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Nisser, the Danish, or rather Scandinavian, small and cute gods of protection. As far as I know, the nisse can form when an old farmer dies and is buried on their farm. The nisse will then henceforth protect the farm and it’s inhabitants.

Now, while considered fun and cute in modern times, the gårdsnisser (contrary to the more feral and much more dangerous skovnisser/forest nisser) are very gullable with a strong sense of guilt, and they are hotheaded and intractable/stubborn to an unreasonable degree. They will protect you and give good luck if treated well, but will be intolerable if they feel inconvenienced or not properly cared for, to the point where they might directly or indirectly kill everyone on the farm out of spite.

Sometimes they cause atrocities because of misunderstandings, and when finding out that it was a misunderstanding on their part will cause harm to others to make up to their own farm, such as stealing cattle from neighboring farms to make up for the cows they killed earlier.

Now, the possibly worst thing you can do is to try and force a nisse to show itself to you. The small creatures accept indirect gifts, but don’t like direct contact and have a cursing bite, and will most definitely bite if cornered, such as by a nosy and persistent child. This curse makes one fall sick, loosing health and strenght until one perishes in a matter of months/years. As far as I’m aware, there is no cure for the curse, and regarding the nissers tendency to be fooled or act before thinking, well…

Having a nisse on your farm can be a great blessing, but one is also constantly in danger of having their whole family killed over a minor misunderstanding or mood swing. So it is heavily recommended not to acquire any farms where a nisse might reside.

We have the ättestupa in Sweden - the idea that we pushed the elderly off a cliff when they got old.

Near Antigonish in Nova Scotia is a forest called Dagger Woods…the sign is right on the main highway. The story goes that a young lady was killed there a few centuries ago and you can hear her screams. First far away and then it slowly gets closer and louder till it’s piercing loud. Nothing bad happens but super freaky!

The Saci-Pererê is a Brazilian folklore about a one-legged man who lives in the forest, and loves to play tricks on people. He uses his cap* (autocorrect) to disappear and reappear elsewhere, sets animals loose, steals kid’s toys, etc. Not scary but it’s what came to mind.

Not sure how such an outlandish tale captivated so many people for so long, but: Trickle-down economics.

Some Salish tribes told stories of the basket ogress which was a disheveled woman who would come and steal misbehaving children, throw them in a basket, and eat them. She was also venerated as bringing wealth.

Oh, I’ve got one.

In Romania, on June 24th there’s the “Sânziene” day. Which are like fairies. Google sources say they’re good, love/fertility fairies but there’s folk stories that say you shouldn’t swim during that night because they might come and take you (by drowning you).

In Finnish folklore there’s a couple of scary things but the one that pops to my mind is the water spirits. Näkki, vetehinen and hiisi. They are all slightly different but all have basically been used to scare kids to stay safe around waters or the water spirit of your choice will drown you. There’s stories of them attacking boats too and trying to trick adults into drowning themselves.

We have few, but you probably know them already from playing Witcher

I live in New Jersey. Most people know it for the sopranos or even just the turnpike, but in the south of the state there’s a huge pine forest called the pine barrens. The Lenape that originally lived in New Jersey spoke of a spirit in the forest known as M’Sing, a deer like creature with leathery wings.

After New Jersey was colonized, a legend came out of a family that lived in the barrens in the 18th century, the Leeds. Mother Leeds, upon finding out she was pregnant for a 13th time, cursed the child. It is said she gave birth during a terrible storm. When the child was delivered, it transformed into a creature, not unlike what the Lenape described. It quickly took off out of the chimney and disappeared in the forest. Since then, people spot the “Jersey Devil” throughout the state, but especially around the pine barrens. Personally, everything I hear the thing is harmless, but creepy.

In Louisiana we have the rougarou that’ll come and get ya if you don’t act right.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rougarou

He’s similar to a werewolf, but French.

My area has a supposed undead creature called Stovepipe. He has a stovepipe stuck in his head and attacks people by train tracks. Apparently he died in a terrible accident and couldn’t move on because he was so mad about his death. High schoolers love going looking for him lol. I don’t believe he exists, but it’s an interesting thing.

i grew up in East Anglia, which is the hump on the east-by-south-east side of England, UK, British Isles, Europe, Earth, etc

not only did we have the super cool Hereward the Wake, and Boudic(e)a and the Iceni tribe

but also

• devils dyke — a seven mile ditch caused allegedly by the devil himself being turned from a wedding and stomping his tail, and you can summon him yourself by walking around the local church 7 times

• fairy cow — a magic cow who gave milk to all in times of famine stamped her hoof in the sandstone and the.imprint is still seen today

• devils hole - a place where such a horrific crime was committed that when it rains the ground never gets wet

• tom hickathrift - a 1700s legend of a giant-killing giant whose catchphrase was “a turd in your teeth for your news” and whose weapon of choice was a wagon wheel

The story of Tanis as told by Nick Silver and the basis of the Blair Witch Project. Both supernatural prescence or reality breach in the woods.