American Cryptids, Deer Woman

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The Deer Woman🦌

The Deer Women is a cryptid from North American Indian legends, she can be considered a type of spirit or Forest nymph, she is attractive and alluring but also quite deadly. Often seen as very attractive young woman  though she can appear in different forms, ranging from a young beautiful woman to a deer or even a combination with a  human female upper body and the lower body of a white-tailed deer.

While sometimes associated with love and fertility, she is usually feared as a dangerous figure who punishes men, especially those who are promiscuous or harmful to women, she hates cheaters and abusive parents.

 She is most often encountered on trail's where she will be in the brush or behind the trees calling out to travelers, leading them into the forest .

She also loves to dance, and will sometimes sneak into  a communal dance unnoticed, only leaving when the drum beating stop.

Her appearance is that of a very attractive young woman, the only noticable difference is that she has hooves instead of human feet and eyes similar to a deer. 

Men that fall for her charms may escape if they notice her deer hooves and run before she can stomp them to death, though most notice to late and fail to escape.

In some version of this legend, sighting her is infact a sign of personal transformation or possibly a warning of things to come, not necessarily a bad thing but not quite good either. .

According to Ojibwe tradition, she can be banished through the use of tobacco and chanting. 

You can also break her spell by looking at her feet, and realizing that they are hooves. Once they are recognized for what they are, the Deer Women will run away.

Some believe the Deer Women to be an allegory about getting to know and understand someone you're attempting to get sexually intimate with and valuing them for who they are not who you want them to be. .

Aside from Folklore and legends, she has appeared in several movies, tv show and literary work.

skogsrå, the Foxy forest nymph

 

The northern forest's of Scandinavia are cold and dark, they are also home to many mysterious creatures Gnomes, Trolls, Giants, elves ect.

But there's another creatures that haunts these wood, as deadly as she is beautiful...

The skogsrå.

The skogsrå is a swedish version of the huldra.

,............

She most often  appears as a beautiful young woman with  a friendly attitude. 

From the front she looks like a normal woman but  from behind she usually has ether a fox or cow tail sicking out of her skirt/dress and a hollow back (but not always).

More often than not, the men that follow her into the forest are never seen again.

 In some folktales any man  that had sex with her and returned would be like a hollow shell of his former self as his soul remained with her.

 However if the  man is a hunter or someone that was kind to her, he may be rewarded with good luck in the hunt or fishing trip but should he ever be unfaithful to her, he will be struck with extreme bad luck and  accidents. In some cases the bad luck may end if the hunter fires a shot into the woods.

 Nyland, Finland Folklore says firing  silver bullets  can kill a skogsrå

In Norway, the word huldrefolk or huldre (plural)  comes from Old Norse huldr meaning ‘hidden’ it's used for all kinds of supernatural creatures. Hulder, or Huldra in the singular, signifies a female forest spirit, though she may also appear in mountains.

 These forest spirits act alone, instead of in.large group's or families like other supernatural beings, like the vittra. In northern Sweden, the name vittra refers to a group of supernatural beings that lives underground that have many traits in common with fairies from folklore of the British Isles, as well as with the ellefolk in Danish tradition or the huldrefolk /Hilda folk in Norwegian tradition.     

 Finland also has a version of the Huldra/ skogsrå, Some names in the Finnish language, mainly from the west coast, also show a link to the Swedish traditions, metsänpiika ‘forest girl’ or metsänneito ‘forest maid’ are the most often used names for the female forest spirit. However, there are also other localised names such as haapaneitsyt ‘aspen-maid’ or sinipiika ‘blue maid’.          

 

Her other Swedish names are  skogsrå, skogsrådan, skogsråa ‘forest ruler’, råan, rådande ‘the ruler,/the ruling spirit’, skogsjungfru ‘forest maiden’, skogsfru, skogssnuva ‘forest woman’, skogskäringen ‘the forest hag’, or with a nickname such as Grankotte–Maja ‘Spruce cone-Maja’, Talle-Maja ‘Pine tree-Maja’. She is also known by many different local variants like.. Gonna, Besta, Rånda, Skogela, Lanna-frökna ‘The lady of Lanna’ or Ysäters-Kajsa ‘Kajsa of Ysäter’. On the island of Gotland, there are records of a female troll called Torspjäska that plays the same role and has the same function as forest spirit on the mainland.      Germany has a legend of a long-haired beautiful fores spirits too,.  Called  Holzfräulein ‘the tree lady’, who was dressed in leaves, or as Moosweiblein ‘the moss woman’. 

If you're heading into the woods soon, be weary of any beautiful strangers that may approach you ...... 

 🖤💕Also Happy Valentines Day.💕🖤