“Domovoi”

Domovoi Are Russian domestic ghosts that tend to be nuisances or poltergeists but help out with chores if treated with respect.

Slavic spirits of the home, the domovoi are active at night, when, like British Brownies , they complete unfinished household chores. They live beneath the stove or in the cellar, and when a family moves into a house, they should put a slice of bread beneath the stove in order to attract a domovoi. If the family wants their domovoi to serve them well, they should treat them with great respect and leave offerings of fine food out for them. However, if this practice of payment is discontinued, they will use their nights to smash the household's crockery and upset its pets. Although the domovoi are seldom seen, they are generally considered to be small, grey bearded men covered with tangled hair. Their female counterparts, the kikimora (sometimes said to be their wives) are small with long hair. The sight of a domovoi is an omen of great misfortune, and the sound of his sobbing foretells a death in the family.