Bestiary · Slavic · House spirit
Kikimora
Also known as: kikimora, kikimoras, kikimory, shishimora
A small female house spirit of Russian belief who spins at night, tangles yarn and throttles hens.
The kikimora is a small female spirit who lives in the house, behind the stove or in the cellar. At night she spins, and the sayings run: "Hush! The kikimora is spinning yarn" and "you'll never get a shirt from the kikimora". If the women leave their flax about, the kikimoras spin it all up and hide the tow. They also torment the poultry, so in Kostroma province stones called "hen gods" were hung in henhouses to keep her away. Afanasyev counts the kikimoras among the dark elves, the dwarfs.