Episode 36 - Baobhan Sith

Your journey would be long. From your home and town across the moors and north all the way to the coast.

It was a harsh road, rarely traveled. Which was why you thought it could offer great opportunity. The towns along the north coast were remote, and would be a perfect spot to bring your wares.

There were four people in your group. And four horses. Two were harnessed to a cart, loaded with wares. The other two were for riding in turns.

Loading the food and other supplies was completed in short order. Loading the wares for sale took longer. The crates and barrels were heavy. But by mid-morning, they were ready to go. And the road was calling.

Many people in the town warned you not to go. Warned that the roads weren’t safe. That they were haunted even.

Foolish superstition.

Do not stray from the path. Do not speak to strangers. Carry pure iron.

These are the warnings for those who walk northern roads through the highlands. These are the warnings given to those who wish to avoid the baobhan sith.

The Baavan Shee, otherwise known as the white woman of the highlands, is a vampiric fairy spirit that stalked the glens and mountains of the highlands.

The Bavanshee is a fairy that would appear as a beautiful woman and seduce travelers along the road. Most commonly, they would find themselves drawn to hunters, attracted by the smell of blood on their clothes.

Once they found their prey, they would pounce.

I am Andrew Eagle, and I am excited to invite you to come with me Through the Veil, and to hear the tale of the pale huntress of the Scottish highlands.

You were well into your third day of the journey when you came across the rock slide. The whole road collapsed around the edge of the forest. Fallen away into the sea.

Your company was halted. With a cart there was not an easy way past.

While your companions took a break, snacking and trading stories. You thought, you planned. Your venture would not be stopped by this. It was too important, you had too much to gain. Too much to lose.

And you landed on a bold plan. Some might call it foolish. Those same who worry and fear ghost stories about these roads and these woods.

A few miles back, there was an old road. Overgrown and through the forest, but clear enough for the cart. It would be slow going, and on paths that you did not know well, but it would get you north.

One of the most common stories of the baobhan sith is the story of the four hunters. As it goes, four men were out hunting and took shelter for the night in a small wilderness hut.

They decided to entertain themselves with dancing. So one sang and the others danced in the hut. It is said that the hunters wished for partners with whom to dance. And within moments, four women entered the hut.

The women quickly paired with the dancers, the fourth sitting near the vocalist. However, he noticed just in time the blood falling from his companions and fled. He hid by the party’s horses, and although his assailant followed him, she could not approach the horses.

With daylight’s approach, she vanished, and he made his way back into the structure to find his three companions dead and drained of blood.

It is said that the woman could not pursue the fourth hunter among the horses because of their iron shoes. Iron, it is said, is a well-known vulnerability of fairy creatures.

Your company made camp in the forest, near one of the shielings that dotted the northern regions. You made your way inside first. The place was crumbling in one corner, but better than being outside with the clouds on the horizon.

You and your companions tied the horses off to a tree nearby, giving them the slack to easily graze off the road, and then you all made your way inside.

Night was falling quickly inside the tree line. And you decided to pass the time before you slept telling stories. Some were certainly exaggerated. But you didn’t mind, what else were stories for if not the occasional tall-tale?

Then the door opened and a woman in a long, green dress appeared in the doorway. She was beautiful, but looked entirely out-of-place in a ramshackle hut along a forgotten forest road.

Your companions quickly invited her in, the hut had plenty of space for one more. She joined the circle of story-tellers and within minutes it truly felt like you all had known her for years. She was comfortable.

Throughout several regions, different versions of the story of the four hunters are told.

In one, the single survivor of the attacks of the baobhan sith noticed the women that entered the hut had hooves instead of feet. At seeing this, he fled from them and hid. The next morning he returned to find his companions dead with gruesome wounds.

In yet another, the hunters were sheltering in a cave rather than a hut. The four of them swapping stories into the dark of the night. At one point in the night, each of the hunters except one wished aloud that their sweetheart, betrothed, or spouse was with them that night. One, in this version given the name Macphee, instead wished that his wife remained safe at home. As soon as the wishes were spoken, a group of young women entered the cave. Unfortunately for those hunters, they were baobhan sith and those who made the wishes were all killed. Macphee was protected by his dog, who drove the creatures from the cave.

A common motif among the stories of the baobhan sith is that they almost always appear after someone has wished for companionship. Some folklorists believe this is rooted in a common rule of Scottish folklore that if somebody makes a wish at night without invoking the protection of God, that wish would be granted in some terrible way.

You realized you didn’t really know what time it was. Still late. Still dark outside, but you’d completely lost track. You didn’t really know how many stories had been shared, or how long you’d been awake. As you begin to realize these things, you noticed something else. The horses. They were practically in a frenzy, making so much noise. How did you miss it before.

The woman was still talking, your companions didn’t seem to notice when you stood to go check on the horses. Didn’t seem to notice that you opened the door to the windy night outside. But then you noticed something that was far stranger, and more horrible, than anything else you had realized. The woman had hooves instead of feet.

You called out to your companions to warn them, to tell them, but they didn’t react, like they couldn’t hear you. The woman turned angrily and hissed. Her visage, once beautiful now horrible, with strange eyes and too-pale skin.

You fled backward into the woods, hiding among the panicking horses nearby. Sometime before morning, she left the hut, her dress and arms wet with blood. She glanced around once, looking for you perhaps, but quickly she made her way deeper into the woods.

At morning light, you gathered everything you could into the cart, and turned toward home.

The baobhan sith are known by a few signature traits that differ from region to region. They always wear long dresses, most commonly green. The explanation given most often is they are trying to hide their hooves, which they have instead of feet.

Of course, they share the common vulnerability of fairy creatures to pure iron.

Unlike other vampiric creatures, the baobhan sith do not use fangs to drink the blood of their victims, instead they use their sharp claws to slash their victims and they drink from the wounds.

It is said that if a woman is killed by a baobhan sith, she will rise as one of them the next time they awaken, which is said to be only once each year, if they successfully feed.

They can shapeshift into a wolf, and they can use strange enchantments to bewilder their victims. Between feedings, they sleep in their graves out in the moors. This presents their only other common vulnerability.

If a baobhan sith’s grave can be found, she can be trapped forever, preventing their rising, by building a stone cairn atop their grave.

The baobhan sith are a unique vampire from the folklore of the scottish highlands. They are fae and violent, and hungry. But they also speak to deeper folk beliefs. Beliefs about the powers of wishes, about the dangers of the road and of being unfaithful.

It is said that traveling is safest if you stay on your horse, for their iron shoes will keep such creatures away. So if you find yourself traveling the woods or moors alone. Beware, don’t make wishes after nightfall, and if you can, carry iron. Lest you run afoul of the fairy women of the moors.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of Through the Veil. I hope you enjoyed. I encourage you to subscribe to receive new episodes weekly wherever you listen as we continue our exploration of folklore, myth, and magic.

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As always, thank you, for listening.