after a few weeks from the suffering. Around her time of her death (in April) you can hear her screaming in the old house as when her father hit her.

In another house in Crete, in the 18th century, a husband built his wife inside a wall because he had suspicions she cheated on him. The locals were hearing horses galloping nearby and then the cries and begging of a woman. In the same house Cretan fighters were tortured by Germans and their own voices echo around there.

In the beginning of the 20th century there was a man in Crete who killed himself by falling off the city walls after the woman he loved rejected him. Saddened, the woman locked herself inside her house for years, until her dead body was discovered by the neighbors. Her weeping ghost haunts the house she died in.

There is a certain secret Coffee Shop in Herakleion and say a certain phrase to the shopkeeper and order a Greek coffee. Then, he takes you to the basement, he leads you through a crypt, where he has found the bones of a saint. To this saint you have to gift a coin and pray so your biggest wish come true. But if you tell someone else you discovered that secret, your wish will become a curse.

Ghosts in the Pierian Mountains

There is the advice that when you see a strange animal (a dog or a donkey with strange, shiny eyes, for example) or other weird creature in the forest you have to avoid looking at it and you mustn’t speak until you pass it. If you don’t do this they will follow you home and try to get in. Other say that if you speak to the creature or the ghost that you will see, it takes your voice or it leaves you paralyzed forever or dead. There was an old woman who thought there was a fox in her yard but it was actually a “haunting”. She shooed it away with her voice and after that she couldn’t speak any more. She went sick and died.

In Aya Paraskevi area there were three villages. But in one of them a Haunting appeared. It resided inside a tree near the village and targeted newlyweds, drying them of their blood. It had a handkerchief with which it wiped the blood of its mouth. It was said that if someone managed to take the handkerchief from it, the haunting would disappear. The locals boiled water and threw it on the haunting and they also managed to take its handkerchief. The Haunting withdrew inside the tree as it was dying and shouted “How did it come that I could not eat you but you ate me?”

Sometimes the soul of a man will come back to see the remaining relatives. Then you hear the chirping of a bird in one ear and then the other. Then, you see the dead person as solid as if they were alive. You try to reach them but they appear further the closer you go.

There are also trees that attract such spirits. There was a shepherd who went to water his sheep in such a tree and he lost his speech forever.

Strange lights appear in that area, too. In the old days, when above the mountainous village there were no cars or bikes nor electrical lights, the locals sometimes saw a light moving inside the village. There was darkness everywhere but there was a fiery thing moving in the streets and from garden to garden.

The Haunting of Amfissa

In Amfissa, there is a story about a Haunting which is reenacted every Carnival in February.

“Konstantis was a young tanner, one of the best in the area. In love with Lenio, he embarked on a long journey to sell the skins he had made and return to marry her. When she returned, she found her house locked and Lenio speechless. He was quickly informed that his beloved had been struck by lightning and died while drinking water at the spring of Harmaina. The lad could not stand it. One day his villagers found him peaceful and smiling under the castle. Konstantis had committed suicide, hoping to meet Lenio.

He was not forgiven by the religion so he remained wandering until he was transformed into an anthropomorphic monster, a parasite with long arms and a horrible presentation. He was the haunting of Harmaina which was the strongest and smartest of the other elements of the region, guarded the spring of Harmaina and protected the people who worked there.”

When hauntings fight they can take strength from eating goat fat.

Pictures from the reenactment:

Ghosts in Evia

In the region of Evia, in Cavo Doro, there is the gorge of Arhambolis. Legend says there was a great city there that was suddenly deserted after a deadly raid. Popular legend says that the unfortunate who were slaughtered appear at night through the sea as ghosts.

The Bridge of Arta

The Bridge of Arta is a stone bridge that crosses the Arachthos river near the city of Arta in Epirus, Greece. Construction dates vary from 1602 to 1606. The bridge became famous from the eponymous legendary folk ballad.

According to the ballad, every day 1300 builders, 60 apprentices, 45 craftsmen or masons, under the leadership of the Head Builder, tried to build a bridge the foundations of which would collapse each morning. Finally, a bird with a human voice informed the Head Builder that in order the bridge to remain standing, he must sacrifice his wife. As she is being buried alive in the foundations of the construction, she curses the bridge to flutter like a leaf, and those who pass it to fall like leaves also. She is then reminded that her brother is abroad and might pass the bridge himself, so she changes her curses so as to become actual blessings: “As the tall mountains tremble, so shall the bridge tremble, and as the birds of prey fall, so shall passers fall”.

THE BALAD

Forty-five master builders and sixty apprentices Were laying the foundations for a bridge over the river of Arta They would toil at it all day, and at night it would collapse again. The master builders lament and the apprentices weep: “Alas for our exertions, woe to our labours, For us to toil all day while at night it collapses!”

A bird appeared and sat on the opposite side of the river. It did not sing like a bird, nor like a swallow, But it sang and spoke in a human voice: “Unless you sacrifice a human, the bridge will never stand. And don’t you sacrifice an orphan, or a stranger, or a passer-by, But only the chief mason’s beautiful wife, Who comes late in the afternoon and brings his supper.”

The chief mason hears it and falls down like dead. He quickly sends to his wife, with the bird as his messenger: “Let her dress slowly, change slowly, and bring the supper late, Let her come late to cross the bridge of Arta!” But the bird ignored it and gave her a different message: “Hurry, dress quickly, change quickly, and bring the supper early, Go quickly to cross the bridge of Arta!”

So she went and appeared at the end of the white lane. The chief mason saw her and his heart broke. From far she greeted them, and when she came near she spoke: “Greetings, builders, and greetings to you, apprentices. But what’s wrong with the chief mason that his looks are so dark?” “He lost his wedding ring, it fell into the first chamber. Who’ll go down there now and up again to find the ring for him?” “Master, don’t worry, I’ll go myself to get it, I’ll go down there and come up again and find the ring for you.”

She had hardly descended, hardly went down into it, When she called: “Pull me up, dear, pull the chain, I’ve looked everywhere but can’t find anything!” One comes with the spade and one with the mortar, And the chief mason himself goes and throws a big stone.

“Alas for our fate, woe to our destiny! We were three sisters, and all three star-crossed. One of us worked on the Danube, the other on the Euphrate, And I, the youngest, on the river of Arta. May the bridge ever shake, as carnations shake, And may those who cross it ever fall down, as leaves fall from trees.”

“Girl, take that back, make it a different curse, Because you have your only dear brother, lest he happen to pass by.” And so she took it back and uttered a different curse: “When the wild mountains shake, then may the bridge shake, And when the wild birds fall from the sky, then may those who cross it fall. For I have a brother abroad, lest he happen to pass by.”

The Ghosts of Chios

At the entrance of a small village in the heart of northern Chios there is one of the largest centuries-old plane trees in Greece. Makelos, as the inhabitants christened him, sprouted before the Turkish occupation, he “lived” the Revolution and the Liberation and under its cool branches the inhabitants survived the difficult years of the Occupation. According to experts, the historic plane tree was planted at least 700 years ago. He saw so many massacres that his name was marked by them. “Makelos” means “of slaughter”. Alexandros Paspatis, who lived through the Massacre of Chios, claims that many villagers were slaughtered under the plane tree in 1822.

There is a hallow on the tree, created by lightning that cut one of his branches. It was used as a hiding place during attacks and massacres. Phantoms, strange figures and ghosts are reported around the area even in modern times.

Chios has a dark history of massacres and the residents “stumble” upon supernatural phenomena very often. For this reason they call the encounters with the paranormal “skondamata”, meaning “stumbles”. A Chiote woman told me a story of her great grandmother. While she and her family passed through the forest, they saw a group of hooded people heading inside a church with candles, while chanting. According to their tradition, when you see such weird things, you are supposed to act naturally and not make a fuss, lest the spirits harass you. So they went along with the strange ritual and then they returned home perplexed.

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Part 2 - Vrykolakes >>>

yeah i am actually not great at speaking second languages (because of the fear thing she talks about in the article, i think-- and i think some of that is also autism, i'm afraid of not getting the social rules 100% right when that sort of thing already doesn't come naturally to me in english) but it's always been important to me that if i go to a country, i should at least make a small effort in learning the language.

This to say, the jump may have some challenges but it's not big. Besides, no one will ask for C2 level of Greek if it's just for the job. B2 will be fine I suppose, even B1 for starters! With basic ancient Greek you can speak with modern Greeks as well. There are stories of archeologists and classicists who did exactly that, because the words are 80%-90% the same.

The language has undergone natural changes but we tried to keep things consistent 😁

It's always saddening to hear Anglophones asking if modern Greek has anything to do with ancient Greek. Just because English is five languages in a trenchcoat and a text from 4 centuries ago is unrecognisable to Anglophones today, it doesn't mean that all other languages changed at the same degree.

It goes back to the division of the Roman empire, to be more precise. Since a woman, (Irene of Athens) was crowned Empress in Constantinople, the west side of the Empire didn't acknowledge her, and they made kind of a "new" Roman empire with Charlemagne on the helm. Since then, West Europe denies the legitimacy of the whole of Eastern Roman empire (Hellenic in language and widely Hellenized in culture).

This article, Why are the Byzantines Significant, ties in with the Greek language article you found. It explains the root of the whole dismissiveness and gradual propaganda that led to westerners (Anglophones included) having this particular, and fixed idea about Greek culture and language.

Even today, in northwestern Europe, America and Australia, if you mention the words "Eastern Roman empire" and "Christian Orthodoxy" people will go "do these things exist??" It's not that there is no record in their histories or that nobody studies it, it's just that many time the Westerners find the Eastern Roman empire insignificant enough to teach it to the general public. It's a centuries old learned ignorance. In their eyes we always were the more primitive people, undeserving of an exalted heritage only they can understand.

In 1645, Leo Allatius wrote “The vrykolakas is an evil and wicked person who may have been excommunicated by a bishop. Its body swells up so that all its limbs are distended, it is hard, and when tapped it thrums like a drum.” It has also been reported, along with the rise of the Greek Orthodox Church, that the Vrykolakas had to do with evil (or the devil) inhabiting a body of the already-dead, causing it to move.

According to Álvaro García Marín, “if we were to judge from the standpoint of a Western European of 1730 or 1820, Dracula, without any doubt, should have been a Greek,” as “at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Slavic vampire was still unknown to the West, the Greek vrykolakas has been recurring in theological treatises, travel accounts or books on occultism from the beginning of the sixteenth century.”

From a literary perspective, the story of the vampire is “one of transformations and interbreedings of genre.” If “the folkloric vampire of the eighteenth century, at the outer reach of Europe” was “an agricultural figure,” with John Polidori’s The Vampire, the story of the aristocratic vampire, which will triumph with Count Dracula’s literary and cinematographic career, begins.

The Undead in the Pierian Mountains

In a village in the Pierian mountains the residents still speak of Yorgos, the shepherd, who died by accident while taking care of his sheep. After that his soul came out of his body and it still looked like him. He got out every night, taking to the streets to return home to his wife. He fed on people who passed him by.To stop his appearances, the locals poured boiled wine onto his grave.

Vrykolakes in Santorini

In 1642 the French Catholic priest Francois Richard was one of the pioneers of the proselytizing campaign in the Aegean. He lived for many years in Santorini. An entire chapter of his journal refers to the beliefs of vampires. It is entitled “The pseudo-resurrected ones that the Greeks call vrykolakes”.

He describes horrific incidents of gang violence by the locals of Santorini. Dead who come back to life and exterminate the islanders at night, horrible scenes of exhumation of “vrykolakes”, exorcism ceremonies by the priests on the corpses inside the churches, creepy impalements of the undecayed corpses with axes and hoes.

An eyewitness to these scenes, the Jesuit missionary does not dispute at all the appearance of the vrykolakes and their vicious action:

“Every now and then the Greek priests, after obtaining the permission of the bishop, go to the cemetery, read some wishes and then bury the dead who are suspected of being vrykolakes. And if they find the whole corpse, fresh and bloody, they are sure that the dead became an instrument of Satan. They then begin the exorcisms and do not stop unless they see signs that the demon is gone, that is, meaning when the decomposition of the corpse begins.

The body of a girl (Kallisti her name) was found undecayed. They brought it to the church and the Greek priest resorted to exorcisms. And indeed the corpse began to disintegrate in a frightening way, so you could not stay in the temple because of the stench. So they buried her, and the vrykolakas did not appear again.

But what upset Santorini the most was a vrykolakas’ attachment to his widow. His name was Alexandros, he was a shoemaker and he lived in Pyrgos. After his death he was presented to his wife, just as he was in life. He would come home and work, repair the children’s shoes, draw water from the cistern. And many times he was seen cutting wood for his family. After a while, the terrified people dug it up, burned it and along with the smoke, the power of Satan disappeared.

He also wrote:

“I learned from a reliable person that in Amorgos, these vampires have become so unrestrained that they not only run here and there at night, but also show up at noon, in the fields and collect fava beans. I wanted some of our atheists in France to come here, not to hear but to see with their own eyes in the light of day and to see how unjust they are who believe that when a man dies everything dies with him.”

He continues with another story: “The abbot of the famous monastery of Amorgos, told me that a merchant from Patmos going to the east for trade, instead of earning money lost his life. Upon learning of his death, his wife sent a boat to bring the deceased home and bury him as befits a Christian.

So they put the corpse in a chest, loaded it on the boat and set off for the island. One of the sailors sat on the chest. Suddenly he feels something moving inside. He tells it to his companions. They then decide to open it to see what condition the dead man was in. They open and what did they see? The deceased looked as if he were alive!

Despite their horror, the seamen had the obligation. They nailed the coffin again, arrived on the island and handed it over to the widow without saying a word about what they saw in the boat. But a few days after the funeral the deceased spread horror and death on the island. He would enter the houses at night screaming and knocking. Fifteen people, some from the beatings, others from their terror went to the other world.

The people of the island wanted to send the dead to Minor Asia. However, the sailors, on the first deserted island they found lit a fire and burned him. And since then the vrykolakas has not appeared again.”

It is known that the Greek priests and bishops, when they absolve someone, add the curse at the end: “And after death, unresolved and tympanic”. (his skin should be like the skin on a drum)

Richard also cites an authentic text in his chronicle about the characteristics of vrykolakes and what causes them to be like this. He copied it from an old manuscript he found in the church of Agia Sophia in Thessaloniki.

He who has a curse, holds only the front of his body. He who has an anathema, looks yellow and wrinkled are his fingers. He who looks white is absolved from the Divine Laws. The one where he looks black is excommunicated by a high priest.

Information about Santorini can also be found in the history of the Frankish duchies of the Aegean of Sauger, which was published in Paris in 1699:

Something inconceivable is happening on this island but it seems ordinary there. Some of the dead return to their homes a few days after their burial. And no one knows what revives them. The people of Santorini call them “vrykolakes”.

The Dead Brother’s Song

The Dead Brother’s Song was widespread in the Greek-speaking world during the High and Late Middle Ages, as it can be seen by the many variants that have survived in various places of Greece. It is written in the meter called Political verse, iambic decapentasyllable (15 syllables), an evolution of the ancient Greek iambic trimeter (iambic dodecasyllable). 

Audio of woman singing the song

Lyrics:

Mother with your nine sons and with your only daughter, the precious the most beloved daughter. She was twelve years old and the sun had not seen her. In darkness she bathed her and without moonlight she is making her hair, under the star and the Bringer of Light she was tying her ribbons. They’ve sent men from Babylon to ask her as a bride, to take Arete too far away in the foreign lands. The eight brothers don’t want and Constantine wants.

-My mother lets give Arete as a bride to the foreign lands. Abroad, there that I am walking, in the foreign lands that I am travelling, And if we go abroad, not to be considered foreigners. -You are wise Constantis, but you replied wrongly. And if, my son, to me comes death, and if, my son, illness happens to come to me, If bitterness or joy comes, who will go to bring her back to me? -I quote the Heaven as judge and the Saints as witnesses, if death happens to come, if happens to come illness, if bitterness or joy comes, I will go to bring her to you.

And once they gave Arete as bride in the foreign lands and years of misery and months of anger came and death fell upon them and the nine brothers died the mother was left all alone. In all the graves she was crying, in all she was mourning In front of Constantine’s grave she was pulling her hair off.

“Damn you, Constantis, and damn you a myriad times, cause you exiled my Arete in the foreign lands! The promise that you gave me when will you fulfil? You quoted the Heaven as judge and the Saints as witnesses that if bitterness or joy comes, you will go to bring her to me”. From the myriad anathemas and the heavy curse, the earth was shaken and Constantis came out.

He turns the cloud into horse and the stars into bridle and the moon into companion and goes to bring her back. He leaves the hills behind him and the mountains in front. He finds her making her hair out, under the moonlight. From far away he greets her and from a close distance he tells her:

-Stand up sister to leave, lets go to our mother. -Alas, my brother, and why that time of the night? If maybe it is cause of joy, I should wear my jewels and come and if it is cause of bitterness, tell me that, to get dressed in black and come. -Come Arete in our home and let it be the way you are. He kneels the horse and makes her sit behind. In the way they were going, little birds were singing. They were not singing like birds, nor like swallows, but they were only singing and saying with human voice: “Who has seen a beautiful lady being led by the dead?”!

-Did you hear, my Constantine, what the little birds are saying? -They are little birds and let them sing, they are little birds and let them say. And a little further on their way other little birds are telling them: “Isn’t pity and unfair, very strange, the alive to walk along with the dead?”! -Did you hear, my Constantine, what the little birds are saying? That the alive walk along with the dead. -It is April and they sing and May and they are nesting. -I am afraid of you my brother and you smell frankincense. -Last night we went far away to Saint John’s Church and the priest incensed us with too much frankincense. And even later on their way more little birds are telling them: “Look what a miracle and evil takes place in the world, such a beautiful delicate lady being led by the dead!” Arete heard that again and her heart was broken. -Did you hear, my Constantine, what the little birds are saying? -Stop Arete talking about the birds and let them say whatever they want! -Tell me where is your beauty and your manfulness and your blonde hair and the beautiful moustache? -It’s been a long time since I got ill and my hair has fallen.

Over there, near there, they arrive to the church. He mightily hits his horse and is lost. And she hears the gravestone clashing, the soil buzzing. Arete sets off and goes home by herself. She sees her gardens leafless, the trees sickly she sees the mint dried, the carnation turned black she sees in front of her door grass having grown. She finds the door locked and the keys having been taken and the windows of the house been tightly bolted. She knocks the door mightily, the windows are crunching.

-If you are a friend, come in, and if you are an enemy, go away and if you are bitter Charon, I don’t have more sons and my poor little Arete is far away in the foreign lands. -Stand up my mother, open the door, stand up my sweet mother. -Who is the one who knocks my door and calls me “mother”? -Open the door, my mother, open it and it is me, your Arete. She came down, they hugged and they both fell dead.

  THANASIS VAGIAS

Thanasis Vagias was an Epirote Greek counselor and confidant of Ali Pasha, a Muslim Albanian ruler of Ottoman Epirus. his name had become notorious because, under Ali’s service, he led an attack against the village of Kardhiq, modern southern Albania. Hundreds of men and children were killed; when the Greek War of Independence ended, Vagias moved to the newly founded Greek state and was given a government post and acquired a pension, by the head of state of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias.

Vagias was regarded as a traitor of the Greek cause by various historians and authors of that period, like Ioannis Makrygiannis, Aristotelis Valaoritis, Alexandre Dumas. Valaoritis’s masterpiece was titled Thanasis Vagias after him. In this work, Vagias is presented as a traitor, who after his death returns to his home place as a vampire.

Videoclip of the song with Karagiozis shadow theatre re-enactment and Greek traditional tunes with saxophone. They sing the poem “Vrykolakas”/“Thanasis Bagias” by Aristotelis Valaoritis:

Some verses from the poem:

Wife:

Why are you standing like a corpse in front of my eyes why, my Thanasis, you go out at night? There is no sleep for you in Hades?

[…]

Stay away from me… Why are you frightening me? What have I done, Thanasis, and you are scaring me? How can it be that you are viridescent? You smell of dirt… Tell me… haven’t you decomposed, Thanasis, yet?

Furl your shroud… Maggots feast upon your face Cursed by God, look… they fly and they come to eat me, too.

Thanasis:

Inside the darkness of my grave I was shut in such a night and as I was inside my shroud, deep in my tomb shrunk,

Suddenly, an owl from above I heard screeching –Thanasi Bagia get up and one thousand dead will come and take you there-.

I heard those words and my name. My bones burst and grind. I hide, I nestle down in my pit, so I don’t see them

[…]

Shouting, the rabid dead fall upon me. And with their nails and mouths, they dig the black earth

And as they found me, at once, in my grave’s the desolate land, laughing and shouting, wildly they drag me and when they promised they take me

We fly, we run, our course causes chaos. When the black cloud comes, the rocks tremble, the earth lights up

The wind blows our shrouds as if we glide with our sails. On the road they come off and fall our hollow bones, they scatter on the earth.

Aristotelis Valaoritis, Stefanos Padovas and Konstantinos Lomvardos

The Son of the Vampire

Similarly to the previous poem, a Greek midwife is forced by the monster to assist his partner in the birth of his first child.Though it is not explicitly stated that the vrykolakas is aTurk, the description—through the eyes of the woman—of the cave where he lives is reminiscentof Ottoman Palaces, particularly of those that the Turkish governors of Greek regions, renowned—in the national imaginary—for their cruelty, used to inhabit.

A story from Attica

It was a rainy night of 1768. In a village on the mountain Imitos of Attica the locals were prepared to return home for the night after a round of tsipouro. Vasilis was one of them. He sat in front of the lit fireplace to warm his bones while his wife brought him a dish of trahana. His children were sleeping peacefully, unbothered by the whistling of the wind outside.

Not even a week has passed after Vasilis’ brother had died. He had loved no one and was loved by no one. He barely made enough money to live. He was relaying on his brother, Vasilis. When he needed money he came at this house. He was coming here when they found him dead outside the village. He had a blow on his head which, some suspected, was done by a criminal. He was buried at the small cemetery of the village. Vasilis was the only one remembering him, thinking of him fondly as he was gazing at the fire.

It was midnight when he and his wife heard footsteps outside their door. Someone called Vasilis’ name. Vasilis wanted to ask “who’s there?” but his wife stopped him. She had suspected something was wrong. Without an answer, the steps faded away.

The next morning the villagers said that someone was knocking on their door, shouting the name of the owner. They hadn’t answered, fearing it was a ghost. They were unharmed but the stranger had left his marks. The feed in the stables was scattered outside, the oil from the lamps on the icon stands were spilled, and all the animals in the village were restless and nervous.

In the nearby village worse things had happened. Many animals had been found dead with their bellies open and their entrails and hearts missing, the church candles had been thrown down and a couple living outside the village had disappeared, their room full of blood.

The locals decided it was a vrykolakas. As the days went by the creature got wilder and more bloodthirsty. Its victims were unprotected animals or at night travelers who have not had time to find shelter. The people threw holy water on their windows and doors. Even churches had to be locked and secured. Somebody had caught a glimpse of the vrykolakas from his window. His torso and hands were bloated, his skin dark as night, his eyes red. His face was black and his mouth open and hungry. The man had to cross himself to fight his fear. One night the vrykolakas came to Vasilis house again. Loud knocks shook Vassilis’ door while the creature roared and shouted his name. There was no response from the house. Stones began to fall everywhere and a little later the footsteps were heard on the roof. The chimney was the only vulnerability since it was open, but it was so hot that the vampire did not even approach it. He screamed from his evil, tossed the tiles until he got bored and started knocking on the other houses and shaking the windows. That night the priest of the nearby village was slain by the creature.

The locals decided to take matters into their own hands. The priest advised them to look at their own cemetery in the morning and check if all the bodies were decaying as they should. The priest took a cross and the people were armed with a javelin and an axe and four big nails.

They quickly found the body of Vasilis’ brother. They noticed his body was still fresh. So they started the ceremony. One person born in the Sabbath should take part in it so it could succeed. They boiled the vinegar and the man born on the Sabbath washed himself with it. They hung a cape on a branch so it would seem like a person. Then they opened the grave, while the priest was chanted. Grunts and howls came from inside the coffin. The vrykolakas started cursing them. The people didn’t stop, they continued opening the coffin.

The creature stood up, red froth at its mouth. A man pierced it with the javelin, stunning it. The vrykolakas asked who had betrayed him. The people showed him the clock at the branch. Thinking it was a human, the creature set it afire with a simple move. The Sabbath born man took the chance and cut the vrykolakas with his knife. He took his intact heart out and threw it in the boiling vinegar. The people took the four nails and nailed the body of the vrykolakas on the grave. One in his neck, one in the pelvis and the other two on the ankles. With the remaining of the boiled vinegar they showered the body. Finally, they threw the heart in the grave, they closed the coffin and buried it again. After that, the two villages found peace again.

The forgotten horror story of Mykonos

The French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, upon arriving on the island in the 1700s, learned of a villager who had been killed in the fields, by whom and why. The inhabitants believed that after his murder the villager became a “vrykolakas”, that is, an immortal satanic creature operating in the dark. According to the botanist, the evil began two days after the funeral, when it began to circulate that the deceased was seen walking hurriedly in the night and grabbing passers-by from behind.

The tenth day after his death the locals opened the dead and burned the heart on the beach. However, this did not stop the vampire, who was now accused of beating people at night, destroying houses and stealing… drinks. The locals were terrified. They were leaving their homes and sleeping together, sleeping in the squares and often  migrating to Syros and Tinos. They dug up the corpse four times a day and nailed countless Greek and Turkish swords on it.

The solution was given by transporting the body to the neighboring islet of Agios Georgios, where it was cremated on January 1st, 1701.

“The Vampyre” by John William Polidori

In this short work of prose fiction written in 1819, Aubrey, a young Englishman, meets Lord Ruthven. Ruthven is a man of mysterious origins who has entered London society. Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome, but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance. Aubrey travels to Greece, where he becomes attracted to Ianthe, an innkeeper’s daughter. Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire (vrykolakas).

Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire. Aubrey does not connect Ruthven with the murder and rejoins him in his travels. The pair are attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded. Before he dies, Ruthven makes Aubrey swear an oath that he will not mention his death or anything else he knows about Ruthven for a year and a day. Looking back, Aubrey realizes that everyone whom Ruthven met ended up suffering.

Aubrey returns to London and is amazed when Ruthven appears shortly thereafter, alive and well. Ruthven reminds Aubrey of his oath to keep his death a secret. Ruthven then begins to seduce Aubrey’s sister while Aubrey, helpless to protect his sister, has a nervous breakdown. Ruthven and Aubrey’s sister are engaged to marry on the day the oath ends. Just before he dies, Aubrey writes a letter to his sister revealing Ruthven’s history, but it does not arrive in time. Ruthven marries Aubrey’s sister. On the wedding night, she is discovered dead, drained of her blood—and Ruthven has vanished.

part 1 – Ghosts and Hauntings

  LAMIA AND STRIGLA

Half-woman and half-serpent, her presence in the Greek folklore is evident since ancient times. She is described as having a human upper body from the waist up and a serpentine body from the waist down. The Byzantine lexicon Suda (10th century) gave an entry for lamia (Λαμία), with definitions and sources much as already described. The lexicon also has an entry under mormo (Μορμώ) stating that Mormo and the equivalent mormolykeion[f] are called lamia, and that all these refer to frightful beings. “Lamia” has as synonyms “Mormo” and “Gello” according to the Scholia to Theocritus.

In the modern Greek folk tradition, the Lamia has survived and retained many of her traditional attributes. John Cuthbert Lawson comments, “…the chief characteristics of the Lamiae, apart from their thirst for blood, are their uncleanliness, their gluttony, and their stupidity”.The contemporary Greek proverb, “της Λάμιας τα σαρώματα” (“the Lamia’s sweeping”), epitomises slovenliness; and the common expression, “τό παιδί τό ‘πνιξε η Λάμια” (“the child has been strangled by the Lamia”), explains the sudden death of young children.

During his travels in Greece in the nineteenth century, Renell Rodd describes stories about witches that were old in many communities in Greece.He writes, In modern Italy, the Strega, like the Greek Strigla (“the female shrieking one”), is looked upon as a witch woman,who has the power of changing her form, and flying by night in the shape of a crow, sucking human blood, with breath of deadly poison; distinct, however, from the vampire, which is generally held to be material resuscitation of a dead person, while the Strigla is a living being who has assumed a birdlike form.

Unlike ghosts,witches (στρίγγλα or μάγισσα) were living beings and were able to take the form of other living creatures.It was also not unusual for someone(usually an elderly woman) to be thought to be a witch.

People argue that Lamia and Strigla are the same demonic creature. Their role and nature in the Greek stories is similar.

Leo Allatius version of the Legend of St. Sisinnos, the twelve-and-a-half names of the demon are given as Gylo, Morrha, Byzo, Marmaro, Petasia, Pelagia, Bordona, Apleto, Chomodracaena, Anabardalaea, Psychoanaspastria (breaker of soul), Paedopniktria (child suffocator), and Strigla. Her Greek epithets are: Petasia, “she who strikes”; Apleto, “boundless, limitless”; Paedopniktria, “child suffocator.” Byzo is a form of Abyzou, abyssos, “the Deep,” to which Pelagia (“she of the sea”) is equivalent.

The names of Gylo also include Homodrakaina (“female dracon of the below”). In one text dealing with the gello, she is banished to the mountains to drink the blood of the drako (male dragon); in another, she becomes a drakaina (female dragon) and in this form attacks human beings. (The drakos/drakaina of the Greeks is different than the Western dragon).

Mykonos is considered the homeland of the Striglas. The Strigla that takes human form is recognized by the weapon with which she was wounded. The usual type of recognition, in the numerous similar traditions of other peoples, is from the wound, which she received in the form of an animal, and which she maintains in her human body.

“Once someone from the village of Amalos came out of his house to attack the need to kill a Kallikantzaros. The creature was presented to him in the form of a large goat, which approached him. The man did not waste time. He grabbed the goat by the horns and inserted his black-sleeved knife into her neck, which he had long ago bought from Smyrna. But with supernatural force, after being pushed away by the goat’s horns, he was forced to abandon her, while she ran towards the west. He saw her clearly, under the moonlight, swimming in the sea, towards- Mykonos, in the Ikarian sea.

Five years passed and the man travelled to Mykonos for business. He was welcomed in the house of an old woman. When she cut the bread for dinner, he recognized the knife she was using. It was the knife he had tried to kill the goat with! He run away from the house to save his life.”

AT THE CROSSROADS FOR THE GIFT OF MUSIC

The belief of people in craftsmen gods and artists, god fathers or patrons of arts and gods teachers of arts in people is very old and widespread. Within the framework of this belief, the perception of the divine origin of music prevailed.

Crossroads (“double roads” or “double crossings”) are generally considered gathering places for evil spirits; therefore, one should not cross a crossroads after they have just bathed and, if one does, one should hold salt to their chest. of. For this reason, iconostasia are often established in the crossroads, but also various spells and black magic ceremonies are performed there. This belief, which may not be unrelated to ancient traditions related to moral dilemmas (cf. the dilemma of Virtue and Wickedness of Hercules).

Anyone who wants to learn to play the lyre well goes to a deserted crossroad at midnight, where he carves a round with a black-sleeved knife, enters it and sits and plays. In a little while come Fairies (Neraithes) and walk around him. Their intentions are not good. But since they can not enter the round that is carved with a black-sleeved knife, they try in every way to seduce him and pull him out. And they say sweet words to him, and beautiful songs, and dance seductively. But, for his own good, the instrument player should not move and continue his playing.

(Listen to a song with lyra)

According to the legends in Crete, the creatures then tell the man: “But you don’t know how to play the lyre! Why do you insist on playing it?”. “This is how I know to play it and this is how I will play it,” he responds. “Why do you care?”. “We don’t,” they answer. “But if you want, we can teach you to play so well even the stones will dance. Please, come out of the circle!”

After many pleadings he must not come out. Then the creatures ask only for his lyre. He gives it to them without putting a part of his body outside the circle. If a body part gets outside, it gets cut or withers. The Faeries play the lyre with mastery and taunt the player some more. The man wastes their time with worse music until the morning comes. Because the light will destroy them, the creatures ask for his lyre one last time.

Now he must give them a gift. He puts his little finger outside the circle and it gets cut as an offering. Then, the Faeries teach him how to play like them. After that, they vanish.

Obviously, you must be very careful during the process. Once there was a man who wanted to learn to play the lyre at the crossroads. The creatures asked him “For how many years do you want to play the lyre?” After this question, you should touch your hair, meaning that you want to play the lyre well for as many years as the hair in your scalp are. However, this particular man got scared and forgot that. He gestured with his ten fingers, instead. So, the Faeries gave him the ability to play well only for ten years.

After ten years he was invited to play at a wedding. But midnight came and his time ended. He disappeared from the wedding and found himself lying at the rim of a well. Above him, the creatures shouted “Now you are here. Next time you will get inside!”

In the 20th century the masters of the lyre in Crete, when they got compliments, didn’t hesitate to say “See? I learned the lyre in the crossroads.” (“Aμ’ είντα θαρρείτε; Eγώ τη λύρα την έμαθα ’ς το σταυροδρόμι”).

Andreas Rothinos (1912-1934), a leading lyre player from Rethymno, is rumored to have learned the lyre at the crossroads – perhaps in exchange for his youth, since he died at the age of 22. When he was 10 he bought a lyre for 5 drachmas. He said “I’m not afraid and I will go to the gorge at midnight to play without speaking; When the devils come and hit me with their horns I will play and learn.”  

KALIKANTZAROI AND XOTIKA

Kallikantzaroi (ka-lee-KAN-tza-ree , καλλικάντζαροι) or Xotika (kso-tee-KA) are the goblins of the Greeks. They live underground, sawing the great Tree that supports the world.

Their stories were told to children during the 12 days of Christmas. The kallikantzaroi were often described as half-human and half-animal-like creatures with bright red eyes and goat-like features. Some early scholars believed that the kallikantzaroi were merely adapted from the ancient Greek centaurs and satyrs. While the kallikantzaroi were mostly harmless, they usually appeared on Christmas Eve, and stuck around until the Epiphany, when they blessings of the Holy Ghost reach the Earth. They were known for causing havoc in many communities, mainly on Christmas Eve, when they come up to have fun. Here, John Tomkinson describes the kallikantzaroi’s habits during the 12 days of Christmas.

During the 12 nights of Christmas, they would issue from caves where they spent the days feasting on toads, lizards, and suchlike. And would pester people in various ways. They would rush about in the darkness, bruising and trampling all who got in their way, breaking into mills, eating some of the flour and fouling the rest by defecating on it. In houses, they would break furniture, eat and drink the food, and defecate all over the place.

In the Greek Cypriot folklore the Kallikantzaroi (Kallikantzarouthia) are also called Planitarouthia. It was said that when the child of a woman is aborted the child becomes such a creature. Only people who sleep lightly (Αλαφροΐσκιωτοι) can see them. They take the form of a dog, donkey, camel, rabbits and more. The people try to catch them or ride them and then the Kallikantzaroi attempt to kill them.

When going out to do their nasty things they mainly spoil the gardens unless the lady of the house places a colander with holes.It was believed that since the creature could not count above two (three was believed to be a holy number,and by pronouncing it, the kallikantzaros would supposedly kill itself) the Kallikantzaroi start counting the holes till the sun rises and they are forced to escape back to their caves.

Another supposed method of protection from kallikantzaroi was to leave the fire burning in the fireplace,all night,for the duration of the 12 days so that they could not enter through it. An additional way to keep them away includes marking one’s door with a black cross on Christmas Eve and burning incense.

Another name for these creatures is Karkatzelia.

  THE DAEMON PAN IN ARCADIA / HAMOTHRAKIA

The Hamothrakia are shepherd demons which in the Arcadian tradition are associated with the Satyrs and the god Pan. In Zacynthos there is a tale of a young shepherd who was gifted a goat with golden fleece, silver ears and golden horns by Pan.

In the mountain Parnassos the Greeks believed (at least until the beginning of the 20th century) that there lived a demon who had dominion over rabbits and wild goats. He scars his animals on the ear, so he can tell them apart. This demon has the form of a goat with a long goatee beard and his name is Lavoma (“Wound”). He leads the goats to their death. When the shepherds try to shoot him their gun explodes and wounds them.

In other areas, Pan is the one who causes this disaster in the form of a human or a hairy child. It often takes the form of the animal it attacks and sometimes appears as a hound, or vulture. The forms in which the demon appears in popular tradition have remained unchanged since ancient times. Pindar had named Pan “Dog” («Κύνα» και «σκυλλακοτρόφον»).

This demon causes doom in the herds, blackening their skin and swollen their bellies. On their skin remains the imprint of the demon’s feet and nails. Death is instantaneous, but some animals survive until sunrise.

Rituals are performed to avoid this Evil. The transport of the flock to another place and the burning of stinking substances on the spot and then coating the hindquarters of the animals with ash and water. Thus the demon is prevented from approaching the animals.

The names of this demon are Hamothraki (Χαμοδράκι), Smerthaki (Σμερδάκι), Ameletito (Αμελέτητο), Lavoma (Λάβωμα), Apokaromeno (Αποκαρωμένο), Armathiako (Αρμαδιακό), Zoulapi (Ζουλάπι) etc.

Hamothraki means “small dracon of the earth” (χάμω (χαμαί) + δράκων). It doesn’t necessarily mean that the demon looks like a dracon. The medieval Greeks sometimes named dracon the aborted or unbaptized kid.

Smerthaki comes from the adjective smerthos (σμερδός), the newer version of the ancient adjective smerthnos (σμερδνός), which means “difficult/cursed/evil/spoiled/two colored”.

Demons exist all over Greece. According to the folk tales of the Pierians, demons resided in the flour mills and it was there they played music with windpipes. Others say they were just whistling loudy and shouted.

As a local story goes, one of seven brothers loaded a goat on his donkey to take it to his wife. On the road he met the devils and they started chasing him. He threw them pieces of the goat to keep them busy and he managed to arrive to his house. To give him time to come inside, his wife threw a big sieve to the demons. The demons are bound to count the holes in the sieve. Until they finished the man had gotten inside the house.

THE BANISHING WIND

Its Greek name Anemoxouri (or Anemoxouria) comes from άνεμος + εξορίζω.

In Arcadia people say that inside this wind fly and dance Faeries. They carry away people, animals and objects. When someone sees this wind coming they must hug a tree so they won’t drift away. If they have rue on them they should show it to the wind and exorcise it. If they have nothing they should make a cross with their two fingers and mutter prayers.

You can see the Faeries in the wind if you throw salt on the earth. If you take her red cap or her headscarf she will beg for you to return it. Then you can ask from her the Immortal Water or Faeries’ clothing which cures any ailment. It is possible to grab the cap or headscarf from inside the Wind if you are brave enough.

If you want the Banishing Wind to go away you can shout “I will throw salt so the Faerie will appear!” And the Faeries go away and don’t harm you.

Part 1 - Ghosts and Hauntings >>>

Second, the Greeks are considered “pillars of modern civilization”,to quote your tags, because they are; the modern states of the West were overwhelmingly built upon concepts that were born or developed in ancient Greece (and/or Rome). That had already started happening before the Americas were even discovered by the Europeans (it had actually never ended if you take into account the Eastern Roman Empire which kept alive in huge part the heritage of antiquity, and the contained but continuous maintenance of ancient tradition in the medieval West, in monasteries and universities).

Third, unfortunately the Aztecs’ legacy was in great part altered, lost or destroyed by the Spanish, along with the persecution and gradual genocide of the population; this is a sad and deplorable fact, but a fact nonetheless which has kept until now the full scope of the Aztec civilization  (and many other Mesoamerican and South American civilizations) from being evaluated and popularized to the extent of, say, the Greek one. By all means, bring those civilizations to the fore by the way. They are fascinating, interesting, extremely developed in many ways and indeed still criminally unknown, and sadly this is changing very slowly.

Fourth and most important, you are actually comparing the, mainly mythogically inferred, use of human sacrifice by a civilization of the 14-12th century BC, more or less, in a ritual context, in extraordinary circumstances (the sacrifice of Iphigeneia from the Iliad, or even if you want the murder/sacrifice of Polyxena by Neoptolemus on his father’s, Achilles, grave, something that happens only once by grace of Achilles’ special position in the heroic pantheon of the Greeks and is also treated as a tragic, grim deed even by the, much later,sources), Iphigeneia’s sacrifice being specifically presented in the epic itself as an isolated tragic necessity that her father does his best to avoid and her mother holds forever against him and the Greeks, so dark that even the epic (created about 500 years after the events it describes) tries to soften it by having Iphigeneia getting rescued by Artemis and a deer getting sacrificed in her place, with the industrial-scale mass sacrifices performed and outright celebrated by the Aztecs in the 14th century CE with full theological justification, and intrisincally linked with an imperialist system that plagued the countryside and decimated the population of Mesomerica in the centuries before the conquest by the Spanish. 

In Greek myths those sacrifices are unfortunate events and the Greek culture studies them with grief. It goes to show how little you know about the cultures you are comparing.

The majority of Greeks don’t like the gods racebended. If you don’t want to listen the majority of the people of a certain culture WHILE you are enjoying their culture, sorry but you are a bigot.

Every nation is ethnically diverse. I don’t see you pressuring other cultures to racebend their gods. You are also a hypocrite :)

If this is about the demigods in pjo, then they don’t have to be Greek but they should have a connection to their parents’ roots. Or you want to tell me that if the gods were African, or Polynesian or Chinese their culture should be erased as well? Do you even know how racist what you imply?

why are you mad? It’s clear that the Gods are not bound by DNA, it’s painfully obvious that Percy doesn’t have to be of the “Greek” race, further, never is it actually said that Percy’s a white guy, neither is it said Sally’s a white woman. further, the bad faith argument that Percy “looks like Poseidon”….. lol? you know you can look like your parents without necessarily matching their skin tone? someone can be your deadass twin and have a different skin tone than you. You look stupid.  

so what’s the problem? there’s a lot of things that would make sense if Percy wasn’t white, and making him white does fuck-shit for the narrative. the societal aspect of him being seen as a “delinquent” can be explored a lot more when it’s a nonwhite person. at best, making him a poc adds to the story, not doing so adds… nothing.

finally: stop assuming that the default skin color is white. POC can just be poc for no reason other than the fact that they are. there doesn’t need to be a “reason” for a character to be a poc. just say you’re racist with your chest and leave.

No, people are not “pressed”. It is us Greeks in the comments who - for once - want to see ourselves and our culture depicted in a movie ABOUT OUR CULTURE. The ancient part is going to be bastardized anyway so we need to see at least the Greek culture as it is.

I don’t know why everything needs to be about American societal politics and why we need to study YOUR problems and not explore the identity of Greeks in the States IN A MOVIE ABOUT GREEK CULTURE. Percy coming from a different culture than the average US one - the Greek one - would still pass a societal message! Skin color is not the only factor defining difference.

It will be infinitelly more interesting if he was a Greek because our modern culture is very tied with the ancient one. We would see all the similarities and the differences. But I guess Americans never cared enough for us and don’t care enough to explore that.

Also yes, Greek poc exist but 99% of Greeks look white, you like it or not. But tbh, as long as Percy is said to be Greek, I don’t mind his skin color. (But imagine making a movie about Nigerian mythology with a Desi protagonist when the average Nigerian is Black).

Being Greek would do a LOT for the narrative. He doesn’t need to be white to be a Greek, but white will be the most accurate representation of a Greek in media given our demographics. I don’t know how that can be offensive.

It’s the first book of The XXI Trilogy and it’s a retelling of Hades and Persephone myth

Genres: Dark Fantasy, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Mythology Retelling

Demographic: Adult

POV: Two POVs, third person limited

Raphael is one of the immortal beings which separate the soul from the body and transfer it to the Otherworld. People of the 21st century call psychopomps like him ‘Niruvei’. Although he has witnessed many atrocities in the thousand years he’s lived, the sight of bloody fangs and dark irises haunts him to this day. Isior are his nightmare. The mortal descendants coming from the union of Niruvei with humans didn’t have a hunger for the soul but for the flesh. Cunning and greedy, they want to gain immortality and rule the world. Raphael and his kin are the only ones who can stop them.  

From the moment she acquired her powers, Lavali knew that she would have to hide them. An Isior like her can bring any wicked Niruvei down, but, in the eyes of society they will always be a monster. She dreams of a day her identity will be valued and Death will not touch her beloved. In the organization of her mother she works hard for the making of a serum that will give immortality to her people. Once the Isior become powerful they will put an end to the old war with the Niruvei.

When their fates intertwine, Raphael and Lavali will struggle outwit each another in a cruel game of vengeance and survival. They must run against time and new enemies, to keep their secrets and lives out of danger. In the meantime, they must be careful not to fall for one another.  

Read the first three chapters here (X)

SETTING: The story takes place at the second half of the 21st century, twenty years after Niruvei have revealed themselves to humans. It takes place in India (Rajasthan), Iran (Shiraz) and Greece (Chalkidiki, Epirus).

ATMOSPHERE OF THE TRILOGY: This XXI series combines history, death and rebirth mythology and dark paranormal, as well as some romance, in a futuristic setting. I experimented with how ancient immortal beings would behave in the modern world and how much the needs and desires of people change through time. There are undertones of melancholy and gloom, but my heros rarely give up, so optimism and hope don’t cease to exist. Mystery could not be absent from the story, since Isior and Niruvei have a past with a lot of secrets that wait to be uncovered.

Niruvei

ELEMENT: AETHER | LIFESPAN: IMMORTAL Beings from another dimension who feed on the energy of the human body in a moribund state. They divide the soul from the human body with only one touch. Afterwards, they travel back to their own universe in order to absorb it properly. Their form is aetherial, thinner than air and darker than shadow but they can take the shape of humans.

Isior

ELEMENT: AETHER & CARBON| LIFESPAN: MORTAL Descendants of a mortals and an immortals, they don’t hunger for souls but for flesh and blood. Half of their nature is aetheric, so they can only form nails, hair and teeth from it and use it to support their body in flight. They have excessive physical strength because of their human meat diet. They are the embodiment of life and zest.

LAVALI NANGAL – ISIOR  Future leader of her clan, Lavali is an ambitious young woman who could do anything for her people. She is trained to fight brutally but no one is as tender with flowers and lovers as she is. Blood tastes delicious to her but she has the kindness of a prey. Her eyes may be black as the abyss but her smile is bright as the spring sun. Though chaos is where she thrives, she executes every plan methodically.

RAPHAEL SHIRAZI – NIRUVEI Having lived for millennia, Raphael has tried every art and mastered many. The huge fortune he created as the years passed allowed him to satisfy his expensive taste and meet the most intriguing men and women of every era. He is compelling and elegant in dancing and trying to kill you. Sometimes, he wants nothing more than to be allowed to smoke his herb blends without disturbance. A romantic 2.700 years before it was cool. He misses his home, but he would never deny the earthly pleasures.

SARITA LOKHANDE – ISIOR  This female Isior is not only a loyal guard of Lavali, but also a supportive friend in good and bad times. She may look scary, but she has the heart of a child.

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Andrew Bagby was murdered by Shirley Jane Turner on November 6th, 2001 (She later murdered their 1 year-old son on August 18th, 2003)

Brenda Spencer killed two and injured nine at Cleveland Elementary School on January 29th, 1979

Laurie Dann killed one boy and injured five others at Hubbard Woods Elementary School on May 20th, 1988

Jennifer San Marco killed eight people at Goleta postal facility on January 30th, 2006

Sylvia Seegrist killed three and injured seven during a shooting spree at a Springfield mall on October 30th, 1985

Mary Ann Holder killed five children including her own son in Pleasent Gardens, NC on November 20th, 2011

Jullian Robbins killed one and injured two at Penn State on September 17th, 1997

Heather Smith killed two then committed suicide at Spanaway Junior High School on November 26th, 1985

Latina Williams killed two others then self at Louisiana Technical College on February 8th, 2008

Amy Bishop Anderson killed three and wounded three others at the University of Alabama on February 12th, 2010

What’s most interesting though is that mainstream media doesn’t even mention female shooters when they claim to show the history of the crime — but I guess they’re going by high scores. While its true that most shooting sprees are committed by males, it is also truethat most child abuse, neglect, and murders are committed by females.

Women who killed or attempted to kill children in the news, past 30 days (US):

Florida woman shoots, kills her 2 teenage sons 

Mother throws 1 year-old daughter under truck, kills her 

California mom stabs her 3 daughters to death. all under 2 years old

Mother attempts to kill her 3 teenage children 

Mother kills her infant son by stabbing him to death 

Woman kills 2 year-old girl, attempts to kill 10 year-old boy 

Utah mom murders 6 newborns, keeps them in garage 

Mother charged with trying to suffocate daughter 

Woman charged for killing 8-month old baby 

Women who killed or attempted to kill children in the news between January and April 2014 (US):

Mother drowns both of her sons aged 3 and 6 

Mother attempts to drown her 3 children in ocean 

Utah mother shoots and kills two teen daughters, then herself 

Mother suffocates 14 month old son, fails at attempted suicide 

Woman babysitter murders 19 month old boy 

Mom kills 7 month old daughter, blames Jesus 

Woman operating illegal daycare responsible for 3 month old girl’s death, police find 14 children in her basement 

Mom strangles 3 day old baby boy, discarded body in trashcan 

Woman suffocates 2 year old girl of fiance, fakes sexual assault by unknown assailant to cover tracks 

Mother charged with killing 2 year-old daughter 

Mother of several children with history of violence murdered and buried 2 year-old daughter in shallow grave 

Mother stabs and kills her 2 children in exorcism 

Mother kills her teen son and daughter, self 

Mother confesses to killing 10 year-old son 

Mother tortures and kills 3 year-old son, burned genitals with lighter 

This is only mid-year and I didn’t even include the reports of mothers killing their children from previous years or other countries.”

(Bonus: it’s making old white men really really mad.)

The Entirety of Eastern Europe: