Mylings: The Ghosts of Lost Children

The Myling is a Scandinavian ghost. It is the ghost of an unbaptized child that is seeking solace. The old Catholics used to say that unbaptized children couldn't be buried in holy ground and couldn't find solace in heaven. This belief seems to have given birth to the folklore that the Myling springs from. The Myling is the spirit of an unbaptized child that is trying to find a living soul to bring it to hollowed ground. The usually hunt for their victims amongst those who wander in the woods. Their faces are the name for terror in the dark places of old forests.

The Myling is also known as utburd, which means "that which is taken outside." Mylings are most often the ghosts of children that were taken to the forest to die. Like Hansel and Gretel in the old fairy tale, Mylings were drug into the forest and left to starve in the dark. They grew lost and angry and often suffered terrible deaths. They were unwanted and unbaptized. The ghosts of such children are angry and large and they are said to grow larger as the unfortunate soul they have latched onto comes closer to the graveyard. The myling attacks wanders and grabs onto their backs. They force the wanderer to take them to a cemetery where the myling might find peace. However, they grow so heavy as the wanderer approaches the graveyard that the wanderer often can't continue carrying the myling or sinks into the soil. If the wanderer can't get the myling to its goal, the myling devours the wanderer. The myling is considered to be one of the most terrifying ghosts in Scandinavian folklore.