NOCNITSA

[Folklore] The night-hag of Russian, Polish, Serbian, and Slovak folklore. She torments children at night. In some regions, the mothers place a knife in the cradle or draw a circle around it with a knife. Hiding an ax or a doll under the floor beneath the cradle also prevents her from getting at the child (possible based on the belief that supernatural beings cannot touch iron). Other names for the hag include kriksy and plaksy. Her Bulgarian equivalent is the gorska makva, a hideous wood-hag.