Bysen

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a paranormal-related post, so I decided to go for it! Finding new supernatural beasties to research is fun. Previous paranormal posts can be found here.

This week’s creature is Bysen. He is a gnome-like creature who roams the forests on the island of Gotland, Sweden. He enjoys getting people lost, meddling with woodsmen by delaying their transports and tipping their timber over. Basically, he’s a mischevious trickster, but he also acts the ward of the forest and of nature. One of his tasks is to cut down Gotland’s forest, but he manages only one tree per century.

His appearance is often described as a little, grey man who sometimes wears a red, woven cap and carries an ax. Sometimes he even looks like a stump.

Bysar (plural of Bysen) are thought to be deceased men who cheated others of their land by moving property line markers. They receive no peace in death and walk the Earth forever. It’s said that they move the markers along the faulty borders, but if a human were to move the wrongly placed sticks to the right spots, the Bysen would be able to find peace.

Let me know which paranormal creatures you’d like to read about next!

Until next week,

Sarah