Myling


In Scandinavian folklore, the mylingar were the phantasmal incarnations of the souls of children that had been forced to roam the earth until they could persuade someone 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 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 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 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 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.