Mora- Slavic SpiritSpirit"Night Hag"

The Nightmare Spirit

The Mora visits at night. Her victims wake paralyzed in darkness, sensing a shadowy presence on their chest, unable to move or cry out, crushed beneath something they cannot see.

She is typically female. In many Slavic traditions she is not a separate being but a living woman whose soul leaves her body during sleep and wanders abroad to torment others. She may be driven by envy, unrequited love, or an inherited curse, and often does not know what she is. By day an ordinary woman. By night a crushing terror. Other accounts describe her as a dead woman's restless spirit or a demonic entity in its own right.

Methods and Victims

The Mora enters homes through keyholes, cracks beneath doors, or any opening small enough for a moth, a strand of hair, or a wisp of smoke. She assumes these forms to slip through. Once inside, she settles on her victim's chest and grows heavier until breathing becomes impossible. Besides the suffocating paralysis, she tangles sleepers' hair into dense knots called koltun or "mora-braids," which must not be cut lest misfortune follow.

She preys on animals too. Horses found sweating and exhausted at dawn were said to have been ridden by the Mora through the night. Afflicted cattle gave less milk or fell ill without visible cause.

Protection and Remedies

Folk tradition prescribed defenses. A broom placed by the bed with bristles toward the door forced the Mora to count every strand before she could approach, a task that delayed her until dawn. A knife beneath the pillow worked by iron's power alone.

The strongest remedy was knowledge. If you could identify the living woman whose soul was tormenting you and call her by name, the Mora's power broke. Confronting the woman by daylight and telling her what she had done could end the affliction for good.