The Lady in White

The Lady in White is a type of female ghost reportedly to be seen in rural areas and in the country side. There are tales of these white ladies across the globe, the old myths have a common theme of betrayal in one form or another from a husband, boyfriend or fiancé. But they myths have slightly change to the more modern, where they are mostly tragic car accidents, these white ladies are said to be a harbingers of death, causing more car accidents so that others feel their pain at dieing do soon.

 Here are a small handful of legends from around the world:

Here in the U.K. there is an old myth said that the lady in white could be seen in either day or night in a house in which a member of the family would soon be dieing, they are said to be ancestors warning the family. 

 There is also the lady in white who haunts the "Beeford Straight" in east yorkshire. Motorists have reported her apparition running across the road. In one instance, a car crashed into a tree killing 6 people.

In Germany, a white woman was first reported to be seen in the Berliner Schloss in 1625 and sightings have been reported up until 1790. This castle is the residence of the kings of Prussia, so the Lady has been linked to a few historical figures such as the unfortunate widow Bertha of Rosenberg from Bohemia, overthrown by the heathen Perchta and the guilt-ridden countess Kunigunda of Orlamünde, who murdered her 2 children for getting in the way of a marriage she wanted.

In Philippines they are often used to convey horror and mystery to young children for storytelling. Sightings of White Ladies are common around the country, and usually every town and barrio has its own "White Lady" story.

Malta has 2 main myths the first being the White Lady of Mdina was killed by her lover after she was forced to marry another man. She usually appears to children under eight years old, heart-broken teenage boys, and elderly men. While she tells the children goodnight and bids them to return home, she advises the teenagers to "find another" or to join her and become a part of her "shadow" (her ghostly followers) as well as the elderly gentlemen. She is always seen after 8pm. The second myth has it that many years ago, a woman was to be married to a man she did not love. Her father told her that she must always do as her fiancé said since he was soon to be her husband. On the day of her wedding, she committed suicide by jumping off a balcony. That is how she got the name White Lady because she was wearing her wedding gown on the day of her death. She haunts the Verdala Palace and many people who attend the August moon ball confirm the haunting.

The Brazilian Lady in White is the ghost of a young woman who died of childbirth or violent causes. She appears as a pale woman in a long white dress or a sleeping gown, she will occasionally recount her misfortunes. The origins of the myth are not clear, it's proposed that the ghost is related to the violent deaths of young white women who were murdered by their fathers or husbands in an "honor" killing. The most frequent reasons for these honor killings were adultery (actual or suspected), denial of sex, or abuse.

In the USA most of (if not all) the lady in white legends are about young, beautiful women who have died in horrible car accidents and haunt the stretch of road or rough area of their deaths.

There are hundreds of more myths and many have inspired tv shows, movies and books. The lady in white is one of the most wide spread, well know haunting around.

Rusalka

A Rusalka is a type of water nymph, a female spirit in Slavic mythology and folklore.

The original "rusalka" was an name used by Pagan Slavic tribes, who linked them with fertility and did not consider rusalki evil. They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.

Things changed in the 19th century things shifted rusalka became an unquiet, dangerous being who is no longer alive and unclean spirits. They where young women's soul who had been drowned violently or committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage or had died near a river or a lake who must now live their remainder on earth as rusalka, haunting that waterway. They where also normally red haired, a connotation that might have come with the Orthodox faith sometime around late 15th century, they often aroused suspicion in traditional Russian societies as being bewitched.

.A rusalka's main purpose is to lure young men into the depths of said waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long red hair and submerge them, her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her body in order to reach the surface. They where seduced by either her looks or her voice, a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.

During the Rusalka Week (in early June), they are believed to be their most dangerous, this is when they able to leave their water ways to climb trees, sit in the branches at nigh and sing songs, sit on docks with only submerged feet and comb their hair, or even join other rusalki in circle dances in the field. Swimming is strictly forbidden during this time. A common feature of the celebration of Rusalnaya was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalki at the end of the week, which remained until the 1930's.

Apart from all this, the undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged.

Sirens

This week we are looking at the Greek sirens, who are often lumped together with mermaids and naiads.

 The Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn;  Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were dangerous yet beautiful creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island many writers have implied that the Sirens were cannibals as well. Sirens were believed to look like women and birds in many different ways, from early Greece that had them depicted as birds with large women's heads, bird feathers and scaly feet, later moving on to women having bird legs, with or without wings or tiny sparrows with women's faces and then again changed being seductive women not only with their voices but bodies as well. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.

Although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the Sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" and not as sea deities. When the Sirens were given a name of their own, they were considered the daughters of the river god Achelous, fathered upon Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, or Chthon (the Earth). Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys.

The Sirens were called the Muses of the lower world, although in one myth they are challenged to a singing contest with the muses, losing all their feathers where plucked and the muses wore them like crowns. Horrified by losing they plunged into the sea never to be heard from again. It wasn't their only so called down fall some post-Homeric authors state that the Sirens were fated to die if someone heard their singing and escaped them but according to Hyginus, sirens were fated to live only until the mortals who heard their songs were able to pass by them. There have been a few myths featuring the sirens.

The term "siren song" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad conclusion. It was also said that they sang to the soul and not the flesh making it easier to call people to them.

According to Ovid, the Sirens were the companions of young Persephone. They were given wings by Demeter to search for Persephone when she was abducted. However, the Fabulae of Hyginus has Demeter cursing the Sirens to forever be half bird half women for failing to intervene in the abduction of Persephone, although some say that it was a reward asked by the sirens to be turned so.

There is one so-called "Siren of Canosa" from Italy was said to accompany the dead among grave goods in a burial. She appeared to have some psychopomp characteristics, guiding the dead on the after-life journey. The cast terracotta figure bears traces of its original white pigment. The woman bears the feet, wings and tail of a bird. The sculpture is conserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain, in Madrid.

Although the sirens are pagan when Christianity came along they started to adopt them for their own image of bad temptation. The Early Christian euhemerist interuprited the myth of the sirens to be  they prostitutes who led travelers down to poverty and were said to impose shipwreck on them. They had wings and claws because Love flies and wounds. They are said to have stayed in the waves because a wave created Venus.

Their number is variously reported as between two and five:

 Aglaope, Peisinoe, Thelxiope and Molpe all daughters of Achelous and Melpomene

 Leucosia  Her name was given to the island opposite to the Sirenuss cape. Her body was found on the shore of Poseidonia.

 Ligeia She was found ashore of Terine in Bruttium.

Parthenope  Her tomb was presented in Naples and called "constraction of sirens" 

Sirens weren't the only ones in the world with this profession the theme of perilous mythical female creatures seeking to seduce men with their beautiful singing is repeated in the Danish ballad known as "Elvehøj", in which the singers are Elves.