In
Scandinavian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sapmi. ...
, the mylingar were the
phantasmal incarnations of the souls of children that had been forced to roam the earth until they could persuade someone (or otherwise cause enough of a ruckus to make their wishes known) to bury them properly.
Lore
The myling comes into existence when a child is unwanted and therefore killed by its mother. It can be heard singing in the night, thereby revealing the mother's crime. Ways to help the myling is to give it a name or to find the corpse and bury it in holy soil.
The myling (also known as ''utburd'' in
Norwegian and ''ihtiriekko'', ''liekkiö'' or ''sikiö'' in
Finnish) is said to chase lone wanderers at night and jump on their backs, demanding to be carried to the
graveyard so they can rest in hallowed ground. Mylings are thought to be enormous and apparently grow heavier as they near the graveyard, to the point where any person carrying one (or more) could sink into the soil. If one should prove unable to make it into the cemetery, the myling kills its victim in a rage.
History
The word "utburd" means "that which is taken outside" and refers to the practice of abandoning unwanted children (e.g., children born
out of wedlock or to parents who lacked the means to care for them) in the woods or in other remote places where death is almost certain to befall them. It is believed that the ghost of the child will then haunt the place where they had died or, as told of in countless stories, the dwellings of their killers.
This
infanticide
Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of resou ...
was generally carried out secretly and its victims were often abandoned shortly after birth. From the perspective of certain Christian denominations, the babies were thus denied baptism, acceptance into the Church, and proper burial. As such, they could not rest peacefully.
The belief that mylings are enraged and seeking revenge is what gave them the reputation as one of the most menacing types of ghosts in Scandinavian folklore.
In Popular Culture
In the mobile game ''
Year Walk
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...
,'' part of the game is spent finding lost Mylings to put in the care of the
Brook Horse.
In the subsequent ''Year Walk: Bedtime Stories for Awful Children,'' the third chapter is devoted to the Mylings.
See also
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Bukavac
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Drekavac
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Konaki-jiji (Japanese "Myling")
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Poroniec
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Wiedergänger
References
Sources
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{{Scandinavian folklore
Scandinavian legendary creatures
Scandinavian folklore
Undead