Drakavac

 

           Drekavac 

It's name means the screamer" or "the screecher,  as it's name would suggest its known for its distinctive and often terrifying scream.

The Drekavac is most often encountered  at night, especially during the twelve days of Christmas (called unbaptized days ) and in early spring, when other demons appear most often. 

It takes the form of the child, though deformed with elongated limbs and sometimes fur.

In other story's (especially more modern tellings) it usually resembles a dog like creature. However it can also assume other forms as well like a dappled foal, dog, cat, or bird or even a  human like being with glowing eyes. Other visions of the cryptid are described as a dog like beast that walks on its back legs, a long legged long necked animal with a cats head or an undead vampire like man that wonders the cemetery similar to a ghoul.

Originally believed to have come from the soul of a corrupt or sinful man, or from children who died unbaptized 

When seen in it's human form it looks like a child, and  predicts someone's death while in its animal form, it predicts cattle disease.

The Drekavac ether dislikes or fears dogs and is believed to avoid dogs and bright light.

 There is also a common belief that if the shadow of drekavac falls on someone then that person will become sick and eventually die.

In some regions it could be considered a type of boogyman, used to  scare kid's into behaving, in a similar way a the Boogeyman is in other places. 

It's also used as a scare tactic to keep smaller children from wandering to far from home. 

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Other cryptids or monsters similar to a drakavac..

• Bukavac – recorded in Syrmia, a six-legged monster with gnarled horns, slimy skin and long tail, that lives in water (rivers, swamps and creeks) and comes out of it during the night. It is known that it makes loud noises, and it will try to strangle people and animals that it encounters;
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• Jaud (pronounced [jaud]) – a vampirised premature baby.
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• Myling – from Scandinavian folklore, a phantasmal incarnations of the souls of unbaptized children that had been forced to roam the earth.
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• Nav – the soul of dead child that died before its third age.
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• Plakavac – recorded in Herzegovina, is a newborn strangled by its mother, which will rise from its grave at night as small vampire-like creature, return to its house and scream around it, but otherwise can't do any harm.
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• Poroniec – a hostile and malicious demon from Slavic mythology. They were believed to come into existence from stillborn fetuses, but also from improperly buried remains of children who had died during infancy.

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