Baobhan sith is a type of female vampire from the Scottish Highlands. She appears as beautiful young woman and seduces her victims before draining their blood.
Sometimes several baobhan sith appear together, typically to attack groups of men.
Characteristics
In many stories, the baobhan sith has hooves instead of feet, and therefore wears a long dress to keep her hooves hidden. The dress is usually green.
Shape-shifting
The baobhan sith can take the form of a raven or hooded crow (Corvus cornix).
Vulnerability
The baobhan sith can not withstand sunlight.
Stories about baobhan sith
A very common theme in the stories about the baobhan sith is how she attacks a group of hunters who are are spending the night out in the Scottish wilderness.
The dancers
In one of the stories where hunters are attacked by vampires, four hunters who have been out all day seek night shelter in a remote shieling. One of the men starts singing while the other three dances. The dancers said that they wished they had partners to dance with, and soon – as out of no where – four women entered the shieling.
Three of the women partner up with the dancers, while the forth woman sits down by the singer. Since the singer isn’t busy dancing, he notices that drops of blood are falling from his friends. The singer promptly flees and hides among their horses. The woman who had been sitting beside him rushes after him, but is unable to find and catch him. When daylight comes, she disappears. (Folklorist Katharine Briggs have suggested that the singer might have been protected throughout the night by the iron in the horse shoes.) The singer goes back into the shieling and finds his fellow hunters dead on the ground – drained of blood. In one version of the story, the three hunters haven’t just had their blood drained from them; their throats have also been cut and their chests laid open.
The sweethearts
In another story about baobhan siths, four hunters seek refuge in a cave. Three of the men each express that they wish their respective sweetheart were there with them to keep them company, but the fourth man – who is named McPhee and has brought his black dog with him on the hunt – says that he prefers for his wife to remain in their home.
Before long, three young women enter the cave. The three men who had wished for sweethearts are killed, but McPhee is not and his brave black dog drives the women out of the cave.