Bredsätter

Ångermanland · Sweden · House

A glow that keeps returning to the hall, and a crying that sounds like a newborn – in Ångermanland they call it the skväk, and it rises where a child has been done away with.

Skväk is the Ångermanland word for the revenant of a child that has been done away with. You hear it weeping and whimpering like an infant, and sometimes a glow of light appears where it lies; then people say it is the skväk. On Salteåsen this is said to be the case. In the village of Bredsätter there was a darker story still: a woman is said to have wrapped her newborn in rye straw and burned it in the open hearth of the hall – and straw burns fast. Ever since, a glow of light was seen from time to time in that hall. The account was recorded in 1932 and is unusually concrete for a description of belief: it gives the term, the phenomenon, two named places and a motive. The events lie far back in the 1800s, and none of those involved is named in the source.

FAQ

Where is Bredsätter located?

Bredsätter is in Ångermanland, Sweden.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.