The baobhan sith is a female
fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
in the
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
of the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
, though they also share certain characteristics in common with the
succubus
A succubus is a demon or supernatural entity in folklore, in female form, that appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. According to religious tradition, a succubus needs male semen to survive; repeated sexual activity ...
.
They appear as beautiful women who seduce their victims before attacking them and killing them.
[
]
Folklore
According to the Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
folklorist Donald Alexander Mackenzie
Donald Alexander Mackenzie (24 July 1873 – 2 March 1936) was a Scottish journalist and folklorist and a prolific writer on religion, mythology and anthropology in the early 20th century.
Life and career
Mackenzie was born in Cromarty, so ...
, the baobhan sith usually appears as a beautiful young woman wearing a long green dress that conceals the deer hooves she has instead of feet. She may also take the form of a hooded crow
The hooded crow (''Corvus cornix''), also called the scald-crow or hoodie, is a Eurasian bird species in the genus ''Corvus''. Widely distributed, it is found across Northern, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as parts of the Middle Eas ...
or raven.
There are numerous stories about the baobhan sith with a general theme of hunters being attacked in the wilderness at night. In one tale recorded by Mackenzie, there were four men who went hunting and took shelter for the night in a lonely shieling
A shieling is a hut or collection of huts on a seasonal pasture high in the hills, once common in wild or sparsely populated places in Scotland. Usually rectangular with a doorway on the south side and few or no windows, they were often cons ...
or hut. One of the men supplied vocal music while the others began dancing. The men expressed a desire for partners to dance with, and soon after that four women entered the hut. Three of them danced while the fourth sat beside the vocalist. He then noticed drops of blood falling from his companions and fled from the hut, taking refuge among the horses. His partner chased him but was unable to catch him, and when daylight came she disappeared. The man went back inside and found all three of his friends dead and drained of blood.[ The folklorist Katharine Briggs suggested that the baobhan sith was unable to catch the fourth man among the horses because of the ]iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
with which the horses were shod, iron being a traditional fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
vulnerability.[
In a similar tale one of the men noticed that the women had deer hooves instead of feet and fled from them. He returned the next morning to find that the other hunters had their "throats cut and chests laid open".]
In a third story the hunters took refuge in a cave. Each of the men said he wished his own sweetheart were there that night, but one of them, named Macphee, who was accompanied by his black dog, said he preferred his wife to remain at home. At that moment a group of young women entered the cave, and the men who had wished for their sweethearts were killed. Macphee was protected by his dog who drove the women from the cave.
One recurring motif in these stories is that the baobhan sith appear almost immediately after the hunters express their desire for female companionship. This is connected with a traditional Scottish belief that if one were to make a wish at night without also invoking God's protection, then that wish would be granted in some terrible manner.[
]
In popular culture
* The baobhan sith have appeared on a number of occasions in author Mark Chadbourn
Mark Chadbourn is an English fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and horror author with more than a dozen novels (and one non-fiction book) published around the world.
Born in the English Midlands from a long line of coal miners. he g ...
's fantasy trilogies '' The Age of Misrule'', '' The Dark Age'', and '' Kingdom of the Serpent''.
* Baobhan sith are mentioned in Nicole Peeler's ''Tempest Rising'' series.
* They are also mentioned in Michael Scott's '' The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel''.
* They appear in ''Faerie Tale
''Faerie Tale'' is a fantasy, supernatural thriller, falling within the subgenre of contemporary fantasy, by American writer Raymond E. Feist, first published in 1988.
It was translated and published in Dutch language, Dutch as ''Een Boosaardi ...
'' by Raymond E. Feist
Raymond Elias Feist (; born Raymond Elias Gonzales III; December 21, 1945) is an American fantasy fiction author who wrote ''The Riftwar Cycle'', a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and ha ...
where they are portrayed as evil fairies of the Unseelie Court
Seelie is a term for fairies in Scottish folklore, appearing in the form of seely wights or The Seelie Court. The Northumbria#Language, Northern and Middle English word (also , , ), and the Scots language, Scots form , mean "happy", "lucky" or "bl ...
, who (aside from their great beauty) possess a strong compelling magic which they use to force solitary males in isolated locations to follow them to their deaths.
* Cornelia Amiri is the author of the ''Dancing Vampire'' romance series of six novellas: ''Dance of the Vampires'', ''Vampire Highland Fling'', ''A Bonnie Vampire Dancer'', ''Vampire Waltz'', ''Valkyrie Vampire Sword Dancing'', and ''Some Vampires Shimmy''. The series is about seven baobhan sith sisters and each book features a different sister as they fall in love.
* Desdemona, an Oriental dancer and commander of the Fae army in Amy Hoff
Dean Hoff is an American writer, director, Scottish historian, and folklorist specializing in monster legends. She is also an actress and model.
Early life and education
Hoff was born in Duluth, Minnesota. She began acting and writing as a ...
's Scottish urban fantasy series ''Caledonia'', is a baobhan sith.
* In ''Night and Silence'', the twelfth installment of Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire (pronounced SHAWN-in; born January 5, 1978 in Martinez, California) is an American author and filker. McGuire is known for her urban fantasy novels. She uses the pseudonym Mira Grant to write science fiction/ horror and the pseudon ...
's October Daye series, the protagonist is attacked and repeatedly bitten by a starving baobhan sith. In this portrayal, a baobhan sith is able to mimic both the appearance and supernatural abilities of anyone whose blood she has recently consumed.
* A baobhan sith appears as an adversary in the ''Fighting Fantasy
''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
The series distinguished itself by mixing Choos ...
'' gamebook "''Vault of the Vampire''".
* In ''The Book of Life (Harkness novel)
''The Book of Life'' is a 2014 fantasy literature, fantasy novel by American scholar Deborah Harkness, the third book in the All Souls trilogy. As the sequel to the 2012 bestseller, ''Shadow of Night'', it follows the final steps in the story of ...
'' from the ''All Souls Trilogy'', the baobhan sith was said to have been inspired by Janet Gowdie, a Vampire-Witch hybrid and daughter of the real falsely accused witch Isobel Gowdie and a vampire named Nickie-Ben.
* ''Baobhan Sith'
the feature film
was released in 2017. It was produced by Scottish independent compan
Eyedoll Productions
and was written and directed b
David W Hutchison
It was inspired by the Baobhan Sith legend and features Polish acto
Joanna Kaczynska
as the Baobhan Sith.
* A Baobhan Sith appeared as an Archer-class Servant in the video game "''Fate/Grand Order
is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...
''", where she is designed by Mochizuki Kei and voiced by Azumi Waki
is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo who is affiliated with Haikyō. She debuted in 2015, playing the role of Sanae Katagiri in the video game ''The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls''. She is also known for her roles as Galko in ''Please ...
.
See also
* Banshee
A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is c ...
* Dames Blanches
* Deer Woman
Deer Woman, sometimes known as the Deer Lady, is a spirit in Native American mythology whose associations and qualities vary, depending on situation and relationships. To women, children, and men who are respectful of women and children, she is a ...
* Glaistig
The glaistig is a ghost from Scottish mythology, a type of fuath. It is also known as ''maighdean uaine'' (Green Maiden), and may appear as a woman of beauty or monstrous mien, as a half-woman and half-goat similar to a faun or satyr, or in the ...
* Hulder
A hulder (or huldra) is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name derives from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra ("the rchetypalhulder", though folklore presupposes ...
* Leanan sídhe
The ' (; gd, leannan sìth, gv, lhiannan shee; ) is a figure from Irish Folklore. She is depicted as a beautiful woman of the ''Aos Sí'' ("people of the barrows") who takes a human lover. Lovers of the ''leannán sídhe'' are said to live brie ...
* Patasola
The Patasola or "one leg" is one of many legends in South American folklore about female monsters from the jungle, appearing to male hunters or loggers in the middle of the wilderness when they think about women. The Patasola appears in the form ...
* Rusalka
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melus ...
* Samodiva
* Sayona {{One source, date=August 2014
La Sayona is a legend from Venezuela, represented by the vengeful spirit of a woman that shows up only to men that have love affairs out of their marriages. The name "Sayona" refers to the cloth the ghost wears which i ...
* Sundel Bolong
* Aicha Kandicha
References
{{Fairies
Fairies
Fantasy creatures
Female legendary creatures
Mythological hematophages
Scottish legendary creatures
Scottish folklore
Vampires