image source

A Czech forest demon, also called hýkal or hejkadlo. Its name is derived from the terrifying call it emits. It is especially dangerous to respond to a hejkal's call, as it will then jump on a person's back and chase them through the forest or tear them apart. The most powerful hejkals are said to have been found in the Pilsen region.

They have the appearance of men covered in fur or moss and wear a wreath of ferns on their heads. They catch girls and take them as wives, and if they run away, they tear their child apart. They also like to scare pilgrims and lead them astray. You can protect yourself from them by changing shoes, turning out pockets, and leaving bread. They were mentioned as early as the 17th century by Jan Amos Komenský , who compared them to ancient fauns and satyrs.

Hejkal resemble the East Slavic lešija (leshy). In the Czech Republic there is also the Hermon, a forest demon from the Vitoraz region scaring away poachers, thought of as the protector of the Novohradské Mountains, and there are pohunkové, the souls of dishonest hunters, who dwelled around the Svatá Anna quarry near Tábor.

Forest demons were also known who jumped on people's backs and strangled them, these are the fur-clad men known in the Mikulov region, the strangler in the Šumava Mountains, and the hockauf among the German population. Slovenians know the divji mož , which can also be beneficial to people.

The female equivalents are hejkalky, and in northern Moravia, there are also hukalky, forest spirits who emit a terrifying long hooting sound and Hukvaldy Castle is supposedly named after them .