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Sea draug
In post-medieval Norway the word draug narrowed from any walking corpse to the dead of the sea. The sea draug is the body of a drowned fisherman, headless or seaweed-headed, crewing half a boat and announcing the death of anyone who sees it. A well-known northern legend has it chased through a churchyard by the properly buried dead. It shows how the saga revenant survived by attaching itself to the commonest violent death of a fishing society.1
- the churchyard dead, who in one legend drive it off with coffin boards and seaweed
When did it first appear?
1741Hans Egede mentions 'the Drow' (drauen) as a sea spectre in a book published in 1741
What the sources say
Wears a fisherman's leather or oilskin clothing and has a bundle of seaweed where its head should be1
Seeing it, or its half-boat, foretells drowning1
The belief is strongest in northern Norway, where fishing deaths were common1
The coat of arms of Bø in Nordland shows its half-boat1
Households left out food and 'draug-beer' at Christmas for it and other visitors1
Could you outrun it?
Speed class from how the sources describe it (varies), not a measurement.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at [email protected].
Draugr
Gjenganger
Haugbúi
Hjaðningavíg
Kárr the Old
The völva of Baldrs draumar
Jiangshi
Zombi (Haitian)
Strigoi
Vampir (South Slavic)
Abhartach
Arnold Paole