Balkan Folklore, Discover Fascinating Tales and Mythical Creatures

Balkan Folklore

The Balkan region is home to many captivating legends and mythical creatures. When exploring the area, it seems there is a story behind almost every building, mountain or village. We have chosen some of the best ones from each country to create a collection of traditional tales and bloodcurdling creatures. Here is our assortment of Balkan folklore and mythical beings.

*WARNING SOME SCARY PICTURES!*

Albanian Folklore

Albania is full of myths and legends about its beautiful landscape. The villagers of the mountain regions pass stories down to their children about how natural features of the land were created. Some of the best Balkan Folklore comes from Albania

Mount Tomorr is a mountain range in central Albania. It is considered to be home of the gods and Baba Tomorri, or Father Tomorr, is the human representation of the Mount. He is visualised as a wise but strong old man with a full, white beard. Surrounding him are four long-beaked, female eagles. According to Maximilian Lambertz (1882-1963), he is the relic of an ancient Illyrian god.

Baba Tomorri has taken a fine-looking bride, Earthly Beauty. During the day, Earthly Beauty spends time with her sister, Sea Beauty, and in the evening the wind returns her to Baba Tomorri.

The town of Berat sits in the foothills of Mount Tomorr and is closely guarded by Baba, as it’s his favourite city and great source of pride. Mount Shpirag is marked with deep streams of water running down its face and lies across the valley.

One day, Baba Tomorri is lounging in bed with Earthly Beauty when Shpirag attempts to take over Berat. Baba is woken by his four eagles and makes sure Earthly Beauty is taken to safety before setting off to battle Shpirag.

Baba Tomorri has inflicted many wounds on the face of Shirag – which can still be seen today. Shpiragm put up a good flight and hit Tomorr with his club leaving lasting damage.

The two titans eventually killed one another and poor Earthly Beauty drowned in her tears, which became the Osum River.

Bosnian Mythical Creatures

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country that has suffered with war greatly. After WW2, rumours circulated about chilling apparitions which were named Prepasti. Often appearing on roads and meadows or next to rivers and creeks, they began as ambiguous, black mists, silhouettes and whirlwinds.

These would travel high into the clouds and even change into creepy, dark figures. Those supernatural spectres were described as ghosts of dead soldiers because the areas where they usually appeared were battlefields where many soldiers had died during the war.

Prepasti often manifested in places where the soldier had lost a body part. According to popular belief, they returned to the area to search for their lost limbs. Prepasti would eventually disappear forever. But not until the rain completely washed their blood from the ground and when their bones were ploughed back into the earth.

Balkan Folklore – Bulgarian Folklore

Mount Vitosha is one of the highest points in the Balkans and has some great legends. Our favourite is a tale of two love struck shepherds – Vita and Lyulin. Although they had never met, Vita used to sing from the top of the “Big ridge” while Lyulin would accompany her on his fiddle from the “Long ridge”.  Vita turned down every other suitor in the hope of marrying Lyulin. Her mother grew angry and cursed them both. Her spell was so powerful that Vita was turned into black stone that is now known as the “Black Peak” while Lyulin suffered a similar fate and became Lyulin Mountain.

Croatia’s Mythical Creatures

Croatia is home to many of the mythical creatures of Balkan folklore. This particular one is called the Night Hag. She is a female demon who comes to you at night, in many forms, to give you nightmares and terrify you. Sometimes she manifests as a dark mass, or a shadow, which can be seen on a person’s chest or neck during the night. If you are unfortunate enough to be attacked in your slumber by a Night Hag, you will become restless, grunt, move around, have difficulty breathing, experience a tight chest and, when you wake, it will feel like something was strangling you in your sleep. The defense against Night Hags is to close all keyholes to stop them from entering the room.

Balkan Folklore – Montenegro

The story of the three sisters occurs in the oldest house in the town of Prčanj and is a great piece of Balkan Folklore. The three sisters Nera, Bianca and Rosa Bucca often stayed at the family’s summer house. Across all of Kotor and Boka the sisters were famous for their beauty. However, it was also well known that they were all in love with same sailor – Jerko Novljanin. 

Jerko, from Herceg Novi, could not choose between the sisters and, instead, he set off on a long sea voyage which he hoped would make the decision easier. He swore that he would marry the sister who waited for him to return. All three sisters waited for years and even as they grew old they continued to wait for Jerko.

The eldest sister died first so the other two bricked up her sea facing window. Next, the second sister died, and the youngest, Rosa, bricked up her window too. Of the three sea facing windows, only the one belonging to the youngest sister remained. There was no one to wall it up after she died. 

Jerko never returned from his voyage and his fate remains unknown. The Palace of Tre Sorelle (three sisters), with three windows facing the sea, of which two are walled up and one is still intact, can still be seen in Prčanj today.

Balkan Folklore – North Macedonian Mythical Creatures

It’s time to meet some of North Macedonia’s mythical creatures!

Zmey are beings with vaguely human features. They also have the tail of a snake, golden wings and incredible physical strength. They can live either in caves or mountain tops, and are particularly intelligent. Zmey are specifically attracted to female beauty and have been rumoured to capture young maidens and take them to their remote lairs.

A Lamia is a creature said to be half woman, half serpent. Her skills include shape-shifting, predicting the future, and witchcraft. By some accounts, her form is repulsive. However, others have viewed her differently. In the 1800s, John Keats, a romantic poet, created this vision of Lamia

“SHE WAS A GORDIAN SHAPE OF DAZZLING HUE, VERMILION-SPOTTED, GOLDEN, GREEN, AND BLUE; STRIPED LIKE A ZEBRA, FRECKLED LIKE A PARD, EYED LIKE A PEACOCK, AND ALL CRIMSON BARR’D; AND FULL OF SILVER MOONS, THAT, AS SHE BREATHED, DISSOLV’D, OR BRIGHTER SHONE, OR INTERWREATHED THEIR LUSTRES WITH THE GLOOMIER TAPESTRIES—SO RAINBOW-SIDED, TOUCH’D WITH MISERIES. SHE SEEM’D, AT ONCE, SOME PENANCED LADY ELF, SOME DEMON’S MISTRESS, OR THE DEMON’S OWN SELF. […] HER HEAD WAS SERPENT, BUT AH, BITTER-SWEET! SHE HAD A WOMAN’S MOUTH WITH ALL ITS PEARLS COMPLETE: AND FOR HER EYES: WHAT COULD SUCH EYES DO THERE BUT WEEP, AND WEEP, THAT THEY WERE BORN SO FAIR?”

Having said that, she is also known to be a bloodthirsty baddy who slithers through the night, searching for children to consume. She also enjoys walking in beauty through the daylight, searching for men to eat for dessert.

Romanian Folklore

This is the sad tale of Meșterul Manole. Prince Radu the Black dreamed of building the most striking monastery in Romania. He hired Master Manole and nine of his men for the job. During construction the walls of the monastery would continuously crumble. Because of this, the Prince threatened to murder Manole and his team.

In despair one night, Manole had a dream. He envisioned that for the monastery to be built successfully he had to incorporate someone into its walls. This person must be loved either by him or by one of his masons. The next day, he told his masons about his dream. Surprisingly, they agreed and decided that the first wife to bring lunch for her husband should be the one to be encased into the walls of the monastery.

The following day, Manole looked out and sadly saw his wife, Ana, walking towards the site. He prayed for rain and storms to stop or delay her. But her care and love for him was stronger than the storm, and she kept walking.

When Ana arrived, they told her that they wanted to play a game during their lunchtime. This game involved building walls around her body. She accepted, for some reason, but she soon realised that this was not a game. Manole had to keep his promise and the beautiful monastery was built.

Curtea de Argeș Monastery

The Prince was pleased with his monastery. But, to ensure the builders couldn’t create a more beautiful building somewhere else, he had them all stranded on the roof so that they would perish and be unable to build again. In an attempt to escape, they made wooden wings and tried to fly off the roof. But, one by one, they all plummeted to the ground and died.

A well of clear water, named after Manole, is believed to mark the spot where Manole himself fell.

Balkan Folklore – Serbia

The “Drekavac” is translated literally as “the screamer” or “the screecher”. This is a mythical creature in South Slavic mythology.

The creature has been described as an undead man that left his grave during the night to haunt people. Other descriptions have him as an undead child, who was unbaptised, that has returned to haunt its parents. In Eastern Serbia, the Drekavac has been described in the form of a humanoid canine creature that walks on its back legs.

Most believe he is visible only at night, especially during the twelve days of Christmas and in the early spring.

When assuming the form of a child, the Drekavac predicts someone’s death, while in its animal form, it predicts cattle disease. The drekavac will avoid dogs and bright light, and if the shadow of drekavac falls upon a person then that person will become ill and die.

Balkan Folklore

Balkan Folklore is really interesting to read but it’s even better to hear the tale told by an enthusiastic local who has been brought up with these legends. Travelling anywhere in the Balkan region, you are almost certain to be told one of these folklores or hear about a mythical beast. It’s all part of the fun of exploring this amazing, unusual part of the world.

Want to read a bit more folklore and discover more mythical creatures? Try our ghost stories from Scotland article or visit this great site for all things ALBANIAN FOLKLORE.

Have you visited any Balkan countries? Do you know any great stories or terrifying creatures? Drop a comment in the box, we’d love to hear from you!

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Balkan Folklore and Mythical Creatures