The Polish Nightmare Being (Zmora) and the Problem with Defining the Category of Supernatural Double-Souled Beings
Folklore January 2, 2023 Agnieszka Pieńczak, Polina B. Povetkina 2 citations
In the ethnolinguistic dictionary Slavianskie drevnosti (Slavic Antiquities), the zmora—a supernatural being from Polish folklore whose main function is to try to suffocate people while they are asleep—is classified as double-souled. Nevertheless, the archives of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas and other Polish sources show that informants mention the double-souled nature of the zmora in the...